MacBook Air (Apple silicon)

MacBook Air (Apple silicon)

Developer	Apple Inc.
Manufacturer	Foxconn Pegatron
Product family	MacBook
Type	Subnotebook
Release date	November 17, 2020 (2020-11-17)
Media	USB
Operating system	macOS
System on a chip	Apple M series
Memory	8–24 GB unified memory (on-package LPDDR4X, LPDDR5)
Storage	Soldered solid-state drive: 256 GB – 2 TB storage
Display	Previous: Retina Display (13.3") Current: Liquid Retina Display (13.6" and 15.3")
Graphics	Apple-designed integrated graphics
Camera	FaceTime 720p or 1080p
Touchpad	Force touch trackpad
Power	Up to 66.5 Wh battery and 70 W GaN power adapter
Online services	Optional on online configurations: Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro
Marketing target	Consumer use, lightweight use
Backward compatibility	Supports x86 software with Rosetta 2
Predecessor	MacBook Air (Intel-based) 12-inch MacBook (indirect, fanless)
Related	MacBook Pro (Apple silicon) iMac (Apple silicon) Mac Mini (Apple silicon) Mac Studio Mac Pro
Website	apple.com/macbook-air

The MacBook Air is a line of Mac laptops made by Apple Inc. In 2020, Apple stopped using Intel processors in the Air and switched to using their own Apple silicon M-series chips. In the current product line, the MacBook Air is Apple's entry-level laptop, situated below the performance range MacBook Pro, and is currently sold with 13-inch and 15-inch screens.

Apple released the MacBook Air with the Apple M1 system on a chip in November 2020, at WWDC20. A redesigned model based on the Apple M2 chip was released in July 2022, and the first 15-inch MacBook Air was released in June 2023. In March 2024, Apple introduced M3 chip-equipped MacBook Airs in both their 13- and 15-inch sizes.

M1 (2020)

MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

On November 10, 2020, Apple announced an updated MacBook Air with an Apple-designed M1 system-on-a-chip (SoC), launched alongside an updated Mac Mini and 13-inch MacBook Pro as the first Macs with Apple's new line of custom ARM-based Apple silicon processors. Apple released the device a week later, on November 17.

The computer uses a fanless design and adds support for Wi-Fi 6, Thunderbolt 3/USB4 and Wide color (P3). The M1 MacBook Air can only run one external display, compared to the previous Intel-based model which was capable of running two 4K displays. The FaceTime camera remains 720p, drawing some criticism, but Apple advertises an improved image signal processor for higher quality video. On March 4, 2024, the M1 MacBook Air was discontinued, with the M2 MacBook Air 13-inch replacing the M1 MacBook Air in the lineup.

On March 15, 2024, Walmart announced they would continue to sell the 256 GB M1 MacBook Air under a partnership with Apple despite Apple's retail store discontinuation.

Reception

The M1 MacBook Air received positive reviews, with much of the praise going to the capabilities of the M1 chip.

In his review for Engadget, Devindra Hardawar gave the MacBook Air a score of 94/100, praising the performance as "shockingly responsive" and highlighting the lack of fan noise and "excellent" keyboard and trackpad as among some of the pros. Other than that, he only lightly touched on the notebook's design and feel, citing the fact that it hadn't really changed much since the early 2020 MacBook Air. He did, however, praise the case as feeling "sturdy as ever".

Writing for Wired, Julian Chokkattu bemoaned the fact that the Air only came with 2 USB-C ports, but praised the keyboard and battery life. He also lauded the fanless design, saying it was something he found himself "appreciating over and over again".

The M1 MacBook Air has suffered some problems during its lifetime. Some users reported alarmingly high solid-state drive usage and wear, which drew a lot of attention, as if the drive failed, it could not be replaced by the user. Some USB-C docks also caused Apple Silicon MacBooks to stop working.

During tests, the battery life of the MacBook Air was many hours short of Apple's claims, leading to some questioning the veracity of the claims. However, when the same tests were repeated with a lower brightness setting, the MacBook exceeded Apple's claims. During initial testing, the battery performance of the MacBook was so phenomenal that Apple initially presumed the slow change of the battery meter to be a bug.

Technical specifications

Discontinued

Current

Model			M1, 2020
Initial release operating system			macOS 11 Big Sur
Latest release operating system			macOS 15 Sequoia
Display
	Screen Size		13.3 in (340 mm) (diagonal)
	Backlight		LED-backlit
	Technology		Retina display with IPS technology
	Resolution		2560 × 1600
	Pixel Density (ppi)		227
	Aspect Ratio		16:10
	Supported scaled resolutions		1680 × 1050 (Rendered as 3360 × 2100) 1440 × 900 (Rendered as 2880 × 1800, default) 1280 × 800 (Rendered as 2560 × 1600, native) 1024 × 640 (Rendered as 2048 × 1280)
	SDR Max brightness ( cd⁄m2)		400
	XDR Max brightness ( cd⁄m2)		—
	Color Depth		8-bit (native) with millions of colors
	Full sRGB Display		Yes
	Wide Color Display (Display P3)		Yes
	True Tone Display		Yes
	Night Shift		Yes
	ProMotion Display		No
	Fixed refresh rates		60 Hz
Cooling System			Aluminum heat spreader attached on processor, no fan included
Processor
	Chip		Apple M1
	Technology Node		5 nm (N5)
	CPU
		Total Cores	8
		High-Performance Cores	4 x Firestorm
		Energy-Efficiency Cores	4 x Icestorm
		Clock Speed	3.23 GHz, 2.06 GHz
		Online Configuration	—
	Cache
		L1 Cache	High-Performance Cores: 192 KB L1i, 128 KB L1d Energy-Efficiency Cores: 128 KB L1i, 64 KB L1d
		Shared L2 Cache	High-Performance Cores: 12 MB Energy-Efficiency Cores: 4 MB
		System Level Cache	8 MB
	GPU
		Name	Apple G13G
		GPU Family	Apple GPU Family 7
		Total Cores	7	8
		EUs and ALUs	28 (896)	32 (1024)
		Hardware-accelerated ray tracing	No
		Metal Support	Metal 3
		Online Configuration	8-core GPU	—
	Neural Engine		16-core Neural Engine (11 TOPS)
	Unified Memory
		Type	128-bit LPDDR4X 2133 MHz (68.3 GB/s)
		Capacity	8 GB
		Online Configuration	16 GB
SSD
	Type		PCIe 4.0-based SSD
	Capacity		256 GB	512 GB
	Online Configuration		128 GB (educational institutions only) 512 GB (Apple only) 1 TB (Apple only) 2 TB (Apple only)	1 TB 2 TB
Keyboard and Trackpad
	Type		Backlit Magic Keyboard with (Scissor-switch) mechanism and ambient light sensor
	Number of keys		78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO)
	Arrow keys		4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement
	Function keys		Yes
	Touch Bar		No
	Trackpad		Force Touch Trackpad
Secure Authentication
	Touch ID		Yes
Audio
	Speakers		Stereo speakers
	Force-cancelling woofers		No
	Wide Stereo Sound		Yes
	Dolby Atmos Playback		Yes
	Dolby Atmos with built-in speakers		No
	Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking		Yes
	Microphone		Three-mic array with directional beamforming
	3.5 mm Jack		Yes
	Audio output from HDMI		No
Camera
	Resolution		720p FaceTime HD
	Advanced image signal processor with computational video		Yes
Connectivity
	Wi-Fi (802.11)		Wi-Fi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
	Maximum Wi-Fi Speed		1.2 Gbit/s
	Bluetooth		Bluetooth 5.0
	HDMI Port		No
	SDXC Card Slot		No
	USB-C/Thunderbolt Port		Two Thunderbolt 3/USB4 USB-C ports supporting charging and DisplayPort protocols among others
	Transmission Speed		Up to 40 Gbit/s transmission speed (Thunderbolt 3 or USB4)
	eGPU support		No
	External Display support
		Maximum display	1
		Max. one display combination	6K at 60Hz (Thunderbolt)
Power
	Battery		11.4 V 49.9 W·h (4,379 mA·h)
	Power Adapter		30 W USB-C
	Optional Configuration		—
	Charging Method		USB-C ports
	Fast Charge Capability		—
Colors
Dimensions
	Height		0.16 in (0.41 cm) to 0.63 in (1.6 cm)
	Width		11.97 in (30.4 cm)
	Depth		8.36 in (21.2 cm)
Weight			2.8 lb (1.27 kg)
Total greenhouse gas emissions			161 kg CO2e	181 kg CO2e
Model Details
	Model number		A2337
	Hardware strings		MacBookAir10,1
	Part/Order number (Order based on stated color above)		MGN63, MGN93, MGND3	MGN73, MGNA3, MGNE3
Timeline
	Announced Date		November 10, 2020
	Released Date		November 17, 2020
	Discontinued Date		March 4, 2024 (Apple)	June 6, 2022
			In Production (Walmart)
	Unsupported Date		Supported

M2 and M3 (2022–present)

15-inch MacBook Air M2 with the new design

On June 6, 2022, at WWDC 2022, Apple announced an updated MacBook Air based on the M2 system on a chip. It incorporates several design elements from the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models, such as a flat, slab-shaped design, full-sized function keys, and a Liquid Retina display with rounded corners and a notch for a 1080p webcam. It includes two combination Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports and adds MagSafe charging. Along with retaining the Space Gray and Silver color options, the Gold color option has been discontinued and replaced by Starlight (a color mixture between natural silver and champagne gold) in addition to a new Midnight color option (a color mixture between dark blue and dark gray).

The 13-inch M2 MacBook Air started shipping on July 15, 2022. A 15-inch version was announced at Apple's WWDC event on June 5, 2023. Apart from the larger screen, the hardware specs are mostly identical to the other M2 Air models. Preorders for the new model began on June 6, 2023, with deliveries and retail availability beginning the following week on June 12. On the same date, the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air received a price cut from $1199 to $1099.

On March 4, 2024, Apple announced a refreshed M3 MacBook Air in both 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. This model retains the same design as the M2 MacBook Air, but adds support for two external displays when the lid is closed. On the same date, the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air received a price cut from $1099 to $999 and the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air was discontinued.

Reception

The M2 MacBook Air was generally well received. Several reviewers praised the new design, as well as the improved display, performance, and webcam. Dan Seifert of The Verge described it as "a success on virtually every level". The price increase over the M1 model was noted, with most concluding that the M1 model was a better value.

Due to a lack of active cooling, the M2 can overheat on high workloads, leading to thermal throttling issues.

In the 256 GB model of the M2 MacBook Air, there was only one NAND chip present. This resulted in a slower SSD, with read speeds 40 to 50% slower and write speeds 15 to 30% slower than the 256 GB M1 model.

Technical specifications

Discontinued

Current

Model			13-inch, M2, 2022		15-inch, M2, 2023		13-inch, M3, 2024				15-inch, M3, 2024
Initial release operating system			macOS 12 Monterey		macOS 13 Ventura		macOS 14 Sonoma
Latest release operating system			macOS 15 Sequoia
Display
	Screen Size		13.6 in (350 mm) (diagonal)		15.3 in (390 mm) (diagonal)		13.6 in (350 mm) (diagonal)				15.3 in (390 mm) (diagonal)
	Backlight		LED-backlit
	Technology		Liquid Retina Display with IPS technology
	Resolution		2560 × 1664		2880 × 1864		2560 × 1664				2880 × 1864
	Pixel Density (ppi)		224
	Aspect Ratio		9:5.85 16:10 without menu bar		9:5.825 16:10 without menu bar		9:5.85 16:10 without menu bar				9:5.825 16:10 without menu bar
	Supported scaled resolutions		1710 × 1112 (Rendered as 3420 × 2224) 1470 × 956 (Rendered as 2940 × 1912, default) 1280 × 832 (Rendered as 2560 × 1664, native) 1024 × 666 (Rendered as 2048 × 1332)		1920 × 1243 (Rendered as 3840 × 2486) 1710 × 1107 (Rendered as 3420 × 2214, default) 1440 × 932 (Rendered as 2880 × 1864, native) 1280 × 828 (Rendered as 2560 × 1656) 1024 × 663 (Rendered as 2048 × 1326)		1710 × 1112 (Rendered as 3420 × 2224) 1470 × 956 (Rendered as 2940 × 1912, default) 1280 × 832 (Rendered as 2560 × 1664, native) 1024 × 666 (Rendered as 2048 × 1332)				1920 × 1243 (Rendered as 3840 × 2486) 1710 × 1107 (Rendered as 3420 × 2214, default) 1440 × 932 (Rendered as 2880 × 1864, native) 1280 × 828 (Rendered as 2560 × 1656) 1024 × 663 (Rendered as 2048 × 1326)
	SDR Max brightness ( cd⁄m2)		500
	XDR Max brightness ( cd⁄m2)		—
	Color Depth		10-bit (FRC) with 1 billion colors
	Full sRGB Display		Yes
	Wide Color Display (Display P3)		Yes
	True Tone Display		Yes
	Night Shift		Yes
	ProMotion Display		No
	Fixed refresh rates		60 Hz
Cooling System			Aluminum heat spreader attached on processor, no fan included
Processor
	Chip		Apple M2				Apple M3
	Technology Node		5 nm (N5P)				3 nm (N3B)
	CPU
		Total Cores	8
		High-Performance Cores	4 x Avalanche				4 x Coll-P
		Energy-Efficiency Cores	4 x Blizzard				4 x Coll-E
		Clock Speed	3.49 GHz, 2.42 GHz				4.05 GHz, 2.75 GHz
		Online Configuration	—
	Cache
		L1 Cache	High-Performance Cores: 192 KB L1i, 128 KB L1d Energy-Efficiency Cores: 128 KB L1i, 64 KB L1d
		Shared L2 Cache	High-Performance Cores: 16 MB Energy-Efficiency Cores: 4 MB
		System Level Cache	8 MB
	GPU
		Name	Apple G14G				Apple G16G
		GPU Family	Apple GPU Family 8				Apple GPU Family 9
		Total Cores	8	10			8	10
		EUs and ALUs	32 (1024)	40 (1280)			32 (1024)	40 (1280)
		Hardware-accelerated ray tracing	No				Yes
		Metal Support	Metal 3
		Online Configuration	10-core GPU	—			10-core GPU	—
	Neural Engine		16-core Neural Engine (15.8 TOPS)				16-core Neural Engine (18 TOPS)
	Unified Memory
		Type	128-bit LPDDR5 3200 MHz (102.4 GB/s)
		Capacity	8 GB (Discontinued) 16 GB (Since October 2024)	8 GB			8 GB (Discontinued) 16 GB (Since October 2024)		16 GB	24 GB	8 GB (Discontinued) 16 GB (Since October 2024)		16 GB	24 GB
		Online Configuration	16 GB (From 8 GB) 24 GB						24 GB	—	16 GB (From 8 GB) 24 GB		24 GB	—
SSD
	Type		PCIe 4.0-based SSD
	Capacity		256 GB	512 GB	256 GB	512 GB	256 GB	512 GB			256 GB	512 GB
	Online Configuration		512 GB 1 TB 2 TB	1 TB 2 TB	512 GB 1 TB 2 TB	1 TB 2 TB	—	1 TB 2 TB			512 GB 1 TB 2 TB	1 TB 2 TB
Keyboard and Trackpad
	Type		Backlit Magic Keyboard with (Scissor-switch) mechanism and ambient light sensor
	Number of keys		78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO)
	Arrow keys		4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement
	Function keys		With full-height
	Touch Bar		No
	Trackpad		Force Touch Trackpad
Secure Authentication
	Touch ID		Yes
Audio
	Speakers		Four-speakers		Six-speakers		Four-speakers				Six-speakers
	Force-cancelling woofers		No		Yes		No				Yes
	Wide Stereo Sound		Yes				No
	Dolby Atmos Playback		Yes
	Dolby Atmos with built-in speakers		Yes
	Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking		Yes
	Microphone		Three-mic array with directional beamforming				Three-mic array with directional beamforming Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes Enhanced voice clarity in audio and video calls
	3.5 mm Jack		With advanced support for high-impedance headphones
	Audio output from HDMI		No
Camera
	Resolution		1080p FaceTime HD
	Advanced image signal processor with computational video		Yes
Connectivity
	Wi-Fi (802.11)		Wi-Fi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax)				Wi-Fi 6E (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
	Maximum Wi-Fi Speed		1.2 Gbit/s				2.4 Gbit/s
	Bluetooth		Bluetooth 5.3
	HDMI Port		No
	SDXC Card Slot		No
	USB-C/Thunderbolt Port		Two Thunderbolt 3/USB4 USB-C ports supporting charging and DisplayPort protocols among others
	Transmission Speed		Up to 40 Gbit/s transmission speed (Thunderbolt 3 or USB4)
	eGPU support		No
	External Display support
		Maximum display	1				1 2 (with laptop lid closed)
		Max. one display combination	6K at 60Hz (Thunderbolt)
		Max. two displays combination	—				6K at 60Hz (Thunderbolt) + 5K at 60Hz (Thunderbolt) with laptop lid closed
Power
	Battery		52.6 W·h		66.5 W·h		52.6 W·h				66.5 W·h
	Power Adapter		30 W USB-C	35 W Dual USB-C			30 W USB-C	35 W Dual USB-C
	Optional Configuration		35 W Dual USB-C 70 W USB-C	70 W USB-C			35 W Dual USB-C 70 W USB-C	70 W USB-C
	Charging Method		MagSafe 3 or USB-C ports
	Fast Charge Capability		70 W USB-C through MagSafe 3 or USB-C ports
Colors
Dimensions
	Height		0.44 in (1.1 cm)		0.45 in (1.1 cm)		0.44 in (1.1 cm)				0.45 in (1.1 cm)
	Width		11.97 in (30.4 cm)		13.40 in (34.0 cm)		11.97 in (30.4 cm)				13.40 in (34.0 cm)
	Depth		8.46 in (21.5 cm)		9.35 in (23.7 cm)		8.46 in (21.5 cm)				9.35 in (23.7 cm)
Weight			2.7 lb (1.22 kg)		3.3 lb (1.50 kg)		2.7 lb (1.22 kg)				3.3 lb (1.50 kg)
Total greenhouse gas emissions			147 kg CO2e	171 kg CO2e	139 kg CO2e	152 kg CO2e	135 kg CO2e	144 kg CO2e			158 kg CO2e	167 kg CO2e
Model Details
	Model number		A2681		A2941		A3113				A3114
	Hardware strings		Mac14,2		Mac14,15		Mac15,2				Mac15,13
	Part/Order number (Order based on stated color above)		MLY33, MLY13, MLXW3, MLXY3 (The configurations introduced on October 30, 2024 with 16 GB of standard RAM are MC7X4LL/A, MC7W4LL/A, MC7V4LL/A, MC7U4LL/A, in "Midnight", "Starlight", silver, "Space Gray", respectively.)	MLY43, MLY23, MLXX3, MLY03	MQKW3, MQKU3, MQKP3, MQKR3	MQKX3, MQKV3, MQKQ3, MQKT3	MRXV3, MRXT3, MRXN3, MRXQ3	MRXW3, MRXU3, MRXP3, MRXR3	MXCV3, MXCU3, MXCR3, MXCT3		MRYU3, MRYR3, MRYM3, MRYP3	MRYV3, MRYT3, MRYN3, MRYQ3	MXD43, MXD33, MXD13, MXD23
Timeline
	Announced Date		June 6, 2022		June 5, 2023		March 4, 2024
	Released Date		July 15, 2022		June 13, 2023		March 8, 2024
	Discontinued Date		In Production		March 4, 2024		In Production
	Unsupported Date		Supported

Software and operating systems

The macOS operating system has been pre-installed on all Apple silicon MacBook Air computers since release, starting with version macOS Big Sur, which is the minimum required version of macOS that can and was made for Apple Silicon Macs.

Supported macOS releases

OS release	M1, 2020	M2, 2022	M2, 2023	M3, 2024
11 Big Sur		—	—	—
12 Monterey			—	—
13 Ventura				—
14 Sonoma
15 Sequoia
Notes:

Timeline

Timeline of portable Macintoshes
See also: List of Mac models

Further reading

• Leedham, Robert (July 13, 2022). "How Apple remade the MacBook Air: 'It has always been provocative'". British GQ. Archived from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.