They won’t put a Pro chip in a non Pro machine.
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Apple's 2024 M3 MacBook Air Refresh: What to Expect
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Since the discontinuation of the 12” MacBook, there has not been a MacBook that weighted less than 950 grams. The 12” MacBook weighted 920 grams and I’m sure it would be much better with an M3 chip inside. Maybe even lighter. But I guess we’ll have to settle with an 11” iPad Pro, even with a more limited operating system.
I think for most people the M2 air at 1240 grams is light enough.
If they brought back the 12” with Apple silicon it would be a great machine. But I don’t think it would sell as much. Apple would likely have a dumb price on it and people would just choose the air.
Not immediate at all, so that's not a bad thought. If I'm being honest, from a need standpoint this is nothing more than a little retail therapy.
the first new Qualcomm ARM devices will be launching in June.
Possibly Microsoft announces something at the end of March (possibly 21st) for their spring Surface event.
At the latest at Computex (June 3rd-7th) Qualcomm will unveil the first devices.
Availability and options might be limited at first, but get better towards October.
see here for more details https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/surface-devices.2122819/page-154
I'll decide in June if my next portable device is an M3 Air or Qualcomm ARM .
None of that surpasses the raw GPU horsepower on an M2 Ultra chip. But it does lay the ground work for the next decade forward in improved GPU features.
My comment was that Airs would eventually go to 12 GB, so that means not now but M4 or M5, possibly.
Oddly enough, my Best Buy has M2 13” MacBook Pros (Touch Bar) in 24GB/1TB for $1499. I signed up for BB Plus for $50 and saved another $100. Coming from an M1 13” MBP 8GB/512GB that I paid $1499 for at launch, I’m ecstatic. I know people on these forums hate the Touch Bar MacBook Pros, but my M1 has been a stellar computer and one of my favorite Macs ever. Best Buy is also selling the 15” MBA 16GB/1TB for $1499 as well. Some were in stock, but now it’s a 3-4 day wait for it to come into the store.
I don't expect the M1 Air to stick around as Apple rarely sells a Mac model past 4 years
I've been crushing my M2 MBA since July of '23. It's been my first non-MBP laptop ever and I have been floored by its capability. For anyone needing a new laptop, looking to save some $$$, and not caught up in the latest/greatest, now might be a good time to track down an M2 MBA as retailers look to move stock ahead of a pending M3 update.
That’s a great price you got. You did good there. Best Buy is an enigma sales black box and you never know what sale you’ll find in there but every once in awhile they’ll have a maxed out laptop for $400 off. I hope they do more of it.
I think Touch Bar would have been a hit (in 2016) had Apple introduced Touch Bar to the world on the regular consumer-targeted MacBook Airs—instead of Pros who touch type and need the ESC key. Good news is touch is coming to MacBooks supposedly in 2027 with OLED.
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Although you might get a better price on a M2 MBA, right after the M3 MBA is released. If you are willing to wait a few weeks.
Agreed. For the common computer user, there is no recognizable difference between M2 and M3.
- AV1 transcoding will benefit people down the line, but streaming services are barely using it and H.264/HEVC support is good for now. It's not a user recognizable benefit.
- Yeah 20% faster is a good year-over-year progress but not Air user can tell the difference between 3.2 seconds and 2.6 seconds—they are both perceived as 3 seconds. It's not a user recognizable benefit. 20% faster matters when you're doing sustained processes, which is more a MacBook Pro or Mac Studio thing.
- Battery may be an hour or two improved but for a majority of us, the M2 Air is already like 2x more battery-life than we need. Most of us have never gone below 20% in a single usage.
Ah, gotcha. Admittedly, I'm not as familiar with the options in the ultraportable segment as I was shopping more in the "pro" (Apple's wording) segment. I wish I had a suggestion. About Intel's graphics, I thought that their newer iGPU's (named Xe) were fairly competitive? I don't know how they stack up to Apple's, though.
As for upgrade prices, yeah those Surface prices are terrible. Most of the ultraportable machines have less user-upgradeable options compared to the thicker machines. The laptop I linked below has soldered RAM. Shame that other manufacturers have followed in Apple's footsteps. Obviously, on the computers that let you upgrade the parts yourself, you can save a pretty penny by buying and then upgrading afterwards.
I used this machine for a little over a year and had zero complaints, except that the battery life wasn't great (probably 5-6 hours max). It even has an OLED panel. I'd say it slots into that MacBook Air category. Sadly, I don't believe it's for sale anymore. Else, I'd recommend giving it a look.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-z...256gb-ssd-ponder-blue/6494331.p?skuId=6494331
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Ah, you, too, have a Windows machine.
I'm right there with you. The loss of Boot Camp was a big one for me, too. Apple can live in their little bubble, but the rest of the world keeps on using Windows. I can't not have a Windows machine somewhere on hand.
While lack of compatibility (macOS, ARM) is a large reason I have no intention of returning to the Mac, I will say that Apple would sweeten the deal considerably if they lowered their upgrade prices. I'd be more likely to consider one as reliable on-the-go workstation if I could spec it up more cheaply than I can today.
Mostly-Novice Question:
As a mental health counselor, I use my MacBook Air primarily for Zoom sessions (while concurrently using a Safari web-based platform to take notes). On my current MacBook Air (2019;13"; 1.6 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5; 16 GB RAM; 256 GB Memory; Sonoma 14.2.1), the CPU runs pretty consistently at 212℉ and the fan is at nearly full-blast the entire time. Using Chrome for anything also seems to make it run hot.
I'm looking to get a new MacBook, and I'm eyeing the MacBook Air (2023; 15"; M2 chip; 24GB unified memory; 256 GB storage). I'm sure it'll work fine for my needs, but here's my question: Will it run as hot as my current MacBook Air? (And is that a problem?)
As a mental health counselor, I use my MacBook Air primarily for Zoom sessions (while concurrently using a Safari web-based platform to take notes). On my current MacBook Air (2019;13"; 1.6 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5; 16 GB RAM; 256 GB Memory; Sonoma 14.2.1), the CPU runs pretty consistently at 212℉ and the fan is at nearly full-blast the entire time. Using Chrome for anything also seems to make it run hot.
I'm looking to get a new MacBook, and I'm eyeing the MacBook Air (2023; 15"; M2 chip; 24GB unified memory; 256 GB storage). I'm sure it'll work fine for my needs, but here's my question: Will it run as hot as my current MacBook Air? (And is that a problem?)
I'll have to check the actual temps, but my wife regularly uses Zoom concurrently with the Office suite (mostly PowerPoint) on her M2 Air, and I don't think it even gets warm. You'll be blown away by the upgrade if you're still on an Intel Air.
Here is a Reddit thread from 2 years ago filled with testimonials of M2 Air users saying that Zoom runs perfectly fine, no heat. Feel free to Google for more testimonials on Reddit and Macrumors forums.
M2 uses less wattage than Intel’s chip and transcodes video more efficiently through its media engine than whatever Intel’s Quick Sync support is doing.
M3 Air is supposedly coming next month, so maybe you want to wait, but if you find an incredible sale, don’t hesitate to buy an M2 Air. Be sure to test Zoom during your return window, of course, but you should be pleasantly surprised with Apple Silicon.
What’s crazy is their Intel Air has two-cores. The upgrade to eight-cores is insane. What a jump.
Apple would like to sell you an iPad if you want something smaller and lighter than a MacBook Air. After all, with an M3 chip they're just about as powerful.