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I have been using MacBook for almost 14 years. Call me a creature of habit, but when it came time to upgrade my laptop after six devices, it was clear that my next device would be another addition to the Apple lineup.
Before, the decision was easy. I’m a power user with professional needs, and only a MacBook Pro can do that. Not so anymore. Apple’s M series completely turned the game around, outpacing the competition from Intel and AMD in everything but gaming. The M3-powered MacBook Air piqued my curiosity.
A professional user needs a Pro device. The MacBook Air turns that idea on its head.
However, I once burned my fingers on a MacBook Air. This device lasted a few weeks before I turned it in and upgraded to a MacBook Pro. But despite my concerns, I decided to try the brand new MacBook Air M3 on the Pro. I don’t regret it. This is the reason.
Do you own a new MacBook Air (M series)?
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Why did you choose MacBook Air?
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My work involves research, reading and staying up to date with the latest news. It’s not unusual to have dozens of tabs open at the same time. Also, I usually have Photoshop or Lightroom open and Spotify and Slack running in the background. Add the idea for note taking and some other utilities and your workload increases.
This amount of work alone has left my old MacBook Pro gasping in the past. In fact, I can’t remember a time when the fan wasn’t running at full speed. Of course I can learn to manage my computational load better, but chaotic goodness is usually my default working state. I expect my device to be able to hold up, and I don’t mind pushing the laptop to its limits.
My work style is chaotic and good, and I hope my tools keep up with the pace.
However, lately I’ve been feeling the urge to use a different device. As I travel more and keep up with age, I’m starting to appreciate the convenience of a lightweight laptop. And more importantly, since the pandemic has been long, I prefer to work in cafes or while traveling. A long battery life is a must for me. It was clear that I needed to upgrade my massive Intel MacBook Pro, and the new M3-powered MacBook Air seemed like the obvious choice. I was willing to compromise on performance if necessary.
How does the M3 powered MacBook Air work?
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Turns out, there’s nothing to worry about. The MacBook Air rounds out my old Pro without breaking a sweat. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s used a recent M-series MacBook. But be patient.
100 chrome tabs? No sweat. Runs circles around my M3 powered MacBook Air.
I am heavier than the average laptop user. When I mention opening Chrome tabs, it’s not just a few or even dozens. I often have 50 or even a hundred tabs spread across the browser and macOS desktop. I’ve been using the 16GB RAM and 512GB storage variant of the MacBook Air and haven’t experienced any lag at any point. He continued to scream like any other day.
To be sure, browser-based workflows can’t provide a complete picture of laptop performance, but creative apps do. I use a full range of creative applications between Da Vinci Resolve, Premier Pro, Photoshop and Lightroom. This is where performance improvements start to become visible. Apple knows its audience and switching to the M-series of silicon has given it the freedom to create media accelerators and NPUs specifically tailored to the needs of its customers.
Compared to my old Intel Mac’s hour-long thermal breakdown when displaying 4K video, the MacBook Air does it in seconds. Day and night difference.
The M3 Silicon’s NPU improvements go a long way towards adding to its utility.
Before considering the M3-powered MacBook Air, I briefly considered buying an M1 or M2 device instead. As great as the M3 version is, signature changes like dual-screen support and a new anodized finish don’t seem that important. However, the thing about building a machine so far ahead of the curve is that generational improvements don’t seem all that great. To be fair, I borrowed a friend’s M1 series MacBook Air. While the M1 chip was still far ahead of my Intel MacBook Pro, putting the two side by side painted a more accurate picture of the noticeable speed improvement with the M3. In fact, the M3 MacBook proved to be nearly twice as fast as the M1 MacBook Air for many of my daily tasks.
One of the biggest upgrades this year was the neural engine. It is optimized for machine learning and AI-based tasks and is said to be up to 60% faster than the M1 silicon model. If there’s one thing to say about the Apple ecosystem, it’s the fact that popular developers quickly develop features that push the boundaries of hardware. Apps like Luminar Neo take full advantage of the NPU core to provide features like fast coordination and generative AI. If this is your use case, you will definitely notice improvements over the years.
But after three weeks, this laptop’s ability to deliver amazing performance without sacrificing battery life is truly astounding. Apple’s 18-hour figure is a little hard to guess because I don’t sit at a computer with a stopwatch in my hand. However, I have been using this laptop for three days without charging. In the meantime, I wrote this whole post, thought and wrote two videos, edited them and watched a movie on Netflix. It’s crazy!
Beautifully flawed
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But despite all these positives, it is clear to me that the M-Silicon series is still not perfect. For example, when the MacBook Air M3 got dual-screen support with the update, you had to close the lid to activate it.
While this isn’t a problem, I find it ridiculous since I’m used to having my laptop screen open as a third monitor. Plus, you’re not just losing screen space. The MacBook Air uses its own keyboard to dissipate heat. When the screen is off and the laptop performs computationally intensive tasks on both displays, there is a noticeable drop in performance due to reduced heat dissipation. For example, my video playback time nearly doubled in a quick test. It was still very fast, but the difference was noticeable and negated some of the advantages of faster chips.
Even Apple has to realize how ridiculous it is to ship a $1,100 laptop with 8GB of RAM.
Elsewhere, Apple’s policies remain painful. Shipping 8GB of RAM as standard on a 2024 laptop is fun, but not as ridiculous as Apple’s RAM upgrade prices. Here’s the thing: I understand Apple’s reasoning about the standard amount of RAM. With tight software and hardware integration and fast RAM, you’ll likely never run out of RAM in normal usage. I borrowed an M2 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and was surprised at how well it handled an average workload. The system seamlessly handles memory swapping and makes any RAM limitations clear to users.
In fact, accessing the Page Exchange area on my 16GB machine requires conscious effort and very heavy usage. It’s also worth mentioning that someone buying an entry-level MacBook Air probably won’t be an avid user anyway. But Apple’s decision to stick with 8GB as the default is pure stubbornness. It will cost the company some money to upgrade the base size of RAM and eliminate any bad compression. In an age where phones ship with more RAM than your laptop, charging only the essentials and advancing capitalism costs an arm and a leg.
The terrible port situation is made worse by the unstable rear adjustment.
Finally, I had a lot of problems with my old hardware with my new MacBook. For example, my mechanical keyboard lags when plugged into a power outlet. My OWC Thunderbolt device does not work with my MacBook Air nor does my guitar amp work with my laptop. When a device runs erratically, I blame the peripheral. However, several devices not working properly indicate compatibility issues with Mac devices
MacBook Air M3: The laptop is perfect
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It’s hard not to be impressed with the MacBook Air. Apple seems to have mastered the magic of delivering high-end laptop-like performance with a device shaped like a cool Chromebook. It represents a whole new era of mobile computing. When it comes to Apple laptops, in my experience, the distinction between user demographics has never been clearer.
The MacBook Air clearly outshines its Ultra HD origins and is the clear choice for all but professionals and big spenders.
The MacBook Air is no longer just Apple’s battery life-focused laptop. It has enough power to satisfy enthusiasts. The Pro Series is now truly something for professionals. If you’re a professional whose livelihood depends on lightning-fast editing, slick music production, or compiling large codebases, you should definitely go with Pro. Or maybe you want to treat yourself and enjoy the best. That doesn’t hurt either. But overall, the average amateur YouTube creator, SoundCloud music producer, and weekend photographer will have a hard time worrying about the limitations of the current MacBook Air lineup.
Early adopters of the Silicon M series can laugh at me for enjoying Apple’s latest notebook. However, I am one of the thousands of users, if not millions, who will eventually upgrade to a new MacBook within five years of the Intel MacBook Air’s life cycle. With the M3 series, Apple has perfected the formula and released a laptop that meets the needs of 90% of users. I would even say that this is the best value for money device that Apple has ever released, due to the amazing performance.