M3 MacBook Air vs M2 MacBook Air: Which is Better?

M3 MacBook Air vs M2 MacBook Air: Should you upgrade? These two laptops are available in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. The differences between them are significant but are they enough to make you ditch your M2 PC for the latest M3 model? Below is our full take on these two.

M3 MacBook Air vs M2 MacBook Air

1. Price- The M2 MacBook Air is Cheaper

The M2 MacBook Air is cheaper than the M3 MacBook Air. To be precise, the M2 MacBook Air has a starting price of $999. In contrast, the M3 MacBook Air is $100 more expensive with a starting price of $1,099. Both laptops are now available for purchase.

Apple MacBook Air M2	Price
Buy on Amazon	$999.00
Buy on Amazon (EUR)	€1,$999.00
Buy on Amazon (UK)	£1,24900

2. Similar Design

Apple didn’t bother to change the design language. Both the M2 and M3 MacBook Air have the same design. There’s physically no difference between their portability. Which means they can easily fit into any backpack of yours.

However, here are some key factors to consider under this segment:

You have 2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4
1 x 3.5mm audio jack
But one important thing to pay attention to is that only the MacBook Air M3 supports two external displays when the lid is closed.
Lastly, M3 MacBook Air gets the upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E.

3. Display- Same Old, Same Old

Both laptops have two sizes, a 13.6-inch IPS display or a larger 15-inch. In either case, their brightness level can max up to 500 nits. They are Great for indoor usage and the displays provide very good color width at 100% of sRGB, 90% of Adobe RGB, and 100% of DCI-P3.

4. Performance- M3 MacBook Air is Faster

The M3 MacBook Air is faster than the M2 MacBook Air. To achieve that, Apple made a switch to a 3nm process for the M3 chipset. The switch enables 15% CPU speed improvements over the previous Gen- M2.

Aside from the CPU, there’s also a significant GPU improvement. With the M3 chip, you’ll enjoy gaming more. Thanks to the built-in hardware mesh shading support and ray tracing. Lastly, the M3 has a faster 16-core Neural Engine that helps to speed up AI functionality.

5. Battery Life

Both PCs bring 52.6 watt-hour battery capacity with the same dual USB-C ports and Thunderbolt 4 support. Power is provided by a MagSafe 3. The beauty of having any of the M-series MacBooks is the long battery life it offers.

Verdict: M3 MacBook Air vs M2 MacBook Air

Is the M3 MacBook Air worth the extra $100? Yes. Because it offers a significant performance increase + you can now connect to two external monitors. However, if you already have the M2 MacBook Air, I’ll tell you to hold on to it and wait for the M4 MacBook next year.

The upgrade to M3 MacBook Air is only worth it for those coming from Intel-based MacBook or M1 MacBook. But if you own M2, keep it and skip the upgrade.