Highlights

• M3 chip introduces up to 60% faster performance with 3-nanometer technology.
• Supports up to 24GB of unified memory and advanced AI applications.
• Features include up to 18 hours of battery life and Liquid Retina display.
• Available for pre-order with special pricing and offers for education and HDFC Bank Credit Card holders.

Apple has just announced the latest upgrade to its MacBook Air lineup, incorporating the new M3 chip.

This update marks a significant leap in performance, offering users an unparalleled experience in a sleek and portable design.

The M3 chip enhances the MacBook Air’s capabilities, ensuring it remains at the forefront of the consumer laptop market, especially for AI applications.

M3 MacBook Air: Pricing and Availability

The M3 MacBook Air is available for pre-order starting March 4, with official availability set for March 8.

The 13-inch model starts at Rs 114,900, while the 15-inch variant is priced at Rs 134,900.

Apple also provides special education pricing, starting at Rs 104,900 for the 13-inch and Rs 124,900 for the 15-inch models.

To make the deal sweeter, savings of up to Rs 8000 are offered with HDFC Bank Credit Cards, along with No Cost EMI options from leading banks.

“MacBook Air is our most popular and loved Mac, with more customers choosing it over any other laptop. And today it gets even better with the M3 chip and new capabilities.

From college students pursuing their degrees to business users who need powerful productivity, or anyone who simply wants the unmatched combination of performance, portability, and industry-leading battery life, all in a fanless design, the new MacBook Air continues to be the world’s best thin and light laptop.” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

M3 MacBook Air: Key Specifications

• Powered by the M3 chip with 3-nanometer technology.
• Up to 60% faster performance than the M1 model.
• 8-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU, with support for up to 24GB of unified memory.
• Hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing for gaming.
• Enhanced media capabilities with AV1 decode.
• Faster, more efficient 16-core Neural Engine for AI tasks.
• Supports up to two external displays and boasts up to 2x faster Wi-Fi.

M3 MacBook Air: Features

At the heart of the new MacBook Air is the M3 chip, employing the latest 3-nanometer technology to deliver an 8-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU.

This powerhouse of a chip brings about a substantial performance upgrade, making tasks from daily productivity to intensive photo and video editing faster and more efficient than ever before.

The inclusion of up to 24GB of unified memory further bolsters the MacBook Air’s capability to handle multitasking and demanding applications seamlessly.

Apple’s focus on immersive gaming experiences is evident with the MacBook Air’s support for hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing.

Additionally, the enhanced media capabilities, including AV1 decode, ensure superior video streaming quality.

The MacBook Air’s prowess in AI applications is significantly boosted by the M3 chip’s faster 16-core Neural Engine, making it the go-to consumer laptop for AI-related tasks.

The MacBook Air maintains its iconic thin and light design, boasting up to 18 hours of battery life and a stunning Liquid Retina display.

The latest iteration now supports connectivity with up to two external displays and offers up to 2x faster Wi-Fi than its predecessors, making it an even more versatile and powerful tool for professionals and creatives alike.

M3 MacBook Air: World’s Best Consumer Laptop for AI?

Apple is positioning the M3 MacBook Air as a leading device for AI applications due to its 16-core Neural Engine and additional accelerators in the CPU and GPU that enhance on-device machine learning capabilities.

This setup allows the MacBook Air to support advanced AI functions, with macOS providing features that boost productivity and creativity.

Users can utilize real-time speech to text, translation, text predictions, and more, thanks to the powerful AI performance.

The ecosystem around the MacBook Air includes apps like Goodnotes 6 and Pixelmator Pro, which use AI for tasks such as homework assistance and photo enhancement.

The device’s unified memory architecture ensures efficient running of AI models, such as large language models and image generation models, locally.

Additionally, the MacBook Air supports cloud-based AI solutions, allowing for the use of apps like Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, Canva, and Adobe Firefly, which leverage AI for productivity and creativity.

M3 MacBook Air: Battery Life

The M3 MacBook Air models offer up to 18 hours of video playback using the Apple TV app and can achieve up to 15 hours of browsing over wireless internet.

Apple positions these battery life figures as indicative of a device that can sustain a user’s needs throughout an entire day.

In terms of battery capacity, the 13-inch model is equipped with a 52.6-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery, whereas the 15-inch variant comes with a larger 66.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery.

When compared to the previous M2 MacBook Air models, the battery life remains unchanged, maintaining the same performance despite the sleek and minimalist design of the Air lineup.

This design slightly limits the battery life when compared to the base 14-inch M3 Pro MacBook Pro laptop and the 16-inch M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro models.

However, the M3 MacBook Air models match the mid and high-tier M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro models in providing the same 18 hours of video playback and even extend the wireless web usage time by an additional 3 hours.

FAQs

What are the major improvements in the M3 MacBook Air?

The M3 MacBook Air is powered by the new M3 chip, offering up to 60% faster performance compared to the M1 model, with advanced AI capabilities, better battery life, and enhanced media and gaming features, making it a top choice for productivity, creativity, and everyday use.

When can I buy the M3 MacBook Air and how much does it cost?

You can pre-order the M3 MacBook Air starting March 4, with official availability from March 8.

The 13-inch model starts at Rs 114,900, and the 15-inch model at Rs 134,900, with special pricing for education and additional savings for HDFC Bank Credit Card users.

How does the M3 chip enhance AI applications on the MacBook Air?

The M3 chip’s 16-core Neural Engine, along with AI accelerators, boosts on-device machine learning capabilities, enabling advanced AI functions and efficient running of AI models.

This makes the MacBook Air ideal for applications requiring AI, such as real-time translation and photo enhancement.

What features make the M3 MacBook Air stand out for professional and creative use?

The M3 MacBook Air stands out with its 3-nanometer technology for faster performance, support for hardware-accelerated mesh shading, ray tracing for immersive gaming, and AV1 decode for superior streaming quality.

Its thin, light design, and long battery life also make it highly portable for professionals on the go.

How does the battery life of the M3 MacBook Air compare to previous models?

The M3 MacBook Air maintains up to 18 hours of video playback and up to 15 hours of web browsing, matching the mid and high-tier M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro models in video playback and extending wireless web usage time, offering a full day’s use on a single charge.

Apple unveils the new 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air with the powerful M3 chip. Details?

Apple today announced the new MacBook Air with the powerful M3 chip, taking its incredible combination of power-efficient performance and portability to a new level.

With M3, MacBook Air is up to 60 percent faster than the model with the M1 chip and up to 13x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air.1 And with a faster and more efficient Neural Engine in M3, MacBook Air continues to be the world’s best consumer laptop for AI.

The 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air both feature a strikingly thin and light design, up to 18 hours of battery life,1 a stunning Liquid Retina display, and new capabilities, including support for up to two external displays and up to 2x faster Wi-Fi than the previous generation.

With its durable aluminium unibody enclosure that’s built to last, the new MacBook Air is available in four gorgeous colours: midnight, which features a breakthrough anodisation seal to reduce fingerprints; starlight; space grey; and silver.

Combined with its world-class camera, mics, and speakers; MagSafe charging; its silent, fanless design; and macOS, MacBook Air delivers an unrivalled experience — making the 13-inch model the world’s bestselling laptop and the 15-inch model the world’s bestselling 15-inch laptop. Customers can order starting today, with availability beginning Friday, March 8.

How is the performance with M3?

Blazing-Fast Performance with M3

Built using industry-leading 3-nanometer technology, the M3 chip brings even faster performance and more capabilities to MacBook Air. Featuring a powerful 8-core CPU, up to a 10-core GPU, and support for up to 24GB of unified memory, the new MacBook Air is up to 60 percent faster than the model with M1 and up to 13x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air.

It also features up to 18 hours of battery life, which is up to six hours longer than an Intel-based MacBook Air.1 Users will feel the blazing speed of M3 in everything they do, from everyday productivity, to demanding tasks like photo and video editing, and software development.

And with the next-generation GPU of M3, the new MacBook Air supports hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, offering more accurate lighting, reflections, and shadows for extremely realistic gaming experiences.

It also includes the latest media engine with support for AV1 decode, providing more efficient and higher-quality video experiences from streaming services.

M3 takes MacBook Air performance even further:

Game titles like No Man’s Sky run up to 60 percent faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air with the M1 chip.

Enhancing an image with AI using Photomator’s Super Resolution feature is up to 40 percent faster than the 13-inch model with the M1 chip, and up to 15x faster for customers who haven’t upgraded to a Mac with Apple silicon.

Working in Excel spreadsheets is up to 35 percent faster than the 13-inch model with the M1 chip, and up to 3x faster for customers who haven’t upgraded to a Mac with Apple silicon.

Video editing in Final Cut Pro is up to 60 percent faster than the 13-inch model with the M1 chip, and up to 13x faster for customers who haven’t upgraded to a Mac with Apple silicon.1

Compared to a PC laptop with an Intel Core i7 processor, MacBook Air delivers up to 2x faster performance, up to 50 percent faster web browsing, and up to 40 percent longer battery life.

Is MacBook Air with M3 the World’s Best Consumer Laptop for AI ?

With the transition to Apple silicon, every Mac is a great platform for AI. M3 includes a faster and more efficient 16-core Neural Engine, along with accelerators in the CPU and GPU to boost on-device machine learning, making MacBook Air the world’s best consumer laptop for AI.

Leveraging this incredible AI performance, macOS delivers intelligent features that enhance productivity and creativity, so users can enable powerful camera features, real-time speech to text, translation, text predictions, visual understanding, accessibility features, and much more.

With a broad ecosystem of apps that deliver advanced AI features, users can do everything from checking their homework with AI Math Assistance in Goodnotes 6, to automatically enhancing photos in Pixelmator Pro. Combined with the unified memory architecture of Apple silicon, MacBook Air can also run optimised AI models, including large language models (LLMs) and diffusion models for image generation locally with great performance.

In addition to on-device performance, MacBook Air supports cloud-based solutions, enabling users to run powerful productivity and creative apps that tap into the power of AI, such as Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365, Canva, and Adobe Firefly.

Is MacBook Air with M3 World’s Most Popular Laptop ?

More people choose MacBook Air over any other laptop, and M3 raises the bar yet again with its phenomenal combination of performance, portability, and capabilities users love:

Two perfect sizes in a super-portable design: With a durable aluminium enclosure that’s built to last, the 13- and 15‑inch MacBook Air have fantastic battery life, are incredibly light, and are less than half an inch thin, so users can work, play, or create from anywhere.

The 13-inch model provides the ultimate in portability, while the 15-inch model offers even more screen real estate for multitasking. There’s a perfect size for everyone, from students on the go to business professionals who prefer a larger screen.

Gorgeous Liquid Retina display: MacBook Air features a brilliant 13.6- or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display with up to 500 nits of brightness, support for 1 billion colours, and up to 2x the resolution of comparable PC laptops. Content looks vivid with sharp detail, and text appears super crisp.

Support for up to two external displays: MacBook Air with M3 now supports up to two external displays when the laptop lid is closed — perfect for business users, or anyone who requires multiple displays for multitasking across apps or spreading out documents at the same time.

Versatile connectivity: MacBook Air with M3 features Wi-Fi 6E, which delivers download speeds that are up to twice as fast as the previous generation. It also includes MagSafe charging and two Thunderbolt ports for connecting accessories, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Camera, mics, and speakers: With a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, users will look their best whether they’re connecting with friends and family, or collaborating with coworkers around the world.

Users will also sound their best with a three-mic array and enhanced voice clarity on audio and video calls. MacBook Air features an immersive sound system with support for Spatial Audio along with Dolby Atmos, so users can enjoy three-dimensional soundstages for music and movies.

Magic Keyboard and Touch ID: The comfortable and quiet backlit Magic Keyboard comes with a full-height function row with Touch ID, giving users a fast, easy, and secure way to unlock their Mac; sign in to apps and websites; and make purchases with Apple Pay — all with the touch of a finger.

What’s the Magic of macOS ?

Together with macOS, the MacBook Air experience is unrivalled:

macOS Sonoma: Users can now place widgets right on the desktop, interact with them with just a click, and even access the extensive ecosystem of iPhone widgets on MacBook Air.

Video conferencing gets more engaging with great features like Presenter Overlay and Reactions. Profiles in Safari keep browsing separate between multiple topics or projects, while web apps provide faster access to favourite websites. And gaming gets even better with Game Mode.

Enhanced productivity: All users, including business professionals, can take advantage of the expansive display on MacBook Air with Split View, or spread out across screens with support for up to two external displays. Features like Stage Manager also help users like students focus on the task in front of them.

Better with iPhone: With Continuity, MacBook Air works seamlessly across iPhone and other Apple devices. Features like AirDrop allow users to share and receive photos, documents, and more across nearby Apple devices.

Universal Clipboard lets users easily copy images, video, or text from an app on one Apple device, and effortlessly paste them into another app on a nearby Mac. Continuity Camera makes it easy for users to scan or take a picture of something nearby with their iPhone and have it appear instantly on their Mac. And Handoff lets them start a task like answering an email on one Apple device and easily finish it on another.

Wide array of apps: MacBook Air comes with powerful apps built in, including FaceTime, Freeform, iMovie, GarageBand, and Photos, as well as productivity apps including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, making it easy for users to create amazing work.

And with thousands of apps optimised for Apple silicon, all of users’ go-to apps run incredibly fast in macOS — including Microsoft 365 and many of their favourite iOS apps.

How is MacBook Air with M3 better for environment ?

The new MacBook Air is the first Apple product to be made with 50 percent recycled content, including 100 percent recycled aluminium in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets and, in another first for Apple, 100 percent recycled copper in the main logic board.

MacBook Air meets Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency, and is free of mercury, brominated flame retardants, and PVC. The packaging is 99 percent fibre-based, bringing Apple closer to its goal to remove plastic from all packaging by 2025.

Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to be carbon neutral across the entire manufacturing supply chain and the life cycle of every product.

What is price & availability of MacBook Air with M3?

Customers can order the new MacBook Air with M3 starting Monday, March 4, on apple.com/in/store and in the Apple Store app in 28 countries and regions, including the U.S. It will begin arriving to customers, and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers, starting Friday, March 8.

The 13-inch MacBook Air with M3 starts at INR 114,900 and INR 104,900 for education, and the 15‑inch MacBook Air with M3 starts at INR 134,900 and INR 124,900 for education. Both are available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space grey.

The 13-inch MacBook Air with M2, available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space grey, now starts at INR 99,900 and INR 89,900 for education.

Every customer who buys a Mac from their Apple Store can enjoy a free Online Personal Session with an Apple Specialist, get their product set up — including help with data transfer — and receive guidance on how to get the most out of their new Mac.

Also Read: Upcoming MacBook Air Models to Likely Have Massive Performance Boost: What We Know So Far

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