M3 MacBook Air after a week | developer's machine

[@AZisk]

JOIN: youtube.com/@azisk/join

[@VivekYadav-hx3hp]

This was the video I was searching for. I am Java backend developer, in each macbook review they talk about audio/video editing and 100 other things, but no specific developer use. Thank you so much man. Would really appreciate it if you can create a video on all the M3 macbook possible for developers. Right now I am confused between macbook air M3 16/512 and macbook pro M3 pro 18/512. On rare thought, just to save money what if I buy macbook air M3 8/256, and my use will include some personal web/mobile e2e development along with binge watching, etc.

[@ManeshBPandu]

Hi Alex small doubt is Macbook 16inch intel i9 is still good for .net development? or shall i upgrade to 16gigs m3 macbook air

[@mirrormirage0]

Alex, your channel is a breath of fresh air! Most youtube reviewers stick to just 2 use cases - "Gaming" or "Video Editing". Glad to see you benchmark on programming, virtual machines and more! 💪

[@pixelhen]

I agree with this. I've never been able to find any review that actually fits our scenario exactly like this.. we are not gamer, nor a casual office worker.

[@cliffgarcia7517]

Alex i always learn something on your videos ...pleaseee KEEP DOING IT , for me you are the best DEV youtuber content creator ...from south america

[@AZisk]

too kind 🌞

[@goranmajic4943]

@@AZiskwould be nice if you add the max refresh rate for external displays the next time or in another video.

[@andresj.s.3568]

I’m a developer and find your reviews AMAZING. Very objective and informative with the facts that actually matter before making a purchase. Keep the good work!!

[@qamariw]

I have a M2 Air with 16gb/512gb that I use for web app development and having multiple VM’s running. Still a beast machine.

[@Anthony-kp7sf]

eeeeevery time a new m series chip comes out everyones like "wtf only 8 gbs?!!?!" and then apple does some techno wizardry and shows everybody that for some reason their 8gb is more like 16gb or something. I bought an m1 the week they came out, out of sheer curiosity before the things were too well known and everyone was having melt downs about the gb and swapping. idk what the heck apple does but they might be aliens because honestly these machines are insanity. I run heavy heavy stuff on Logic Pro and cannot make these m chips hit walls unless I'm purposefully trying to do it. oh yeah and the fans don't actually matter. I had an m1 mini with big old fans in it and when you hit a certain point the entire thing just gets hot regardless of how hard the fans are blowing, I think those fans are just there to make people feel more comfortable honestly lol.

[@Cpt.BawsaK]

Same here. Beast of a machine with an insane battery life. Feels like it will last a few years as well.

[@sharkpyro93]

@@Anthony-kp7sf same here, i came from windows and got m1 macbook pro when it came out as my first mac, was amazed that i could do what i do daily with software development with just 8gigs, with a windows machine for equivalent experience i needed 16gb as a bare minimum

[@ven2191]

I was looking to get a laptop for software development, do you think this is a good computer in all realms of software development

[@TheStallion1319]

What about thermal throttling ?

[@raulhenriquez9130]

I’ve been doing a lot of research trying to figure out what’s the best option for me, and so far after watching this video is Cristal clear I need a pro model for my needs,….first time on this channel and I’m really impressed with the level of clarity and professionalism of this guy,….. Thanks

[@arneshonyt]

I got the m1 mac air with the base model last year at the start of December, exactly 3 years after it's launch. I'm a CSE student and I can say that it's perfectly fine for my use cases, in fact it's way better that what I might need. So for anyone who's willing to spend a bit to get a mac but on a budget, the base model m1 air will still be good enough unless you have some very specific use cases

[@dieselboii8537]

@@arneshonyt Ima be doing some Ai courses soon for my CSE program do you have any experience with that on your MacBook Air ?in your university?

[@arneshonyt]

@@dieselboii8537 I've done some ml in hsckathons and gotten good results using juoyter and colab both(colab runs on cloud) but I haven't done anything specific to ai..if it's in bachelors level I think it'll be fine but I'd recommend you check the syllabus and see exactly what it has

[@thefluxlife]

Re: 8GB 'controversy' ... Idk, I still think paying over $1k for a laptop with 8GB of ram in 2024 (that doesn't have a touch screen or is a 2n1 etc) still just doesn't feel right.

[@voltgaming2213]

Touch screen isn't use on laptop only thing laptop need is good performance and very good battery and cool tech

[@mrdzin1209]

forget the "8GB" thing. Let's talk about how apple charges $200 just to upgrade for an additional 8GB RAM or 256GB storage space. It wouldn't be a problem if they just charge market value for RAM and storage space upgrade, considering the Mac machines are already crazily overpriced.

[@thefluxlife]

@@mrdzin1209 well, considering Apple/Mac doesn't have any competitors in this space (performance/watt) I think they can continue to charge what they want. Walled gardens not withstanding.

[@bassheadlife492]

Then buy a model with more ram?

[@DhruvRed]

Well the battery backup is more than enough to convince me to go for Macbook

[@irman3716]

You have always been the best Macbook Guides KZbin channel I have ever seen.

[@AZisk]

[@platinoir]

I upgraded to this from a 2014 MacBook Pro i7. Went for the 15” midnight color, 24GB RAM & 1TB storage. The jump in performance is huge, & it stays cool & quiet for almost all my tasks. My decade old laptop used to kick the fans when watching KZbin at 1080 or above.

[@Ashishkumar-zv2ot]

Macbook Air 24gb ram and 1TB SSD ? Is it getting too hot while doing heavy task?

[@platinoir]

@@Ashishkumar-zv2ot depends on the work flow. but I'm not seeing any heat working with multiple design applications & many browser tabs open.

[@EndWokenessAtAllCost]

How foolish is that? In that price I would have definitely gone for M3 Pro.

[@platinoir]

@@EndWokenessAtAllCost I didn’t ask for your opinion. I know what I could have got

[@EndWokenessAtAllCost]

@@platinoir It’s like purchasing an overpriced Honda Civic instead of getting Mercedes Benz which delivers better overall experience. Yeah it’s your choice but it is a stupid choice.

[@rhoderzau]

M3 seems to be in line with the M1 Pro and M1 Max according to Xcode Benchmark. Goes to show how far they've come in such a short period.

[@intranix]

most of that "performance" is from the clock speed, not IPC.

[@noobbot831]

What about sustained performance, does it throttle after a long period of working

[@Chris-c3z2n]

@@noobbot831 From tests it seems after 1h of max load there is 9% decrease in performance on the M3 Air.

[@edd9645]

Alex, the problem is not that MacBooks start with 8GB and 256GB SSD in 2024, it is the insane price Apple charges for the upgrades. 200$ is too much for RAM upgrade, that means if you want to future proof yourself, you have to pay 600$ extra.

[@heisenballs]

yup, if they had 16gb ram and 500gb storage as the base at $1200 they would sell so many machines.

[@AZisk]

i don’t disagree. they do charge an arm and a leg

[@robhunt8378]

They know what they're doing 🙂

[@Erliortmejurur]

That’s why it’s just best to get them refurbished, where they only cost like $800

[@mattmt0918]

Apple is a premium product manufacturer..

[@janeS9773]

Excellent video! So glad I am subscribed to your channel. My M3 MacBook air 16 gb and 512 is perfect for me. Will be sharing you all over. Thank you.

[@tarq9757]

Underrated channel. Informative, and to the point.

[@ArianMozafari]

This is, by far, THE BEST review for a very long time. Period. Please keep it up Alex! I’m so sick and tired of the generic reviews like “okay here’s the box in all its glory *ASMR opening* let’s put the device aside for a moment, there’s only a charger and a cable in the box which is a shame because at this price I was expecting my grandma’s wheelchair spare tires here. Anyway, back to the device it’s got a gorgeous retina display, 2 USB C ports, decent speakers, good webcam and mic. Geekbench this Cinebench that. Thanks so much for watching please like and subscribe!” I’ve been posting comments on every single new mac review about comparing it to an old intel mac but nope. “M3 is about 10% faster than M2 which is disappointing”. No one gives a damn about what viewers want, what pros do with their devices and what are the expectations. It’s only Geekbench, Cinebench, Performance per Watt, blah blah blah… I can’t care enough about the wattage under full load, I want to see how faster and smoother the experience is comparing to a potato based intel MacBook Pro base model!

[@xenfin]

Just picked up the M3 Air base model today for this exact workflow as a dev. It is a secondary dev workstation to use away from my desk and keeping a 2020 Macbook Pro Intel that is still heavily spec’d as my main driver for a little bit more. Great video.

[@raulmarin2276]

How has it been for you so far? I’m a web developer and learning mobile app developement for my company (xcode for SwiftUI and android studio for kotlin)

[@EliteReviews]

@@raulmarin2276 people on reddit say that avoid 8gb version if you use xcode

[@EliteReviews]

@@raulmarin2276 people on reddit say that avoid 8gb version if you use xcode

[@veoquenoesunproblema]

I wish i can do that, 1500 USD in Costa Rica for a Laptop is a lot and more if you have a 8 of Ram

[@KirtirajSolanki23]

i watched your lots of videos, i am following you since M2 launch. based on your video and my knowledge , i brough 2020 M1 macbook air from marketplace. My only use for this machine is development of node js and react based application. i am using docker for my deployments. i have ROG G752vy since 2016, That machine is the beast even for today but due to its size it is not portable. but since last 7 days i am enjoying development in this M1. Portability with power is the key for this machine. its battery last for more then 10 hours which is enough for me. Thank you so much for your work. Please keep it up.

[@nunuvyurbiz123]

I splurged and went for 13" Air 24/1000. 16GB would have been fine but I wanted some cushion for future needs. I’m sidegrading from a 16” M1 Pro MBP 16/1000, specifically for traveling light. 🌏✈️💻🎒I’m only a general user and Xcode hobbyist (and soon retired! Woohoo!!!!).

[@NetvoTV]

Hey man, is it ok for me to design a logo for your KZbin channel as a gig to help me get a hard drive or SSD to help me back up my 2012 15 inch MBP so I can have more space to create stuffs to help me get back on track to improve my life and one day get the latest Mac to create even more contents? :-)

[@SEGAGuys]

Great video, really enjoyed this. I picked up the M3 Air with 8GB RAM for capturing game footage in OBS, editing it in DaVinci Resolve, and recording/adding audio recorded in Audacity, and the results are phenomenal. Video export times are so fast and, so far, I haven't felt the system slow down. Again, the format, delivery and info in this video is great. Thanks!

[@wellwell_well]

great to read! I'd love to save the C$450 if the RAM is enough for these tasks

[@drkovalex]

I bought M3 Air 24GB 1TB for development purposes and I would say now - it fits my needs very well. I'm happy.

[@OriginalThisAndThat]

How much did YOU pay for it?

[@drkovalex]

@@OriginalThisAndThat 2179 CHF

[@OriginalThisAndThat]

@@drkovalex Ok 14" I bet..? My country M3 8gb/512gb is 2069e, very basic set.

[@drkovalex]

@@OriginalThisAndThat 15", 14" does not feet my needs

[@OriginalThisAndThat]

@@drkovalex feet fetish

[@bower19942]

Upgraded from m1 air 13" to m1pro 14" instead of going to the m3 air... price wise would be very similar but this way I get the gorgeous display and the performance is much better for sustained workloads! It's been a pleasure!

[@autophysics5904]

bad call you should have def went to m3 air lol all u need is thermal pads to fix it or a dock w fan / pref both

[@crs9030]

Also considering this instead of air 15” m3 coz at the same spec, they’re almost the same price in my country.

[@fjmorales6823]

ML student here; most workplaces I know so far give you dockerized instances on a server with a couple NVIDIA GPUs to run stuff. as a student also, you can use Colab or your desktop PC with chrome remote client (I use an r5 5500 and an rtx 3060 on my desktop, but some of my classmates have 2nd hand RTX 3090s for like 600/700€) the rest of workloads should run without any issue since they are “toy models” meant to demonstrate ML concepts etc. feel free to ask anything edit: clarifications

[@vardhanbhavsar5512]

I am learning AIML currently...I need a new laptop...what should I buy Windows Gaming Laptops or MacBook?

[@fjmorales6823]

@@vardhanbhavsar5512 couple of questions: 1- do you have any other PC/ tower? 2 - can you afford macbook pro? 3 - do you also do gaming? 4- what's the general budget?

[@zumbarto]

​@@fjmorales6823I'm a CS student and I want to go into machine learning. Do you know anything about the performance of the Macbook pro M1 14inch?

[@vardhanbhavsar5512]

@@fjmorales6823 1. No i don't own any pc 2. I can't afford 3. Very rarely 4. 1000-1200 dollars

[@fjmorales6823]

a friend of mine had it, it was rock solid. he changed it because he's wealthy and all but it's a good machine. he does heavy work with Laravel (a PHP framework) and the thing handled it like a beast@@zumbarto

[@WidePhotographs]

I was going to get the 15” M3 Air 16GB/512GB for development. But I went with the 13” MacBook Pro M2 24GB/1TB because it was on sale at Best Buy for only $1,299. I believe the fan will come handy while connected to a desk monitor. People don’t realize the M chips begin to over heat while connected to a monitor. Imagine two monitors with the lid closed on the M3. Thanks again for sharing developer related task.

[@ddalejandroo]

@widephotographs hmm interesting I'm considering the M3 for development as well, what's your review after 5 months with the M2 machine and those specs? :D

[@WidePhotographs]

@@ddalejandroo best decision I made because you can easily run windows on it with the amount of RAM it has. I do miss the bigger display but I prefer the 24GB of RAM.

[@ddalejandroo]

@@WidePhotographs thank you for the insight, appreciated

[@KaziQTR]

I have an early 2013 MacBook Pro with 8 gigs RAM. 11 years later it’s still the base RAM. Crazy. I’m hopefully getting the true base model this year which is 1500 dollars for the 13” model with 16 gig RAM and 512gig SSD.

[@richardkelly9971]

4:30 thank you for stating this. I’ve been doing research again as I prepared to help my friend get an air. He’s already informed me the amount of work he does in audio productions. This will do just fine even at base. Thank you for your help!

[@sandman_theory]

This is officially THE BEST Real world Developer oriented MacBook Air M3 Review video on KZbin. Period! 🔥

[@AivarsMeijers]

Great review as always! Agree on 16GB + 1TB as a comfortable minimum for the development machine. I can survive with 512GB, but the comfort of 1TB is worth the price.

[@RomPereira]

by the way, they have the 13.6 MBA M3 with 16 GB and 512 SSD for 1349 at the Microcenter stores, if you happen to live near one. That is a 150 dollars discount...

[@AZisk]

yep, I’ve also bought preowned ones at microcenter for pretty big discounts

[@wayne8797]

Wanted to get the base M3 Pro but settled for a refurbished maxed out M1 Max for around the same price. Just too good of a deal to pass on and for my use case (local LLM), 64gb ram does it for me. I still managed to trade in my base M1 MBP for $600 at Best Buy after all these years. Apple tax? Sure but you also get to trade in your laptop at the end. Most other brands goes straight to landfill…

[@starataneori]

This is exactly the video that I needed. Everyone has been telling me, 'You need 16GB of RAM!' even though I've repeatedly said that I just need to do office work. That means basic Word documents, some Excel, and some web browsing. I don't edit videos, and I don't develop software. And yet, people still keep pushing me to buy the 16GB. If I had the money, I would, but that's far beyond my budget.

[@CursedShadow-iu1fj]

Good video I was waiting for this. Please keep it up and stay determined!

[@AZisk]

More to come!

[@dodi981]

Absolutely.... I'm a python backend developer... This video nailed it for me. The points I would test a laptop for when buying. Most applications opened in vid are within my use case. I would prefer to get air model as heavier tasks I'll run on a server at home or on cloud. Yet keep my laptop light and fanless is the reason I'm buying MacBook air.

[@DimitriosAthanasiadis]

Rarely post comments..Great video on the macbook air. Helped a lot as u covered all aspects I wanted to check out. Tks!

[@jaralara6429]

I was waiting for a dev review and almost gave up- I think you are the only one who showcased Xcode with iPhone Simulator. PC-junkie devs like me who have raw horsepower from other computers need to know what we can get away with to develop for iOS!

[@chetanhs123]

I've watched many videos to get a good MacBook recommendation but you hit the spot with the perfect use-case scenario! Such a well-structured review Thanks, Alex!!

[@andyH_England]

Great advice. It’s good to see a balanced review with solid recommendations rather than flexing the algorithms as many Mac reviews tend to do. The M3, no shocker, is great and better than the M2 Air. Already £100 off in UK for the base 15-inch model which is my recommendation. As for 8GB base, I agree, it is essential for OEMs to offer a cheaper variant to exploit the demand curve. People saying Apple should not do this completely miss the point and are totally wrong. I have been using 8GB for 40 years and know that it has served me well I like the option of getting a discounted base model going forward and saving what I can. I got my base MB Pro 13 M1 for £800 and still runs like a dream. I am tempted by the MB Air M3 15-inch but looking for £200 off in the next few months. Keep up the quality videos.

[@sharonb.9128]

Great video. You clown around a lot, but you always have integrity. With so many KZbinrs their actual job is video editing. That’s why the iPad Pro gets slammed and reviewers are mad at the base RAM. THEY need more. We know Apple increases the base chip performance annually to always maintain efficiency and fun for 98% of their users. Apple will only increase base model RAM when competitors introduce a better performing chip or base model device.

[@juanvieira8249]

Thanks for this! I’m torn between the M3 air 13” and the Pro 14” I value portability but don’t care much about the weight. I’m a mobile and web dev so that would be 90% of the time. I wonder if 13” is enough for comfortable coding sessions on the go or if it should be 14”. Also de 14” is supposed to be brighter and overall a way better display. In terms of performance, the Air 18 RAM 1Tb SSD looks good enough for most times, but I’m also keen to do some video editing and even check the progress of gaming in the years to come. Ideally I would buy this machine and it lasts for at least 5yr. If I go for the Pro, I’d want to just get a high end option, as in the highest Pro (not Max) and 36Gb RAM. This puts the Air in around $3000 AUD and the pro in about $4300 AUD. I quite a bit difference, but if the Pro with high specs is 100% a longest lasting machine, I’d consider it. I plan to travel a lot and work on the go the coming years, so battery life is quite important as well. I’d appreciate any opinions on this!! Thank you!!

[@nurmbms90]

Stumble across your channel to choose a m3 Mac configuration to began on my html and css journey followed by JavaScript in future . Thanks man!!

[@blipojones2114]

Im 7 years into js journey and also picked this up. Good choice.

[@MuscularMan008]

Can you do web development and data science with the 8-9 hours of youtube watching in and web browsing in mba? Does it heat? Or is working just fine?

[@MuscularMan008]

@@blipojones2114i would be helpful if you answer too.

[@Chris-wv8cn]

ery well explained. I have a question: I'm unsure whether the MacBook Air would be a good choice for Lightroom, or would you recommend something else?"

[@amithbhagat]

I really needed someone to review MacAir for development tools. There aren't many videos covering this territory. Thanks.

[@dinushkam2444]

100% agree I use m1 8GB for dev. 95% time no perf issues. if you run lots of docker or emulator then only you feel slow

[@wpherigo1]

Great review. Very helpful. Thanks. “Live and let live, folks!” - so true.

[@bordel6121]

+ I'm glad you're a developer, it makes the tests worth watching

[@bunnatang2081]

ram and storage are apple gold. which are NOT different from other mid-range brand that cost 80% cheaper.

[@stockmint_10]

Macbook pro M2 pro vs Macbook Air M3 ? which one should I buy ?

[@newQns]

Thank you very much, best review I've seen so far and I will go with the 15"/16Gb/1Tb variant because of you. :) Best regards Q

[@qelement50]

Copped my 15” M3 when it 1st dropped and love it so far.

[@Lukas-yw2mn]

Is it a 8GB one? Does it fit your use case? I’m debating

[@companyys]

first time watching this channel, nice and clear comparison and explaination, especially on the resell value consideration part

[@ImNickXP]

I just bought this laptop 2 days ago. It’s typically 1699 with the upgrades I wanted (16gb 512gb) but it’s 200$ off at Best Buy and I used some CC point 😁

[@QubyteCoding]

Really nice and well made video from a dev perspective. Little note: they Air is not enough for professional game dev (specifically Unreal Engine) , but for hobbyists game dev who use Godot, Unity to make small games this machine is more than fine

[@Asymmetric.edge.]

Simply magic. This is exactly the infornation I needed. Not how good it looks or games i can play. Thank you cery very much!!!!!

[@JasonPLee-uc7ww]

Honestly, what a great review. Helped inform my purchase unlike other reviews I watched. Gained a sub here

[@brkgs3]

Happy to see that you brought m1 macbook pro to the table. I wonder how m1 pro compares against the m3 base macbook pro. A comparison video would be great.

[@innercynic2784]

16gb/1tb are what I have and absolutely recommend both for performance and resale value.

[@hannahgibbons7436]

Got a m3 air and using Logic Pro. Great machine ❤

[@MrDucatiV4]

Most definitely recommend the MacBook pro M1 14" or 16". They are currently the same price as the M3 air but is so much better overall! 💯

[@doug2078]

Great Info !! Im just your basic everyday user.With a 2015 M1air. Im caught up between the M3air and the M2air . But it sounds like the M3 is definitely worth the little extra money.

[@aravjain]

Alex I loved this video! Can you make a video about ML with PyTorch and also TensorFlow on the M3 Pro MacBook Pro? Also about tapping into the neural engine for those tasks on that same Mac?

[@RealChristophernolan]

Bro u are best reviewer in KZbin u just real world work thanks alot

[@sarpuser]

This is exactly the video I was looking for!

[@amadouelcapotoure189]

I came from a Lenovo IdeaPad that died after 5 years of great service and I went for the M3 air 16gb/512 SSD, and that laptop is amazing I do react native, and the CPU work load with the emulator on never goes over 7%, while my old laptop Will start blowing heat The battery life and portability are excellent, The only downside is the price😬, 2240 cad for a student is very expensive, But I don't regret that purchase 🙌

[@germanmontejo22]

Hey man, qq. Does your m3 air start to thermal throttle after using it for an hour or two? I'm an android dev and my use-case is the same as yours.

[@amadouelcapotoure189]

@germanmontejo22 no, for android and iOS dev it doesn't thermal throttle

[@amadouelcapotoure189]

@germanmontejo22 when building, the workload reaches 70-80% and the temps are about 77°c but it only takes few seconds after that the system is just fine, around 7 to 25% of CPU usage and 37°c for the temps

[@amadouelcapotoure189]

@@germanmontejo22 note that I use the 16gig ram version

[@germanmontejo22]

@@amadouelcapotoure189 thanks man! Really helpful info. I'm contemplating on buying the m3 air.

[@pegazuss5]

Hey I took a fresh m3air 16/512 , I’m really happy with it . I’ve add some thermal pad and performance stability increase a lot for 2-5 min workload ( especially in clamshells) My usage is coding // managing // low wow gaming

[@gabrielzepeda1]

Been debating on whether to get the M3 Air 13" 16/512 new or a refurbished M1 Pro Macbook Pro 14" with 512GB/16GB. Both at similar prices ( ~$1300 US) I know the pro is an incredible machine but it's about 3 years older than an M3 air. I'm thinking the air would be supported for a little longer, plus this would be a personal web/mobile development machine, also for some programming courses. Would it be a fair decision to go with the air or is the pro the better machine even in mid 2024?

[@tordb]

Thank you for this very informative video. You're making this easier for me being a programmer learning new languages.

[@a4e69636b]

"Live and let live" - very well said.

[@doctor9228]

BTW, as owner of MacBook Air with 60hz screen, I want to thank you for recording your videos in 30fps. There is no judder effect like on other 24fps channels 👍

[@AZisk]

how do you know im using 30?

[@doctor9228]

@@AZisk ​on desktop version: right click at video - Stats for nerds

[@jorgerobinson5134]

you deserve more subscribers, you are the best, Thanks Alex

[@AZisk]

I appreciate that!

[@christianbaer2897]

I'm on the M3 Pro MBP. I probably would be fine with the MBA, but that display limitation and the lack of an HDMI port is a deal breaker for me. I like having two external displays and the notebook screen for unimportant stuff (mail, calendar etc). My fans basically never spin up so the performance of the Air would be fine, but having to rely on a dongle, when needing to connect to a projector is terrible...

[@neilrichardinniss]

Thanks for this review! I was tired of hearing that 8gb is not enough. I am a PhD student in chemistry, so no crazy programming tasks, just a bit of data visualisation by R along with usual MS office and pdfs. Got the base model m3 2 weeks ago. First time using a Mac and the difference from windows + intel is astronomical!

[@MyopicSquirrel]

Aha, depends on the field. Was also a chemistry PhD but doing atomistic modelling and DFT. My intel iMac ran at 100% CPU for about 3 years straight just doing post-processing.

[@neilrichardinniss]

@@MyopicSquirrel The friends I know who are into computational chemistry actually use external servers that perform the calculations and stuff.

[@MyopicSquirrel]

@@neilrichardinniss The bulk of my calculations were done on HPCs, but post processing can be surprisingly expensive, and sometimes it’s quicker to run a short calculation locally for things like initial relaxation with atomistic potentials.

[@MyopicSquirrel]

@@neilrichardinniss it’s why I’m now working to convince myself that an air will do. I’ve spent so long needing a powerful machine that it feels wrong taking something not targeted at a power user. Even though the odd bit of rust compiling and a docker container here and there is hardly going to run it into the ground.

[@lioneljones8080]

Great job on the video, I too am a professional Full Stack Developer and also am dabbing into Machine learning. I love the Macbook Air M3, I use it for developing as well as light gaming 😀. It's a great machine for MERN stack development and native SwiftUI - XCODE development. For all other productivity tasks day to day, I use my iPAD PRO M4 😀

[@sabinaorucova6222]

Can I M3 Air you advice me?) Qir has overheating get warm?(

[@lioneljones8080]

@@sabinaorucova6222 If you are asking about the M3 Air, it's a great device. With it's fanless design, ARM based technology, and weight. It's great machine for everyday tasks. I have not had any issues with overheating.

[@michaelp.6511]

Thank you so much, this was the guide who I was looking for!

[@AZisk]

Glad to hear it!

[@aardatug]

Hey Alex, I have a great question for you. I am planning to buy a Macbook Air M3 with 16GB's of RAM but I am having some hard time trying to choose whether to get the 512GB or 1TB model. I will study CS (or something computer related) next semester and I am kind of unsure about what to do. I want to build a few apps this summer and then focus on AI maybe but like I said I am not sure. Would you recommend going for 512 + external ssd or 1tb just in case? Also I know it's kind of off topic but would you recommend CS or CE for Bachelor? Like I mentioned, I want to get into AI or write the code of some machines for automation or maybe not even those and just mobile apps and games and software. Btw, I know MB Air is won't be enough for intensive works but I am just looking for a device that can carry my work for 2-3 years for the beginning as I am a beginner overall. I love your videos and the way you explain things.

[@davva360]

I still love my M1 MacBook Air, 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage. I will probably update maybe next year though. The M1 still performs fantastically well so i really dont feel like it needs to be updated.

[@vfamirzzad8663]

Great video and comparisons! I've watched lots of your videos, still not certain about the right model for me. I am going to do data science projects, so which model would you advice to get? I'm struggling between m3 air 16/256, m3 pro 18/256 and maybe other old pro models? It would be great hear from you! Thanks in advance!!

[@AZisk]

between those two, id go for the latter

[@ffgcvs]

Simply the best dev reviewer

[@bestlifedoc]

Love the video. For video editing or podcast editing would you recommend MBA 24RAM vS mbp 16gb ram? Cant afford the higher ram on pro but not sure if ram more important

[@amagneto]

I picked M3 24GB 1TB, fluent performance, 1618GB of RAM is in use most of the time without heavy tasks, so 24GB is perfect for me.

[@pshimmons]

More on that later…. - just say it man! Thanks for your thoughts and telling us what these are like in the real world !

[@roberturizar]

Thanks for the info, this is the video that I was looking for

[@AZisk]

Glad it was helpful!

[@KouroshFarrokhzad]

Excellent detailed and very substantive video. I personally can't stand Apple machines, but you have presented some excellent, logical points from the perspective of a highly technical professional with extensive experience. Thanks for busting some assumptions and teaching me something new about the versatility of these machines - this was very enlightening.

[@phantomrogue4990]

Loved ur video. Really insightful. I m a data scientist currently working on a m1 Air 2020. I m thinking of going for the M3 Air 16gb ram and 512 gb ssd. Will the ML models run smoothly on it ?

[@bentleyblues]

Thank you so much for this video. It is so nice to have an explanation like you presented.

[@AZisk]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ccgogreen]

Thanks for the review and recommendation. I have a 2018 Intel MacBook Pro with 32gb of RAM. I think I should get a M3 Macbook Air with 16gb of RAM after watching your video.

[@ravenbergdev]

This was just the vid I was looking for!

[@fuzzycuffs]

An M3 Air 15" with 16GB/1TB is $1899, whereas an M3 Pro 14" MBP with 18gb/512gb is only $100 more. I'd get the latter and supplement storage with external drives.

[@akin242002]

Good time to resell the M1 Air to college students majoring in things outside of finance or engineering. Lots of traveling nurses use MacBook Airs, so that would be a good college group to sell it too. Also, pre-law students and journalists.

[@Tracescript]

I wish apple would stop focusing on the metal getting smudged and focus more on keyboard preventative for sweaty greasy hands. My skin is naturally oily and I sweat very easily so it feels extremely difficult to keep my keyboard clean. I clean everything off every few days.

[@AZisk]

Great point

[@IboKnowsBest]

13“ MacBook Air over 15“ if its plugged to an external Monitor for 90% of the time?

[@VivekYadav-hx3hp]

This was the video I was searching for. I am Java backend developer, in each macbook review they talk about audio/video editing and 100 other things, but no specific developer use. Thank you so much man. Would really appreciate it if you can create a video on all the M3 macbook possible for developers. Right now I am confused between macbook air M3 16/512 and macbook pro M3 pro 18gb/512. On rare thought, just to save money what if I buy macbook air M3 8/256, and my use will include some personal web/mobile e2e development along with binge watching, etc.

[@langhamp8912]

Even though I have a M3 MacBook Pro 14, I surprisingly prefer my 13 inch MBA M1...you know, the wedge shaped one.

[@Precisionetica]

I wonder why the other channels were saying the snapdragon was blowing the M3 and Intel outta the water🤔 . Just clickbait . This channel is the best.

[@AZisk]

Snapdragon is looking pretty good. but i don’t see it beating Apple’s M3 just yet

[@Precisionetica]

@@AZisk you the man ! Thanks for the thorough honesty this channel presents.

[@rachidcalazans]

Loved the way you showed everything! Thank you so much! You helped me a lot!

[@TheDude50447]

The thing about the 8 gigs isnt that its an option in general. Other manufacturers mostly have a much lower upcharge for 16 gigs+. They sell an absolute barebones amount of ram as standard and charge an arm and a leg to get the ram to a usable size.

[@kurotesuta]

Good review. I'm looking to get a MacBook since I need to study stuff for mobile development. This video helped a lot. Thank you!

[@davetravels9273]

I opted for 24 GB and 1 TB. We have an M1 with 16 GB and 1TB and sometimes we max out the ram l, especially with chrome. 😜 My new machine has no issues and I got the education discount as a higher ed employee, so it was a more reasonable value proposition. I also keep my computers for at least 5 years. This is actually replacing my 11 year old MacBook Air! But I stopped using that 2 years ago because it was just too slow and instead used my wife’s M1 when necessary. 😂

[@gregorydcollins512]

I have 30,000+ RAW photos from my African safari. My 2014 iMac 5k is frustratingly slow. I’m looking at a M3 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM. Or maybe a Mac Mini M1 with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Your thoughts?

[@kwantumd]

What a great video man, really enjoyed the sarcasm!

[@GoWithAndy-cp8tz]

Alex, You sound like an actor. How do you record voice in such good quality? Fantastic video! Keep up the cool work! Cheers!

[@RmDIrSudoSu]

Pay attention that multi threading does not mean that it will run on multiple cores. Multi threading means multiple thread into the scheduling queue, the kernel can still decide that it will be run on a single core, some kernel might even prioritise running multi thread on a single core (depending on the CPU arch), as sometime running them on multiple core might increase copying data from the RAM to the CPU cache, while running on a single core won't. Any way thanks for that great test, even if I'll stick to my Linux, I wanted to see what these new MacBook were capable of.

[@steveoc64]

Serious suggestion… if Apple wanted to Double MacBook sales overnight, they should do a limited edition collab with Alex here, similar to what Leica does. The M3 air 36g/1tb Schwarzenegger edition in space black, signed by Alex Instant classic

[@AZisk]

80% to Apple, 20% to Schwarzenegger:)