2024 was a significant year for the best MacBooks, with Apple releasing updated versions of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops. The latter are particularly interesting since they’re the first MacBooks packing Apple M4 chips. Since the MacBook Pro 16-inch M3 Max was my favorite MacBook of 2023, you’d assume its successor would be my new favorite. However, that assumption would be wrong.
Though I like the M4 MacBook Pros due to their excellent performance and epic battery life, the laptop that won me over was the humble MacBook Air 13-inch M3. Though it’s not as powerful or as long-lasting as any of the Pro models, it’s become my daily driver at home due to its ultraportable design, fast performance and endurance.
The MacBook Air 13-inch M3 proves that, for everyday computing, you don’t need the biggest and baddest MacBook. Here’s why it’s my favorite laptop and MacBook of 2024.
Ultraportable design
The 13-inch MacBook Air M3 retains the same design as its predecessor, which is fine considering I’m a fan of the flat, utilitarian aesthetic. As before, this ultraportable laptop is thin and light enough to comfortably carry around wherever you go. It also looks and feels good to hold thanks to its sleek and sturdy aluminum chassis, which you can get in Starlight, Silver, Space Gray and Midnight colors.
Despite its size, the MacBook Air’s keyboard is roomy enough even if you have big hands like I do. I’ve typed on this laptop for hours without my hands cramping up. The large touchpad is also very smooth and responsive. You should be able to get work done as efficiently on this laptop as you would on a larger notebook or a traditional desktop setup.
The 13.6-inch display also remains unchanged from the M2 Air. The 2,560 x 1,664 Liquid Retina display is both bright and colorful, delivering sharp text on web pages and vivid images in movies and video games. Though it’s not an OLED panel, everything looks phenomenal on the display—even with the notch hanging out in the top center of the screen.
Strong M3 performance
The 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs both feature an M3 chip, which gives them improved performance across the board compared to their respective Apple M2 predecessors. These laptops also performed better in Geekbench’s CPU test, compressed a 4K video faster in Handbrake and sped ahead on Photoshop and Premium Pro. In short, the M3 Air offers awesome performance.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | MacBook Air 13-inch M3 | MacBook Air 15-inch M2 | Dell XPS 14 (2024) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 (single-core) | 3,082 | 2,613 | 2,398 |
| Geekbench 6 (multi-core) | 12,087 | 9,993 | 12,939 |
| Handbrake | 7:19 | 7:46 | 6:20 |
| Photoshop | 8,583 / 12.4 mins | 7,465 / 13.9 mins | 6,045 / 21.6 mins |
| Premiere Pro | 3,621 / 7.8 mins | 3,170 / 8.7 mins | 4,918 / 7.3 mins |
I use the MacBook Air M3 every single day at home and it’s never let me down on the performance front. Granted, I don’t usually have dozens of open Chrome tabs like I do at work, but for basic web browsing and video streaming, it gets the job done.
Though it can obviously handle multiple open tabs and even games like Lies of P, as it did when I tested the laptop during my review. Suffice it to say that it’s a dependable little notebook for a variety of purposes.
Long-lasting battery life
It should come as no surprise that the MacBook Air M3, like all MacBooks packing M-series chips, has incredible battery life. Though it won’t last 18 hours like Apple claims, this laptop can last you for more than a full day.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Time (hours:mins) |
|---|---|
| MacBook Air 13-inch M3 | 15:13 |
| MacBook Air 13-inch M2 | 14:33 |
| Acer Swift Go 14 | 9:50 |
| Dell XPS 14 | 6:26 |
In our battery test, which involves continuous web surfing with the display set to 150 nits of brightness, the MacBook Air 13-inch M3 lasted 15 hours and 13 minutes. That’s more than enough to last you a full workday, with enough power left over to unwind with some videos afterward.
I usually watch a couple of hours of YouTube a night on the MacBook Air, and I only have to charge the laptop about two or three times a week at most. And when I’m out and about, I don’t bother bringing a charger since I know the Air M3 won’t run out of power at an inopportune time. For my purposes, this laptop has more than enough battery life.
Bottom line
The 13-inch MacBook Air M3 isn’t the largest or most powerful MacBook. However, it has more than enough power and battery life for everyday use. On top of that, it’s a great travel companion since it’s so thin and light. This is why it’s become my daily driver and the MacBook I’d recommend to most people.
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