Finally, Apple has announced the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air M3, both models Apple calls "the world's best AI-enabled consumer laptops" as of March 8, and will be available with significantly improved performance and power efficiency

The MacBook Air M2 is our pick for the best laptop, and we've been very pleased with the performance we've seen in the MacBook Pro M3, which was released last year Needless to say, we couldn't be happier with the MacBook Air M3

These new models feature 136- and 153-inch Liquid Retina displays, boasting up to 500 nits of brightness and a billion colors Apple claims that they offer twice the resolution of "comparable PC laptops" If you like numbers, the 13-inch model has 2560 x 1664 pixels, while the 15-inch has 2560 x 1894 pixels

It also supports up to two external displays with the laptop lid closed

A 1080p FaceTime camera is also located at the top of the screen, and a cutout display appears to be included with it However, Apple's images suggest that it may be possible to hide the notch with a black bar

According to Apple, the 3nm chip makes the MacBook Air M3 60% faster than models with the M1 chip and 13 times faster than the Intel-based Air The chip also provides an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, and these new MacBook Airs offer up to 24GB of memory, 256GB to 2TB of SSD storage, plus 18 hours of battery life

Comparisons to the M2 models are nowhere to be found, so we encourage you to see how similar the two generations are when we get our hands on an M3 in person However, if you are rocking an older model, this may be a great time to upgrade

Apple also highlights the AI capabilities of the MacBook Air M3 According to Apple, the 16-core Neural Engine combined with CPU and GPU accelerators can facilitate machine learning on the device and improve AI performance

Apple goes so far as to make the lofty claim in the first paragraph that it is the world's best at this kind of work for consumers It is set to offer a variety of AI-powered features, including a "powerful" camera function, AI math assist, automatic photo correction, and video noise reduction

The memory architecture of Apple's silicon is said to be capable of running optimized AI models, including LLM and diffusion models, locally, but cloud-based support is also possible Apple directly names Microsoft's CoPilot, Canva, and Adobe Firefly

Other features include Wi-Fi 6E support, a three-microphone array for improved audio clarity, and support for Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio; Magic Keyboard and Touch ID are also included, naturally As for ports, there is a MagSafe 3 for charging, a 35mm headphone jack, and two USB-C ports offering Thunderbolt and USB-4

Prices start at $1,099/AUD$1,799 for the 13-inch MacBook Air M3 and $1,299/AUD$2,199 for the 15-inch MacBook Air M3 Both models are available in Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver The release date is March 8 (this Friday)