Apple's new M3 MacBook Air just made it even harder to choose a laptop

Apple has just announced a new M3 MacBook Air 2024 – two of them, in fact. But while we're always excited to see a new MacBook, my initial reaction is one of confusion. The news is not unexpected, but, at least at an initial glance, it seems to make deciding which Apple laptop to buy even more difficult.

Available to order from Apple today and due to start shipping as early as Friday, there are both 13 and 15-inch M3 MacBook Airs new for this year. But the update seem to be largely incremental.

To put things into context, the last M2 MacBook Air 15 was released in June 2023 and the last 13-inch MacBook Air, also M2-powered, was released in July 2022. Did these two laptops need an update in 2024? Not really. 

The main upgrade that's being sold is the ability to power two external displays (when the laptop lid is closed). The design remains almost the same, although the M3 chip, already present in the newest MacBook Pros released last year, should provide some power enhancements over the M2. However, like with the M3 MacBook Pros, all of the comparisons that Apple itself is making are against the M1 chip from 2020, not the M2, a point that continues to raise questions about how significant the leap is from M2 to M3.

On the face of it, the new MacBook Airs should be closer to performance to the latest MacBook Pros, which come with a choice of M3, M3 Pro or M3 Max. to 60 per cent faster performance for gaming (in comparison to M1), and up to 60 per cent faster performance for video editing (in comparison with M1). Of course, there's no option of an M3 Pro or M3 Max chip with the Airs, and the display is still inferior. As such, video editors are likely to still want a Pro, but those with less demanding needs may be inclined to go for a 13-inch or 15-inch M3 MacBook Air rather than a 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro. Maybe.

Strangely, it seems that Apple is also going to continue to sell the M2 version of the 13-inch MacBook Air (although not the M2 version of last year's 15-incher). Meanwhile, it's dropped the 2020 M1 MacBook Air from its store. Thus, the 2022 M2 MacBook Air 13 is now the 'budget' option at $100 less than the entry-level version of the new 2024 M3 model. Keeping up?

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Obviously, there are always decisions to make in terms of RAM and SSD when choosing how to configure a laptop, but the MacBook range is starting to remind me of the launch of the iPhone Plus in 2022. At the time, we speculated that the new phone was intended mainly as a marketing strategy to ease people towards to the more expensive iPhone Pro. 

Applied to MacBooks the result is now a confusingly wide range of options that seems designed to persuade us to keep going just one more step up until suddenly we've bought a a $4000 MacBook Pro 16 with the M3 Max chip.

I should stress that this is our initial take on Apple's announcement today. Our news editor will be visiting Apple tomorrow (Tuesday) to try out the new laptops for himself. We'll provide an update as soon as we've had that hands-on experience. You can learn more on the Apple website.