Apple M3 MacBook Air Models Launched Starting at ₹114,900

On expected lines, Apple has refreshed its MacBook Air laptops — both in 13-inch and 15-inch form factors with its latest M3 chipset, which is based on TSMC’s 3nm process. The M3 was first launched in October with the MacBook Pro models and soon is expected to be in the iPad Pro as well. The new MacBook Air models start at ₹114,900 for the 13-inch and the 15-inch model starts at ₹134,900. The M2 models will be sold in parallel and they get a very sweet price drop, making them available at ₹89,900 and ₹99,900 for the 13-inch and 15-inch models, respectively. For educational users, the new models start at ₹104,900 and ₹124,900 respectively for the 13-inch and 15-inch models.

The big update, of course, is the M3 processor, which comes with a massively updated GPU that supports ray-traced games. It has 8 cores for the CPU, a 10-core GPU, and support for up to 24GB of unified memory. Apple is claiming 18 hours of battery life for the new models and says for people updating from the M1 MacBook Air, which was first launched in December 2020, these new models are up to 60 per cent faster.

“MacBook Air is our most popular and loved Mac, with more customers choosing it over any other laptop. And today it gets even better with the M3 chip and new capabilities,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing. “From college students pursuing their degrees to business users who need powerful productivity, or anyone who simply wants the unmatched combination of performance, portability, and industry-leading battery life, all in a fanless design, the new MacBook Air continues to be the world’s best thin and light laptop," he added.

Apple has talked up the fact games like No Man’s Sky run up to 60 per cent faster than the M1 MacBook Air. Images can be enhanced using AI on apps like Pixelmator using the super-resolution feature and video editing performance on Apple’s Final Cut Pro software is 60 per cent faster than the M1 MacBook Air.

One of the key aspects of the M3 chipset is the Neural Engine, which enables on-device machine learning for processing AI on the device. It's 16-core Neural Engine allowing the device to run large language models and diffusion models for image generation locally with great performance. Apple also reiterated that the MacBook Air is the world’s most popular laptop.

Other features of these laptops include Touch ID fingerprint scanner, very impressive speakers, 1080p FaceTime cameras, Liquid Retina panels which provide up to 500 nits of brightness and support for 1 billion colours, and its Magic Keyboard. It is based on macOS Sonoma and this device will be available on March 8, which is Friday in 28 countries, including India, of course.

Interestingly, this launch has come at a time when many expected Apple to host an event which would not only reveal these new MacBook Air models but also updated iPad Pro models. The iPad Pro is not just in for a processor update but for a bold redesign, which will be its first since October 2018. In fact, 2023 was the first year since the inception of the iPad that Apple hasn’t launched a new model.