Here’s some good news for anyone in the market for a new Apple laptop: The 2024 MacBook Air with M3 chip is now available for preorder. The machines start at $1099 and are set to release March 8. That’s coming right up, so let’s take a look at what to expect from this year’s flagship Apple laptop and where you can lock in your preorder.
Preorder M3 MacBook Air
The most affordable of the new laptops has a 13.6-inch display and starts at $1099. Moving up to a 15.3-inch display bumps the starting price to $1299.
The new M3 MacBook comes in two sizes: 13.6 inches and 15.3 inches. As usual, the 13” model is the cheaper of the two. (Note: Apple is keeping the previous model, the 13” M2 MacBook Air, in circulation at the $999 price point).
The new laptops keep the same slim unibody design as previous models, with these color options: midnight (black), starlight (gold), space gray, and silver. The midnight color on the previous generation was notorious for showing fingerprints, so this one features a “breakthrough anodization seal” to fix that problem.
Apple says these M3-powered machines are up to 60% faster than the M1 MBAs, which came out in 2020. (MacBook Airs seem to be on a two-year update cycle these days). You can get up to 18 hours of battery life between charges, depending on how hard you’re pushing the machine. When closed, they can power two external displays. They’re also equipped with Wi-Fi 6E, full-sized function keys and TouchID, and a 1080p FaceTime camera. The
As for customization, they start with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage, and go up from there. Amazon has various pre-built options available that can cover most . If you want deeper customization options, you can go wild on Apple’s website.
Basically, the new M3 MacBook Airs should offer plenty of computing power for the vast majority of people for years to come. I’m writing this on an M1 MacBook Air that still has plenty of life in it, four years later. I would upgrade, but I don’t feel the need.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN's board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Threads.
