MacBook Air Buyer's Guide: Comparing the Generations

Apple's MacBook Air has undergone some major changes in recent years, including the switch to Apple silicon, a complete redesign, and the introduction of a 15-inch model, making it all the more important to consider if now is a good time to upgrade or if an older model will suffice for your needs.

MacBook Air 15 Inch Feature Yellow
Following its latest refresh, Apple discontinued the M1 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ from 2020 and the M2 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ from 2023. Now, customers can choose between the ‌M2‌ 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ from 2022 for $999, and the M3 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs that were just introduced for $1,099 and $1,299, respectively.

See the breakdown below for each new feature, change, and improvement that was added with each ‌MacBook Air‌ model since 2018 compared to its direct predecessor:

MacBook Air (M3, 2024)

  • M3 Chip
  • 15% faster Neural Engine
  • Support for AV1 decode
  • New GPU architecture
  • Dynamic Caching
  • Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
  • Hardware-accelerated mesh shading
  • Support for up to two external displays when the lid is closed
  • Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes
  • Enhanced voice clarity in audio and video calls
  • Wi-Fi 6E
  • Anodization seal to reduce fingerprints with Midnight finish

MacBook Air (M2, 2022/2023)

  • Thinner design with flat lid, rounded bottom edges, and uniform thickness
  • 13.6- or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display
  • Apple ‌M2‌ chip
  • Up to 10-core GPU
  • Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW
  • ProRes encode and decode engine
  • Up to 24GB unified memory
  • 100GB/s memory bandwidth
  • 500 nits brightness
  • 1080p FaceTime HD camera
  • Four-speaker sound system or six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers
  • 3.5mm headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones
  • Bluetooth 5.3
  • MagSafe 3
  • Fast-charge capable with available 70W USB‑C Power Adapter
  • Available in Silver, Space Gray, Starlight, and Midnight
  • 1.24 kg (2.7 pounds) or 1.51 kg (3.3 pounds)

MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

  • Apple ‌M1‌ chip
  • 8-core CPU
  • Up to 8-core GPU
  • Media engine
  • Hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC
  • Video decode engine
  • Video encode engine
  • 16-core Neural Engine
  • Up to 16GB unified memory
  • 62.5GB/s memory bandwidth
  • Wide colour (P3)
  • Image signal processor with computational video
  • Up to 18-hour battery life

MacBook Air (Intel, 2020)

  • Up to Intel Core i7 processor
  • Intel Iris Plus Graphics GPU
  • Up to 2TB storage
  • Magic Keyboard
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • 1.29 kg (2.8 pounds)

MacBook Air (Intel, 2018)

  • Tapered "wedge" design
  • 13.3-inch Retina display
  • Up to Intel Core i5 processor
  • Up to 4-core CPU
  • Intel UHD Graphics 617
  • Up to 16GB memory
  • Up to 1.5TB storage
  • Butterfly Keyboard
  • 400 nits brightness
  • Full standard colour (sRGB)
  • 720p ‌FaceTime‌ HD camera
  • Stereo speakers
  • 3.5mm headphone jack
  • Wi‑Fi 6
  • Bluetooth 4.2
  • Up to 12-hour battery life
  • Available in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold
  • 1.25 kg (2.75 pounds)

‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ users have very little reason to upgrade to an M3 model unless they need absolute peak performance and don't want to buy a MacBook Pro, or perhaps if they purchased the 13-inch machine in 2022 and are now interested in the 15-inch M3 model.

Most ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ users will stand to benefit from upgrading to the M3 model, especially if they are looking for a bigger screen and opt for the 15-inch model. These users would gain a much more modern design, a larger and brighter display, better performance, faster memory, a 1080p camera, improved speakers, ‌MagSafe‌ 3, fast-charging, and more. Nevertheless, some ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ users may be better off waiting for the next major refresh if they are still happy with the machine, and upgrading is not essential.

For those who have an Intel-based ‌MacBook Air‌, either of the generations currently on sale represent a highly worthwhile upgrade spearheaded by Apple silicon for a major performance improvement and upgrading is recommended, with many of the above upgrades quickly stacking up.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...

Top Rated Comments

Mr. Dee Avatar
21 months ago
Apple really should be selling the M1 Air for 799. It’s almost a 4 year product using an old design, albeit still a great one. 1,000 is just asking for too much.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unggoy Murderer Avatar
21 months ago
The M1 Air really isn't a hard sell at all. Really great spec, excellent hardware and build quality, best battery by a mile, no Windows. Unless someone actually really needs a MacBook Pro, this'll cover pretty much what most people will need.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
masotime Avatar
21 months ago
I told ChatGPT to summarize the bullet points into a table ('https://chat.openai.com/share/30fcfefb-5a82-4b37-b572-099509ed27a6') and it came up with this. Y'all really need to do better or AI will literally take over your jobs.



Attachment Image
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PBG4 Dude Avatar
21 months ago
Got my wife the M1 8GB/512Gb version when it came out. Still lasts her multiple evenings on a single charge for her uses (email, Facebook, video streaming). It was an upgrade from a 2012 11” MBA so it totally blew the doors off that machine.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kevrani Avatar
21 months ago
I got the base model M2 MBA to replace my 2013 MBP. It truly is wonderful and I'm so glad I made the jump
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ixxx69 Avatar
12 months ago

I love the way he starts by pointing out that the 2012 MBA base RAM and storage specs are the same as the latest Macs. How long will Apple manage to keep that up, I wonder?
2012 13" MBA base came with 4GB.

People were whining about 4GB then just like you're whining about 8GB now.

I'm so unbelievably sick of people whining about base configurations. If you don't want a base configuration, don't buy a base configuration. What is it to you if I'm perfectly happy with my base config 8GB MBA?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)