¿Qué MacBook comprar en 2024? Comparativa y review del MacBook Air M3 y el Pro M3
Very good friends, after almost a week using the new MacBook Air M3, in this video I want share my opinion about this new Apple laptop. In the video I will not only talk to you about its key aspects, but I will also do several performance tests comparing it to the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3, which we could classify as his great rival since many will hesitate to buy this or the new MacBook Air M3 since they share the same processor and a priori it should not be noticeable too much difference between one and the other.
Of course, before starting I want to thank the Katwin boys who have given us both laptops to do the tests you are going Let’s see in the next few minutes. I invite you to visit their website with the links that I leave you in the description since that way you will know that you are on our side and in passing you all see the Apple products that they offer, in addition to some very, very competitive prices. Now, we begin our analysis to the new MacBook Air M3. The design of the new MacBook Air M3 is
simply spectacular. Apple has kept that sleek, lightweight look which we already fell in love with in the previous model. The one I
say that it is Amazing how easy it is to take it everywhere. If we compare it with the 14-inch MacBook Pro We are talking about 300 grams less. And that is very noticeable. If you are one of those who need to work from anywhere without the weight of the laptop be a problem, The MacBook Air M3 is your best ally. I tell you from experience, It is a pleasure to be able to use it anywhere, even on the couch, with the laptop on his knees. You won’t get tired, I assure you. As for connections, on
the sides we find two USB-C ports and a MagSafe connector for charge your laptop safely. And attention to music lovers, because It also has a headphone port high impedance. That is, if you have compatible helmets you will be able to enjoy your favorite music with lossless sound quality. A detail that many will undoubtedly appreciate. In summary, at the design level we do not find differences compared to the previous model, which is not bad either, because with the redesign that suffered still looks great to this day and I find few things to attribute to this. The
only but that I found in his day model design with M2 was the problem with the footprints of midnight color, which was a magnet for these. Since I am currently trying the silver color, I can’t attest if they have corrected it in this one. new version. We continue with the analysis of the MacBook Air M3 and now we are going to talk about one of the aspects most important of any laptop, the screen. We have two sizes to choose from 13 and 15 inches. I’ve been playing around with the 13 model. inches, but I tell
you one thing, not between one model and another There is more difference than size and weight, In everything else they are identical, same performance, same autonomy and same screen quality, so you simply have to choose depending on your needs. And speaking of the quality of the screen, I have What to say that this MacBook Air has a screen very good, although it does not reach the level of the screen of MacBook Pros. Specifically, it has a resolution of 2560 x 1664 pixels offering a very sharp image and detailed. It also has a brightness of 500
nits that allows see the screen without problems, without conditions lots of light and also has a range wide chromatic P3 that reproduces colors very vivid and realistic. It also has the True Tone function, like all of them, that adapts, and environment to make it more pleasant to the view, although well I always have it deactivated. But of course, if we compare this screen with that of the MacBook Pro there are some differences What must be considered. The MacBook Pro has a mini LED screen with XDR quality, They also have promotion technology, that is to say
that this also implies a greater contrast, greater color fidelity and variable refresh rate that can reach up to 120 hertz. Clear, These features make the screen of the MacBook Pro is more impressive and fluid especially for viewing multimedia content or to edit photos and videos. However, this does not mean that the screen of the MacBook Air is bad, On the contrary, it is a very good screen that It more than meets the requirements for most uses. If you are going to use this Mac to edit photos or videos or to watch series and movies, you
already I say that you are going to enjoy the quality a lot of image it offers. And not only the image, but also the sound because, Well, I haven’t mentioned it much but this Mac It has a 4 speaker system that gives a very powerful and clear stereo sound And that, well, They also have support for spatial audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos. So, finally, if you want to use it to also have a good multimedia experience, Hey, this Mac is not going to let you down. But before moving on to performance
and to the tests I have done with this Mac, I have to tell you about the camera. As you can see, this MacBooker has a notch at the top of the screen, which is where is the camera. Let’s see, this notch is a little annoying, because At the end of the day it breaks the aesthetics of the screen and because it also occupies a space that could be used to show more information. But hey, it’s a lesser evil that can be tolerated. if the camera were good, but it’s not nothing special. The camera of this
MacBook Air is 1080p, i.e. Full HD, which is a decent resolution but it falls short for many professional uses. Apple tries to improve image quality using the image signal processor of the M3 which makes the camera better suited to lighting and focusing conditions. But still the camera is still fair to stream or record for example video tutorials because it does not have a good definition nor good lighting. In conditions with spotlights and others like the example What will you be seeing, well, hey, he defends himself but If it is not a camera that is used
to make video calls and a little more. And finally regarding the screen, yes you are going to use this MacBook to work you must know that you can connect it with up to two monitors external, one with a resolution of up to 6K at 60 Hz and another with a resolution of up to 5K at 60 Hz with the MacBook Air lid closed. And well, the time has come to talk to you about performance. Before I have to clarify that the models that I have been using for my tests have been the MacBook Air M3
with 8 CPU and GPU cores, 8 GB of memory and 256 GB of storage, That is, the most basic version that you can buy. And then, on the other hand, I have also been analyzing the MacBook Pro 14 inch with M3, with 8 core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8 GB of unified memory and 512 GB of storage. I mean, also the most basic version that you can buy of this. Having said all this, Let’s start with the tests. The first performance test I want show you is the one corresponding to the speed of the SSD drives
of both models. For that I used the Blackmagic Dix Xpeed app Test and in this the MacBook M3 has obtained a write speed of 1,584 Mbps and a read speed of 2.797 Mbps and then The MacBook Pro has achieved a speed of writing of 3,140 Mbps and a speed of reading 2,990 Mbps. If we put these speeds in a table, we can check how the writing speed MacBook Air is 98% slower than the of the MacBook Pro, while reading speeds do that they are more even. In theory, the base model of the MacBook Air M3
returns to use two 128 GB chips in its offer better performance than the previous model, although in my case, just as you have been able check, it has given me quite a performance bad, at least in terms of writing speed. Now let’s go with the results of the Geekbench test, which measures processor performance and memory in two different test modules, single core testing and multi core testing cores. The single core score was 3171 points on the MacBook Air and 3202 points on the MacBook Pro and on the other hand the multicore score It has been
11,995 points in both. Looking at these scores we can see like when the processor is asked for power, get identical numbers given that both They share the same chip. In any case, we will begin the differences to find from the following test. And in the Geekbench app we have also done a test that measures the performance of the GPU in performing tasks such as processing of images, etc. Scoring using the OpenCL API has been 25,830 points on the MacBook Air and 30 .583 points on the MacBook Pro. As for the metal score, this has been
41,365 points on the MacBook Air and 48 .013 points on the MacBook Pro. Here, the difference is greater given that the M3 Basic MacBook Air has 8 GPU cores compared to the 10 cores of the 14-inch MacBook Pro. Let’s go with another test. I have also carried out a test with the application Cinebench which, in this case, measures performance of the processor to carry out 3D work. This test can be very useful if, for example, you plan to use the Mac for related work with the creation of 3D files, either in video or image format.
So let’s go with the results. The single-core score was 1,903 points on the MacBook Air and 1,908 points on the MacBook Pro. And on the other hand, multi-core scoring has been 9,168 points on the MacBook Air and 10,346 points on the MacBook Pro. In this test we are already beginning to see more distance between both in the multi-core test due to temperature management. The single core test is hardly a challenge for both MacBook and hence the points are identical, but when the processor puts you to work at high performance during 10 minutes, the temperature begins
to rise and the fact of not having active cooling on the MacBook Air means that it limits the maximum power at which the chip to not trigger the temperature. Instead, on the MacBook Pro the fans turned on, but the processor continued working at maximum level. We continue with more tests and one that I like do a lot is the GFX Bank test, which allows us to measure the performance of the GPU running a 3D game simulation in high resolutions and with different effects of lighting. For example, in this case, the MacBook RM3 has been able
to move at 59 frames per second the Aztec ruins game at 4K resolution and the MacBook Pro at 76 frames per second. The difference in this score lies in the difference in cores as I mentioned before. If you buy the MacBook Air with 10 cores GPU, possibly the result can be much more similar. It is important to note that the M3 chip in both Mac features accelerated ray tracing hardware. In other words, if you are going to use these new MacBooks to move games that have Ray Tracing support, performance will be considerably higher than the
previous ones. Although it must also be noted that the MacBook Air may not be the most suitable laptop for this by not counting, as I have said, with active ventilation, since after being After playing for a while we could notice how its performance will fall. More than anything because the GPU on the chip is going to put very hot. Finally, I have assembled a project in Final Cut which is one of our latest podcast videos of the Morbida Plus apple, which are heavy projects of more than an hour duration. Specifically, the test I have done
is with a program that lasts two hours, four minutes and with sound effects, several layers of video, etc The MacBook Air took 23 to export minutes and one second and the MacBook Pro 22 minutes and 47 seconds, just 14 seconds difference. Furthermore, I can attest to you that in both the process editing has been fluid and I have not noticed that slow down in no time, so this It is something that you should also take into account the time to buy it. For example, to export in Final Cut you do not there is a lot
of difference. Another aspect that must be taken into account When choosing between the MacBook Air M3 and the MacBook Pro M3, as I have said for several times in this video, it is temperature management. As you know, the MacBook Air does not have a fan, which means it has no active cooling. This has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it makes the MacBooker more quieter and more energy efficient, but on the other hand it makes the processor also can get hotter and reduce performance in high performance tasks. This is something to keep in
mind if You are going to use this Mac for programs that require a lot of power such as video editing, graphic design, programming or games. In that case, you may be more interested in the MacBook. Pro that it does have a fan and therefore can maintain processor performance higher and more stable. All the evidence that I have shown you in this video, I have made them consecutively one after another, and I have been measuring the temperature of the SSD both computers meanwhile. The moment where they have suffered the most has been in the Cinebench test,
in which the MacBook Pro turned on the fans and the Air just He couldn’t because he didn’t have these. This means that the MacBook Air’s SSD will reach 49 degrees compared to 47 degrees of the MacBook Pro SSD. And be careful, I have measured the temperatures of the SSD because I have not been able to obtain the processor ones in the app I use, since it has to be updated still to support the new MacBook Air and therefore, to make a fair comparison, I took the temperature of the SSDs in both models. Obviously, the temperature
issue has influenced in which the scores have been different despite equipping the same processor. The MacBook Air has to limit performance of the processor to prevent it from overheating and therefore this is noticeable in high-performance tasks. So now you know, if your main use It will be to move programs that squeeze max the processor, Maybe it’s worth it to go for the MacBook Pro. But on the other hand, if your day is not so demanding and the use of these programs will be very punctual, Maybe the MacBook Air will give you performance more than enough
without the temperature become a problem. Let’s talk about the battery, which is one of the strong points of this MacBook Air M3. According to the data that Apple gives us, this laptop Lasts up to 18 hours of continuous use. Mind you, it’s not bad at all, but it’s true that, according to Apple, the MacBook Pro takes a little advantage with its up to 22 hours of autonomy. So on paper, if the duration of the battery is a priority for you, you may interested in going for the MacBook Pro. But let’s be realistic. Those hours that
Apple sells us are perhaps a not very optimistic, because they are based on some very specific conditions such as, for example, play video in the Apple TV app. Come on, as soon as you put a little bit of cane into it to the laptop, that duration begins to decrease. After all the tests I have done to This video is curious because the battery of the MacBook Air was at 89% and the MacBook Pro at 85% and, of course, both were at 100% at the beginning of the tests and, of course, Both laptops are new, they
barely have load cycles behind them. Let’s see, it is true that it is not very representative this given that, well, no one in their right mind you are going to use these laptops in this way, but we can appreciate how surprisingly downloads a little faster on the MacBook Pro with Regarding Air, which is totally contrary to the difference which Apple reflects on its website. And regardless of these specific tests, I have to tell you that the MacBooker’s battery It is very good, especially considering that this Mac is not designed to move apps Let them drink
it. In my experience, The MacBook Air has more autonomy than sufficient for normal use, such as surf the internet, watch videos or write documents. With that use, as I said, the MacBook Air can Easily last all day without needing to charge. And well, now we have reached the moment of the conclusions of this in-depth analysis of the MacBook Air M3 and let’s see, after all testing and having been using it for all these days, I have to say that this laptop seems to me very suitable for all those looking for a computer that can be
carried everywhere. It has a very light, very compact design and that makes it perfect for working from anywhere place without being a hassle. And the best of all is that, as I have been telling you, for day-to-day performance tasks of this MacBook Air is practically identical to that of the MacBook Pro. Even when I have demanded a little more from him more powerful applications, You have already seen that this laptop has given the size without problems. Of course, if you allow me some advice, I don’t I would go with the version I have been testing.
Because? Because? Well, for two reasons. The first, because this version has the M3 chip a little layered, with two less GPU cores and that has therefore made the scores that I have taught you in the graphic tests been worse. And then also, the second reason is because Today 256 GB of storage seems to me very little. I would bet at least on the intermediate option 512 GB to play it safe. And if after everything I’ve been telling you you have been left wanting to get hold of this MacBook Air M3? I leave you in the
description the link to the website from Katwin, where you will be able to buy it from €1,299 if you opt for the 13-inch model or from €1,599 if you prefer the 14-inch one. The decision is yours. Anyway, I hope that this analysis has been useful and that now you are clearer if The MacBook Air M3 is the laptop you were looking for. You already know that if you have any questions or want that goes deeper into a specific aspect You can leave me a comment below and I will be happy to answer you. Finally I
just have to ask you for a like that you subscribe to the channel if you are not subscribed still and nothing that you are very attentive to our upcoming videos here at La Manzana Mordida because you already know, I am Fernando and I promise to do it. Ciao.
