Hands-On With the 2024 M3 MacBook Air

[jlnr]

That Reddit link seemed like a very technical way to say hot days make things hotter. Heating the room to 33C just seems cruel, to the computer and the person testing. I can say I not only slow down in a room that hot, I also get rather grumpy, so I am sympathetic for the Air.

Me too, but the reality is that many buildings in Germany simply have no AC, and the laptop getting noticeably slower didn't help my grumpiness. I generally like my tech to be silent, but the M1 Pro has been so quiet that I don't think I'll go out of my way to buy a fanless laptop again. I still miss that sweet wedge shape of the M1 Air, though.

 

[bgillander]

Me too, but the reality is that many buildings in Germany simply have no AC, and the laptop getting noticeably slower didn't help my grumpiness. I generally like my tech to be silent, but the M1 Pro has been so quiet that I don't think I'll go out of my way to buy a fanless laptop again. I still miss that sweet wedge shape of the M1 Air, though.

Yes, if you are stuck in a 33C room, I am sympathetic for you, as well. I don't have central air, but I gave up and got an air conditioner for my bedroom, as it has just been getting so hot lately that I found I needed at least one room I could cool down in.

I was so impressed with the M1 Air that I did get an M1 Pro MacBook Pro, and it is indeed quiet. I still mainly use the Air, though, as it just works so well.

 

[mac-rumorist]

Sounds protective.

Have links? I'm not finding either on Google.

Yes, I literally got this one, grey/orange (amazon) and confirm the M3 fits perfectly into it. Nice corner protection.

Defender-A13 Laptop Sleeve for 13-inch MacBook Air M3/M2/M1

Laptop is expensive, make sure you tap into the sleek, innovative, and trendy sleeve designed to deliver maximum protection. Protecting your laptop from damage will not only ensure a long lifetime, but it will keep your data secure. Military-Grade Protection. The bag has passed the...

www.tomtoc.com

 

[mac-rumorist]

M1 Air is still by far the better deal of you consider performance/$.

Especially if going for a discounted model with the big savings you can get at retail (until stock is out).

Obviously also one of the reasons Apple opted to cut it from the lineup instead of letting it stay at a <$999

M1 is by not “discontinued”, outdated, or lagging behind.

I guess M4 is when M1 owners will finally get good reasons to upgrade.

I can confirm that the M3 is noticeably faster than M1 in opening apps, like mail, terminal and things. But agree with your assessment in general.

 

[6749974]

Yes, I literally got this one, grey/orange (amazon) and confirm the M3 fits perfectly into it. Nice corner protection.

Defender-A13 Laptop Sleeve for 13-inch MacBook Air M3/M2/M1

Laptop is expensive, make sure you tap into the sleek, innovative, and trendy sleeve designed to deliver maximum protection. Protecting your laptop from damage will not only ensure a long lifetime, but it will keep your data secure. Military-Grade Protection. The bag has passed the...

www.tomtoc.com

Thanks. I had seen that but you said “Tomtoc armour sleeve (M2)”, so I was looking for one named that.

What about “Brinch satchel”? I’m looking for a satchel bag that I can put all my tech in and stands up next to my desk at all hours (doesn’t ever knock over). Curious what you purchased and if it has a laptop protective pouch.

 

[mac-rumorist]

Thanks. I had seen that but you said “Tomtoc armour sleeve (M2)”, so I was looking for one named that.

What about “Brinch satchel”? I’m looking for a satchel bag that I can put all my tech in and stands up next to my desk at all hours (doesn’t ever knock over). Curious what you purchased and if it has a laptop protective pouch.

The sleeve has no great space for more than a phone/ipad-mini - they screwed up by 1cm, the ipad M1 does not fit. Sorry, yeah the M2 was because that was what they had last week, not I see they say M3 too The brinch I have is no longer available from what I can see, but, this seem about the same except the outside zip is now vertical, which I would not like - 15.6 inch fits the tomtoc sleeve snugly. https://www.amazon.com/BRINCH-Shoulder-Carrying-Briefcase-Messenger/dp/B0CHQGLVGD/

 

[tomtad]

Wake me up when this happens

 

[ric22]

Me too, but the reality is that many buildings in Germany simply have no AC, and the laptop getting noticeably slower didn't help my grumpiness. I generally like my tech to be silent, but the M1 Pro has been so quiet that I don't think I'll go out of my way to buy a fanless laptop again. I still miss that sweet wedge shape of the M1 Air, though.

100% agree on all of that, as an owner of a an M1 Air and user of a 16 inch Pro, also based in Germany (Nürnberg).

 

[6749974]

Wake me up when this happens

What color are you getting?

 

[Lioness~]

What color are you getting?

I will buy the MBA Midnight.

Think I need a change from the Gold 2018 MBA I will trade in for this M3.
I first thought Starlight it is, but it felt nahh after a moment. If the fingerprints are at least or somewhat less on the Midnight now, I can live with it.
I need a change of color.
It would’ve be fun if they had made the MBA in Product Red, I might have gone with it, but just maybe.
I loved the iPhone XR Product Red that I had, but actually was pretty tired of it when I bought the iPhone Mini Midnight, which is really beautiful.

 

[DrWojtek]

Are you referring to the graph after the Temperature heading and paragraph? The chart where the Air starts at 17.596 and drops to the 3.7 range? The Watts Consumed chart? If so, why? That is not performance per watt. The performance per watt is actually much higher at those lower consumption levels, so the performance does not drop off at anywhere near that rate, as witnessed by the Cinebench R15 Multi Loop chart higher up. Yes, there is a bit of a performance drop off, but using the watts consumed as a measurement of the performance is completely wrong. Just because someone runs a test doesn't make the test useful. Hell, if you are going to use the watt chart for anything, Apple could use that chart as a measurement of energy efficiency to promote the Air, because as the CPU gets hot, it shows the watts used drop by 80%, yet the Cinebench chart shows performance only drops 20%.

Apple could have originally just hard limited the MacBook Air to 4 Watt consumption and that 80% performance so that the chip would not get hot and these pointless tests would show no change. The Air would have still been quick. But by not artificially limiting it in that manner, the CPU can run higher demand loads at higher MHz (with high watt lower efficiency) as needed, until the CPU gets hot and only then limit the watt consumption (which increases the battery life and performance per watt). This is not the problem you think it is, and is part of the design.

Evidently, the problem persists in the Macbook Pro as well.

A Pro’s Review of the Apple MacBook Pro M3 Max: Breakneck Speed and a Fun-Killing Fan

The M3 Max MacBook Pr exceeds expectations. But is the chip too much for the current design to keep cool?

eshop.macsales.com

Sorry to burst that bubble for you, but the question is why you've created that bubble in the first place. There is a problem with throttling, period.

 

[Lioness~]

Order is placed: MBA 13", Midnight, 16GB/512GB, to be delivered within 2 weeks - hopefully it goes faster, which it usually do with Apple.

 

[chucker23n1]

I had absolutely no idea the Airs throttled so heavily even with Apple Silicon. The whole line is obsolete for anything else other than sending email and Notes, imo.

Coworker happily does software development on an Air. It's hardly "obsolete".

 

[ric22]

Evidently, the problem persists in the Macbook Pro as well.

A Pro’s Review of the Apple MacBook Pro M3 Max: Breakneck Speed and a Fun-Killing Fan

The M3 Max MacBook Pr exceeds expectations. But is the chip too much for the current design to keep cool?

eshop.macsales.com

Sorry to burst that bubble for you, but the question is why you've created that bubble in the first place. There is a problem with throttling, period.

That was an interesting article you linked to- thanks for sharing. Batch processing of videos or photos can indeed be a task that kicks off fan noise on any device (with active cooling). The way they compared a laptop to a Studio seems a bit unfair though, when considering the size and weight of the respective heatsinks.

My work 16 inch Pro with M2 Max is usually silent, or at least quiet, but can get noisy if given an intense task that lasts 5mins+, but that's never bothered me, because such tasks are a good opportunity for a coffee break. On medium intensity tasks it is quieter than any of my old Intel MacBooks were.

I'm not sure many people will use a laptop for tasks that hammer both GPU and CPU for long periods of time daily. At some point it just isn't the ideal tool for that work- especially on hot days in a camper van, as described by the reviewer. I'm delighted with the sub 2 min burst speed and quietness, and happy for the fans to occasionally make a din when necessary on the rare occasion, and accept that throttling in high power laptops remains a reality on long intense tasks. I don't believe it's a design flaw.

 

[DrWojtek]

Coworker happily does software development on an Air. It's hardly "obsolete".

I do software development on a 2018 MBP 15'. Does it work? Yes. Does it throttle like hell when I compile or run simulators? Yes.

Is it obsolete? Maybe not, call it a design flaw then.

Would the performance in these scenarios increase by 100% if it had better cooling? Yes. Same for the new Air.

 

[chucker23n1]

That was an interesting article you linked to- thanks for sharing.

I would find those results more useful if not for this paragraph:

"A note on my testing: Under Battery settings, Apple offers performance settings. My tests used High Power mode. Use of Low Power mode cuts performance substantially, and Auto yields variable results."

Like… wouldn't it be more useful to know how the fans behave at Auto?

 

[chucker23n1]

I do software development on a 2018 MBP 15'. Does it work? Yes. Does it throttle like hell when I compile or run simulators? Yes.

Is it obsolete? Maybe not, call it a design flaw then.

I don't see your point here. The M2 Air which they use runs circles around your 2018. Geekbench scores are about twice as high.

And the M3 is even faster. So you can get an Air and will do your compile tasks faster already. Or you can get a Pro and get better cooling.

Would the performance in these scenarios increase by 100% if it had better cooling? Yes.

Same for the new Air.

Better cooling isn't going to double the performance of the M2, and I suspect not for your 8950HK either. How do I know this? Because Apple offers Macs with better cooling, and the drop-off simply isn't that high.

 

[ric22]

I would find those results more useful if not for this paragraph:

"A note on my testing: Under Battery settings, Apple offers performance settings. My tests used High Power mode. Use of Low Power mode cuts performance substantially, and Auto yields variable results."

Like… wouldn't it be more useful to know how the fans behave at Auto?

I believe his reasoning is that Auto would behave differently at different ambient temperatures, while High Power would always try to go flat out. Testing at Auto and at High Power would be useful (while noting the ambient temperatures).

 

[chucker23n1]

I believe his reasoning is that Auto would behave differently at different ambient temperatures, while High Power would always try to go flat out. Testing at Auto and at High Power would be useful (while noting the ambient temperatures).

I get that, but assertions like "The fan is working overtime" have to be viewed in the context of the author using a non-default setting at overtime as well.

 

[6749974]

Good design is about intentional compromise.

• A fast and nimble aerial fighter is going to be too small to carry a heavy payload
• A large transport aircraft is going to be too slow, heavy and stiff to participate in combat

Compromise is not a bad word, compromises are allies. These compromises help us win wars.

• A 16-inch MacBook Pro compromises mobility for power
• A 14-inch MacBook Pro compromises battery size, fan size and heat sink size (it throttles on the highest chip) for having more mobility than the 16-inch
• A 13-inch MacBook Air compromises the most power for a thin and light form
• A 15-inch MacBook Air compromises some weight for a larger screen size

But what's amazing about the M3 MacBook Air is that despite its compromises to be the thinnest and lightest and least-expensive in the lineup, its still 2x the CPU performance and 1.5x the GPU performance of a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro. And even 20% throttling still makes it 1.8x the CPU performance of a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro.

We cannot define throttling as an effect of bad design—but an effect of good design—because good design gladly compromises least important attributes to accentuate most important attributes. The MacBook Air does that beautifully.

EDITED

 

[mac-rumorist]

Good design is about intentional compromise.

• A fast and nimble aerial fighter is going to be too small to carry a heavy payload
• A large transport aircraft is going to be too slow, heavy and stiff to participate in combat

Compromise is not a bad word, compromises are allies. These compromises help us win wars.

• A 16-inch MacBook Pro compromises mobility for power
• A 14-inch MacBook Pro compromises battery size, fan size and heat sink size (it throttles on the highest chip) for having more mobility than the 16-inch
• A 13-inch MacBook Air compromises the most power for a thin and light form
• A 15-inch MacBook Air compromises some weight for a larger screen size

But what's amazing about the M3 MacBook Air is that despite its compromises to be the thinnest and lightest and least-expensive in the lineup, its still 2x the CPU performance and 1.5x the GPU performance of a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro. And even 20% throttling still makes it 1.8x the CPU performance of a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro.

We cannot define throttling as an effect of bad design—but an effect of good design—because good design gladly compromises least important attributes to accentuate most important attributes. The MacBook Air does that beautifully.

EDITED

Once you get one in the real, it's impressively 'uniformly' perfect. M1 mba was great, form fine, M2 form improvement - M3, like 2002 Ti 667 DVI as an amazing engineering effort 22yrs ago, M3 is an example of perfection for portable computing in our time. + I've had them all for the most part until 2012 i7 mba (which was a peak mba) - M3 is now peak MBA.

 

[bgillander]

Evidently, the problem persists in the Macbook Pro as well.

A Pro’s Review of the Apple MacBook Pro M3 Max: Breakneck Speed and a Fun-Killing Fan

The M3 Max MacBook Pr exceeds expectations. But is the chip too much for the current design to keep cool?

eshop.macsales.com

Sorry to burst that bubble for you, but the question is why you've created that bubble in the first place. There is a problem with throttling, period.

Thank you for the funny read, as I cannot say I have ever seen someone refer to a sound measurement of 62 DB as loud while comparing a measurement at less than 1 cm to the measurement of something actually loud at 100 feet:

"Measured fan-noise levels run as high as 62 dB just above the keyboard. For perspective, a leaf blower (!) at 100 feet outdoors is around 56 dB. Yes, I measured both."

Yes, that reviewer is certainly someone that I would trust for any scientific analysis of data. Honestly, where do you find these wonderful reviews by people that obviously have no idea what they are doing? Hint, the distances make both those sound measurements less than useless.

As for the performance tests, if you want to trust those, they show the 14" MacBook Pro M3 Max is running Zerene Stacker 28x45 slightly faster than the 16" M3 Max and about 20% slower than an Mac Pro M2 Ultra... and about 20% faster than a 2019 28 Core Mac Pro. It performs at better than half the speed of the Ultra in the Camera Raw AI Denoise test when set to High Power, but takes 12% more time if set to Auto mode, and 68% more time if set to Low Power. So the lower power settings slow it down.... as designed... as it is crazy that they can even put a Max in the MacBook Pro.

Holy crap, those are stunningly good numbers for a 14" notebook, that are actually better than I would have expected. Thanks! I'm really not sure what point you are trying to argue, now, other than the point that you apparently cannot read performance charts and seem obsessed now to prove that Apple Silicon is a disappointment.

I'm typing this on a 14" M3 Pro on which I have yet to even hear the fans. Maybe you should actually try one, rather than just surfing the net searching for your confirmation bias.

 

[dave070]

The M2 & M3 MBAs are the exact same; both have only slightly better screens than the M1 MBA:

• Added 100 nits (+25%) of brightness [unscientific comparison shot]
• Added 10 bit (8-bit + FRC) [makes shading and gradients more accurate; learn more here]
• 1100:1 contrast is now 1400:1 [this is no huge deal but notable that there is an improvement]
• And of course the extra 1/3rd inch added to the vertical axis (where the menu bar now sits, into the notch)

None of this creates a drastic enough difference but its a nice little bump in display improvement, when you add it all up. The next bump in the Air line will come in 2027, supposedly, when Apple incorporates OLED, and I expect will warrant a minor redesign.

For SDR, I don't think the mini LED adds much benefit.

For SDR, ProMotion does add "smoothness" to moving windows and animations, but it fails to make motion clear (which is the main promise of 120Hz monitors). That will be fixed with OLED in 2027 because the pixel response of OLED is less than 1 ms by nature (so well under the 8.3 ms threshold).

The one reason to switch to MacBook Pro is if you want to watch TV and Movies in native 24 fps, because the ProMotion display feature is that it can slow down to 48 Hz, which is an even multiple of 24—so it will show you 2 of the same frame, then 2 of the next frame, then 2 of the next frame—and its a smooth continuation of motion. Where as 60Hz cannot divide 24 fps into it evenly, so it does something called "3:2 pulldown"—where it will show you 3 of the same frame, then 2 of the next frame, then 3 of the next frame—and so its not as smooth in motion. Your brain gets used to it—your average person doesn't notice—but theres no denying that 48Hz or 120Hz can play TV and movies as intended when its shot in 24 fps (most scripted dramas like Breaking Bad are). If you're a college student (for example) that your only screen is a MBP, and you're are big movie Aficionado, maybe its worth it to use a MBP for that if you can live with the blooming...

But for regular macOS work and general media/computing, the MacBook Air display is excellent. I won't consider switching until Apple brings OLED to MacBook Pros (ETA 3 years).

For standard Lightroom photo editing you think the M3 MacBook Air is more than sufficient? I don't mind waiting a few seconds longer. I have the M1 14" MBP but it is a little heavy and I do like the 15" size of the MacBook Air.

 

[6749974]

For standard Lightroom photo editing you think the M3 MacBook Air is more than sufficient? I don't mind waiting a few seconds longer. I have the M1 14" MBP but it is a little heavy and I do like the 15" size of the MacBook Air.

100%. I have an M2 Air and use Lightroom among other Adobe apps. Flawless. Just make sure you get the 16 GB or 24 GB RAM models. I actually had an M1 Max Mac Studio for a couple months and returned it when I saw how capable the M2 Air was. The M3 Air is even better.

I recommend ArtIsRight on Youtube. He has a ton of videos featuring the M2 Air and Lightroom benchmarks.

 

[6749974]

For standard Lightroom photo editing you think the M3 MacBook Air is more than sufficient? I don't mind waiting a few seconds longer. I have the M1 14" MBP but it is a little heavy and I do like the 15" size of the MacBook Air.

Forgot to add that ArtIsRight has a recent video on the MacBook Air with M3 chip and its performance. (Note that the video shows Lightroom has a bug with the Lightroom Panorama function, so hopefully that gets fixed in an update if it hasn't already)

This video comparing M2 Air vs 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro may be helpful so you know strengths and weaknesses to expect...

• It shows that if you're doing large exports (eg. 30 minutes long—like something a wedding photographer would do a lot of) then the MBP is advantageous because of the extra performance cores and active cooling. So if you are a wedding photographer, you'll likely want to stick to the MBP.
• but since most Lightroom task are burst tasks during the editing stage, they likely perform and feel the same
• or quick effects may only have 12%-50% difference between the two

But thats M2—the M3 should be faster still.

A proper comparison for you really depends on what kind of photo editing you do; which is why the video can paint one picture but then in person you may feel they behave about the same. Best to buy and use the 14-day return window to test your specific workflow.

Cheers.