| MacBook Air (Apple silicon) | |
| Type: | Subnotebook |
| Os: | macOS |
| Developer: | Apple Inc. |
| Predecessor: | MacBook Air (Intel-based) 12-inch MacBook (indirect, fanless) |
| Family: | MacBook |
| Soc: | Apple M-series |
| Related: | MacBook Pro (Apple silicon) |
The MacBook Air is a line of Mac laptops made by Apple Inc. In 2020, Apple stopped using Intel processors in the Air and switched to using their own Apple silicon M-series chips. In the current product line, the MacBook Air is Apple's entry-level laptop, situated below the performance range MacBook Pro, and is currently sold with 13-inch and 15-inch screens.[1]
Apple released the MacBook Air with the Apple M1 system on a chip in November 2020, at WWDC20. A redesigned model based on the Apple M2 chip was released in July 2022, and the first 15-inch MacBook Air was released in June 2023.[2] In March 2024, Apple introduced M3 chip-equipped MacBook Airs in both their 13- and 15-inch sizes.[3]
On November 10, 2020, Apple announced an updated MacBook Air with an Apple-designed M1 system-on-a-chip (SoC), launched alongside an updated Mac Mini and 13-inch MacBook Pro as the first Macs with Apple's new line of custom ARM-based Apple silicon processors.[4] Apple released the device a week later, on November 17.
The computer uses a fanless design[5] and adds support for Wi-Fi 6, Thunderbolt 3/USB4 and Wide color (P3).[6] The M1 MacBook Air can only run one external display, compared to the previous Intel-based model which was capable of running two 4K displays.[7] The FaceTime camera remains 720p, drawing some criticism, but Apple advertises an improved image signal processor for higher quality video.[8] On March 4, 2024, the M1 MacBook Air was discontinued, with the M2 MacBook Air 13-inch replacing the M1 MacBook Air in the lineup.[9]
On March 15, 2024, Walmart announced they would continue to sell the 256 GB M1 MacBook Air under a partnership with Apple despite Apple's retail store discontinuation.[10]
The M1 MacBook Air received positive reviews, with much of the praise going to the capabilities of the M1 chip.
In his review for Engadget, Devindra Hardawar gave the MacBook Air a score of 94/100, praising the performance as "shockingly responsive" and highlighting the lack of fan noise and "excellent" keyboard and trackpad as among some of the pros. Other than that, he only lightly touched on the notebook's design and feel, citing the fact that it hadn't really changed much since the early 2020 MacBook Air. He did, however, praise the case as feeling "sturdy as ever".[11]
Writing for Wired, Julian Chokkattu bemoaned the fact that the Air only came with 2 USB-C ports, but praised the keyboard and battery life. He also lauded the fanless design, saying it was something he found himself "appreciating over and over again".[12]
The M1 MacBook Air has suffered some problems during its lifetime. Some users reported alarmingly high solid-state drive usage and wear, which drew a lot of attention, as if the drive failed, it could not be replaced by the user. Some USB-C docks also caused Apple Silicon MacBooks to stop working.[13]
During tests, the battery life of the MacBook Air was many hours short of Apple's claims, leading to some questioning the veracity of the claims. However, when the same tests were repeated with a lower brightness setting, the MacBook exceeded Apple's claims. During initial testing, the battery performance of the MacBook was so phenomenal that Apple initially presumed the slow change of the battery meter to be a bug.[14]
| Current |
| Model | M1, 2020[15] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial release operating system | macOS 11 Big Sur | ||
| Latest release operating system | macOS 14 Sonoma | ||
| Display | |||
| Screen Size | 13.3inches (diagonal) | ||
| Backlight | LED-backlit | ||
| Technology | Retina display with IPS technology | ||
| Resolution | 2560 × 1600 | ||
| Pixel Density (ppi) | 227 | ||
| Aspect Ratio | 16:10 | ||
| Supported scaled resolutions |
| ||
| SDR Max brightness ( ) | 400 | ||
| XDR Max brightness ( ) | colspan=2 | ||
| Color Depth | 8-bit (native) with millions of colors | ||
| Full sRGB Display | colspan=2 | ||
| Wide Color Display (Display P3) | colspan=2 | ||
| True Tone Display | colspan=2 | ||
| Night Shift | colspan=2 | ||
| colspan=2 | |||
| Fixed refresh rates | 60 Hz | ||
| Cooling System | Aluminum heat spreader attached on processor, no fan included | ||
| Processor | |||
| Chip | Apple M1 | ||
| Technology Node | 5 nm (N5) | ||
| CPU | |||
| Total Cores | 8 | ||
| High-Performance Cores | 4 x Firestorm | ||
| Energy-Efficiency Cores | 4 x Icestorm | ||
| Clock Speed | 3.23 GHz, 2.06 GHz | ||
| colspan=2 | |||
| Cache | |||
| L1 Cache | High-Performance Cores: 192 KB L1i, 128 KB L1d Energy-Efficiency Cores: 128 KB L1i, 64 KB L1d | ||
| Shared L2 Cache | High-Performance Cores: 12 MB Energy-Efficiency Cores: 4 MB | ||
| System Level Cache | 8 MB | ||
| GPU | |||
| Name | Apple G13G | ||
| GPU Family | Apple GPU Family 7 | ||
| Total Cores | 7 | 8 | |
| EUs and ALUs | 28 (896) | 32 (1024) | |
| Hardware-accelerated ray tracing | colspan=2 | ||
| Metal Support | Metal 3 | ||
| 8-core GPU | |||
| Neural Engine | 16-core Neural Engine (11 TOPS) | ||
| Unified Memory | |||
| Type | 128-bit LPDDR4X 2133 MHz (68.3 GB/s) | ||
| Capacity | 8 GB | ||
| 16 GB | |||
| SSD | |||
| Type | PCIe 4.0-based SSD | ||
| Capacity | 256 GB | 512 GB | |
| 512 GB (Apple only) 1 TB (Apple only) 2 TB (Apple only) | 1 TB 2 TB | ||
| Keyboard and Trackpad | |||
| Type | Backlit Magic Keyboard with (Scissor-switch) mechanism and ambient light sensor | ||
| Number of keys | 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) | ||
| Arrow keys | 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement | ||
| Function keys | colspan=2 | ||
| Touch Bar | colspan=2 | ||
| Trackpad | Force Touch Trackpad | ||
| Secure Authentication | |||
| Touch ID | colspan=2 | ||
| Audio | |||
| Speakers | Stereo speakers | ||
| Force-cancelling woofers | colspan=2 | ||
| Wide Stereo Sound | colspan=2 | ||
| Dolby Atmos Playback | colspan=2 | ||
| Dolby Atmos with built-in speakers | colspan=2 | ||
| colspan=2 | |||
| Microphone | Three-mic array with directional beamforming | ||
| 3.5 mm Jack | Yes | ||
| Audio output from HDMI | colspan=2 | ||
| Camera | |||
| Resolution | 720p FaceTime HD | ||
| Advanced image signal processor with computational video | colspan=2 | ||
| Connectivity | |||
| Wi-Fi (802.11) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | ||
| Maximum Wi-Fi Speed | 1.2 Gbit/s | ||
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0 | ||
| HDMI Port | colspan=2 | ||
| SDXC Card Slot | colspan=2 | ||
| USB-C/Thunderbolt Port | Two Thunderbolt 3/USB4 USB-C ports supporting charging and DisplayPort protocols among others | ||
| Transmission Speed | Up to 40 Gbit/s transmission speed (Thunderbolt 3 or USB4) | ||
| eGPU support | colspan=2 | ||
| External Display support | |||
| Maximum display | 1 | ||
| Max. one display combination | 6K at 60Hz (Thunderbolt) | ||
| Power | |||
| Battery | 11.4 V 49.9 W·h (4,379 mA·h)[16] | ||
| Power Adapter | 30 W USB-C | ||
| colspan=2 | |||
| Charging Method | USB-C ports | ||
| Dimensions | |||
| Height | 0.16inches to 0.63inches | ||
| Width | 11.97inches | ||
| Depth | 8.36inches | ||
| Weight | 2.82NaN2 | ||
| Total greenhouse gas emissions | 161 kg COe | 181 kg COe[17] | |
| Model Details | |||
| Model number | A2337 | ||
| Hardware strings | MacBookAir10,1 | ||
| Part/Order number (Space Gray, Silver, Gold in order) | MGN63, MGN93, MGND3 | MGN73, MGNA3, MGNE3 | |
| Timeline | |||
| Announced Date | November 10, 2020 | ||
| Released Date | November 17, 2020 | ||
| Discontinued Date | March 4, 2024 (Apple) | June 6, 2022 | |
| In Production (Walmart) | |||
| Unsupported Date | Supported | ||
On June 6, 2022, at WWDC 2022, Apple announced an updated MacBook Air based on the M2 system on a chip.[18] It incorporates several design elements from the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models, such as a flat, slab-shaped design, full-sized function keys, and a Liquid Retina display with rounded corners and a notch for a 1080p webcam. It includes two combination Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports and adds MagSafe charging.[19] Along with retaining the Space Gray and Silver color options, the Gold color option has been discontinued and replaced by Starlight (a color mixture between natural silver and champagne gold) in addition to a new Midnight color option (a color mixture between dark blue and dark gray).
The 13-inch M2 MacBook Air started shipping on July 15, 2022. A 15-inch version was announced at Apple's WWDC event on June 5, 2023. Apart from the larger screen, the hardware specs are mostly identical to the other M2 Air models. Preorders for the new model began on June 6, 2023, with deliveries and retail availability beginning the following week on June 12. On the same date, the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air received a price cut from $1199 to $1099.[20]
On March 4, 2024, Apple announced a refreshed M3 MacBook Air in both 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. This model retains the same design as the M2 MacBook Air, but adds support for two external displays when the lid is closed. On the same date, the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air received a price cut from $1099 to $999 and the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air was discontinued.[21]
The M2 MacBook Air was generally well received. Several reviewers praised the new design, as well as the improved display, performance, and webcam.[22] Dan Seifert of The Verge described it as "a success on virtually every level".[23] The price increase over the M1 model was noted, with most concluding that the M1 model was a better value.
Due to a lack of active cooling, the M2 can overheat on high workloads, leading to thermal throttling issues.[24]
In the 256 GB model of the M2 MacBook Air, there was only one NAND chip present. This resulted in a slower SSD, with read speeds 40 to 50% slower and write speeds 15 to 30% slower than the 256 GB M1 model.[25]
| Discontinued | Current |
| Model | 13-inch, M2, 2022[26] | 15-inch, M2, 2023[27] | 13-inch, M3, 2024[28] | 15-inch, M3, 2024[29] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial release operating system | macOS 12 Monterey | macOS 13 Ventura | macOS 14 Sonoma | ||||||||
| Latest release operating system | macOS 14 Sonoma | ||||||||||
| Display | |||||||||||
| Screen Size | 13.6inches (diagonal) | 15.3inches (diagonal) | 13.6inches (diagonal) | 15.3inches (diagonal) | |||||||
| Backlight | LED-backlit | ||||||||||
| Technology | Liquid Retina Display with IPS technology | ||||||||||
| Resolution | 2560 × 1664 | 2880 × 1864 | 2560 × 1664 | 2880 × 1864 | |||||||
| Pixel Density (ppi) | 224 | ||||||||||
| Aspect Ratio | 9:5.85 16:10 without menu bar | 9:5.825 16:10 without menu bar | 9:5.85 16:10 without menu bar | 9:5.825 16:10 without menu bar | |||||||
| Supported scaled resolutions |
|
|
|
| |||||||
| SDR Max brightness ( ) | 500 | ||||||||||
| XDR Max brightness ( ) | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Color Depth | 10-bit (FRC) with 1 billion colors | ||||||||||
| Full sRGB Display | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Wide Color Display (Display P3) | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| True Tone Display | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Night Shift | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| colspan=10 | |||||||||||
| Fixed refresh rates | 60 Hz | ||||||||||
| Cooling System | Aluminum heat spreader attached on processor, no fan included | ||||||||||
| Processor | |||||||||||
| Chip | Apple M2 | Apple M3 | |||||||||
| Technology Node | 5 nm (N5P) | 3 nm (N3B) | |||||||||
| CPU | |||||||||||
| Total Cores | 8 | ||||||||||
| High-Performance Cores | 4 x Avalanche | 4 x Coll-P | |||||||||
| Energy-Efficiency Cores | 4 x Blizzard | 4 x Coll-E | |||||||||
| Clock Speed | 3.49 GHz, 2.42 GHz | 4.05 GHz, 2.75 GHz | |||||||||
| colspan=10 | |||||||||||
| Cache | |||||||||||
| L1 Cache | High-Performance Cores: 192 KB L1i, 128 KB L1d Energy-Efficiency Cores: 128 KB L1i, 64 KB L1d | ||||||||||
| Shared L2 Cache | High-Performance Cores: 16 MB Energy-Efficiency Cores: 4 MB | ||||||||||
| System Level Cache | 8 MB | ||||||||||
| GPU | |||||||||||
| Name | Apple G14G | Apple G16G | |||||||||
| GPU Family | Apple GPU Family 8 | Apple GPU Family 9 | |||||||||
| Total Cores | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | |||||||
| EUs and ALUs | 32 (1024) | 40 (1280) | 32 (1024) | 40 (1280) | |||||||
| Hardware-accelerated ray tracing | colspan=6 | ||||||||||
| Metal Support | Metal 3 | ||||||||||
| 10-core GPU | 10-core GPU | colspan=5 | |||||||||
| Neural Engine | 16-core Neural Engine (15.8 TOPS) | 16-core Neural Engine (18 TOPS) | |||||||||
| Unified Memory | |||||||||||
| Type | 128-bit LPDDR5 3200 MHz (102.4 GB/s) | ||||||||||
| Capacity | 8 GB | 16 GB | 8 GB | 16 GB | |||||||
| 16 GB 24 GB | 16 GB 24 GB | 24 GB | 16 GB 24 GB | 24 GB | |||||||
| SSD | |||||||||||
| Type | PCIe 4.0-based SSD | ||||||||||
| Capacity | 256 GB | 512 GB | 256 GB | 512 GB | 256 GB | 512 GB | 256 GB | 512 GB | |||
| 512 GB 1 TB 2 TB | 1 TB 2 TB | 512 GB 1 TB 2 TB | 1 TB 2 TB | 1 TB 2 TB | 512 GB 1 TB 2 TB | 1 TB 2 TB | |||||
| Keyboard and Trackpad | |||||||||||
| Type | Backlit Magic Keyboard with (Scissor-switch) mechanism and ambient light sensor | ||||||||||
| Number of keys | 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) | ||||||||||
| Arrow keys | 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement | ||||||||||
| Function keys | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Touch Bar | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Trackpad | Force Touch Trackpad | ||||||||||
| Secure Authentication | |||||||||||
| Touch ID | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Audio | |||||||||||
| Speakers | Four-speakers | Six-speakers | Four-speakers | Six-speakers | |||||||
| Force-cancelling woofers | colspan=3 | ||||||||||
| Wide Stereo Sound | colspan=6 | ||||||||||
| Dolby Atmos Playback | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Dolby Atmos with built-in speakers | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| colspan=10 | |||||||||||
| Microphone | Three-mic array with directional beamforming | Three-mic array with directional beamforming Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes Enhanced voice clarity in audio and video calls | |||||||||
| 3.5 mm Jack | With advanced support for high-impedance headphones | ||||||||||
| Audio output from HDMI | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Camera | |||||||||||
| Resolution | 1080p FaceTime HD | ||||||||||
| Advanced image signal processor with computational video | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| Connectivity | |||||||||||
| Wi-Fi (802.11) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | |||||||||
| Maximum Wi-Fi Speed | 1.2 Gbit/s | 2.4 Gbit/s | |||||||||
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.3 | ||||||||||
| HDMI Port | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| SDXC Card Slot | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| USB-C/Thunderbolt Port | Two Thunderbolt 3/USB4 USB-C ports supporting charging and DisplayPort protocols among others | ||||||||||
| Transmission Speed | Up to 40 Gbit/s transmission speed (Thunderbolt 3 or USB4) | ||||||||||
| eGPU support | colspan=10 | ||||||||||
| External Display support | |||||||||||
| Maximum display | 1 | 1 2 (with laptop lid closed) | |||||||||
| Max. one display combination | 6K at 60Hz (Thunderbolt) | ||||||||||
| Max. two displays combination | 6K at 60Hz (Thunderbolt) + 5K at 60Hz (Thunderbolt) with laptop lid closed | ||||||||||
| Power | |||||||||||
| Battery | 52.6 W·h | 66.5 W·h | 52.6 W·h | 66.5 W·h | |||||||
| Power Adapter | 30 W USB-C | 35 W Dual USB-C | 30 W USB-C | 35 W Dual USB-C | |||||||
| 35 W Dual USB-C 70 W USB-C | 70 W USB-C | 35 W Dual USB-C 70 W USB-C | 70 W USB-C | ||||||||
| Charging Method | MagSafe 3 or USB-C ports | ||||||||||
| Dimensions | |||||||||||
| Height | 0.44inches | 0.45inches | 0.44inches | 0.45inches | |||||||
| Width | 11.97inches | 13.4inches | 11.97inches | 13.4inches | |||||||
| Depth | 8.46inches | 9.35inches | 8.46inches | 9.35inches | |||||||
| Weight | 2.72NaN2 | 3.32NaN2 | 2.72NaN2 | 3.32NaN2 | |||||||
| Total greenhouse gas emissions | 147 kg COe | 171 kg COe[30] | 139 kg COe | 152 kg COe[31] | 135 kg COe | 144 kg COe[32] | 158 kg COe | 167 kg COe | |||
| Model Details | |||||||||||
| Model number | A2681 | A2941 | A3113 | A3114 | |||||||
| Hardware strings | Mac14,2 | Mac14,15 | Mac15,2 | Mac15,13 | |||||||
| Part/Order number (Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, Silver in order) | MLY33, MLY13, MLXW3, MLXY3 | MLY43, MLY23, MLXX3, MLY03 | MQKW3, MQKU3, MQKP3, MQKR3 | MQKX3, MQKV3, MQKQ3, MQKT3 | MRXV3, MRXT3, MRXN3, MRXQ3 | MRXW3, MRXU3, MRXP3, MRXR3 | MXCV3, MXCU3, MXCR3, MXCT3 | MRYU3, MRYR3, MRYM3, MRYP3 | MRYV3, MRYT3, MRYN3, MRYQ3 | MXD43, MXD33, MXD13, MXD23 | |
| Timeline | |||||||||||
| Announced Date | June 6, 2022 | June 5, 2023 | March 4, 2024 | ||||||||
| Released Date | July 15, 2022 | June 13, 2023 | March 8, 2024 | ||||||||
| Discontinued Date | In Production | March 4, 2024 | In Production | ||||||||
| Unsupported Date | Supported | ||||||||||
The macOS operating system has been pre-installed on all Apple silicon MacBook Air computers since release, starting with version macOS Big Sur, which is the minimum required version of macOS that can and was made for Apple Silicon Macs.[33]
| OS release | M1, 2020 | M2, 2022 | M2, 2023 | M3, 2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Big Sur | ||||||||
| 12 Monterey | ||||||||
| 13 Ventura | ||||||||
| 14 Sonoma | ||||||||
| 15 Sequoia | ||||||||
| ||||||||