MacBook Air With M3 Chip: Reviews and Unboxing Videos

[turbineseaplane]

That's a lot better GPU score going from M2 to M3

Man they did those first 15" MBA buyers DIRTY by not going to M3 from the start

 

[jdclifford]

I see Karl's unit was shipped with Sonoma 14.4. Good bet that it is getting release today then, presumably (Thursday) with release of the new M3 MBA to the public tomorrow?

Sonoma 14.4 was released this past Monday.

 

[mrr]

The MacBook Air will probably be my next purchase.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I heard that iJustine slammed the RAM and SDD pricing and called for Tim Cook to go.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Maybe it’s just me, but the era of “content creation” has just worn on me. These reviews are all stretching to find something positive to say about a simple spec bump that has already been discussed ad nauseam with the MacBook Pros.

I hate it - Refuse to watch them and can't stand how these types of "OMG!!" thumbnails have just completely polluted everything about YouTube

 

[cawgijoe]

if price is the same then it really depends.

14 vs 15" display - not a huge difference but if you want the biggest screen and good value get the 15" Air.

standard LED display vs Mini LED - MiniLED is technically better but still has issues. I'd rather deal with a "glowing" screen than deal with blooming.

512GB vs 1TB storage - 512GB is more than enough for me. I'd probably do fine with 256GB but I want the faster SSD speeds. Would you prefer more storage?

SD and HDMI ports - if you have devices with SD cards or connect to HDMI displays get the MBP. if you go with the Air you gotta live the dongle life.

Active cooling - good for heavier workloads or light gaming. if you're just doing basic stuff with the odd photo/video editing or whatever then get Air.

Thank you, this helps.

 

[DMG35]

I’m honestly so sick of the same YouTubers covering the same things over and over again.

I wonder if they get tired trying to fake excitement from such minor upgrades like this? How could anyone who deals in tech all day get excited by such tiny upgrades? They do a good job of faking it though.

 

[turbineseaplane]

This was my first thought too. Where are the actual ****ing written reviews!
Oh. Right there aren't any. Ok. Fine... Where are the semi-serious video revi... oh FFS it's that blonde lady again

We are in "hot take culture" now

Zero substance, just flash and dash BS to try to "be first" and "get the clicks"

I don't know when it ends, but "yesterday" would be nice

There's zero information in these types of videos
It's like watching "Kardashians" for tech products

 

[cawgijoe]

Get the Pro. The Air gets overly expensive in 'usable' configurations, since they're all custom (Z-model/spec) builds, which is nonsense circa 2024.

If my emergency Dell XPS 13 includes 16/1TB for $1299, so should Apple with the Air.

Most likely leaning that way.

 

[turbineseaplane]

And never anything negative to say because if they give the product a negative review they'll be off the reservation.

Why would they say anything negative about perfect products passed down from the Gods of Cupertino?

 

[docziandras]

This was my first thought too. Where are the actual ****ing written reviews!
Oh. Right there aren't any. Ok. Fine... Where are the semi-serious video revi... oh FFS it's that blonde lady again

Jason Snell has an actual written review on his website. I haven't read it yet just skimmed it through, so it might not be what you are looking for but being familiar with Jason's work, I can state with some confidence that it provides more than what you have seen in the video reviews.

 

[seek3r]

I really miss actual reviews, like the ones Anandtech used to do, after using the device for more than 10 minutes, including deep down analysis of the silicon, etc.

These are not more than brief hands-on if not pure superficial bullet-list cheerleaders running against the embargo timer.

Anandtech still does ‘em, but gotta wait a bit since they dont get the early release gifts from Apple that the shills get

 

[yg17]

Now, are there reviews from actual tech reviewers and not professional freeloaders who are incentivized to give completely glowing, biased reviews so they don't bite the hand that feeds and derail their gravy train?

 

[seek3r]

Apple wants you do use their Studio Display with built in Camera (the worst I've ever used) and external Magic Keyboard with TouchID to solve these two limitations.

I literally have a magic keyboard sitting right above my regular mechanical keyboard just for touchID on my desk, I wish Apple would sell just the touch ID module as a standalone bluetooth fingerprint reader

 

[nitrobear]

Sonoma 14.4 was released this past Monday.

That was the release candidate, but it's not live for everyone just yet

 

[rwilliams]

I really miss actual reviews, like the ones Anandtech used to do, after using the device for more than 10 minutes, including deep down analysis of the silicon, etc.

These are not more than brief hands-on if not pure superficial bullet-list cheerleaders running against the embargo timer.

The goofy ass thumbnails on the videos make me not want to watch them as well, which I know is ridiculous

 

[snipr125]

Trying to decide between the 15" Air with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB HD versus 14" MBP with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB HD....price with education discount is the same. Would trade in my early 2020 Macbook Air (16 GB RAM, 512 HD), $375 trade in value.
Leaning towards the MBP...

Cawgijoe, if i was you i would forget about this pre config M3 MBP 16/1TB option and replace it with the base M3 Pro MBP 18/512 (more cores, RAM and extra TB port) for exactly the same price, much better value for money dont you reckon (unless you really want that extra storage). Then decide between the 15“ MBA or 14 MBP (Genuine tough choice, but nice headache to have).

 

[tonywalker23]

There's only one of those videos I would be inclined to click on: the CNET with the simple picture of two laptops open to their Dock and Desktop. Unless I REAAALLLYYY want to see a video of something I want to learn more about, if the thumbnail of a video I'm the least bit interested in has a grown person making a face like a teenager taking a selfie I skip the video.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Cawgijoe, if i was you i would forget about this pre config M3 MBP 16/1TB option and replace it with the base M3 Pro MBP 18/512 (more cores, RAM and extra TB port) for exactly the same price, much better value for money dont you reckon (unless you really want that extra storage).

Imagine if Apple offered a ProMotion screen upgrade option on the MBA!?

I reckon quite a few folks would opt for it -- There are many users for whom everything about the MBA is more than enough, but they'd love a much better screen experience (but not the form factor change to the MBP)

 

[trusso]

So much hate in this thread for people making a living. Is some of it foolish and superficial? Sure. But y’all just sound jealous and bitter. Grow up.

 

[CarAnalogy]

The M3 MacBook Air is everything to enterprise IT departments.

We have approximately 5000 Macs in our fleet. The fact that up to 70% of these Macs intended for non-developers and non-power users can now eventually be a $1200 M3 MacBook Air, instead of a $2000+ 14" MacBook Pro, is huge and keeps the Mac ecosystem more in line with our costs on our standard Dell Latitudes -- still more money upfront sure, but not "twice as much" money. And where the Dells last 3 years tops, we run the Macs for up to 5, lowering TCO below Windows.

Why did we go with Pros before? Dual displays is non-negotiable when there's 11,000 desks each with 2 displays to light up.

We ordered 400 of these already to refresh employees on rapidly aging Intel hardware.

Two questions for my own amusement since you're very experienced in IT.

Just out of curiosity, why were you going with laptops when the workers are at desks?

And the second is more of an anecdote. I have had users with their own equipment plug in USB video adapters to drive far too many displays. I didn't have enough authority over this user to assign equipment, but they complained to me that it works but it's slow. I'm like yeah, it's not supposed to do that.

So my question is, have you ever tried just hooking up a USB video adapter and seeing how it works? Still crazy to me there's lots of unused USB bandwidth and I haven't heard of anyone trying it.

 

[satchmo]

I wish Six Colours would have compared the M3s of both MBA and MBP instead of the M3 MAX?

I would think more would want to decide between similar machines.

 

[imtoretto]

It's just me or iJustine and the rest of the clown band are getting more and more irritating?

Tequila shot for this guy right here

THANK YOU BROTHER!!!!

 

[cawgijoe]

Cawgijoe, if i was you i would forget about this pre config M3 MBP 16/1TB option and replace it with the base M3 Pro MBP 18/512 (more cores, RAM and extra TB port) for exactly the same price, much better value for money dont you reckon (unless you really want that extra storage). Then decide between the 15“ MBA or 14 MBP (Genuine tough choice, but nice headache to have).

Yeah...I don't really need the extra storage and do have an outboard SSD drive. The one you are recommending is the way for me to go...thanks!

 

[Supercyborgninja]

Midnight color still gets smudges...darn it.

I'll wait