15-inch Apple MacBook Air M3 Review – The Best Solution for Digital Nomads

Unboxing

Kicking off the Apple MacBook Air M3 review with the unboxing, the packaging itself is pretty much your standard Apple affair, with it being sleek and minimalistic in nature. It’s so minimal, you don’t even see a single feature being highlighted around the box and will have to go look at the tag on the back to know the specifications and color. In case you’re wondering, we got ourselves the Midnight variant of the MacBook Air M3. It’s also worth noting that the packaging is 99% fiber-based as part of their goal to remove plastics from all packaging by 2025, with 100% of virgin wood fiber coming from “responsibly managed forests”.

Inside the box, we found the following items:

• 35W Dual USB-C power adapter
• 2-meter USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable
• Documentations
• The Apple MacBook Air M3 itself

If you’re wondering if the recent MacBook Pro M3 Max came with anything different, click right here.

Specifications

CPU	Apple M3 Chip 8-core CPU (4P/4E) 16-core Neural Engine
GPU	10-core GPU
Memory	16GB LPDDR5 -6400 Unified Memory
Storage	1TB NVMe
Display	15.3-inch 2880×1864 Liquid Retina display, LED-backlit with IPS, 60Hz, Up to 500 nits SDR brightness, 1,400:1 contrast ratio, 1 billion colours, Wide colour (P3), True Tone technology
Audio	6-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers Support for Spatial Audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos on built-in speakers Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking when using AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max Three-mic array with directional beamforming Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes Enhanced voice clarity in audio and video calls 3.5 mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones
Camera	1080p FaceTime HD camera Advanced image signal processor with computational video
Connectivity	Wireless Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.3 Wired 2 x Thunderbolt / USB 4 (supports charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3, and USB 4) MagSafe 3 3.5mm headphone jack
Software	macOS Sonoma 14.4.1
Battery	66.5 WHr lithium-polymer battery 35W Dual USB-C Power Adapter USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 meters) Supports up to 70W fast charging
Dimensions	340.4 x 237.6 x 11.5 mm
Weight	1.51kg

Performance

Starting off our benchmark suite with Cinebench 2024, the base Apple M3 chip on this MacBook Air seems to be a little above the mainstream and some enthusiast level CPUs overall, though the single core performance seems to be the strongest among all that was listed here. It’s quite insane to think that it beat out the i9-13900H in single core performance by a notable margin.

Then in Cinebench 2024’s GPU benchmark, the Apple M3’s 10-core GPU didn’t perform nearly as good as the other laptops we’ve listed. However, those machines are running discrete GPUs as opposed to this being an integrated solution. With that being said, this benchmark only tells part of the whole story but I’ll get to that in a later section with regards to gaming. Just keep in mind that you can’t exactly compare 1-to-1 as it’s a Windows machine against an Apple one, so there is a difference in terms of API, how resources are being managed by the OS, among other things.

Lastly in Novabench, the Apple MacBook Air M3 had a rather decent score, and I’m surprised it managed to beat out the XPS 13 Plus 9320 by a notable margin overall. It’s weakest point is, unsurprisingly, the GPU but the CPU is surely packing quite a punch here.

For those of you wondering about battery life, the 15-inch MacBook Air M3 is outstanding in this department. I played a 24-hour 4K underwater video from from 100% battery with brightness and volume set to half, and it took 10 hours to and 27 minutes to reach 20%. Theoretically, it could reach 12 hours to makes it completely dry, possible even longer. Apple says it can last up to 18 hours per full charge and while I haven’t used it for that long in a single seating, it certainly has the best battery life among all the laptops I’ve tested so far. All the marketing speak of it being more efficient than an Intel-based machine certainly has truth to it.

As for charging speed, this is what I managed to get using a 100W GaN charger via USB-C starting from 2%:

• 15 minutes = 31%
• 30 minutes = 54%
• 45 minutes = 73%
• 60 minutes = 81%
• 75 minutes = 90%
• 90 minutes = 97%
• 96 minutes = 100%

Keep in mind that it only supports up to 70W fast charging, and the charger that came in the box is only 35W so that will charge noticeably slower.

The Good

There are a number of reasons to consider getting the 15-inch MacBook Air M3. For starters, it packs a whole lot of performance in a fanless package, meaning it runs very quietly, and ins a sleeker build than its predecessor. Benchmarks aside, you can do a wide variety of things at once and it will run smoothly, making it ideal for those who want to be productive on-the-go. This includes both office and creative work, even video editing, and it has all the tools to keep you connected well thanks to Wi-Fi 6E support.

To demonstrate how powerful it can be, I tried running Resident Evil 4 Remake on this exact MacBook Air and it ran smoothly, close to 60FPS in Full HD for the most part. In fact, it manages to do so running on battery without any cooling fans or external cooling accessories even, something you’d never hear from a Windows machine. This is not what I’d expect given the benchmark results we got but its performance speaks for itself. Keep in mind that this is the base Apple M3 chip, which makes me curious as to how much better the M3 Pro and Max chips can run.

The MacBook Air M3 is the first Apple product to be built with 50% recycled materials. This includes 100% recycled aluminum for the enclosure, 100% recycled rare earth elements fore the magnets, and 100% recycled copper for the main logic board. If you think the use of recycled materials would make it feel cheap, you’d be surprised as it feels more premium than ever. In fact, I’m sure many people would have trouble telling the difference in look and feel compared to the more expensive MacBook Pro and all the MacBooks in recent years. At 11.5mm thin and 1.51kg in weight, it’s very portable and easy to bring around for a 15-inch laptop.

In true Apple fashion, the 15-inch MacBook Air M3 has a pretty good display. It’s a 15.3-inch (2880×1864) Liquid Retina display with 1 billion colors, 60Hz refresh and True Tone technology. Sure, it’s not OLED but given that this is not the top-of-the-line MacBook model, it’s more than enough for most consumers given its excellent dynamic range. It’s also adequately bright and handles glare well enough so you would have no issues using this outdoors. When at home or at the office, this is capable of connecting to two external displays, though it can only do so if the lid is closed. If it’s open, then it will only work with one external display, but it’s still an improvement over its predecessor.

One thing I’m surprised is how good the speakers are on this MacBook Air. It was a bit of a mystery to me as to how where it’s located but as it turns out, it’s a 6-speaker system positioned at the keyboard and right below where the display is. This allows the audio to be directed towards the user, allowing for a more immersive experience. The audio produced by it is quite loud at max volume, which surprisingly doesn’t distort or crack, and it can produce quite a boomy bass akin to high quality portable speakers. The mids and highs were very pronounced and at no point sounded muddy. It is the best among all the laptops I’ve tested in terms of quality and volume, making this a multimedia beast when combined with the display.

Speaking of audio, the built-in microphone sounds absolutely amazing. It can capture such vocal clarity and depth as if I’m using a standalone condenser microphone. The only catch here is that it’s quite prone to environmental noise so if you can record audio in a quiet room, you can make some high quality voiceovers without carrying around a standalone microphone. If you want to really amp up the quality, take a simple audio editing software, add a bit of compression, and you’re good to go. The audio recording above is raw, unedited, and recorded straight from the MacBook Air. It’s also worth noting that for iPhone users, macOS can automatically detect it and allow you to use it as a microphone wirelessly, so that’s another bonus.

The keyboard provides a comfortable typing experience, boasting a satisfying amount of key travel despite the device’s slim profile. Typing on the MacBook Air’s keyboard feels tactile and responsive, making it a joy to use even for larger hands. Additionally, the inclusion of a Touch ID button allows for quick powering on of the MacBook and seamless login with just a fingerprint scan. I found the touchpad to be smooth and responsive, consistently registering my swipes and clicks without fail. Despite its massive size, I never accidentally activated it.

While I still prefer using a mouse, the touchpad on the MacBook Air M3 certainly gets the job done effectively. With that being said however, I did manage to make things easier for myself when I don’t have a mouse with me, which is to enable Tap to Click via the Settings menu, allowing me to just tap the touchpad like I would a touchscreen instead of pressing down to register a click. It might be a small thing for a lot of people but it’s a gamechanger for me.

If you want to compare this to the MacBook Pro M3 Max, click right here.

The Bad

Of course, the 15-inch MacBook Air M3 has its share of drawbacks as well. For starters, it has very limited ports with just two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports, a MagSafe port for charging, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Sure, it’s better than the M1 MacBook Air with just one but it’s still pretty limited. For my own use, I ended up getting an affordable USB-C hub which adds a USB-C port, two USB-A ports, an SD card reader, an HDMI port, and an RJ45 LAN port, which is pretty much everything I need. It’s worth noting that the Thunderbolt / USB-4 ports can be used for a myriad of things like data transfer, display transmission, and charging, so as far as quality goes, it’s great. I just need more in quantity.

While I did praise it for having good performance and its fanless design, it does have one issue, which is that it does get warm and throttles at times. As there is no fan, it will take a while for the heat to dissipate, and the only way to counteract it is for it to throttle as it relies on passive cooling methods. With that being said however, it doesn’t happen often as it’s only for resource-intensive tasks like video editing and gaming. For regular office work, web browsing, and watching videos, it runs perfectly fine.

For my unit, I got it in the Midnight colorway and with the new anodized coating, it’s said to be more resistant to fingerprint smudges. However, it doesn’t seem to be that way for me as it still catches it very easily. I’m sure you would have noticed that some of the pictures I’ve included here have the smudges present, and I’ve tried my best to wipe them away. It’s not a lost cause however as you can always opt for a protective case, as there are plenty of options for it, or apply a skin for it. The bonus here is that you’re giving it an added layer of protection, which is a plus.

This one is a matter of personal taste but the notch on the display is unsightly. I do understand why it’s designed that way as it houses a high-quality webcam but I definitely don’t enjoy seeing it. It’s also a little odd given the seamless, sleek design that Apple is going for, and then you have the notch. However, if the trade-off for the not having a notch is to have a worse webcam or even non at all, then I would gladly keep the notch. Sure, I can use my iPhone as a webcam for it which would yield better video quality, and macOS has a feature to make that process a seamless one, but that would mean I wouldn’t have the iPhone on my hand to use.

Lastly, and this shouldn’t be a surprise given that it’s an Apple product, is that the 15-inch MacBook Air M3 is pricey, especially for a product that’s essentially the gateway to Macs for most consumers. The retail price starts at RM6,199 for the 8GB memory and 256GB storage base model (RM4,799 for the 13-inch variant) but for this specific configuration (16GB memory and 1TB storage), you basically take the 16GB memory / 512GB storage model at RM7,799 and customize it with the 1TB add-on option for an extra RM800, bringing the grand total to RM8,599.

While Apple has fixed the performance issues with the base model compared to its M2 predecessor, I would recommend going for the 16GB / 512GB model at the very least so you can unleash its true potential. Only go for the base model if you’re a particularly light user but then again, you might as well go for an iPad Pro depending on your use case. The average consumer will look at that price and likely consider a Windows laptop but if you’re dead set on a Mac, this is the price to enter its world with the current generation hardware, and it’s not one that’s easy to swallow. From my own experience, it’s worth its asking price if macOS has the software you need in a computer.

Apple MacBook Air M3 Verdict

The 15-inch MacBook Air M3 is an excellent machine that far exceeds my expectation. Its actual performance exceeds what the benchmark scores indicate and in all honesty, most consumers are better off with this rather than a MacBook Pro M3 as it can pretty much do everything the Pro model is capable of. It’s only worth going Pro if you’re a particularly heavy user and need more firepower, which will make it more worthwhile to jump into either the M3 Pro or Max variants.

If you’re going for something more compact, the 13-inch model is worth considering as it practically offers an identical experience in a smaller body, albeit with a 4-speaker setup and slightly lesser battery life. Both of them will serve as an excellent tool for today’s digital nomads, especially if they’re already somewhat immersed in the Apple ecosystem like with an iPhone or iPad given how seamless all of Apple’s devices connect and synergize together. At the end of our 15-inch MacBook Air M3 review, I award this MacBook with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Super Daddy for sponsoring my first ever MacBook.