Apple has recently launched the newest editions of its MacBook Air range. Available in two sizes, 13-inch and 15-inch, the new MacBook Air series now includes Apple’s newest M3 chip and promises faster performance and better battery life than ever before.
How does the new MacBook Air M3 13-inch compare with the new 15-inch model? Are there any clear differences between the two, apart from the size?
Read on to see how the new 13-inch MacBook Air M3 compares to the 15-inch MacBook Air M3 and see which one is better suited for you.
MacBook Air 13-inch is cheaper
The smaller of the two new MacBook Air offerings, the 13-inch starts at £1099/$1099/€1529 whereas the 15-inch model starts at £1299/$1299 /€1759.
Both models come in four colours, Midnight, which features an anodisation seal to reduce fingerprints, Starlight, Silver and Space Grey.
Both models have a different screen size
The new MacBook Air with M3 chip is currently available in two sizes, 13-inch and 15-inch. The 13-inch model was built with portability in mind and is ideal for taking out on the go, whereas the 15-inch model is better-suited for creatives and workers, as it naturally offers more screen space for multitasking.
Although their screen sizes are different, both MacBook Air with M3 chips feature a Liquid Retina display with up to 500 nits of brightness, support for 1 billion colours and, according to Apple, up to 2x the resolutions of comparable PC laptops. The only real difference between the two screens is that it’s either a 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch display size.
Both feature the new M3 Apple chip
Launched in October 2023, the M3 chip is Apple’s current entry point to its latest processor generation. Although currently found in the iMac and MacBook Pro, this is the first time a MacBook Air series has been powered by the chip.
The M3 chip provides the MacBook Air with a faster performance and more capabilities, with Apple claiming it to be up to 13x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air. Apple also claims that the MacBook Air M3 is the world’s best consumer laptop for AI, due to the M3’s faster and more efficient 16-core Neural Engine and accelerators in the CPU and GPU to boost on-device machine learning.
MacOS, therefore, offers intelligent features that boost productivity and creativity, including text predictions, visual understanding and real-time speech to text, making both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air suitable for everyone from students to business owners.
Not only does it promise to be faster, but the MacBook Air with M3 promises up to 18 hours of battery life, which is six hours longer than an Intel-based MacBook Air.
MacBook Air 15-inch has a six speaker system
The 15-inch MacBook Air features a six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers. Introduced to Macs back in 2021, force-cancelling woofers eliminate unwanted vibrations by having two woofers firing in opposite directions, which helps minimise audio distortion.
In comparison, the 13-inch MacBook Air has a four-speaker sound system instead, without force-cancelling woofers. Both, however, have support for spatial audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos. Both MacBook Air with M3 models also have spatial audio with dynamic head tracking when AirPods 3rd Gen, Pro and Max are in use.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
