Apple MacBook Air M3: Price, release date and how to pre-order

There’s a new MacBook in town. After months of rumors, Apple has announced two new entry-level laptops, both powered by Apple’s latest M3 chip. The 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air will start shipping tomorrow, March 8, but you can still pre-order them today for $1,099 and $1,299 respectively.

According to Apple, the M3-equipped MacBook Air is faster than its M2-equipped predecessor, which may be true in our limited testing (although the difference is small). Thanks to the new chip, the laptop also features an improved 16-core Neural Engine that can “run optimized artificial intelligence models,” as well as hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading. They both feature Liquid Retina displays and up to 500 nits of brightness, as well as MagSafe charging and two Thunderbolt ports.

With the GPU upgrade, both laptops support up to two external monitors when turned off. They’re also more future-proof and support faster download speeds thanks to Wi-Fi 6E and 6GHz bands, and come in four colors: Starlight, Space Grey, Silver and Midnight. The latter shade is made with an anodized seal to reduce fingerprints—an issue that plagued previous Midnight models.

Currently, you can pre-order the 13-inch MacBook Air from Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, starting at $1,099 for 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Best Buy is also offering its My Best Buy Plus membership a $50 discount on all configurations, bringing the starting price down to $1,049.

In addition, this laptop also offers upgraded versions with 512GB storage (priced at $1,299), 1TB storage (priced at $1,499), or 2TB storage (priced at $1,899). You can also get 16GB RAM and 256GB storage for $1,299, with additional RAM and 512GB storage for $1,499, 1TB storage for $1,699, or 2TB storage for $2,099 The product.

You can also choose to configure the 13-inch laptop with 24GB RAM. Pricing starts at $1,499 for 256GB of storage, or you can buy 512GB of storage for $1,699. The 24GB laptop also comes with 1TB of storage ($1,899) or 2TB of storage ($2,299).

One thing to note is that when you buy a laptop directly from Apple, the laptop will come with different power adapters depending on the model. Most upgrades include a 70W adapter option in the price. However, the base model currently only comes with a 30W USB-C power adapter, but you can upgrade to a 35W dual-port adapter or a 70W adapter through Apple for over $20.

The 15-inch MacBook Air is nearly identical to the 13-inch model, but comes with a larger, sharper display. It also comes with a six-speaker sound system rather than a four-speaker array, and is slightly heavier than the 13-inch model.

Like the 13-inch Air, the base 15-inch Air can be pre-ordered from Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, and Apple (with either a 35W dual-port adapter or a 70W adapter), starting at $1,299 for 8GB RAM and 256GB store. Best Buy is once again offering $50 off all configurations for My Best Buy Plus members, so you can get this laptop starting at $1,249.

If you want a higher-spec model, you can also get the 8GB RAM base model with upgraded 512GB storage for $1,499, 1TB of storage for $1,699, or 2TB for $2,099 of storage space. If you want 16GB of RAM, you can get the 15-inch Air starting at $1,699 for 512GB of storage, $1,899 for 1TB of storage, and $2,299 for 2TB of storage. The 15-inch model also comes with 24GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for $1,899, with 1TB of storage priced at $2,099 and 2TB of storage priced at $2,499.

Updated March 4 at 5:04 p.m. ET: Added pre-order links for Amazon, Best Buy and B&H Photo.

Updated March 4 at 5:21 p.m. ET: Updated article to note that only Apple offers multiple power supply options.

Updated March 7 at 3:53 pm ET: Updated article to include information about Best Buy offering $50 off for My Best Buy Plus members.