– Announced on March 4 for preorder, available in-store March 8
– Will have M3 chip inside
– Will not bring in any other major changes
– Won’t upgrade to an OLED screen
Apple announced its latest MacBook Air models, the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch and Apple MacBook Air 15-inch, and as expected, they will feature the new Apple M3 chip. Needless to say, the excitement around two of the best laptop models on the market is finally coming to fruition.
The M3 chip launched late last year, and Apple introduced new MacBook Pro models packing the SoC (as well as an iMac 24-inch), so we already know a lot about what to expect performance-wise from these two laptops.
Here's everything we know about the latest refresh to two of the best MacBooks on the market, including how you can preorder and when you can expect to get one in hand.
MacBook Air 2024: Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next-gen MacBook Air laptop from Apple
- When is it out? March 8, 2024
- How much will it cost? We’re guessing pricing will likely hold at current levels
MacBook Air 2024 release date & price
The latest MacBook Air models will be released on March 8, 2024, and preorders are available now by going to the Apple website. The MacBook Air 13-inch with M3 starts at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1.799, and the MacBook Air 15-inch with M3 starts at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,199.
The price of the new MacBook Air 13-inch is $100 / £100 / AU$100 lower than the previous MacBook Air 13-inch with M2's launch price, which is great to see, while the price of the new Apple MacBook Air 15-inch is the same as the previous model.
In terms of configurable options, the base MacBook Air 13-inch configuration comes with an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU, 8GB unified memory, and 256GB SSD storage.
You can upgrade to the 10-core GPU for an extra $100 / £100 / AU$150, and upgrade to 16GB unified memory for an extra $200 / £200 / AU$300, or up to 24GB unified memory for an additional $400 / £400 / AU$600. For storage, you can get 512GB storage for an extra $200 / £200 / AU$300, 1TB for an extra $400 / £400 / AU$600, and up to 2TB SSD storage for $800 / £800 / AU$1,200 extra, bringing the max spec of the 13-inch to $2,299 / £2,299 / AU$3,599.
The MacBook Air 15-inch only comes with the 10-core GPU M3 variant and starts with 8GB unified memory and 256GB storage. You can upgrade to 16GB memory for an extra $200 / £200 / AU$300, and 24GB for an extra $400 / £400 / AU$600. For storage, you can upgrade to 512GB for an extra $200 / £200 / AU$300; to 1TB for an extra $400 / £400 / AU$600; and to 2TB storage for an extra $800 / £800 / AU$1,200. This puts the max-spec MacBook Air 15-inch at $2,499 / £2,499 / AU$3,999.
Incidentally, this also drops the price of the M2 MacBook Air 13-inch down to $999 / £999 / AU$1,599, and takes the M2 MacBook Air 15-inch off of Apple's website completely. You should still be able to buy the 15-inch MacBook Air with M2 at other retailers, but prices will vary accordingly.
The Apple MacBook Air with M1 chip is also no longer available on Apple's website, and we expect that it will be getting even steeper discounts wherever it is still available for sale.
MacBook Air 2024 news
Are we going to see Apple incorporate some major changes and eye-opening new elements with the next-gen MacBook Air? Not really.
The M3 chip is the biggest upgrade here, as we’ve already mentioned, and that’s a solid step up that will certainly make a difference in adding some extra pep to the laptop (even if it doesn’t make all that persuasive a case for those who already have an M2 inside their portable).
The MacBook Air 13-inch and MacBook Air 15-inch will both carry the base M3 chip, but won't have options for the faster Pro or Max variants. The latter could possibly come to the 15-inch model at some point, but that’d further blur the line between the MacBook Pro and Air offerings, so don't expect Apple to do that.
We do expect that the more efficient M3 chip will help bring better battery life to the next-gen Airs, considering that they did appear to boost the battery life on both the MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch, though the increased battery size on those two models over their predecessors make an easy comparison more difficult.
What about the possibility of an OLED screen? True, this was rumored in the past (cast your mind back to March 2023), but we now know that isn't in the offing this go-around. The speculation from the grapevine has consistently claimed Apple will bring OLED to the MacBook Pro first, then the MacBook Air will follow, so we'll likely have to wait until the next update to the Air models for OLED panels.
That said, the MacBook Air display is great as is, so does it really need an OLED upgrade? It’s high-quality and very bright and punchy, so will do for now, we reckon.
The design of the two laptops is essentially the same, which isn't surprising seeing as the MacBook Air 13-inch (M2) benefited from a new design when it emerged.
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