With only the slightest of fanfare, Apple snuck out a Monday-morning announcement of two new MacBook Air laptops, packing M3 processors. These are a major upgrade to the 13-inch MacBook Air M2 design from 2022, and the larger 15-inch Air M2 model introduced in the summer of 2023. Both M3 Airs launch this week, with the 13-inch M3 model starting at $1,099.Overshadowed by these new Macs, though, Apple slashed the pricing on its base M2 MacBook Air to $999. That makes it the new most-affordable option for Mac laptop shoppers. And given everything that Apple improved about the MacBook Air with the M2 revision, that’s awesome news.First, though, let’s have a moment of silence for the now-discontinued M1 version of the Apple MacBook Air, which debuted in 2020. This 13-incher was the first Apple Silicon-based MacBook Air, and it was the last of the once-ubiquitous wedge-shaped Air designs that Apple issued for nearly a decade. Once its base model fell to $999, it held the budget buyer’s starting spot for some time, serving as an easy go-to laptop pick for college students and budget-strapped creative types. RIP. I’m sure we’ll see deeply discounted M1 models from various retailers for the next few months.Air Heir Apparent: The MacBook Air With M2With the launch of the new M3-powered MacBook Air, what does $999 get you with the M2 MacBook Air, versus the original M1 variety?
The 2022 MacBook Air 13-inch, now starting at $999 (Credit: Molly Flores)
Important to know: The $999 price point is specifically for the base model of the 13-inch MacBook Air M2, which comes equipped with the Apple M2 processor, an eight-core GPU, 8GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD for storage. Along with the base specs, this 2022-vintage MacBook Air features a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display (technically, the “13-inch” MacBook Air is a bit larger-screened than 13 inches), a 1080p FaceTime camera, MagSafe charging, twin Thunderbolt ports, and support for just one external display.That $999 price point drops lower for the education market: $899, for the same M2 base model. To get that extra savings on this and other Apple products, you’ll need to shop through the Apple Education Store, select the product and configuration you want, and proceed to checkout. (You may need to verify that you are a student or teacher by providing an active .edu email address from your school, and possibly a photo of a student or academic ID.)
(Credit: Molly Flores)
If you want to step up in capability, Apple still sells a 10-core-GPU version of the M2 MacBook Air, paired with 8GB of memory and a 512GB SSD, for $1,199. You can bump up the memory to 16GB ($200 more) or 24GB ($400 more), and the storage can scale up to 1TB ($200) or 2TB ($600). But the price for these top-end models runs up as high as $2,199 with both the memory and the storage maxed out. That’s far out of the budget zone. The one disappointment of this new $999 announcement: Apple hasn’t mentioned anything about a marked-down version of the M2-based 15-inch MacBook Air. It looks like the larger MacBook Air will only be sold with the current M3 chip, starting March 8.
(Credit: Molly Flores)
The MacBook Air: What $999 Gets You NowWhen I reviewed the M2 MacBook Air in 2022, I was impressed by both the revamped design and the performance and efficiency offered by the M2 chip. The 2022 MacBook Air introduced a new design that uses a thinner logic board, a sleek and slim chassis that did away with the signature taper of previous models, and a larger (13.6-inch) display with improved brightness and color. This bigger Liquid Retina panel shines with 500 nits of brightness; it supports 99% of the P3 color gamut; and its 2,560-by-1,664-pixel native resolution is narrowly sharper than even 1600p.The outgoing M1 MacBook Air, in comparison, included a slightly smaller display (at 13.3 inches) with a 2,560-by-1,600-pixel native resolution, and it still relied on a 720p webcam.
(Credit: Molly Flores)
My only design complaint with the M2 MacBook Air was the introduction of the famous/infamous (take your pick) Apple screen notch. Here, it carves out a section from the top border of the display panel to make room for Apple’s new full HD FaceTime webcam. That’s no different than what you’ll see on the MacBook Pro models, and it’s honestly not a huge compromise. But, if you’re coming from an M1 MacBook Air, it’s a noticeable change.Down in the Chips: M2 vs. M1 MacBook Air PerformanceUnlike the MacBook Pro 14-inch, which has active cooling hardware built in, the MacBook Air uses a passive cooling setup. It relies on the vented chassis keeping the M2 processor reasonably cool without any powered fans. That passive cooling means it runs silent, even under load—with the caveat that it has slower top performance than the MacBook Pro under those same circumstances, despite using the same CPU.That passive cooling also allows for the ultralight design of the Air, which is just 0.44 inch thick and 2.7 pounds, compared with the MacBook Pro 14, which is thicker (0.61 inch) and heavier (3.5 pounds).Comparing the M1 and M2 models directly is a bit of a mixed bag. The M1 MacBook Air came as part of Apple’s initial move to Apple Silicon, which required us, at the time, to update some of our relevant benchmark tests. We’ve heavily refined our test lineup in the four years since, so we don’t have comparable numbers across all of our Mac tests, but what we have is enough to show that the M2 offers better performance—most of the time, anyway.
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In productivity tests that stress the processor, we saw the M2 Air get faster results in our Handbrake video transcoding task, shaving nearly 4 minutes off of the M1’s performance. Geekbench multi-core CPU tests were also improved, with the M2 scoring noticeably higher than the Air M1 in the same test.
Things were a little trickier in Cinebench R23, where the M2 and M1 models both scored well…but the M1 scored slightly better (between 3% and 4% higher, just outside our margin of error). This is likely down to the fanless cooling used in the Air design, and the reality of putting a more powerful (and thus hotter-running) CPU into roughly the same passively cooled space. The hotter chip may have throttled a bit more in that intensive test, which stresses all available processing cores.
We also saw mixed results in our graphics tests. In the more complex GFXBench Aztec Ruins, which runs at 1440p, the M2 MacBook Air handily won, with a much higher score. But in the less-intensive 1080p Car Chase, things switch, and the M1 Air held the lead. Again, this is probably a throttling issue, but it does illustrate the tradeoff of putting more power into close to the same chassis profile.Our battery test, however, hasn’t changed over that time…
The M2 MacBook Air lasted an impressive 16 hours and 49 minutes in our battery rundown benchmark, easily outlasting most other ultraportable laptops. That’s certainly impressive, but not the longest we’ve seen: The M1 model lasted 29 hours, surpassing the M2 Air by more than 12 hours. But the M1 was also a lower-power chip driving a smaller screen.Budget Buyers: Get a Fresher, Faster Air InfusionIf you want the most power that Apple can deliver, or you need to drive more than one display, then the M3-based MacBooks—whether the coming Air models or the existing Pro models—are still your answer. Whether it’s the ultra-slim 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air, the 14-inch MacBook Pro, or a 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro or M3 Max processing, Apple’s laptop lineup is more impressive than ever, even if it does come at a premium.However, before you click that Buy button, seriously consider how much power you really need…and consider the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air. Now at $999, it’s the new most affordable Apple laptop, but it feels far from your typical “budget” laptop in terms of speed and build quality. The M2 chip’s performance isn’t completely blown away by what we saw in the M3 MacBook Pros, and it doesn’t smash the M1 in every test. But the laptop’s feature set is very well-updated compared with the M1 version’s—and its design will still feel impressive and portable for years to come. The numbers make the case, but it’s the laptop’s feel that seals the deal.
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