A new MacBook Air coming soon: Here’s what we know

Alongside major updates to the iPad, a new MacBook Air is also coming soon. The new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models could be introduced at an event in March. Here’s everything we know so far.

New MacBook Air: What the rumors say

Right now, the rumors suggest that the new MacBook Air refresh will be relatively unexciting. While 2022 introduced an all-new MacBook Air design, and 2023 introduced a new 15-inch MacBook Air form factor, the 2024 update is expected to be focused on one thing: performance.

The new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models coming this year will be powered by Apple’s latest-generation M3 chip inside. The updates are expected to be introduced in March, alongside new iPad Air and iPad Pro updates at a potential event. The new M3 MacBook Air models are already said to be in production ahead of that launch.

How much faster will the new MacBook Air be?

The new MacBook Air with an M3 chip should be noticeably faster than the M2-powered version. First off, the M3 chip is manufactured using a 3-nanometer fabrication process, down from the 5-nanometer fabrication on the M2 chip.

Apple says that the M3 family of chips features efficiency cores up to 30% faster than the M2 family and up to 50% faster than the M1. The performance cores of the M3 chips are up to 15% faster than the M2 chips and up to 30% faster than the M1 family.

For the base model M3 chip in particular, Apple says:

• The 8-core CPU is up to 35% faster than M1 and 20% faster than M2.
• The 10-core GPU is up to 65% faster than M1 and up to 20% faster than M2.

These claims have largely been corroborated by benchmarks, as well.

The M3 also features something called Dynamic Caching, which Apple describes as the “largest leap forward in graphics architecture” ever, along with support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading.

What does all of this mean in practice? The M3 MacBook Air will be faster, more efficient, and offer a nice boost in graphics performance. While you likely won’t notice these improvements every day, they will give you a higher ceiling for the instances when you do need to maximize performance.

9to5Mac’s Take

One of the things I’m most interested in seeing is what happens to the overall MacBook Air lineup when the new M3 model is introduced. Here’s what the current MacBook Air lineup looks like:

• M1 MacBook Air: $999
• 13-inch M2 MacBook Air: $1099
• 15-inch M2 MacBook Air: $1299

Will the M2 MacBook Air models stay in the lineup and receive a price cut? What happens to the M1 MacBook Air? These are the questions I’m excited to get Apple’s answers to next month.

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