The base model M2 Air is now 1100 dollars including tax at the Swedish Education Apple Store (where I always buy my Apple products even though I'm not a student 😇. They never check.) That's an amazing deal. Before M3 it started at 1600 dollars incl tax. I sold my My M1 Pro Macbook Pro just before Christmas and bought a Mac Mini M2 Pro instead but god how I miss having a laptop. With this amazing price drop I think I will buy an M2 Air. 500 dollar pricedrop. Tha'ts a great deal.
So true. The M2 had NAND speed issues the M1 does not. The M1 and the M3 are the only versions to get. Not sure given most an upgrade from the M1 for typical Air uses makes sense. I’ll keep my M1 Air for now.
You can buy refurbished M2 15inch with 16gb of ram for the same price of 13 inch base model of M3... Like it's not even a question which purchase is smarter
Have an M1 13 inch MacBook Pro bought in 2020 and I have no desire to upgrade anytime soon. My plan is to keep it until stops receiving security updates. We have reached a point now where these things are solved problems. Unless you are Luke Miani or iJustine thats editing lots of videos, years then upgrading regularly makes sense. Basic editing in Photoshop, occasional TH-cam vlog video, managing your budget in Excel, writing a script in Google Docs, spending most of your time web browsing honestly doesn't warrant regular upgrades. But if you have the money and you like treating yourself to latest greatest, different.
I have the M1 MacBook Pro, mainly because the Macbook Air was out of stock, and I haven’t seen any significant reason for me to upgrade. My M1 still outperforms anything I throw at it.
Same. Also it baffles me that almost all reviewers don't say shit like "Its unacceptable to get worse SSD 3 gens in". Instead it's "well it's not the end of the world." I mean you pay the same price for worse performance and all these synthetic tests only matters in high end usage. SSD speed on the other hand is noticible almost everywhere especially when you use swap.
Clearly you can't lose with any of the three. But for basic users on a tight budget, the M1 at this writing is still available for $750 new. That was the choice I made a couple of months ago, and I don't regret it.
While it’s still great for prospective budget buyers, I think release date is important to note, as the M1 may only receive macOS updates for 3-4 years atp
@@dogbrochure it would be ridiculous not to keep updating the m1 for years to come since it was the big push and everything after it has just been super incremental
@@langhamp8912 when I sold mine this year (got M3 Pro instead), battery status was still at 87 % as I got it used. Point is, I had not noticed any drop down in real battery life at all. Getting 15 hours of Web browsing and coding was no problem at all.
I went from a 2015 air to an m1 air, and I don't think I will need to upgrade for a long time, I use it everyday for logic and for things like tonex and amplitube and it doesn't miss a beat.
Brother I wanted to know something I'm from Pakistan where there is no apple store so the prices of macbook are high and my Uncle lives in Australia and he's a student there so i wanted to know is it worth buying M1 air for coding im beginner and what is the price in Australia and will he get any student discount?
My base m1 MacBook Air with 15 battery cycles and 1 big deep scratch I got for $450 is still the best tech deal I’ve got in many years. All I do is get great deals on tech, and this is still the best. It’s insane.
well duh it's no slouch by any means do not get rid of it as long as it can kick ass and chew bubble gum you get your moneys worth out of her and more if you can
1. Stick to your budget 2. Consider what you have now If still on Intel, get M1 (refurb or discounted) If on M processor already, you don't need a new one.
I am looking at upgrading my two daughters old MBA’s 2014 and 2015. Your review was very useful. Its school work not power use and I think discounted M1’s will be the best option for me. Thank you.
My M1 MacBook Air has 16GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD. It was painful to pay Apple's outrageous upgrade costs to get there but it is the best computer for me right now and I see no need to upgrade for a vey long time.
@@earthoid Ditto same config. It's beast. Don't underestimate the difference when it comes to the ram and ssd upgrades. base model m1 is great but these upgrades make it what it is for multitasking.
Oh no, you really forgot something important!! The base M3 chip now supports dual external displays (also in MBP via update)!!! This is really important for a lot of people. For me, it opens the door to think about "do I need a pro" at all.
@@shaun1900 Ive owned macs since the G4 and I totally agree with him ! Apples Ram and SSD pricing is ridiculous, it never used to be an issue because you could just upgrade it yourself, but now its soldered on like some cheap Chinese disposable chrome book, so you are forced to pay Apples extortionate prices, and you cant upgrade latter either.
@@rocketmunkey1 I concur on the upgrade costs, for 99% of users, base models are all they need, and at least in Australia even the 16gb 512 upgrade is the same price range or cheaper than weaker offerings from Dell (xps13) MSI (prestige Evo 13) Asus (Zenbook 14) Acer (swift go) and LG Gram 14"
M1 with 512 GB (two NAND chips) is what I have, and it's a killer machine for my needs (word processing, image processing, and - rarely - some basic video editing.) I might consider the M3 (better screen, magsafe, other tweaks) when it's second best to the M4, or whatever comes along next.
Didn't I hear somewhere that starting with the M3 Apple is again making it so people can fix certain things on their own without having to take the laptop into the store for costly repairs?
The refurbished M2 with 16 gig memory and 1 tb storage is only $1359 is a steal, considering the same options on a M3 is $1699. That’s a huge discount for not much of a difference in tech.
You know what pissed me off in the M3 Air? They rerouted the integrated embedded displayport controller that handles the laptop screen in a way that lets you use a second external display whenever the lid is closed. I've got an M2.
And here is the best part. These sorts of things can actually be done pretty easily in software, although with some higher resource usage, it is possible. I can guarantee it won't come to M1/M2 macs simply because they want to sell as many M3's as possible.
@@indiekiduk You do realise, "genius", that if anybody's using a laptop plugged into a monitor, especially two, they will in literally every case have a dedicated keyboard and mouse, simply because it makes the work easier and faster...?
@@indiekiduk Sure. I'm rushing to use a 32 inch screen together with one not even half as big, with the same scaling on both of them, for 8 hours a day. You clearly have no idea about the issue.
@@Benz100i got it as second grab-on-the-go machine, it handles the graphics tasks I throw at it. I don’t think the modest speed hike on the M3 would be that noticeable. The main limit is the storage On these base machines - 256 is only okay if you’re mostly online or small word docs etc, but any big graphics, video files etc and you quickly run out of space.
@@sjsherratt interesting. Usually when I use a laptop with an external monitor or two I want the desktop experience with full size keyboard and a mouse.
i bought a 'refurb' M1 last month based on your advice in other videos and i cant be happier. I had bought another M1 (or it was at least listed as such) but had the Intel chip. The battery life on an M1 is just dumbfounding. office work alone 16-19 hours. video easy 12 plus. Crazy.
I just purchased an eBay refurbished MacBook Air M1 16GB 1TB for $1K. Has 1 year warranty and was in excellent condition. I’ll be using it for music/audio recording and live performance using Logic and MainStage.
Brother I wanted to know something I'm from Pakistan where there is no apple store so the prices of macbook are high and my Uncle lives in Australia and he's a student there so i wanted to know is it worth buying M1 air for coding im beginner and what is the price in Australia and will he get any student discount?
At work our laptops got replaced with all plastic 14” Dell Latitudes with 13th gen Core i5 and Intel HD graphics. These retail at around 100 less than the M1 MBA. The mouse cursor occasionally runs at single digit frame rates. That is all.
Thank you so much Sage advice yet again! I literally have a MacBook Air M2 15" 8g open box in my cart for $933. I was contemplating whether I should upgrade to the M3 and this decision was helped by this video :-) Go used and refurbished! You’ve done me right Luke, many times! Thanks to your advice. I also got a great deal on an iPad Pro 12.9 2018 from Declutter based on your advice. 🎉❤😊
Maybe I’m the weird one, but am I the only one that finds dual monitor support a very relevant part of this upgrade? I went with the M1 Pro at the time almost exclusively because of this.
My trusty old M1 MacBook Air is the only one of the 3 that doesn't have part of the screen missing for the front-facing camera. I hate that notch but no one else seems to care about it.
I bought the m2 MacBook Air in the refurbished Apple Store and I just bought the base model and I have been really happy with it I also have 2 users setup on it and I still have plenty of storage with the 256gb storage it came with
first discovered your content Luke during the pandemic (I guess I'm actually an early fan, was it March 2020? I remember watching your content just as the first lockdown set in, so yea, that's 4 years now, wow). anyhow, love your style, the no-clickbait / practical approach. also you are wonderful at coming up w budget recommendations & a good narrative for a review. keep it up man
Best thing about the M3 air in my opinion is the ability to run two external displays. That has seemed like such a strange, almost artificial, limitation on the M1 and M2 versions of the air.
Thanks, Luke! I think I'll stick with my M2 Macbook Air- I love it, so it's good to hear that there aren't significant changes with the introduction of the M3 chip. I run a podcast, edit photos and occasionally use Davinci Resolve and it run like a charm.
I thought about getting a new M3 air, but I’ve decided to keep my M1 air. The M1 machines are still very fast and handle most of the work that people need to do. The only reason I can see anyone would want to upgrade to M3 from an M1 or M2 machine would be for 3-D rendering which utilizes the ray tracing cores, but other than that, I see no reason to upgrade at all. The SSD shenanigans are also ridiculous in my opinion. The m1 MacBook air is also $750 new and I’d still recommend that for a lot of people. I’m a graphic designer and the base m1 air still handles my work quite well.
Literally just bought a base M2 MBA the day before M3 dropped after literally every place around me ran out of the M1. This is honestly one of the most incredible machines I've ever used. I was a big PC Gaming head for the longest time (I still have my Windows rig gamers, dont worry.) and this machine legitimately impressed me. For $999 this is a pretty strong machine, the charging brick gets warmer than the actual laptop under load.
@@sjsherratt fr, at that price range if you're committing to that just get a much better laptop/pc that can do that plus more, the appeal of these macbook air is portability.
The M1 is still such a phenomenal computer, over 3 years since being released. My M1 with the thermal mod gets 531 points on Cinnebench, which is about on par with this M3. For the majority of people just needing a computer for daily tasks, the M1 is still more than good enough.
These things are all amazing. I bought a refurbished M1 Air from Apple 3 years ago. Traded it in to Best Buy about 2 months ago on a 15" M2 Air. (Which was on sale, probably because the M3s were about to be announced.) Everybody wins.
Congrats man.. I think you’re the only channel where every video you’ve made has a red line through it. lol.. I like these MacBook Air ones most cause that’s what I buy. I love they are sealed and fanless.. the Apple Silcon ones anyways.
M2 MacBook air is now $850 on apple refurbished. I just bought my GF one for Christmas off Costco's website for $950. And now it's even discounted more 😱
My M1 Macbook that I purchased for $750 in 2021 summer is still going strong after nearly 3 years. No slowdown and it’s a beautiful portable powerhouse! Retained it’s value super well
I bought the m1 air base model a week before the m3 air released lol. I took it back and went with the new m3 base model. Currently writing this comment on it now lol. I like the screen difference and being able to hook up two monitors. Also something people really don't mention are the speakers. Big upgrade on those if it matters to you. At the end of it all though, get what you want and need it for. Many others can say do this or do that. Ask yourself, what am I really going to be using this for? Be honest with that part of it and go from there. Very easy to over spend because you feel like you "might" need more power. Just my take on it. Don't kill me please :P.
swap memory really takes a toll on SSD's and considering SSD's are soldered I would not buy a refurbished one, there's no way to know how much life they got left,
Since the M2 and M3 Airs are still in 8GB/256GB I would still say that the $749 M1 Air is still the better buy right now. The hardware differences were not really life changing and worth $250-300 more for a normal person, unless they just want a notch and look cooler with the new design
"The goal is to provide advice" That's respectable Luke. I'd buy a MacBook Air if I had a reason for it. Personally I prefer iPad OS for everyday tasks. But there's those were having a good Mac OS device is necessary. Keep up the good work and I hope California is treating you well. 😊😅😊
Extremely happy with the analysis of yours and really appreciate the way you explain the whole idea of buying the MacBooks which are cheaper and almost of the same power as you said are almost similar and if someone is getting for example 500 or $400 discount surely should go from M2. From your advise i concluded and get m2 brand new 15inch base model in 1200 USD and saved 400$ additional for M3
I like this video helps me sort out my options. I am not looking for a lap top, but was thinking of a Mac mini, but right now for barely 190CAD more than the Mac mini, I can get a refurb MacBook Air M2 with 16Gb ram and 1Tb SSD (same spec as the Mac mini). Which makes me think it would be nice not to have to deal with a third party webcam (family and friends we call almost daily, plus appointments) and sure I could get a webcam for about 100CAD, but this is close enough (I would be paying only 90CAD over the Mac mini and webcam) and bonus, now I have a laptop (and its screen)I can use around the house and on some trips. This is another reminder for those of us Intel iMac owners (esp. 27" screen) that the current iMac is not a good value.
Seems to me he was having trouble getting consistent measurements that were all over the ball park. MaxTech did a tear down showing that the M3 Air base model is back to using two NAND chips instead of just one. I predicted that since my belief is that the M2 family used single NANDs on base models due to supply constraints coming out of the pandemic. Apple uses close to half a billion NAND chips a year on all of its devices. It’s not easy to obtain that many chips every year. They didn’t “cheap out” this time around.
this is the problem when tech companies think they need to release products every single year. I am still on my M1 Pro. only thing I want is a 16 inch version.
Not everyone is on the same upgrade cycle, which is why every company releases new products every year. Laptops aren’t meant to be upgraded every year. Just notice how Apple has been pushing Intel users to upgrade harder in recent times because their surveys showed more than 50% of Mac users were still on Intel machines. If you already have an M2, don’t bother upgrading. The M3 is for people who didn’t upgrade to the M2.
Not a conundrum. Until 16gb of ram and 512gb of storage is standard, its a ripoff. Apple should spend an extra 30$ to get the laptop there. The current minimums are pure greed.
The Silicon Macs can only run MacOS natively. They have to emulate Linux and X86 which is not ideal. Also, the Silicon Macs still swap to SSD which I personally don't like. I stipulate that new Apple laptops are perfect for youtubers who do a lot of video encoding. That was a smart move on Apple's part to target that crowd. For me, the value proposition is still not there. I'll hang on to my 2017 MacBook Pro (not used for video or gaming), and just do my normal productivity stuff coupled with logins to my VM machines.
MacBook Air M1 prices are great everywhere now thanks to the M3, I'll sell my M2 512GB just because I'll a refurbished M1 Pro or Max. Apple Silicon just like fine wine gets better and better as it ages just that it get cheaper lol
Every time I see an updated Macbook Air, my interest in holding onto my M1 Air is renewed. Maybe once they finally move on from the 8/256 base configuration I'll consider upgrading...a generation or two after they do it so it's affordable lol
I was waiting for your review. I picked up a m2 air 15 in off Best Buy for 900$ open box in oct 2023. I have a m1 MacBook Pro 16 which is on the heavier side and my personal machine and wanted something to separate business and personal. No issues got it for a great price at the time.
Thank you, for this review of all three (3) models of the "Air Laptop" M-1, M-2, and M-3. Have never carried for any MacBook Air model so, I would be buying a used fully loaded 13-inch M-2 MacBook Pro with its "older screen" and "touch-bar" (smile...smile).
Me looking forward to an M3 MacBook Air video suddenly hearing “we can’t review this in a vacuum… My mind: If space is a vacuum and Earth is in Space, then we who live on earth are in a vacuum due to the transitive property? Then by association, all Macs are in a vacuum? 🤔
M1 air Is an anomaly. Best laptop Apple release in years. It was so good that Made M1 pro pointless. Apple can deliver wonderful products when they dont greed.
I ordered the M1 before the announcement, but then canceled it and did the $90 extra and got a M2 base spec. SSD is slower but I think people are too caught up on it. I doubt you’ll notice.
Apple, in their wisdom, has made the choice very easy for new buyers. You can only buy the MacBook Air M3 from them. You want the M2 or M1 models you have to go through a third party to do so. When the M2 came out, everyone complained that it was actually slower than the M1 and now that the M3 has come out, everyone is complaining again about it being not that much faster. Well, no kidding. This is what Apple does. It slowly improves their hardware so the difference between an M1 and an M3 is huge, but between an M2 and M3? Not so much. With their pricing I think people should just use them into they stop working all together and then just by the latest model and hope it doesn't have some horrible hardware fault. We could all use with less battery/antenna/keyboard problems.
Anyone who would do actual work on the MacBook Air where they need performance should get the MacBook Pro. If someone is just going to work through webapps should get a framework laptop where they can actually fix it themselves and upgrade the RAM/storage without having to pay a massive mark up.
6:00 The MacBook Air 13 inch basic specs is currently at this $850 price at Best Buy and new. The M1 2013 basic specs is $700, is it smarter to get the M2 for this price or do you anticipate the M2 it will drop even more new?
A M2 MBA with 16gb of ram seems like a better choice than the base M3 imo. The best thing about the M3 MBA is that there is a stock configuration with 16gb/512gb and big box stores will have them on sale.
I bought an m2 15” air with 512gb/16gb in November. Luckily it was black Friday and also did get return at the airport. Otherwise I'd be angry for not having waited…. Now the 15” m2 is gone. I would go for m3 now as it will be supported for longer.
The greatest thing about this MacBook Air is that it generates discounts on other MacBook Airs
Yeah
@@JoviRhys exactly what I took advantage of.
The base model M2 Air is now 1100 dollars including tax at the Swedish Education Apple Store (where I always buy my Apple products even though I'm not a student 😇. They never check.) That's an amazing deal. Before M3 it started at 1600 dollars incl tax. I sold my My M1 Pro Macbook Pro just before Christmas and bought a Mac Mini M2 Pro instead but god how I miss having a laptop. With this amazing price drop I think I will buy an M2 Air. 500 dollar pricedrop. Tha'ts a great deal.
This is actually why I was excited for the M3 MacBook Air, it’s so I can finally get the M2 Air at less than AU$2,000
YES m1 is on sale at 700 bucks new these days
“I debated whether I was gonna review this at all”. Sure, Jan.
His name is Luke.
@@michaelhall9146 whooosh 🥴
@michaelhall9146 even I understood the reference, and I'm from Argentina, a country totally out of the loop regarding the Brady Bunch 😂
He did. Even said so on their podcast.
Will proceed to post 4 videos about it in a row...
"the best feature that the M3 MacBook Air introduces... is price cuts for the other two." LOL so true
Not too great a cut because those still cost a lot.
@@jibrilamvs i find the base m1 for 700 to 750 bucks on sale pretty regularly these days, and dont get me start on the used market
Kind of True
At this point I might replace my M1 Air with the M5 or M6 when the M8 drops lol
U wot m8?
yeah, unless they make 16 gb ram as standard in base model. i will not upgrade
@@Pichipieifythey’ll probably do that when 32 becomes standard lmao
@@Pichipieifythey might increase the base to 16GB, also price will increase by $150
So true. The M2 had NAND speed issues the M1 does not. The M1 and the M3 are the only versions to get. Not sure given most an upgrade from the M1 for typical Air uses makes sense. I’ll keep my M1 Air for now.
"Buy refurbished and buy last generation" is my motto these days.
smart man
You can buy refurbished M2 15inch with 16gb of ram for the same price of 13 inch base model of M3... Like it's not even a question which purchase is smarter
@@alus992 Yep
Literally me when buying a laptop. Always wait for at least 1 year after release and the price will get discounted for like 20-ish %
Not in this case M1 is the better sweet zone
So basically the M1 was too good and Apple are having trouble improving upon it.
Have an M1 13 inch MacBook Pro bought in 2020 and I have no desire to upgrade anytime soon. My plan is to keep it until stops receiving security updates. We have reached a point now where these things are solved problems. Unless you are Luke Miani or iJustine thats editing lots of videos, years then upgrading regularly makes sense. Basic editing in Photoshop, occasional TH-cam vlog video, managing your budget in Excel, writing a script in Google Docs, spending most of your time web browsing honestly doesn't warrant regular upgrades. But if you have the money and you like treating yourself to latest greatest, different.
I’m sticking to my M1.
Me too
@@knightowl7😮
I have the M1 MacBook Pro, mainly because the Macbook Air was out of stock, and I haven’t seen any significant reason for me to upgrade. My M1 still outperforms anything I throw at it.
Same. Also it baffles me that almost all reviewers don't say shit like "Its unacceptable to get worse SSD 3 gens in".
Instead it's "well it's not the end of the world." I mean you pay the same price for worse performance and all these synthetic tests only matters in high end usage. SSD speed on the other hand is noticible almost everywhere especially when you use swap.
I haven't even set my M1 up yet 🤣
Clearly you can't lose with any of the three. But for basic users on a tight budget, the M1 at this writing is still available for $750 new. That was the choice I made a couple of months ago, and I don't regret it.
While it’s still great for prospective budget buyers, I think release date is important to note, as the M1 may only receive macOS updates for 3-4 years atp
Meh, so what? You can still use it after the last update for several more years... @@dogbrochure
@@dogbrochure it would be ridiculous not to keep updating the m1 for years to come since it was the big push and everything after it has just been super incremental
I had an M1 Air for about three years and only traded it in for a MacBook Pro m3 because the battery went down to 78%.
@@langhamp8912 when I sold mine this year (got M3 Pro instead), battery status was still at 87 % as I got it used. Point is, I had not noticed any drop down in real battery life at all. Getting 15 hours of Web browsing and coding was no problem at all.
You look so happy to have made it as a TH-camr. Really happy for you, and best of luck furthering your career.
He is indeed really passionate!!
I went from a 2015 air to an m1 air, and I don't think I will need to upgrade for a long time, I use it everyday for logic and for things like tonex and amplitube and it doesn't miss a beat.
Brother I wanted to know something I'm from Pakistan where there is no apple store so the prices of macbook are high and my Uncle lives in Australia and he's a student there so i wanted to know is it worth buying M1 air for coding im beginner and what is the price in Australia and will he get any student discount?
My base m1 MacBook Air with 15 battery cycles and 1 big deep scratch I got for $450 is still the best tech deal I’ve got in many years. All I do is get great deals on tech, and this is still the best. It’s insane.
well duh it's no slouch by any means do not get rid of it as long as it can kick ass and chew bubble gum you get your moneys worth out of her and more if you can
1. Stick to your budget
2. Consider what you have now
If still on Intel, get M1 (refurb or discounted)
If on M processor already, you don't need a new one.
not everyone is poor, so stop telling people what to get.
@@robertoh.20not everyone has daddy’s money like u genius so stfu
@@TisDanskyall are both simultaneously correct lol
@@TisDansk ever heard of fucking work?
🤓
I am looking at upgrading my two daughters old MBA’s 2014 and 2015. Your review was very useful. Its school work not power use and I think discounted M1’s will be the best option for me. Thank you.
The M1 is es absolutely beast in everything with 1 TB SSD and 16GB RAM. It would also be a beast with the base M1 model.
Your comment doesn’t make sense
@@AnonN-sr6uuexactly 😂
My M1 MacBook Air has 16GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD. It was painful to pay Apple's outrageous upgrade costs to get there but it is the best computer for me right now and I see no need to upgrade for a vey long time.
@@earthoid Ditto same config. It's beast. Don't underestimate the difference when it comes to the ram and ssd upgrades. base model m1 is great but these upgrades make it what it is for multitasking.
Oh no, you really forgot something important!! The base M3 chip now supports dual external displays (also in MBP via update)!!! This is really important for a lot of people.
For me, it opens the door to think about "do I need a pro" at all.
2 external monitors … they still need to solve the “clamshell mode” requirement. 2 external monitors+ laptop monitor PLEEEEEEASE!
Thanks Luke. I have the M1 and I think I’m good where I’m at.
The base spec are too low and the upgrades cost way too much.
You have clearly never owned one, just chasing specs is irrelevant
@@shaun19008gb ram in 2018 was too low let alone in 2024. For storage, you can use external drives but can't do that with Ram.
@@shaun1900 Ive owned macs since the G4 and I totally agree with him ! Apples Ram and SSD pricing is ridiculous, it never used to be an issue because you could just upgrade it yourself, but now its soldered on like some cheap Chinese disposable chrome book, so you are forced to pay Apples extortionate prices, and you cant upgrade latter either.
@@rocketmunkey1 I concur on the upgrade costs, for 99% of users, base models are all they need, and at least in Australia even the 16gb 512 upgrade is the same price range or cheaper than weaker offerings from Dell (xps13) MSI (prestige Evo 13) Asus (Zenbook 14) Acer (swift go) and LG Gram 14"
M1 with 512 GB (two NAND chips) is what I have, and it's a killer machine for my needs (word processing, image processing, and - rarely - some basic video editing.) I might consider the M3 (better screen, magsafe, other tweaks) when it's second best to the M4, or whatever comes along next.
Didn't I hear somewhere that starting with the M3 Apple is again making it so people can fix certain things on their own without having to take the laptop into the store for costly repairs?
The refurbished M2 with 16 gig memory and 1 tb storage is only $1359 is a steal, considering the same options on a M3 is $1699. That’s a huge discount for not much of a difference in tech.
New M2 15 16/1tb is 1500 at best buy so forget refurbished. M3 with same specs is 1780, at 16/512 it's 1600. That's my dilemma. Return M2 for m3?
You know what pissed me off in the M3 Air?
They rerouted the integrated embedded displayport controller that handles the laptop screen in a way that lets you use a second external display whenever the lid is closed.
I've got an M2.
And here is the best part.
These sorts of things can actually be done pretty easily in software, although with some higher resource usage, it is possible.
I can guarantee it won't come to M1/M2 macs simply because they want to sell as many M3's as possible.
You need it open to use the Touch ID and trackpad anyways
@@indiekiduk You do realise, "genius", that if anybody's using a laptop plugged into a monitor, especially two, they will in literally every case have a dedicated keyboard and mouse, simply because it makes the work easier and faster...?
@@shapelessed even easier if use the laptop screen they already paid for in addition to an external display.
@@indiekiduk Sure. I'm rushing to use a 32 inch screen together with one not even half as big, with the same scaling on both of them, for 8 hours a day.
You clearly have no idea about the issue.
let me just take a moment to appreciate how clean and effortless the unboxing was🤩
I bought a base M2 13 at a very nice price, literally the day before the m3s dropped. So this video is very comforting, thankyou Luke!
You like the m2? Do you Think the m3 is 250$ more worth than m2 base?
@@Benz100i got it as second grab-on-the-go machine, it handles the graphics tasks I throw at it. I don’t think the modest speed hike on the M3 would be that noticeable. The main limit is the storage On these base machines - 256 is only okay if you’re mostly online or small word docs etc, but any big graphics, video files etc and you quickly run out of space.
The M3 being able to run 2 monitors seems to be a feature worth considering as the M2 only can do 1 monitor.
But still with the laptop closed (“Clamshell mode”) …. Apparently.
@@sjsherratt interesting. Usually when I use a laptop with an external monitor or two I want the desktop experience with full size keyboard and a mouse.
You did not mention the ability to support 2 screens with M3. In my mind, this is a big plus.
Daisy Chaining exists
"I debated whether I was gonna review this at all" says the guy who makes multiple leak videos like a year before the actual product launch date.
i bought a 'refurb' M1 last month based on your advice in other videos and i cant be happier. I had bought another M1 (or it was at least listed as such) but had the Intel chip. The battery life on an M1 is just dumbfounding. office work alone 16-19 hours. video easy 12 plus. Crazy.
Babe wake up this guy uploaded❤
lol are you sure everything is good there?
this guy💀
Great advice! I just bought a used M2 Air 24G 512G with one-year warranty from the retailer for 1260 dollars and it’s absolutely fantastic.
Where did you get it from?
I have been loving my m1 air and got it on a nice Black Friday sale over a year ago. For my use case it is plenty
I just purchased an eBay refurbished MacBook Air M1 16GB 1TB for $1K. Has 1 year warranty and was in excellent condition. I’ll be using it for music/audio recording and live performance using Logic and MainStage.
I'm still using my beautiful MacBook Air M1 and watch this with it ;-).
Brother I wanted to know something I'm from Pakistan where there is no apple store so the prices of macbook are high and my Uncle lives in Australia and he's a student there so i wanted to know is it worth buying M1 air for coding im beginner and what is the price in Australia and will he get any student discount?
At work our laptops got replaced with all plastic 14” Dell Latitudes with 13th gen Core i5 and Intel HD graphics. These retail at around 100 less than the M1 MBA. The mouse cursor occasionally runs at single digit frame rates. That is all.
Thank you so much Sage advice yet again! I literally have a MacBook Air M2 15" 8g open box in my cart for $933. I was contemplating whether I should upgrade to the M3 and this decision was helped by this video :-) Go used and refurbished! You’ve done me right Luke, many times! Thanks to your advice. I also got a great deal on an iPad Pro 12.9 2018 from Declutter based on your advice. 🎉❤😊
Great comparison and info . However i think M1 Air is best performance for your pocket and people already have it won’t be replacing it.
Maybe I’m the weird one, but am I the only one that finds dual monitor support a very relevant part of this upgrade? I went with the M1 Pro at the time almost exclusively because of this.
THIS!
My trusty old M1 MacBook Air is the only one of the 3 that doesn't have part of the screen missing for the front-facing camera. I hate that notch but no one else seems to care about it.
I bought the m2 MacBook Air in the refurbished Apple Store and I just bought the base model and I have been really happy with it I also have 2 users setup on it and I still have plenty of storage with the 256gb storage it came with
Your insight is always appreciated.
first discovered your content Luke during the pandemic (I guess I'm actually an early fan, was it March 2020? I remember watching your content just as the first lockdown set in, so yea, that's 4 years now, wow).
anyhow, love your style, the no-clickbait / practical approach. also you are wonderful at coming up w budget recommendations & a good narrative for a review. keep it up man
1:07 that was gold lmfao
Snorted my wine at that super current insert and a few drops landed on my fricken white t-shirt.
TRUMP 2024
Best thing about the M3 air in my opinion is the ability to run two external displays. That has seemed like such a strange, almost artificial, limitation on the M1 and M2 versions of the air.
Thanks, Luke! I think I'll stick with my M2 Macbook Air- I love it, so it's good to hear that there aren't significant changes with the introduction of the M3 chip. I run a podcast, edit photos and occasionally use Davinci Resolve and it run like a charm.
Huh?
2 Display support & Wifi 6E for future proofing
I thought about getting a new M3 air, but I’ve decided to keep my M1 air. The M1 machines are still very fast and handle most of the work that people need to do. The only reason I can see anyone would want to upgrade to M3 from an M1 or M2 machine would be for 3-D rendering which utilizes the ray tracing cores, but other than that, I see no reason to upgrade at all. The SSD shenanigans are also ridiculous in my opinion. The m1 MacBook air is also $750 new and I’d still recommend that for a lot of people. I’m a graphic designer and the base m1 air still handles my work quite well.
Literally just bought a base M2 MBA the day before M3 dropped after literally every place around me ran out of the M1. This is honestly one of the most incredible machines I've ever used. I was a big PC Gaming head for the longest time (I still have my Windows rig gamers, dont worry.) and this machine legitimately impressed me. For $999 this is a pretty strong machine, the charging brick gets warmer than the actual laptop under load.
Its Simple, The M3 is the only one with Dual monitor support, the others cant.
But, clamshell mode?
@@sjsherratt fr, at that price range if you're committing to that just get a much better laptop/pc that can do that plus more, the appeal of these macbook air is portability.
We enter an era where their computers are so good people are getting the older models. Me? I specifically got a m2 air just for magsafe
The M1 is still such a phenomenal computer, over 3 years since being released. My M1 with the thermal mod gets 531 points on Cinnebench, which is about on par with this M3. For the majority of people just needing a computer for daily tasks, the M1 is still more than good enough.
Is the M3 SSD still slower than the M1 with the 512GB model?
Its same like M1 i seen other reviews also but M2 is only laptop that have slower
These things are all amazing.
I bought a refurbished M1 Air from Apple 3 years ago.
Traded it in to Best Buy about 2 months ago on a 15" M2 Air. (Which was on sale, probably because the M3s were about to be announced.)
Everybody wins.
So how much was the total you spent for the M3, including tax?
@@lunarosa321 $1,049, less the $525 trade-in.
I have both the m1 and m2 Air. In real world use I can't tell a noticeable difference. I think I'll have my current laptops for years to come
Congrats man.. I think you’re the only channel where every video you’ve made has a red line through it. lol.. I like these MacBook Air ones most cause that’s what I buy. I love they are sealed and fanless.. the Apple Silcon ones anyways.
M2 MacBook air is now $850 on apple refurbished. I just bought my GF one for Christmas off Costco's website for $950. And now it's even discounted more 😱
My M1 Macbook that I purchased for $750 in 2021 summer is still going strong after nearly 3 years. No slowdown and it’s a beautiful portable powerhouse! Retained it’s value super well
Truer words have never been spoken when you said the other 2 macs will have a price cut xD
I bought the m1 air base model a week before the m3 air released lol. I took it back and went with the new m3 base model. Currently writing this comment on it now lol. I like the screen difference and being able to hook up two monitors. Also something people really don't mention are the speakers. Big upgrade on those if it matters to you. At the end of it all though, get what you want and need it for. Many others can say do this or do that. Ask yourself, what am I really going to be using this for? Be honest with that part of it and go from there. Very easy to over spend because you feel like you "might" need more power. Just my take on it. Don't kill me please :P.
Would love to be able to use 2 external monitors, natively, no “clamshell” nonsense.
M3 supports AV1, how does 8K60 TH-cam video run? Most computers struggle, all M1/M2 MacBook airs struggle
m1pro 8k60 no issue running a bunch of other things. Different chip obviously but still pretty decent.
Well, the base model‘s SWAP is twice as fast as in previous models, and that’s THE HUGE difference! You will notice it in everyday usage.
BUT. this one allows 2 external monitors unlike older versions.
Many tech reviewers seem to omit this very important detail! It's the reason I've stayed away from an air till now.
yes. it's a huge change to me. opens doors to buying a MBA for a lot more people.@@brandonspies
This is why I love Luke. He doesn’t just say “oh yeah this mac is awesome get it now” he’s honest and says the truth. Keep it up!
M1 on sale at BestBuy for $675
swap memory really takes a toll on SSD's and considering SSD's are soldered I would not buy a refurbished one, there's no way to know how much life they got left,
the dual screen support in clamshell for m3 is a deal-maker feature for me
Eliminate the “clamshell” requirement and it will be a deal-make feature for me.
Since the M2 and M3 Airs are still in 8GB/256GB I would still say that the $749 M1 Air is still the better buy right now. The hardware differences were not really life changing and worth $250-300 more for a normal person, unless they just want a notch and look cooler with the new design
You can find "open box" deals for $650. Incredible value.
"The goal is to provide advice" That's respectable Luke.
I'd buy a MacBook Air if I had a reason for it. Personally I prefer iPad OS for everyday tasks. But there's those were having a good Mac OS device is necessary.
Keep up the good work and I hope California is treating you well. 😊😅😊
Extremely happy with the analysis of yours and really appreciate the way you explain the whole idea of buying the MacBooks which are cheaper and almost of the same power as you said are almost similar and if someone is getting for example 500 or $400 discount surely should go from M2. From your advise i concluded and get m2 brand new 15inch base model in 1200 USD and saved 400$ additional for M3
I like this video helps me sort out my options. I am not looking for a lap top, but was thinking of a Mac mini, but right now for barely 190CAD more than the Mac mini, I can get a refurb MacBook Air M2 with 16Gb ram and 1Tb SSD (same spec as the Mac mini). Which makes me think it would be nice not to have to deal with a third party webcam (family and friends we call almost daily, plus appointments) and sure I could get a webcam for about 100CAD, but this is close enough (I would be paying only 90CAD over the Mac mini and webcam) and bonus, now I have a laptop (and its screen)I can use around the house and on some trips. This is another reminder for those of us Intel iMac owners (esp. 27" screen) that the current iMac is not a good value.
one thing about these newer air macs is that they will make the used market of m1 and 2 macbooks even better than it used to be
My M1 Air doing just fine! The slow ssd in the new one is just a shame
Seems to me he was having trouble getting consistent measurements that were all over the ball park. MaxTech did a tear down showing that the M3 Air base model is back to using two NAND chips instead of just one. I predicted that since my belief is that the M2 family used single NANDs on base models due to supply constraints coming out of the pandemic. Apple uses close to half a billion NAND chips a year on all of its devices. It’s not easy to obtain that many chips every year. They didn’t “cheap out” this time around.
this is the problem when tech companies think they need to release products every single year. I am still on my M1 Pro. only thing I want is a 16 inch version.
Not everyone is on the same upgrade cycle, which is why every company releases new products every year. Laptops aren’t meant to be upgraded every year. Just notice how Apple has been pushing Intel users to upgrade harder in recent times because their surveys showed more than 50% of Mac users were still on Intel machines. If you already have an M2, don’t bother upgrading. The M3 is for people who didn’t upgrade to the M2.
If you want to use 2 monitors, isn't only the M3 capable (natively) of that?
Unbelievable that he skipped this.
2 monitors natively, but only with the laptop closed (clamshell mode) apparently. Some of us REALLY care about this ….
Not a conundrum. Until 16gb of ram and 512gb of storage is standard, its a ripoff. Apple should spend an extra 30$ to get the laptop there. The current minimums are pure greed.
PPPLLLEEEAAASEEEE Start incorporating the _logic pro benchmark_ into all comparison videos! I especially want to know if ram makes a difference.
My biggest problem with these machines is the fanless design because getting rid of the fan makes heat dissipation significantly less efficient.
Actually, the M3 uses 2 chips of 128 GB each, so it's definitely an improvement on the M2
Smooth intro good take!
The Silicon Macs can only run MacOS natively. They have to emulate Linux and X86 which is not ideal. Also, the Silicon Macs still swap to SSD which I personally don't like. I stipulate that new Apple laptops are perfect for youtubers who do a lot of video encoding. That was a smart move on Apple's part to target that crowd. For me, the value proposition is still not there. I'll hang on to my 2017 MacBook Pro (not used for video or gaming), and just do my normal productivity stuff coupled with logins to my VM machines.
Im low-key happy with my MacBook Air M1 for a couple of years. I been having mine since 2021.
I went from a 2015 Air to an M2 last June, and couldn't be happier.
MacBook Air M1 prices are great everywhere now thanks to the M3, I'll sell my M2 512GB just because I'll a refurbished M1 Pro or Max. Apple Silicon just like fine wine gets better and better as it ages just that it get cheaper lol
I used my M1 MacBook Air for rendering 3D scenes and animations. I'm quite impressed with what it is capable of when you really push it.
Every time I see an updated Macbook Air, my interest in holding onto my M1 Air is renewed. Maybe once they finally move on from the 8/256 base configuration I'll consider upgrading...a generation or two after they do it so it's affordable lol
I was waiting for your review. I picked up a m2 air 15 in off Best Buy for 900$ open box in oct 2023. I have a m1 MacBook Pro 16 which is on the heavier side and my personal machine and wanted something to separate business and personal. No issues got it for a great price at the time.
Great review and information Luke!
I really wish someone would do a Serato DJ Pro test in a hotter environment to see if the laptop will hold up in a warmer sweaty club.
Thank you, for this review of all three (3) models of the "Air Laptop" M-1, M-2, and M-3. Have never carried for any MacBook Air model so, I would be buying a used fully loaded 13-inch M-2 MacBook Pro with its "older screen" and "touch-bar" (smile...smile).
Me looking forward to an M3 MacBook Air video suddenly hearing “we can’t review this in a vacuum… My mind: If space is a vacuum and Earth is in Space, then we who live on earth are in a vacuum due to the transitive property? Then by association, all Macs are in a vacuum? 🤔
M1 air Is an anomaly. Best laptop Apple release in years. It was so good that Made M1 pro pointless. Apple can deliver wonderful products when they dont greed.
I ordered the M1 before the announcement, but then canceled it and did the $90 extra and got a M2 base spec. SSD is slower but I think people are too caught up on it. I doubt you’ll notice.
Best thing to do now is to buy an M2 with upgraded RAM or SSD instead of wasting money on this one.
Apple, in their wisdom, has made the choice very easy for new buyers. You can only buy the MacBook Air M3 from them. You want the M2 or M1 models you have to go through a third party to do so. When the M2 came out, everyone complained that it was actually slower than the M1 and now that the M3 has come out, everyone is complaining again about it being not that much faster. Well, no kidding. This is what Apple does. It slowly improves their hardware so the difference between an M1 and an M3 is huge, but between an M2 and M3? Not so much. With their pricing I think people should just use them into they stop working all together and then just by the latest model and hope it doesn't have some horrible hardware fault. We could all use with less battery/antenna/keyboard problems.
Anyone who would do actual work on the MacBook Air where they need performance should get the MacBook Pro. If someone is just going to work through webapps should get a framework laptop where they can actually fix it themselves and upgrade the RAM/storage without having to pay a massive mark up.
6:00 The MacBook Air 13 inch basic specs is currently at this $850 price at Best Buy and new. The M1 2013 basic specs is $700, is it smarter to get the M2 for this price or do you anticipate the M2 it will drop even more new?
A M2 MBA with 16gb of ram seems like a better choice than the base M3 imo. The best thing about the M3 MBA is that there is a stock configuration with 16gb/512gb and big box stores will have them on sale.
I bought an m2 15” air with 512gb/16gb in November. Luckily it was black Friday and also did get return at the airport. Otherwise I'd be angry for not having waited…. Now the 15” m2 is gone. I would go for m3 now as it will be supported for longer.
M1 MBA is still the legend. And now it is very cost friendly.
The speaker sound is so good in the M1 air than than the M2, not sure if M3 sound quality is different or not.