Four months after the release of the first M3-powered Mac computers, Apple has announced 13-inch and 15-inch M3 versions of the MacBook Air with at least one new feature that will be of great interest to budget conscious Pro users.

Dual Monitor Support In Clamshell Mode

The new feature is that the new M3 MacBook Air supports using two 5K external displays when the lid is closed in Clamshell mode. Previous MacBook Air models could only drive the internal display and one external display. This is also a feature currently not available on the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro. However, Apple has confirmed to 9to5Mac that it will add multi-display support to the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro model with a software update.

The Wedge Has Gone

Another visible change is that the iconic wedge shape that identified it as a MacBook Air has gone. It has been replaced by the more traditional square-sided M3 model.

Other New Features

The new M3 MacBook Air‌ also offers Wi-Fi 6E, which is twice as fast as WiFi 6, Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes, enhanced voice clarity in audio and video calls, and the Midnight colour option now has a more fingerprint-resistant finish.

Faster And Better

Apple claims that the new M3 MacBook Air is 1.6 times faster than the M powered MacBook Air, and 13 times faster than the fastest Intel powered MacBook Air. The new MacBook Air is claimed to have up to 18 hours battery life.

I/O

• MagSafe 3 charging port

• 3.5 mm headphone jack

• Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support for:

  • Charging

  • DisplayPort

  • Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40Gb/s)

  • USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s)

Prices

Prices start from $1099 for the M3 models, with the 13-inch model with an 8-Core CPU, 10-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD coming in at $1499 and the 15-iinch model with the same spec priced at $1699.

Pre-orders have started and the first deliveries to customers are expected on Friday March 8th 2024.