Apple MacBook Air M3 Unboxing and First Impressions
MacBook Air M3 Unboxing
Starting things off with the Apple MacBook Air M3 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.
MacBook Air M3 First Impressions
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. It’s said to feature a new anodized coating for better resistance against fingerprint smudges, but it seems to catch them pretty easily still.
Open up the lid, which can be easily done with just one hand, and you’ll be greeted by its 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display and Magic Keyboard. Admittedly, this is my first ever MacBook so I was genuinely surprised when it powered on automatically as soon as you pop open the lid. There is a gigantic trackpad here, and the keyboard layout is akin to a compact tenkeyless, which is of course tuned to a Mac as it has the Command key. There is a rectangular notch reminiscent of the iPhone 13 series, which houses the 1080p FaceTime HD camera. It’s a bit of an eyesore for me initially but I got over it pretty quick.
As a person who grew up on Windows PC, I was a bit confused on how to go about using a MacBook, with this one in particular running macOS Sonoma 14.4.1. The whole experience became a lot smoother when I found Finder, which is their Explorer tool equivalent, and realized a lot of the Windows shortcut keys worked on a Mac by substituting with the Command key. I also liked how the UI has an iPhone feel to it with its widgets, making it easier to adapt to. Of course, I’d like to go over some of the new things that Sonoma has brought to the table but I’ll save that for the review itself.
In case you’re curious, we’ve listed the full specifications of our Apple MacBook Air M3 right below 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
Wired
|
| 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 |
We’re in the midst of reviewing and benchmarking this MacBook, and since it’s Hari Raya is upon us, it will take a bit of time before the review is out. For now, stay tuned to the Apple MacBook Air M3 review right here on Pokde.net.
