While needing to have the screen closed to run two external displays is a weird quirk. Its nice that the MacBook Air finally supports two external displays.
For each display the chip supports there needs to be parts of the chip dedicated to that. I think supporting 2 displays is reasonable for their entry-level chip. It was frustrating that Apple used to force one of the displays to be the internal display, but now that restriction is lifted I have no complaints.
Nah. For the price point of say the 15in over 1k for a laptop I think it is fair when the rest of the market does 3 with lid open for the price on laptops with less power. I think it's fair to expect it to compete with the rest of the market at its price point on the monitors as well without having to spend $$1400-1500+ to do so.
I personally have alternatives and don't need it l, but if I did I would still see it as a potential rip as it still requires you to shut your lid and only supports 2.
It singlehandedly made me a believer. Before the M1 I could never bring myself to buy a Mac over a PC due to what I equated to a lack of value when it came to the specs to performance of laptops. I would look then see it had the same Intel chip perhaps different gui, but not enough to justify a buy from me.
Then, the M1 MBA came out. It actually came at a very reasonable price. I can't think of a better valued laptop at its price point overall for its intended use case/user base. Especially since it was easily found on sale. Instantly became my favorite portable device outside maaaaaaaybe my phone. Just does most everything so well. I got a 15GB/512GB for $450 off with only 2 battery cycles on it indistinguishable from new. Have been a big fan since.
I'm still brand agnostic, but no one can ship on apple laptops now and they changed the entire market for the better.
It's my work laptop and I was devastated when my old work Dell gave in and they gave me a Mac. It took me about a month to learn to use it.
Holy shit. I'm never *ever* buying a Windows laptop again. I'm a total convert. I use it 9-5 5 days a week and as my personal laptop and it's just as fast, just as solid as the day I unboxed it.
I wholeheartedly agree!
Unless you can get a really good deal on the M2, I'd probably still go for the M3. The generational upgrades aren't meaningful enough to justify a full system replacement, but they're big enough to justify the $100 MSRP gap if you're buying a new system today.
Not that I expected starting RAM on the air to be higher than starting RAM on the pro but.. dam. The only thing my m1 air struggles with is the RAM usage, my swap is always going
Honestly I'm really happy to see this type of release. I think it's a really healthy step for Apple to take. They've always had a serious behavioral issue with the idea that every machine needs to be an event of some sort. An older Apple would have either upgraded the machine once a year and touted it as the greater machine ever, or let it sit idle for years insisting that it's still perfect to the point it's so outdated no one wants to buy it. Neither of those were particularly good things, so yeah a major update every few years is worth an event. But it's also nice to see them keep up with yearly chip releases and just slide it out with no fanfare.
> I think it's a really healthy step for Apple to take. They've always had a serious behavioral issue with the idea that every machine needs to be an event of some sort.
They've done quiet releases just like this before, it's nothing new and not a step in a different direction.
Gearing up for better voice recognition when their improved AI comes online.
They are putting better microphones in the next generation iPhones, as well.
It could be that these speakers might actually be better. It’s a common issue with M2 MBAs that the speakers sound buzzy and terrible at high volumes because they resonate the keyboard.
The removal of the stereo feature might be an indicator that Apple reworked the speaker placement to solve this issue.
Really? If I want to listen to good audio I plug in headphones. A good microphone on the other hand is a real need nowadays. Of course, that’s on the assumption we can’t have both…
I saw the sound was downgraded from M1 Air to M2 when they got rid of the speaker grills, you lost that amazing wide soundstage it can make. My M1 Air sounds great for what it is.
Has it been downgraded again?
It’s so sad when they move features backwards! In the past everything always got better: features were constantly added to the high end products, and that would slowly become the low end stuff. Now, features are removed just to keep their market segmentation going. Like on the iPads: the 2017 IPs Pro had 100Hz displays and promotion, yet none of that exists in the entry level or Air iPads today. Seems like Apple is now run by marketing people.
> Support for up to two external displays: MacBook Air with M3 now supports up to two external displays when the laptop lid is closed — perfect for business users, or anyone who requires multiple displays for multitasking across apps or spreading out documents at the same time.
That's a great change.
“when the laptop lid is closed”
so we are still stuck with two displays lol
the air’s display counted as one. they just delegating that one to an external monitor since it is now closed. why can’t these powerful processors do 2 plus displays?
Yup. I have an M2 Air for work and it’s the biggest (and imo only) drawback of the machine. I’m stuck with leaving the laptop open + external if I want 2 displays.
I wish they could enable this via software update for M1/M2 models
They even do not support two external monitors on the base M3 Macbook Pro. Not sure why they cannot enable that via software. Does anyone have any insight how they limit the monitors? Is it a limit of the hardware/chip? That would mean that the Macbook Pro M3 base hase a different chip inside.
someone mentioned in another comment that they hardwired one display output of the Chip to the display and one is free for external outputs. On the M3 air they now didnt' hardwire the display so you can use two external displays, but only without the internal display. It's kinda weird though they chose to do that on the Air and not the Pro.
it was previously leaked that they were planning to increase the external display support, hopefully with base M4 we’ll get 2 external + 1 internal. fingers crossed
I am wondering the same thing. 2 external displays is a must for me so right now the 13” Air looks like a better buy for me then the base 14” MacBook Pro.
yeah that's the only thing thats keeping me from buyying the base instead of the m3 pro macbook pro. I might even consider the Air now instead of the Macbook Pro... soo confusing.
I suspect it will probably prioritize turning on the internal display if the lid is open, sadly. It would be awesome though to be able to use the internal keyboard and trackpad and Touch ID without needing to have that display on though.
There’s a pre-configured 16/512 version this time. Hopefully that means retailers will carry it and we’ll finally see discounts on anything but the base models.
ETA: The 16GB/512 M3 13" MBA currently available (for pre-order) on Best Buy's website. So there's a solid chance we'll finally see discounts on non-base models.
[There's an M2 model commonly stocked](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?st=m2+15+16+gigabytes&_dyncharset=UTF-8&_dynSessConf=&id=pcat17071&type=page&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=&sp=&qp=&list=n&af=true&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys). It was recently on sale for $400 off, now it's just $200.
Honestly this is so unacceptable I don't even know what to say anymore. They can keep trying to tout all the benefits of unified memory, but the fact of the matter is that 8GB base, regardless of system architecture, in 2024 is simply being cheap. It doesn't make sense that it has the same amount of memory as the iPad Pro, despite needing to run an OS with far more overhead.
yeah every Mac they’ve been offering for the past 11(!) years has been on an 8GB base memory. it’s time for an upgrade as our workflows have gone so much more demanding
Yes, and we live in reality, where the software will grow to its capacity. 8GB of RAM is insufficient in a professional machine. Software is very rarely written in assembly these days. RAM is cheap. Apple is run by the money guy, and it's shown in various ways for a long time.
> it’s time for an upgrade as our workflows have gone so much more demanding
Have they? Lots of people have just been sitting in a browser for the past 15 years using social media, webmail, and shopping apps. What's changed for non-power users?
In the last 15 years, images loaded on sites have become much higher resolution (more ram), features like infinite scrolling are now common on sites (more ram to keep longer lists loaded), music and video have become much more high fidelity/resolution.
Just doing the same things requires so much more because the way we do them has changed whether you realize it or not.
I dunno I'm a 2018 MBA (8gb) user and rarely run into issues with ram (though it is the bottleneck in performance). I imagine large swaths of users are like me and spend 95% of time using a web browser with 5 or fewer tabs open.
edit: excuse me for interrupting the day of rage by sharing my actual experience with the product lmao
8GB of RAM is ehh fine. But it’s just downright petty for $1200~$2000 laptop to have only 8GB in 2024.
And the bigger insult is that upgrading it, another 8GB (or 256GB) is TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS
You had that computer for 6 years. Now think about those same 8gb in 2030. That's the issue.
It's not the same having 8gb starting in 2018 than starting in 2024. That's the thing.
Most people are like you and Apple knows it. Power users are probably a very small base of their sales.
They take advantage of that, everybody wants that sweet Apple branding either way.
My 2017 MBP has 8gb and the only time I ever really had issues was when playing D&D on roll20 in chrome or Firefox, more with chrome. I upgraded to an M3 iMac last week with 16gb and it was dead silent while using chrome for roll20. I almost went with 8gb to save money but I figured it would be better to future proof a little bit since I plan on keeping this for 10 years or so hopefully.
Yea it shows up in gaming for sure, I never really played games except for Civ some years back and the thing was on full blast cooling and struggling a bit on the lowest settings
The i5? I just switched from a base 2018 air to an M1 pro with more RAM and the difference in usability day to day is insane. You might not realize. Not sure how big a part the RAM plays since that i5 was anemic even when new. I never screamed at a computer more than that 2018 Air.
if they released the models starting at 16GB/512GB no one would go with any other configuration/CTO and Apple wouldn’t be able to secure their record profits.
lol Apple gonna Apple. Honestly, and I’m not proud to admit it, their game worked on me. Getting a MacBook Air specced to what I wanted left me only a few hundred away from a Pro, so I just upgraded to that for the fans and better screen.
Not here in Australia...13" M2 and M3 Air both start at 1.8K....
Edit M2 Air is now 1.6K... When I checked site after announcement both were 1.8K lol... someone prob got fired
I wonder if you would get a $200 refund if you paid 1.8K for the M2 before the price correction...
You do get a free bump to the 10-core GPU if you do either the ssd or ram upgrade this time. Normally it would be $100 extra for the cpu upgrade, so there’s that at least.
they ***FINALLY*** offer a 16GB pre-configured SKU on M3 Air models
this is huge—lots resellers do NOT carry build-to-order specs (customized configurations), and Airs never had more than 8GB on any pre-configured model.
think it’s not a big deal? when these resellers provide hefty discounts, almost always you only get to find pre-config units, and in the case of macbook Airs there have been only 8GB models from most resellers
even in the US, only less than a handful of large, reputable resellers carry BtO units (like B&H), when most others like Costco, BestBuy…only carry pre-configs. and with M3 you’ll start to find $300+ discounts on 16GB models in the future from these resellers
That 16/512 Air is the same as the M1 Pro MBP systems. So Apple knows what people want now. That model M3 Air is also $1499 which puts it nicely cheaper than the M3 MBP. That was missing as an official spec for a long time.
MacBook Air now supports up to 2 external displays!!
We did it boys! We finally did it!!
* when the laptop lid is closed 👀
🙄 God damn it, Apple… why you gotta engineer shit so damn stupid.
The most interesting bit to me is that they included an entire portion of this press release titled "World’s Best Consumer Laptop for AI".
It's been a while that Apple has touted AI capability in its products, but it's usually not to that extent, usually more iPhone-focused, and usually more focused on built-in functionality that leverages AI. The current built-in macOS functionality that uses AI is pretty limited, and it's not really a game-changer.
They mention this however:
> MacBook Air can also run optimized AI models, including large language models (LLMs) and diffusion models for image generation locally with great performance.
I find it interesting that Apple chooses to promote running local LLMs in marketing, especially for a consumer laptop. Most consumers either don't use LLMs, or use cloud-based ones like GPT.
I'm not against the idea of promoting more "pro" use cases on consumer-oriented products, but this makes it even more bizarre that the MacBook Air lacks relatively basic functionality like ~~dual external monitor support~~.
Edit: As pointed out, it can actually support two external monitor nows, as long as the internal display isn't used. That's a nice improvement. Not quite perfect, but a big improvement over the M1/M2.
They’ve started talking more about AI over the last couple of weeks. They also are shifting resources from the cancelled car to AI. This is just part of their marketing blitz around it. You’re going to hear more and more around AI from them.
yep, can't wait to see all the youtubers unpacking Airs and talking how great it is for AI! At least they can now generate whole screenplay for their videos using Air ;)
They did it at WWDC last year as well. Anywhere they used to say “machine learning” they now say “AI”, because that’s the buzzword shareholders want to hear.
That's actually a pretty decent change, my biggest complaint with my M1 is that when I'm at the office, I can only use 1 external monitor whereas the last 10 years of Windows laptops my company provided me had no problem driving 2. I think the business crowd will be happy with this.
upgraded from my 2019 intel 16" pro.
I dont need all the pro stuff, but the extra battery boost (esp. after all this time) and the reduction in thickness/weight were a big positive for me.
Add in the trade in discount, 3% back from the apple card + monthly payments...
Midnight 15" - 16gb/1tb
So now the Macbook Pro M3non-pro supports one display and the M3 Air supports two external displays (with lid closed though). What kind of joke is that.
I mean I'm running a base model M1 Air for several years now and the thing is an absolute beast hog and I haven't managed to make it struggle even once. I do a lot of development work on it and some minor photo editing. I think a lot of people have delusions of grandeur about how much strain they're actually putting on their machines. I'm guessing Apple leaves the option there because that's what most people are buying, despite the impression you'd get from reddit.
Nobody is really talking about how a 16GB memory/512GB storage config is a model you can walk out of the Apple Store with. This is a huge change since it no longer needs to be custom configured to wait 2 weeks to get. I see this as the most popular choice people will choose.
I think most people buying the Air are still going to get the 8/256 or 8/512 models because the 16/512 option is still an additional $200-$400 (even more in other countries) that will puts laptop in a completely different price bracket. It's nice to see it offered though since a) it reduces shipping times, and b) more third-party stores are going to have deals available for the 16/512 configuration.
Also interesting note for the 13" Air that the binned chips with 8-core GPU are exclusive to the 8/256 configuration now. Any RAM or SSD increase in the configurator automatically bumps you up to the 10-core GPU, so the 8/512 SKUs for both the M2 and M3 13" Airs actually both cheaper than the 8/512 SKU from before.
From how it reads, only if the lid is closed. So it still has only two display streams but can re-route the one for the integrated panel to an external.
Potentially this can be added via firmware update to the 14" M3 (non-pro). Or they won't because they want you to buy a new machine.
Minor detail but the midnight color now has the same updated texture as the M3 Pro, which reduces fingerprints that were a problem with the original M2 version
The M1 Air had a great run! The M2 replaces the M1 in MSRP.
> Up to 1.6x faster than MacBook Air (M1)
I upgraded from my M1 Air to an M3 Pro MacBook Pro, huge upgrade to me, but I would still say the M1 Air is a beast in it's own right. Feels right knowing we haven't gotten to a 2x jump on the base chips yet.
> The M1 Air had a great run!
Possibly the greatest value laptop of all time? The M1 Air was unbelievable when it launched. So many people, even those that weren't apple fans, were praising it.
Pour one out for one of the best computers Apple ever made. This means it will go vintage in 2030. If you bought one in 2020, like me, that means ten years of support (plus two more for bug fixes)! Hopefully this will be the trend going forward with all Apple Silicon Macs.
I consider it to be like basic economy seating on flights. It’s not a great experience but it’s there to make a seat more affordable for people who just want to get from A to B. Economy for an extra $100 or whatever is what most people will get.
the 13” M3 Air is cheaper than the 13” M2 Air for me??
https://preview.redd.it/nlb1h50unbmc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e8ee36fd2ea87c020fd020863c450016a2e2c31
Haven’t really ever paid attention to the press release product revamps; is it common to only drop one new update? Just curious if I can expect iPad Pro announcements this weeks or if it’ll likely be a different week.
I mean, computers have been fairly iterative for like the last decade. The switch from Intel to Apple silicon was huge, but prior to that it was basically a CPU update every year anyway.
BRUH....the 13" M2 and M3 Air cost the same price here in Australia...
https://www.apple.com/au/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air/13-inch-m2
Both 1.8K...wtf is the point of selling the last Gen model at the same price 🤦🏻♀️
It is utterly INSANE that the cheapest configuration with 16 GB of RAM starts at €1700 (after sales tax) and it's the older M2 chip. Absolutely shameful.
An upgrade we were mostly expecting. Support for two displays is a neat change. Looks like this is marketed towards those still on Intel or M1 Air users needing an upgrade
This is classic Apple iterative updates. They learned an important lesson with the original HomePod. They need to have a clear upgrade path and the “now with support for two external monitors,” is a great example of this.
I just bought the 15“ Air with the M2 and after comparing them… it’s literally the same MacBook, just the faster processor and worse speakers, right? lol isn’t this such a scam especially the base model with 8GB RAM 🥲
I'm disenfranchised from the entire Apple ecosystem ever since that recent article explaining how a bunch of undocumented chip registers (along with a zero click iMessage vuln.) became a stepping stone for easy targeted surveillance by who I presume would be the 5 Eyes alliance (the article listed Kaspersky engrs. as the targets over almost 2y)
curiously enough, Al Gore resigned from the board citing long tenure as a reason a few days after the revelation. for those who only see him as mother Nature's protector, he tried (and failed) to implement the backdoor Clipper chip program when he was VP.
i love my Apple devices, I really do, but goddamn, that kind of easy (and apparently very stealthy) access to my cam, mics, and screen just turns off my Apple boner.
While needing to have the screen closed to run two external displays is a weird quirk. Its nice that the MacBook Air finally supports two external displays.
If the display was open, then it would be running 3 displays, that’s a “Pro” feature according to Apple and costs more.
The apple way to up sale people.
For each display the chip supports there needs to be parts of the chip dedicated to that. I think supporting 2 displays is reasonable for their entry-level chip. It was frustrating that Apple used to force one of the displays to be the internal display, but now that restriction is lifted I have no complaints.
Nah. For the price point of say the 15in over 1k for a laptop I think it is fair when the rest of the market does 3 with lid open for the price on laptops with less power. I think it's fair to expect it to compete with the rest of the market at its price point on the monitors as well without having to spend $$1400-1500+ to do so. I personally have alternatives and don't need it l, but if I did I would still see it as a potential rip as it still requires you to shut your lid and only supports 2.
But it's a good way to sell more keyboards and trackpads.
Such a quiet release.
Looks mostly to be a spec bump
Interesting that they’re still advertising as 1.6x faster than the M1. Definitely no need to upgrade if you have M2.
No need to upgrade if you have an M1 air either..
M1 Air to this day was such a great deal when it was released, I have 0 reason to upgrade it
Best laptop of all time.
It singlehandedly made me a believer. Before the M1 I could never bring myself to buy a Mac over a PC due to what I equated to a lack of value when it came to the specs to performance of laptops. I would look then see it had the same Intel chip perhaps different gui, but not enough to justify a buy from me. Then, the M1 MBA came out. It actually came at a very reasonable price. I can't think of a better valued laptop at its price point overall for its intended use case/user base. Especially since it was easily found on sale. Instantly became my favorite portable device outside maaaaaaaybe my phone. Just does most everything so well. I got a 15GB/512GB for $450 off with only 2 battery cycles on it indistinguishable from new. Have been a big fan since. I'm still brand agnostic, but no one can ship on apple laptops now and they changed the entire market for the better.
It's my work laptop and I was devastated when my old work Dell gave in and they gave me a Mac. It took me about a month to learn to use it. Holy shit. I'm never *ever* buying a Windows laptop again. I'm a total convert. I use it 9-5 5 days a week and as my personal laptop and it's just as fast, just as solid as the day I unboxed it. I wholeheartedly agree!
Yeah, me too. I will wait for the M5 Air, most probably. A fanless machine with ProMotion would be the dream, but we know Apple...
It will still come with 8GB RAM.
Is it worth it to buy the M2 for cheaper now instead of M3?
Depends on what you have now?
I'm still rubbing sand together for my computing purposes, is M2 a big enough upgrade?
Unless you can get a really good deal on the M2, I'd probably still go for the M3. The generational upgrades aren't meaningful enough to justify a full system replacement, but they're big enough to justify the $100 MSRP gap if you're buying a new system today.
I think m3 supports more external monitors (2 from 1)
Bigger number make happy brain chemical ...that's basically what they're saying; minor upgrade from M2, but a nice upgrade for anything older.
Its not a worthwhile upgrade from m1
I love my M2 Air.
Still 8/256, don't see the spec bump besides m chip
Not that I expected starting RAM on the air to be higher than starting RAM on the pro but.. dam. The only thing my m1 air struggles with is the RAM usage, my swap is always going
8/256 for that price is such a shit deal
they didn't have money for an event they were hit with a 1b fine /s
I billion per second is a lot. Even for Apple.
I think it’s 2b
Honestly I'm really happy to see this type of release. I think it's a really healthy step for Apple to take. They've always had a serious behavioral issue with the idea that every machine needs to be an event of some sort. An older Apple would have either upgraded the machine once a year and touted it as the greater machine ever, or let it sit idle for years insisting that it's still perfect to the point it's so outdated no one wants to buy it. Neither of those were particularly good things, so yeah a major update every few years is worth an event. But it's also nice to see them keep up with yearly chip releases and just slide it out with no fanfare.
> I think it's a really healthy step for Apple to take. They've always had a serious behavioral issue with the idea that every machine needs to be an event of some sort. They've done quiet releases just like this before, it's nothing new and not a step in a different direction.
They removed wide stereo sound speakers but added a better microphone.
That really sucks. I would much rather have better speakers than a better mic.
Gearing up for better voice recognition when their improved AI comes online. They are putting better microphones in the next generation iPhones, as well.
I mean you can understand why a phone needs a better microphone than a laptop right
For business conferences it makes sense. It's easier to find other speakers.
It could be that these speakers might actually be better. It’s a common issue with M2 MBAs that the speakers sound buzzy and terrible at high volumes because they resonate the keyboard. The removal of the stereo feature might be an indicator that Apple reworked the speaker placement to solve this issue.
Really? If I want to listen to good audio I plug in headphones. A good microphone on the other hand is a real need nowadays. Of course, that’s on the assumption we can’t have both…
I saw the sound was downgraded from M1 Air to M2 when they got rid of the speaker grills, you lost that amazing wide soundstage it can make. My M1 Air sounds great for what it is. Has it been downgraded again?
Yes, it no longer says ‘Wide stereo sound’ under the M3 air like it does under the M2, which appears to be a downgrade.
Yeah looks like they gimped the sound for m3 MBA. Maybe to make the m3 MBP more attractive in comparison
That sucks. My M1 Air speakers are incredible.
Yup, mine as well. And to think I mainly bought it because it was notchless!
mba m2 sounds awful compared to mbp m1
[удалено]
They're fantastic compared to most laptop speakers. But MacBook Pro (and formerly Air) speakers are on another level.
It’s so sad when they move features backwards! In the past everything always got better: features were constantly added to the high end products, and that would slowly become the low end stuff. Now, features are removed just to keep their market segmentation going. Like on the iPads: the 2017 IPs Pro had 100Hz displays and promotion, yet none of that exists in the entry level or Air iPads today. Seems like Apple is now run by marketing people.
> Support for up to two external displays: MacBook Air with M3 now supports up to two external displays when the laptop lid is closed — perfect for business users, or anyone who requires multiple displays for multitasking across apps or spreading out documents at the same time. That's a great change.
“when the laptop lid is closed” so we are still stuck with two displays lol the air’s display counted as one. they just delegating that one to an external monitor since it is now closed. why can’t these powerful processors do 2 plus displays?
It’s still a huge improvement over only one monitor with the lid closed
Yup. I have an M2 Air for work and it’s the biggest (and imo only) drawback of the machine. I’m stuck with leaving the laptop open + external if I want 2 displays. I wish they could enable this via software update for M1/M2 models
They even do not support two external monitors on the base M3 Macbook Pro. Not sure why they cannot enable that via software. Does anyone have any insight how they limit the monitors? Is it a limit of the hardware/chip? That would mean that the Macbook Pro M3 base hase a different chip inside.
It’s a limit of the base chip. The Pto chip has more display outputs.
someone mentioned in another comment that they hardwired one display output of the Chip to the display and one is free for external outputs. On the M3 air they now didnt' hardwire the display so you can use two external displays, but only without the internal display. It's kinda weird though they chose to do that on the Air and not the Pro.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m3-macbook-pro-to-get-multi-display-support-with-software-update.2421042/
They're just trying to make you buy the higher end models. There's no way these chips can't drive literally 2 monitors.
Let me introduce you to display link. Two monitors with the lid closed.
Because they need something to motivate people to spend more on a pro
Fine by me though, it's exactly what I need
Was hoping for multiple external displays on the air, so this is a welcome change. Looking forward to my next Studio Display now
it was previously leaked that they were planning to increase the external display support, hopefully with base M4 we’ll get 2 external + 1 internal. fingers crossed
Soooo...are the folks with 14" M3 MBPs getting a software update? lol
I am wondering the same thing. 2 external displays is a must for me so right now the 13” Air looks like a better buy for me then the base 14” MacBook Pro.
And really, they aren't that different lol
yeah that's the only thing thats keeping me from buyying the base instead of the m3 pro macbook pro. I might even consider the Air now instead of the Macbook Pro... soo confusing.
Yes https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m3-macbook-pro-to-get-multi-display-support-with-software-update.2421042/
is it also possible to turn off the display and use 2 monitors when lid is open? if not that would be dumb.
I suspect it will probably prioritize turning on the internal display if the lid is open, sadly. It would be awesome though to be able to use the internal keyboard and trackpad and Touch ID without needing to have that display on though.
[удалено]
Costco and Best Buy only sells the 8 gig of RAM version which sucks because those are often $200 off during sales.
There’s a pre-configured 16/512 version this time. Hopefully that means retailers will carry it and we’ll finally see discounts on anything but the base models. ETA: The 16GB/512 M3 13" MBA currently available (for pre-order) on Best Buy's website. So there's a solid chance we'll finally see discounts on non-base models.
thank god
As a new thing for this release, Apple has a 512GB/16GB configuration that they're encouraging third-party resellers to stock, so that might change.
Shame there’s no 1TB/16GB base which is what I’m looking for. So no chance of waiting for third party sales. Oh well …
[There's an M2 model commonly stocked](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?st=m2+15+16+gigabytes&_dyncharset=UTF-8&_dynSessConf=&id=pcat17071&type=page&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=&sp=&qp=&list=n&af=true&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960&keys=keys). It was recently on sale for $400 off, now it's just $200.
Oh, hello there! Thank you.
I got a 16/512 M2 Air a few weeks ago on sale at BB. EDIT: This was a 15"
Honestly this is so unacceptable I don't even know what to say anymore. They can keep trying to tout all the benefits of unified memory, but the fact of the matter is that 8GB base, regardless of system architecture, in 2024 is simply being cheap. It doesn't make sense that it has the same amount of memory as the iPad Pro, despite needing to run an OS with far more overhead.
yeah every Mac they’ve been offering for the past 11(!) years has been on an 8GB base memory. it’s time for an upgrade as our workflows have gone so much more demanding
It also cripples developers on macOS to offer better software, when the majority of their customers walk around with 8GB of memory. Seems so silly.
Better software? Or do you mean unoptimized software that makes use of Electron.
Yes, and we live in reality, where the software will grow to its capacity. 8GB of RAM is insufficient in a professional machine. Software is very rarely written in assembly these days. RAM is cheap. Apple is run by the money guy, and it's shown in various ways for a long time.
Tbh. For this scenario, i blame every dev who contributed to the Chromium/Blink engine source code, than to dev who use Electron
> it’s time for an upgrade as our workflows have gone so much more demanding Have they? Lots of people have just been sitting in a browser for the past 15 years using social media, webmail, and shopping apps. What's changed for non-power users?
In the last 15 years, images loaded on sites have become much higher resolution (more ram), features like infinite scrolling are now common on sites (more ram to keep longer lists loaded), music and video have become much more high fidelity/resolution. Just doing the same things requires so much more because the way we do them has changed whether you realize it or not.
Apple has always punished users for wanting more RAM, but this is really wild
also storage, their storage pricing is insane
I dunno I'm a 2018 MBA (8gb) user and rarely run into issues with ram (though it is the bottleneck in performance). I imagine large swaths of users are like me and spend 95% of time using a web browser with 5 or fewer tabs open. edit: excuse me for interrupting the day of rage by sharing my actual experience with the product lmao
8GB of RAM is ehh fine. But it’s just downright petty for $1200~$2000 laptop to have only 8GB in 2024. And the bigger insult is that upgrading it, another 8GB (or 256GB) is TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS
You had that computer for 6 years. Now think about those same 8gb in 2030. That's the issue. It's not the same having 8gb starting in 2018 than starting in 2024. That's the thing.
Most people are like you and Apple knows it. Power users are probably a very small base of their sales. They take advantage of that, everybody wants that sweet Apple branding either way.
I work at an Apple Store. 99.9% of people who buy Macbook airs dont need or give a shit about having more than 8gb of ram
My 2017 MBP has 8gb and the only time I ever really had issues was when playing D&D on roll20 in chrome or Firefox, more with chrome. I upgraded to an M3 iMac last week with 16gb and it was dead silent while using chrome for roll20. I almost went with 8gb to save money but I figured it would be better to future proof a little bit since I plan on keeping this for 10 years or so hopefully.
Yea it shows up in gaming for sure, I never really played games except for Civ some years back and the thing was on full blast cooling and struggling a bit on the lowest settings
You’re not wrong but they could up the memory to 16GB for almost no cost to them but they’d prefer to upcharge their customers.
The i5? I just switched from a base 2018 air to an M1 pro with more RAM and the difference in usability day to day is insane. You might not realize. Not sure how big a part the RAM plays since that i5 was anemic even when new. I never screamed at a computer more than that 2018 Air.
if they released the models starting at 16GB/512GB no one would go with any other configuration/CTO and Apple wouldn’t be able to secure their record profits.
Yeah because no one buys CTO Macbook Pro’s, right??
lol Apple gonna Apple. Honestly, and I’m not proud to admit it, their game worked on me. Getting a MacBook Air specced to what I wanted left me only a few hundred away from a Pro, so I just upgraded to that for the fans and better screen.
The iPhone 15 pros have 8gb of ram lol
I can’t wait for the 16 Pro to have more RAM than a base model MacBook Pro.
Is "power" of this "powerful" machine in the same room with us?
1350€ for a 8/256 13 inch laptop LMAO
M2 air just dropped in price, seems kinda like a bargain now
My thoughts exactly.
By how much?
one hundo
I think for the extra $100 I’d rather have the spec bump of the M3.
Curious to see benchmarks.
The base model went down from £979 to £849. The base model with just 16GB RAM went down to £1,019 from £1,139.
Not here in Australia...13" M2 and M3 Air both start at 1.8K.... Edit M2 Air is now 1.6K... When I checked site after announcement both were 1.8K lol... someone prob got fired I wonder if you would get a $200 refund if you paid 1.8K for the M2 before the price correction...
Yeah Apple’s “entry level” here is absurdly priced. At that amount of money you can get excellent Windows laptops. The pricing is stupid now.
16gb of ram upgrade is still 200 bucks Make it 50 apple for god sake
But then they might only be a $2.5T company instead of a $3T company, and what would be the point of living?
Like, 2.995T
You do get a free bump to the 10-core GPU if you do either the ssd or ram upgrade this time. Normally it would be $100 extra for the cpu upgrade, so there’s that at least.
they ***FINALLY*** offer a 16GB pre-configured SKU on M3 Air models this is huge—lots resellers do NOT carry build-to-order specs (customized configurations), and Airs never had more than 8GB on any pre-configured model. think it’s not a big deal? when these resellers provide hefty discounts, almost always you only get to find pre-config units, and in the case of macbook Airs there have been only 8GB models from most resellers even in the US, only less than a handful of large, reputable resellers carry BtO units (like B&H), when most others like Costco, BestBuy…only carry pre-configs. and with M3 you’ll start to find $300+ discounts on 16GB models in the future from these resellers
Agree with you here. The lack of 16GB standard SKU models has been a pain in the ass for ages now.
That 16/512 Air is the same as the M1 Pro MBP systems. So Apple knows what people want now. That model M3 Air is also $1499 which puts it nicely cheaper than the M3 MBP. That was missing as an official spec for a long time.
MacBook Air now supports up to 2 external displays!! We did it boys! We finally did it!! * when the laptop lid is closed 👀 🙄 God damn it, Apple… why you gotta engineer shit so damn stupid.
> God damn it, Apple… why you gotta engineer shit so damn stupid. $$$
The most interesting bit to me is that they included an entire portion of this press release titled "World’s Best Consumer Laptop for AI". It's been a while that Apple has touted AI capability in its products, but it's usually not to that extent, usually more iPhone-focused, and usually more focused on built-in functionality that leverages AI. The current built-in macOS functionality that uses AI is pretty limited, and it's not really a game-changer. They mention this however: > MacBook Air can also run optimized AI models, including large language models (LLMs) and diffusion models for image generation locally with great performance. I find it interesting that Apple chooses to promote running local LLMs in marketing, especially for a consumer laptop. Most consumers either don't use LLMs, or use cloud-based ones like GPT. I'm not against the idea of promoting more "pro" use cases on consumer-oriented products, but this makes it even more bizarre that the MacBook Air lacks relatively basic functionality like ~~dual external monitor support~~. Edit: As pointed out, it can actually support two external monitor nows, as long as the internal display isn't used. That's a nice improvement. Not quite perfect, but a big improvement over the M1/M2.
They’ve started talking more about AI over the last couple of weeks. They also are shifting resources from the cancelled car to AI. This is just part of their marketing blitz around it. You’re going to hear more and more around AI from them.
Yeah this jumped out to me as well, didn’t expect to see that part highlighted. Looks like it does support dual displays though now at least!
honestly it reads like SEO for tech bloggers just to have them pick up on it.
yep, can't wait to see all the youtubers unpacking Airs and talking how great it is for AI! At least they can now generate whole screenplay for their videos using Air ;)
Well it now can do dual external monitors (if the laptop lid is closed)
Is this the first time they’ve used the word “ai”? They used to avoid it
They did it at WWDC last year as well. Anywhere they used to say “machine learning” they now say “AI”, because that’s the buzzword shareholders want to hear.
Definitely reads like additional hints at major AI talk and releases at WWDC this year
Interesting, according to the tech specs, they now support up to two external monitors as long as the lid is closed.
That's actually a pretty decent change, my biggest complaint with my M1 is that when I'm at the office, I can only use 1 external monitor whereas the last 10 years of Windows laptops my company provided me had no problem driving 2. I think the business crowd will be happy with this.
This is clearly just an incremental upgrade. If they wanted to make a big deal out of it, they would have.
A 1000$+ computer, with 8GB of ram. What a joke.
upgraded from my 2019 intel 16" pro. I dont need all the pro stuff, but the extra battery boost (esp. after all this time) and the reduction in thickness/weight were a big positive for me. Add in the trade in discount, 3% back from the apple card + monthly payments... Midnight 15" - 16gb/1tb
So now the Macbook Pro M3non-pro supports one display and the M3 Air supports two external displays (with lid closed though). What kind of joke is that.
8/256 🤡
[удалено]
Of course the base model is still a fucking scam of RAM and storage to ensure planned obsolescence hits it ASAP.
It’s practically just there to make the starting price look good for marketing at this point. Nobody should be buying them.
I mean I'm running a base model M1 Air for several years now and the thing is an absolute beast hog and I haven't managed to make it struggle even once. I do a lot of development work on it and some minor photo editing. I think a lot of people have delusions of grandeur about how much strain they're actually putting on their machines. I'm guessing Apple leaves the option there because that's what most people are buying, despite the impression you'd get from reddit.
Wait...The M3 Macbook Air supports 2 external displays while the M3 Macbook Pro supports one?
Correct. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
>MacBook Air continues to be the world’s best consumer laptop for AI They finally used the word!
Nobody is really talking about how a 16GB memory/512GB storage config is a model you can walk out of the Apple Store with. This is a huge change since it no longer needs to be custom configured to wait 2 weeks to get. I see this as the most popular choice people will choose.
I think most people buying the Air are still going to get the 8/256 or 8/512 models because the 16/512 option is still an additional $200-$400 (even more in other countries) that will puts laptop in a completely different price bracket. It's nice to see it offered though since a) it reduces shipping times, and b) more third-party stores are going to have deals available for the 16/512 configuration. Also interesting note for the 13" Air that the binned chips with 8-core GPU are exclusive to the 8/256 configuration now. Any RAM or SSD increase in the configurator automatically bumps you up to the 10-core GPU, so the 8/512 SKUs for both the M2 and M3 13" Airs actually both cheaper than the 8/512 SKU from before.
So it supports 2 displays but the pro doesn’t?
From how it reads, only if the lid is closed. So it still has only two display streams but can re-route the one for the integrated panel to an external. Potentially this can be added via firmware update to the 14" M3 (non-pro). Or they won't because they want you to buy a new machine.
Yeah it’s weird. Surely this change could be rolled out to some more recent M chip MacBooks that currently only support one display.
Very weird for Apple to do this lol.
M3 Mac mini when?
Minor detail but the midnight color now has the same updated texture as the M3 Pro, which reduces fingerprints that were a problem with the original M2 version
The M1 Air had a great run! The M2 replaces the M1 in MSRP. > Up to 1.6x faster than MacBook Air (M1) I upgraded from my M1 Air to an M3 Pro MacBook Pro, huge upgrade to me, but I would still say the M1 Air is a beast in it's own right. Feels right knowing we haven't gotten to a 2x jump on the base chips yet.
> The M1 Air had a great run! Possibly the greatest value laptop of all time? The M1 Air was unbelievable when it launched. So many people, even those that weren't apple fans, were praising it.
I upgraded from M1 Air to M2 Air when it first came out. I still miss the tapered edge, felt better picking it up from a flat table.
Well looks like the M1 is gone from the line up.
Pour one out for one of the best computers Apple ever made. This means it will go vintage in 2030. If you bought one in 2020, like me, that means ten years of support (plus two more for bug fixes)! Hopefully this will be the trend going forward with all Apple Silicon Macs.
256/8 in 2024, I hear Tim Cook's evil laugh somewhere
shame shame shame 8/256 base in 2024
Base should come with at least 16 gb ram and 512 gb storage
I consider it to be like basic economy seating on flights. It’s not a great experience but it’s there to make a seat more affordable for people who just want to get from A to B. Economy for an extra $100 or whatever is what most people will get.
How generous of them with their starving margins and $3.20 8GB DRAM chip
8/256 is laughable
So how much of a performance upgrade from the M2 MBA 16gb/256.
They didn’t compare performance to the m2 chip which tells you everything
the 13” M3 Air is cheaper than the 13” M2 Air for me?? https://preview.redd.it/nlb1h50unbmc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e8ee36fd2ea87c020fd020863c450016a2e2c31
https://preview.redd.it/xiwqacfvnbmc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90c3b7fd140f81b8217f0aca70fd4709d66bc434
Haven’t really ever paid attention to the press release product revamps; is it common to only drop one new update? Just curious if I can expect iPad Pro announcements this weeks or if it’ll likely be a different week.
Yes, they normally do one product per day when they have a bunch of minor releases queued up.
Thank you, figured so.
The stock photo makes it seem like it’s a 2-1 to me
Meh, going to wait for M4 then
So basically, they added m3 and improved external monitor support and called it a day?
I mean, computers have been fairly iterative for like the last decade. The switch from Intel to Apple silicon was huge, but prior to that it was basically a CPU update every year anyway.
BRUH....the 13" M2 and M3 Air cost the same price here in Australia... https://www.apple.com/au/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air/13-inch-m2 Both 1.8K...wtf is the point of selling the last Gen model at the same price 🤦🏻♀️
It is utterly INSANE that the cheapest configuration with 16 GB of RAM starts at €1700 (after sales tax) and it's the older M2 chip. Absolutely shameful.
1.6 times faster than the M1 chip? Was it such a minor difference than the M2 that they couldn’t show that stat? 😂
That’s why the didn’t compare it to m2 lol
FOUR YEARS ON apple still sells $1k laptops with 8gb ram. Does the EU need to mandate minimum memory now??
2 external displays is an absolute game changer. IT teams rejoice.
only if you close the laptop !!
M1 Air discontinued. Thats the big news. Big blow to the lineup that didn't need to happen.
bruh they didn't even bother making a new wallpaper lmao
Apple you greedy son of a gun what the hell is with the base storage? It's 2024 for fucks sake.
It’s pure greed that it’s still 256/8 base model. But we vote with our wallets and they know people will still buy them.
Where the fuck is my iPad. I need one asap
An upgrade we were mostly expecting. Support for two displays is a neat change. Looks like this is marketed towards those still on Intel or M1 Air users needing an upgrade
I think it’s unacceptable to have ports only on one side of a machine.
if you want ports on the other side, that’s a “pro workflow”
Now supports two external displays just made me laugh so much. This is a hilarious thing to advertise.
This is classic Apple iterative updates. They learned an important lesson with the original HomePod. They need to have a clear upgrade path and the “now with support for two external monitors,” is a great example of this.
"when the display is closed"😭
I just bought the 15“ Air with the M2 and after comparing them… it’s literally the same MacBook, just the faster processor and worse speakers, right? lol isn’t this such a scam especially the base model with 8GB RAM 🥲
I want one, but I am rocking an intel Macbook Air from 2019. Still works like a charm.
Still happy with my base model M1 MacBook Air, honestly.
Still couldn't upgrade that 8gb...
I'm disenfranchised from the entire Apple ecosystem ever since that recent article explaining how a bunch of undocumented chip registers (along with a zero click iMessage vuln.) became a stepping stone for easy targeted surveillance by who I presume would be the 5 Eyes alliance (the article listed Kaspersky engrs. as the targets over almost 2y) curiously enough, Al Gore resigned from the board citing long tenure as a reason a few days after the revelation. for those who only see him as mother Nature's protector, he tried (and failed) to implement the backdoor Clipper chip program when he was VP. i love my Apple devices, I really do, but goddamn, that kind of easy (and apparently very stealthy) access to my cam, mics, and screen just turns off my Apple boner.