With the M3 Airs, Apple’s MacBook lineup finally makes sense

More than four months after unveiling the M3 chip in the new 14-inch MacBook Pro, Apple has finally updated the other laptops in its family, the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air. The new machines are essentially a spec-bump that should make buying a laptop a simpler process.

Apple’s three plain-Jane M3 machines range in price from $1,099 to $1,599 and this time around you won’t need to be a computer scientist to figure out which one to buy. Here’s how the pricing breaks down at the simplest level:

• M3 MacBook Air, 13-inch, 8-core CPU/8-core GPU, 256GB: $1,099
• M3 MacBook Air, 13-inch, 8-core CPU/10-core GPU, 512GB: $1,299
• M3 MacBook Air, 15-inch, 8-core CPU/10-core GPU, 256GB: $1,299
• M3 MacBook Pro, 14-inch: 8-core CPU/10-core GPU, 512GB: $1,599

Rounding out the entry-level MacBook offerings is the M2 MacBook Air, which replaces the aging M1 model at the same $999 price point. All of the models come with 8GB of RAM and are customizable to 16GB for $200 or 24GB for $400. Apple also charges $200 to go from 256GB of storage to 512GB and another $200 to go from 512GB to 1TB across the board.

With the M1’s discontinuation, all of the current MacBooks now have a very similar design, with simple at-a-glance differences: the Airs are thinner and lighter and the Pros bring more ports. You can get in the door with a modern MacBook for $999 and need to spend at least $300 more than an Air for a Pro model.

You can pretty easily divide the lineup into Steve Jobs’ famous Consumer/Pro quadrant. The top left is the M2 Air, the top right is the 15-inch Air, the bottom left is the 13-inch M3 Air, and the bottom right is the 14-inch Pro. None of them break the bank and no one is going to feel cheated by what they decide to buy.

• Spend $999 and you’ll get a fantastic machine with an older but still excellent chip.
• Spend an extra $100 and you’ll get the same machine with a faster chip and Wi-Fi and the ability to run two external displays.
• Spend another $200 and you’re getting an even better chip with either a larger display or twice the storage.
• Spend $300 more and you’re getting a far superior display with much more expansion.
• Finally, raise your budget to $1,999 (another $400) and you can get one of the high-performance Pro machines.

It might seem like a small thing, but for the first time since Apple switched from Intel to its own silicon, the entire MacBook line is updated with the latest chips, designs, and specs. The difference between the M3 Airs and the Pros is clear, and there’s an excellent budget model that doesn’t sacrifice newer features.

You can take umbrage with 8GB of RAM, but pound for pound, this is the strongest MacBook lineup Apple has ever offered. And for the first time, the question is what you need, not how much you’re willing to spend.