When I traded in my long-term review MacBook Pro for the latest MacBook Air M3, I thought I’d miss it.
Curiously, that didn’t happen in recent weeks. I’ve been using Air at work and for personal projects (including learning Blender).
Finally, you can keep up
In the past, I kept MacBook Airs in addition to checking them every few weeks or so to make sure they were where I put them.
This was because I would eventually find the machine slowing down slightly when I was doing a task and would reach for the faster Pro model.
MacBook Air browser or browsing
It seemed to me that the MacBook Air sometimes even stopped while working with the browser or browsing.
Are you loading high-end applications, such as coding tools for the Unity gaming platform? Warm-up and deceleration signal.
My work shifts now ran as smoothly as they did on the MacBook Pro, handling my daily driver apps which were mostly Preview, Freeform, and Apple Notes, as well as Microsoft Word and the Pixelmator image editor.
I recently started seriously learning the 3D Blender program and was surprised that the MacBook Air didn’t bog me down with slow loading times and that playing Baldur’s Gate III didn’t feel much different than playing it on the Pro.
However, note that my test unit was the highest-spec of the base models available with the 8-core M3 chip with the 10-core GPU variant, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage.
I’m also not a fan of playing games at ultra settings because I value performance more than visuals; my game should run more smoothly than choppy at higher resolutions, so I stick with medium settings.
Battery life was only an issue when using heavier programmers/games, but if it was just my browser and Microsoft Word, I would still have enough battery power at the end of the day and would even go out to cafes without needing a charger.
I was once working typing after midnight, and even though I only had three browser tabs open in Microsoft Edge, I suddenly received a notification that the browser’s CPU usage was high and they suggested I close a tab.
Of course, one of the tabs was YouTube, but I’ve never encountered a high CPU usage warning on any MacBook Pro in recent years.
A little too much of the same
Any flaws you find with the MacBook Air could perhaps be considered nitpicking. It would be nice to see more updates to the laptop’s design besides the camera notch which I honestly don’t notice most of the time.
In practical use, the darker Midnight shade is a fingerprint magnet, but less so than last year’s. I didn’t like using the Midnight-colored models I previously got because my fingerprints marked them so embarrassingly as if all I did all day was eat KFC at my desk.
On paper, I’m also not a fan of low base specs (8GB of RAM starting? Seriously? Is this the year 2000?) and how much it costs to upgrade because it doesn’t matter how powerful the M-series chips are. I think 16 GB should be the initial minimum and at least laptops should have 512 GB.
For what MacBooks cost, 256GB is too little to start with models.
That’s the reality that can be difficult for many people to face, that for many, the MacBook Air could be enough for almost anything except editing a movie, composing tracks for large projects, or massive coding projects.
Still, I’ll probably have to go back to the Pro when I want to enjoy longer gaming sessions or use PS Remote Play, both activities that generally generate more heat on the CPU and the Pro has fans to keep the temperatures inside the laptop manageable.
I’m also a beginner in Blender, so there will probably come a time when I’ll need more horsepower to render more complex scenes. That’s why I think a MacBook Air would probably be a good machine for students, as it’s light enough to carry around while still being powerful enough to handle class assignments, except perhaps for courses that rely on software. proprietary that only runs on Windows, but is becoming more common. a rarity.
Wouldn’t you agree with the consensus that last year’s MacBook Air could be purchased at a discount? Yes actually. After all, the M3 line of chips is the first in the M series to include ray-tracing support.
While the games available on Mac do not yet take advantage of ray tracing, programs like Blender do.
If ray tracing or using more powerful apps isn’t on your “needs” list, then you might be able to save quite a bit on the M2, especially if you’re primarily a media consumer and not a creator, or if you just primarily use a browser and Word.
Are you looking for a new laptop after using an Intel-based Mac or a machine of similar age? The M3 MacBook Air is a decent upgrade, but if you have an M1 or M2, you won’t need an M3 unless, as I said, you need the performance boost and features of a device with an M3 chip.
While I’ll probably go back to the Pro now that the testing period is over, I admit it was nice to work on a lighter machine instead of the weight of a MacBook Pro.
If you also like the notion of a more powerful and lighter Macbook, they are now on sale online and in retail stores in 13-inch and 15-inch screen variations, starting at RM5,199 for the 13-inch and RM6,199. for the 15 inch.
Free tip: Instead of spending a thousand dollars more on the larger model, consider upgrading the RAM. You can always connect one external display or even two, now the new MacBook Air supports two additional displays, but only with the lid closed.
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