MacBook Air 2024: Apple burnishes its AI credentials with powerful new M3 chip

When Apple first launched the MacBook in 2008, it stood out from the pack, even in the Apple line-up. The wedge-shaped notebook was thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pro, making it feel more stylish and something to aspire to in a marketplace of dull notebooks.

The Pro hasn’t gone away. If you need something super-powered, the MacBook Pro is your ideal laptop, but it is expensive. For everyone else, the MacBook Air fits the bill. Since a design upgrade came with the M2-powered Air, it’s more difficult to distinguish between the two at first glance. The Air is still thinner and lighter than the Pro, but the distinctive wedge design of the previous MacBook Air has gone, and it’s not coming back.

If you were hoping for big changes to the 2024 notebook, you would be initially disappointed. Welcome to the new MacBook Air, very similar to the old one. But there is one big difference: the M3 chip, Apple’s new silicon that will pave the way to more AI in the future.

Although Apple hasn’t made any public move on the generative AI front, there is a lot more to AI than a fancy interface. Machine learning has been a feature of Apple’s devices for years, although it hasn’t been as vocal about it as other companies. This year is different. AI is a hot topic and Apple is keen to show it is on top of the trend.

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The M3 makes the MacBook Air faster: up to 60 per cent compared with the M1 chip and 13 times faster than Intel-based machines. The chip has an eight-core GPU, up to a 10-core GPU and supports up to 24GB of unified memory. It also has a faster neural engine, again to power AI capabilities.

There is another notable change. The MacBook Air now supports two external displays, but there is a caveat: you need have the lid of the notebook closed. If you want more than that, or want to use the internal display at the same time, you’ll need to upgrade to a device running the Pro, Max or Ultra version of Apple’s silicon. It also means you can’t use the trackpad or keyboard at the same time.

That said, it’s an improvement on the previous devices. Before now the Air only supported a single external display, and expanding that was a sought-after feature.

It would be nice to make that webcam a FaceID camera and eliminate the need for fingerprints. And Apple has yet to embrace the touchscreen laptop. But these are quibbles

The version reviewed here is the 15-inch MacBook Air, with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage. Over the course of a few days, the device is used for all the standard tasks of my day: word processing, web browsing, with video editing and photo processing on occasion. It is also tested for streaming video and music, with the rather impressive speakers being pressed into service.

Overall the MacBook Air tackles all these tasks with ease. There are no stutters or stumbles, even when running several processes at once. And although I never usually have the need to use two external displays at once, the option to do so is welcome, particularly in an office scenario.

That built-in 15-inch Retina display – Apple’s moniker for its high-definition display – is pin sharp and ideal for everything from video and photo to text. Team that with the webcam, which is still 1080, and you have a good video set up too. As video calls appear to be a permanent part of work life these days, the quality of the webcam is important, and Apple hasn’t scrimped here.

It’s not perfect. Although you have TouchID for password and payments, it would be nice to make that webcam a FaceID camera and eliminate the need for fingerprints. And Apple has yet to embrace the touchscreen laptop. But these are quibbles.

The MacBook Air still charges over MagSafe, following a decision Apple made to return to its popular charging method, leaving the two USB-C ports free for other purposes. But if needed, you can still use one of those two ports to charge the device, meaning you are unlikely to ever be without a power cable. That in itself is not really an issue; the MacBook Air has a stated battery life of up to 18 hours, depending on what you are asking of it. Reaching the upper end of that battery life will depend on numerous factors – video editing versus web browsing, word processing rather than video streaming, the volume of the speakers and so on – but realistically, the device is fully charged on average every two days, and it lasts the distance. It means you are no longer tethered to a power outlet.

Good

The M3 chip is a step up from the previous silicon, though the jump is less pronounced from the M2. If you are still working on an Intel MacBook Air though, the M3 is worth the upgrade.

The ability to support two external displays is welcome.

Bad

You only get two external displays if the lid of the notebook is closed, so it supports two displays in total.

The notch is still front and centre, thanks to the high quality webcam, but you still can’t use it for FaceID. That means you lose screen space to it, which is especially irritating for those who are not fans of that particular design feature.

Everything else

The MacBook Air has a couple of colour options. The previous version of the midnight colour, while it looks nice, picked up fingerprints easily. The latest version comes with a new coating that is supposed to minimise that, but it doesn’t completely eliminate it. The test model picked up some oily prints on the trackpad and the lid.

Verdict

A solid upgrade for older MacBook Air owners, or newcomers to the line-up.