48 Hours With the M3 MacBook Air Base Model: Has Anything Changed?

[@billb8262]

The beauty of the M1 MBA vs the M2 or M3 MBA is that the M1 didn’t heat up like crazy and then have to throttle. It was able to sustain performance longer without slowing down to cool down. It’s an interesting point because throttling down means losing that very power we pay for to get the newer processor.

[@jjaamm]

Yeah, but even with throttling newer m2 or m3 are more powerful. So you lose about 5% performance when your m2/3 starts throttling but it still more powerful than the m1 at 15-50%

[@MH-dc4qe]

The SSD uses 2 nand chips now on the base 256gb M3 Macbook Airs now. So the SSDs are faster now compared to the M2.

[@nunuvyurbiz123]

True. Of course, anyone who only needs 256GB probably doesn't care about the dual channel SSD access. Everyone who does is very likely to upgrade to 512GB or more.

[@piotrd.4850]

@@nunuvyurbiz123 anyone who needs 16/512 will buy M1 Pro 14"

[@Ravi7n]

Does this help with the RAM after used Apple's nand chip?

[@bryans8656]

Thanks for another informative video. I think for the person who is going to be using the laptop for simple day-to-day tasks the base model M2 MBA will be more than adequate. However, something that is frequently overlooked in the discussion of memory is how long these things last. That extra $200 for 16GB of memory spread out over four or five years becomes pennies per month.

[@SnoringVids]

I just bought the 16GB but $200 for 8GB is such a crock!

[@JoeS97756]

not pennies, like $4 actually.

[@souravas]

I think Apple fixed the slowness with 256 GB SSD in M3.

[@j3sv1n]

Not really, the M1 is still way faster

[@shitvideoquality4856]

@@j3sv1nin terms of write speed that is the case, but at least they reverted back to dual nands

[@Niasyy]

@@j3sv1nno noticeable

[@andylee7862]

2 x 128GB flash ssd

[@nasdoc1]

Why is no one talking about this?

[@Cute_Maxi]

The intro price should be for a 512gb ssd and 16gb ram... and the upgrade prices need to be cut by 50%... it's insane that a 15in macbook air with 1tb ssd and 24gb of ram costs $2300... do you know what $2300 gets you on the windows side? Like my god apple, please stop.

[@andyH_England]

Actually asking Apple to have 16GB/512GB base at £1100 when all premium ultrabooks Windows (with only an iGPU) machines start around £1500-1600 sounds like you are flexing or have no idea how the market works. Why would Apple have to lower prices to £1100 and not the XPS 14 or the Galaxy Book4 Pro (or the upcoming LG GRAM and Surface Laptop)? Could it be that is the equilibrium price of 512GB/16GB is £1500-1600 for premium ultrabooks and you are just having unrealistic expectations? I never see Windows reviews with you complaining, so I think it is anti-Apple. All Apple does is also offer cheaper options for those of us that have used 8GB for 30 years and have no issues and who like me use minimal storage (

[@albabzel4405]

No windows laptop that costs more than 1000$ comes with 256gb of storage or 8gb of ram and even if they do most likely you can upgrade them. I despise apple's business practices and dont understand people deffending them ​@andyH_England

[@andyH_England]

@@albabzel4405 My Galaxy book3 Pro 360 from last year came with 8GB/256GB and was £2050. Dell could not have 8GB/256GB this year as Core Ultra has minimum specs of 16GB/512GB, so their price has gone up to £1600. But both 12th & 13th gen XPS 13 had the base 8GB. Dell now sell both of these for people that cannot afford 16GB variant and 13 Gen is £1000 ($1200). So please do not post fake news, as it is easily disproven.

[@tonyg3091]

Never had a Windows laptop that lasted 10 years and counting, so yeah, I stay with Mac

[@jebaker2]

I did upgrade from M2 to M3 MBA but it was to get a 15" mostly. I figured if I'm buying, I might as well get the latest & greatest.

[@SnoringVids]

Have you received it? Ours is supposed to be here later this month

[@palomahombre9208]

I upgraded a macbook air from 2011 with opencore still the greatest laptop ever, but I also ordered a M3 macbook, will this be the Crown beater?

[@dmrabasa]

Can you share which dock did you use that allows 2 monitors?

[@NRS2019]

which color is favorable considering we see fewer fingerprints/scratches/dents etc.?

[@isabellashorts13]

Just bought the m3 with 16gb ram and 256gb storage as I was tight on budget but I always carry external ssd with me so I don’t have any issue and this thing is super fast

[@mayacarspt]

my first upgrade in a while also, coming from the 12" Macbook. Been great all this time, but now showing some slowing down signs

[@shivammalhotra8697]

Wait, what? Slowing down, this early?

[@mayacarspt]

@@shivammalhotra8697 its already 8 years old almost 12" MacBook, basic tasks are still okay, but multi apps/projects it breaks a bit

[@bluetech2809]

@@shivammalhotra8697 I guess he means the 12 inch old macbook is showing signs of slowing down

[@or123and]

Is the sound quality the same as on M2 Air? I'm asking because i felt M2 Air was a step back compared to M1 Air, which had better sound (wider Stereo)

[@jakobbrown1913]

Hi, he said it was same sound as m2, but could have been overlooked

[@jutjub22]

Yeah, MBA M3 13" sound is pretty bad, sounds like mono because speakers reflect the sound in middle against the screen, MBP 13" had much better and wider sound stage. Also M3 gets pretty hot for lap usage.

[@andyH_England]

I have 3.5-Y-O base MB Pro 13 M1 and it is as fast as when new and RAM management is fantastic. 8GB is easily enough but I do not game, or use RAM-intensive apps. Mainly office, browser, email, social media, watching media, etc. It has no issues, so 8Gb is a great price and works brilliant. My usage shows that with RAM compression and swap the M2 MB Air can easily handle 10-12GB of light apps before you need to jetsam app RAM cache or start using slower flash storage. The M3 has dual NAND in the 256GB SSD so that would mean 12-14GB of light apps RAM usage before it needs to touch flash storage (it uses dRAM first). That would be enough for the vast majority of light users. which as the MB Air is fanless is the target audience; basically a premium "Chromebook" that has a better OS. But, if you can afford it, 16GB is always useful as Macs work by pre-loading cache into RAM for faster access, so more RAM equals more cache for preloading. For example, my 16GB MB Pro M1 will have 12GB of RAM in use versus 7GB on my MB Air with the same apps open. The extra 4-5GB is simply preloaded cache that can be jetsam or moved to swap if the system needs more hardwired RAM.

[@jwood291]

another great informative video. Curious is there a link to the golden wallpaper on your Mac?

[@bluetech2809]

It wasn't really that informative IMO, especially for a seven minute video. Basically all we got was "you should get 16GB RAM". He could've said that right at the start boom done.

[@rsuplido]

Is that a single cable with two thunderbolt 3/4 connectors at 4:07? Can you provide a link to that cable?

[@felipesl8228]

If I wanna use only Lightroom should be good with 8gb ram?

[@Symeeen]

What did you end up deciding and did it work out for you?

[@nrkhtm]

Can this be edited using Adobe Premier Pro?

[@patham9]

Much more portable than the Pro 14, I think the Pro is more capable but the Air is perfection.

[@nicolasb.henry294]

I will stay with the M2 I´ve bought it a few weeks ago and thought to change it at Apple but finally the differences don't worth it. I have an iMac as main machine and also use an iPad 9 so this M2 just fits for me and it is a very good laptop. I do photo editing on this machine and it is very capable. So for the moment no change until the M4, M5 will come.

[@SF-kl3fl]

Should I trade my MacBook m1 8gb 256gb for $455 and get the M3 16 gb 512gb? Thoughts? Thanks!

[@shameermulji]

Yes. I would.

[@Maybaby1959]

I’ll keep my macbook 2011 until something better comes out

[@arnavsarna4067]

Hey should i get a MBA M2 13 INCH 16gb 512 gb or MBA M3 15 INCH 8gb 256gb ( for nursing school )

[@starataneori]

Let say my job is just reading pdf documents, writing in Word and browsing the web. I will connect this to an external monitor. So should I opt for 8gb or 16gb. I know most people will say just get the 16gb for future proofing but thats a 600 dollars difference! I can do so many things with that money.

[@ivorysteele]

Always 16 GB

[@laurengrippaldi7424]

I got the starlight 15 inch MacBook Air with 16 gb ram and 512 gb ssd so it will last me 5-7 years for college and trading in my MacBook Pro 2020.

[@valiant048]

which bachelors u studying i just bought 8gb ram 256gb ssd 15” i am studying law and im hopeing the same to last for 5-6 years

[@laurengrippaldi7424]

@@valiant048 I am getting psychology bachelors degree and then going for my masters or doctorate still deciding

[@arominized]

SSDs going as fast as how money on my wallet went...

[@BOBBY-xd5wd]

I have the MBP 2019. Should I get the Air M3 or Pro M3?

[@kalborger21]

yes

[@raijamshed2315]

Yes because you are missing a major upgrade from Apple their silicone m1 m3 chips

[@BOBBY-xd5wd]

@@raijamshed2315 wish they continue the touchbar it's useful for my productivity

[@laurengrippaldi7424]

I have MacBook Pro 2020 and am upgrading to the air m3

[@raijamshed2315]

@@laurengrippaldi7424 great i hv got m3 air and its superb portable

[@liggerstuxin1]

M1 is still great for me

[@abdinasirmusa8777]

It cant be opened with one finger.

[@macbp41]

Hi, I'm a student and I'd like to know if the M3 base model is capable of doing tasks for research, ms excel / google sheets, docs, ms teams, jamovi, tableau, canva, and figma (only light use/free version)? My workflow revolves around these applications and let me know if its feasible. Also, what browser would you recommend (aside from safari), that is not heavy on ram?

[@afi272]

Hey, i'm a ui/ux designer who's currently taking a master's degree in design, so we basically use similar apps. I just bought the 16GB/512GB M3 Macbook Air last week. Initially, i considered getting the base model (8GB/256GB) because it was more affordable, but I had some reservations since the base model didn’t seem like it would be enough. So, I ended up watching tons of reviews and comparison videos between the base model and the 16GB/512GB version. After watching several vids, I'd say the 8GB model would still be sufficient for light tasks but would suffer when multitasking (for example: opening several figma files while browsing, listening to music, and opening excel all at the same time). If you have the money, the ram upgrade would def benefit you bcs it allows u to work on heavier projects while multitasking. However, if you're sorta low on funds i'd suggest going for the M2 model with bigger ram. Hope this helps!

[@aelaan12]

I think the M3 should really have waited until after WWDC - imagine having bought just the new M2 (like I did with my MacBook Pro MAX) and 10 months later they go like: Well it sucks to be you here is the M3 Max. There has to be a more predictable release rate, these are very expensive laptops. Apple does not want to do CES or any type of show, so we never know when we should wait or upgrade.

[@alexandross_g]

Well 2 weeks ago I bought the M2 15 inch... I'm extremely disappointed cause the laptop was in the market around 8 months, and then suddenly M3 was out and my Mac was 150 euros cheaper so I just lost 150 euros and the possibility to have the latest chip

[@andyH_England]

The rumours had been out for many months, in fact since Apple release the M3 MB Pro 14 in Q3/2023. So it was expected Q1/2024. The M2 was a stop-gap due to the delay at TSMC of their 3nm chips. So it was always going to be a shorter upgrade cycle. But I do understand where you are coming from, but as an M2 owner you are not missing much apart from paying extra, and within a cycle of a model, that is always a risk.

[@aelaan12]

@@alexandross_g Exactly my point, I had the same with my M2 MBP last year. I like my laptop a lot, so I am less disappointed because I bought the M2Max, and it is superfast. But it is the same as it happened in 2019m I don't understand why Apple is doing this. For resale, I have lost already 1500 dollars here in Canada. Each time I tell myself that it is the last time.... but I must be a sheeple... lol

[@alqersan]

Is it worth to upgrade form intel i7 16gb 16 inch to 13 MacBook Air M3 ,16gb? Or jump to macbook pro 14 with 16gb, my work on Lightroom/photoshop and a light video editing in 4k ?? Whats your opinion

[@tamilkathirap7861]

Air is fine. Pro is a overkill

[@jae52247]

If those are just light work / hobby, stuff, the Air should be able to handle it just fine. Sure, it may be a few seconds or minutes slower than the Pro, depending on work you throw at it. But, you should be fine with it unless you have special needs for what the Pro offers exclusively. The Pro comes with a SD card slot and a better and bigger screen while the Air does not. You can obviously buy a dongle, but that is an additional thing to buy and carry. For the vast majority of people, the Air models should be fine. The only issue is that once you start upgrading components such as RAM and SSD, it gets dangerously close to the Pro territory, which is by design.

[@Baubey]

Bought it cause my Intel MacBook Pro was dying. Just sucks that it has only 8gb of RAM, but for my usage it's OK. Good old Total War games run just fine on it. The most impressive, coming from an Intel Mac, is the battery. My GOD! It last like 10x longer (no joke) than my last Mac :O ! It's sooooo satisfying. And the fact that I can use it on the couch or on a pillow without having to worry about blocking the fan is nice.

[@andyH_England]

It does not only have 8GB, it has 16GB or 24GB. So RAM is not your problem it is that it will cost you £200 to upgrade to 16GB. But if you buy an XPS 14 or Galaxy Book4 Pro 14-inch, they start at 16GB/512GB and cost £1600!

[@King91OM]

Just get the M2 Air refurbished like I did. Lol

[@andyH_England]

Most people upgrading from the M1 or M2 are doing so to get the 15-inch version of the MB Air, which may be a good enough reason. As for pricing you are looking at it the absolute wrong way. To buy a MB Air M3 16gb/512GB costs $1500. That would not change if it was the base model. Instead Apple uses demand side economics to increase sales by offering lower configs at lower prices to attarct people that cannot afford $1500. Sound business. Why would you want Apple to stop doing this. And before you say Apple should lower the 512GB/16GB price, you should compare with XPS 14, LG GRAM, Surface Laptop, Galaxy Book4 Pro. All their premium 2024 ultrabooks with 512GB/16GB are around £1500-1600. Maybe, as Windows has 90% of the market share, you should be asking them to lower proces not a smaller OS like Apple?

[@tonyg3091]

I bumped mine to 24 gigs ram, hope it is good

[@abdinasirmusa8777]

You should have bought the Pro then

[@tonyg3091]

@@abdinasirmusa8777 Nah, for the purposes I need the Air for it is absolutely perfect. For Pro I will wait for the M4

[@AkhileshYadav-qj8hq]

Wallpaper link

[@harrisonandamanda_]

Where is your snowcapped mountain wallpaper from??

[@maesc2001]

Extreme future proofing? Bro 😂

[@Errcyco]

I’ve had the M1 Air since launch and it’s worked flawless up til December.. that big update has made the charging wonkey and I’ve had three kernel panics. All I do is stream KZbin .. It’s in almost perfect shape other than that. Thought about tazing it in for an M3 but I realized there’s no way I’m giving this laptop up. The M3 is an M2S lol.. just a fixed version of a rushed product.

[@nikitaustyansev4759]

yo I can't just buy 16 gb of ram. in my country it's not EVEN CLOSE to a 200$ upgrade. it's around 500$ JUST FOR an EXTRA 8 GB OF RAM. What should I choose ? M3 macbook air 8 gb or a windows laptop ? I make music in FL Studio and simple photoshop / video editing.

[@somnia3423]

8gb shared ram is criminal tho x.x

[@dpav02]

Along with 256SSD

[@andyH_England]

There is a 512GB/16GB option so it isnt criminal, it is an added choice which no 2024 Windows ultrabook offers!

[@somnia3423]

@@andyH_England 512 gb is awfull 1tb/16 should be the minimum

[@PhillJamess]

I cant believe how similar u look to David So lol

[@kevinrenstrm9347]

I'm your 51st like!

[@spinthewin]

Its notch looks so bad.