The best value notebook for most of us is the MacBook Air, and Apple has now updated both the 13- and 15-in. models with powerful M3 chips and the capacity to run two external displays when the lid is closed.
All in all, these Macs should be more than suitable for most mobile workers.
Apple in the fast lane
Think back less than a year to when the company introduced its superb M2-powered 15-in. MacBook Air. That model delivered more performance than the late 2019 2.7GHz Intel Mac Pro.
That surge in computational ability goes even further with the M3 update. Citing tests it conducted in January, Apple claims the new chip runs up to 60% faster than the model with the M1 chip and up to 13 times faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air.
For mobile workers, that means using Excel spreadsheets is up to 35% faster than on the M1 Mac, and three times as fast as an Intel-based Mac, Apple said. There’s a similar performance bump when working with video.
Will your next PC be a Mac?
As we enter the computer purchasing season, Apple’s own data claims that the M3 chip inside these models will contribute twice the performance, 50% faster web browsing and up to 40% longer battery life than a PC laptop with an Intel Core i7 processor.
You need to dig to find it, but in a small note (5, 6) at the bottom of the product page, Apple tells us the tests took place in January on Intel Core i7-based PC systems with Intel Iris Xe Graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and the latest version of Windows 11 at the time of testing.
Speeds and feeds
The first Geekbench results for the new Air are beginning to emerge; they confirm performance similar to the current M3 MacBook Pro.
The M3 MacBook Air delivers single-core performance at 3,157, and multi-core at 12,020, which is about 20% better than the last M2 MacBook Air. We may see that data change slightly by the time more test results have been shared, however, as Geekbench 6 data for the 14-in. MacBook Pro generates 3,085 and 11,561 (single- multi-core).
What that dizzying range of statistics means is that if you pick up a 13-in. M3 MacBook Air today for $1,099 you are getting similar performance to what you got with the M3 MacBook Pro a few months ago. The latter offers a host of improvements for some professionals, but for most people, the Air will handle everything they need.
What else should we know?
To dig a little deeper into that comparison, the 14-in. MacBook Pro has a slightly larger display than the 13-in. Air. It offers 22 hours of battery life in contrast to 18 hours, an XDR display (which you need for color referencing), a brighter display, better quality audio, and additional HDMI and SDXC interconnects.
Since we’ve spent time on specifications, it makes sense to share some more. Along with the M3 processor, the newest MacBook Air provides:
500 nits Liquid Retina display.
1080p FaceTime HD camera.
Four-speaker sound system.
Three-mic array.
Wi-Fi 6E.
Bluetooth 5.3.
Touch ID…
2024-03-09 19:41:01
Post from www.computerworld.com
