Apple’s new MacBook Air is everything you could ever want in a sub $2k laptop. It’s sleek, sexy, and smart (thanks to its AI capabilities) but there is a catch. It’s kind of the same as last year’s model but with a few minor tweaks.
And these tweaks are pretty good, from a longer battery life, support from two external displays and faster Wi-Fi but the major perk is the introduction of the M3 chip.
After the low-key drop of the MacBook Air earlier this month, I’ve been given a 15-inch MacBook Air to play with and I have some notes (complimentary).
2024 MacBook Air: Let’s talk about specs, baby
The 15-inch MacBook Pro I was given had 16GB unified memory, 512GB SSD and a liquid Retina display.
In the box, I got the laptop, a 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter and a 2-metre long USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable.
The laptop itself stays true to its Air-like feel, the device just over 1.5kgs.
Similar to last year’s model, it has a six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers. It also comes with support for Spatial Audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos on built-in speakers.
In terms of battery life, Apple said the MacBook Air has up to 18 hours of Apple TV app movie playback and 15 hours of wireless web.
With these types of claims, I’m always the tiniest bit sceptical but for a full day of work starting on 100 per cent charge at 8.30 am, the laptop was on 25 per cent by 5.30 pm, which isn’t bad at all.
I have also haphazardly used it for an hour or two during the week and didn’t need to charge it for seven days.
MacBook Air, meet the M3 chip
This year, the big deal for Apple’s MacBook Air was the M3 chip, this is the chip that is currently in the recent MacBook Pro is now in its affordable, model. I would like to point out that this is the low-end M3 chip. So not the M3 Pro or M3 Max chip.
For the past two models (2023 and 2022), the MacBook Air has been housing the M2 chip, and it does a great job. In the 2023 model, we sang its praises for its fast performance so you can bet ya bottom dollar that this year’s model is undeniably faster.
To set the record straight, for work, I use the 2022 model, with the M2 chip, I’m used to Apple’s silicon and I very, very much appreciate it. When I replaced my work lappy with this bad boy, I could very much feel the difference between the M2 and M3.
This laptop is fast, and zooms along easily. As an editor, I have a million things going on at once: Slack notifications popping off every second, a bajillion Chrome tabs open and Spotify blasting Jazz Vibes to keep me calm.
The MacBook Air doesn’t seem to care. It doesn’t heat up or freeze when I’m jumping from Chrome tab to Chrome tab then to Spotify and then back to Chrome.
The darn thing stays calm. You could take this laptop through a haunted house and it wouldn’t even flinch (yes I know it is non-sentient but if it could, it would).
I also decided to test out The Sims 3 on the MacBook Air, and it ran gorgeously. Last year, we tested The Sims 4 on the 2023 model and it worked perfectly.
The same thing happened again this year. I am honestly flabbergasted that a MacBook Air can run The Sims without sounding like it’s about to take off for an intercontinental flight.
My old 2018 MacBook Air is shaking in her boots.
MacBook Air price: A small gripe
This is the thing about MacBook Airs these days is that, yes it is Apple’s entry-level laptop, but it is still a premium level product.
But this is also the problem, it’s a premium product with a pretty hefty price tag.
The MacBook Air is expensive, the cheapest model is $1,799 and the 15-inch model with 2 T TB of SSD storage is $3,699. Ouch.
In this economy, it’s not cheap. It’s cheaper than the Pro, obviously, but if you’re a uni student looking for a cheap MacBook Air, this would not be in the budget.
That’s something I’ve found a bit disappointing with Apple is that there isn’t an entry-level MacBook (or anything to be honest). Remember the ill-fated 12-inch MacBook that lasted a good three years before Apple binned it?
When I was in uni, the MacBook Air was the laptop to get, it was affordable, light and not that powerful, but that was the point.
Not to sound like the trope of ‘old man yells at the sky’ but the MacBook Air is not what it used to be. It was created to be a ‘lite’ version of the MacBook Pro and now it is pretty much a light version of the MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Air has never looked better
There is no doubt that the MacBook Air is sexy. She’s light, slim and smooth. The one thing Apple gets right every single year is the design of their laptops.
The device comes in four colours, silver, starlight, space grey and midnight, I had the silver MacBook Air.
I would also like to acknowledge the physical ASMR I experienced when typing on this laptop’s keyboard. I could send myself to sleep by just typing word after word.
According to Apple, this is the first Apple product to be made with 50 per cent recycled content. So that’s something cool to think about, that not only is this a super speedy laptop, but it’s also low-key sustainable.
It has 100 per cent recycled aluminium in the enclosure, 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets and, in another first for Apple, 100 per cent recycled copper in the main logic board.
Fun!
Should I buy the 2024 MacBook Air?
If you’re in the market desperate for a MacBook and tossing between this model and the most current Pro, I’d say save yourself a couple hundred bucks and get the Air. It is fast, efficient and does the job of a Pro.
But if you’re tossing up between the Air from 2024 and 2023, it’s much of a muchness. I’d say if you have the money, get the 2024 model and if you don’t get the 2023 model, it is as simple as that.
Now if you don’t mind me, I’ll be playing the Sims 3 until the wee hours of the morning.
The 15-inch 2024 Apple MacBook Air starts from $2,199.
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