M3 MacBook Air - The Best Laptop BUT… 

Wouldn't mind if Apple charged $50 for +8GB or +256GB but $200 is just fucking insane

Before even watching the video: the answer to “why does Apple keep doing this?”, cause enough of us keep paying them to

even my graphics card has 12G memory, it really disgusts me everytime I see Apple publish a new product still with 8+256 specs

I’d be more willing to buy a MacBook Air if the base model came with 12-16Ggb RAM and 512gb base storage. That’s more than enough ram and storage for 85% of people

I do fully agree that the base models need more RAM included. Im glad they are offering a upgraded model pre-built though. Those can and will be offered at discount at third party retailers at some point, which is good.

I agree with your points regarding minimum memory and storage. It’s really annoying when you know the costs for Apple to do the right thing are minimal.

before watching the video I'm going to assume it's the 8GB RAM Edit: 8:10

Apple has returned to dual NAND modules for the 256GB storage rather than the one that was in the M2 (see MaxTech). That means that we have parallel sequential reads and writes as was in the M1. It also means extra dRAM for swap (maybe 2-3GB over M2) before it has to start using the slower flash storage. This means that the M1 MB Air is less interesting now that it has gone back to parity (M1=M3).

Get a long magnet and place it on the edge of macbook on each side of the trackpad and it will think the lid is closed! This is how we have shut off the internal display for years while leaving the macbook open. The internal display turns off when the magnets are engaged so this should work for the new Macbook Air

8gm ram is laughable, i thought it would come with 2x6gb for 12gb ram total,and that would be the base ram from now on since the MacBook Pro 16 has 18gb ram and uses 3x 6gb for 18gb total.

Thanks for sharing. Blessings on your day!

I still have the m1 air, and use a display link adaptor to run multiple screens. It’s for my home set up, and it might not work for some, but I think this will work for most. Display link fits the way to go.

I’ll be keeping my air M1 it’s still going strong

There is a simple solution to this. We as consumers have to stop buying there products. Corporations only care when you affect there bottom line. Apple says if you are dumb enough to buy it, then I am smart enough to sell it to you.

I have it for over 5+ months now close to a year and it’s an absolute beast! I only maxed out the RAM to 24gb ram with 256gb SSD cause i don’t really see a difference with the speeds and I always don’t mind the waiting on the downloads anyway since I’m doing something else to keep me busy. Overall, I’m very satisfied with it! Use multiple tabs, have photoshop open while watching a stream or RU-vid, pretty much have multiple applications open and the 24gb ram REALLY helps to not wear out the SSD swap or MacBook itself, absolute powerful machine!

doesn't hooking external monitors up to any external usb-c docking station allow for 2 monitors plus laptop display?

8GB of RAM is not fine for 80% to 85% of users. More like middle school kids, high school teens, and elderly. Every other college student and working adult should get 16GB of RAM. Regardless of the laptop brand, 16GB is the new norm.

The base model and price is fine. Its the upgrade prices that are insulting because everyone knows you are getting bent over and that 8gb ram costs $20 not 200 and 256gb ssd costs $20 not 200. They skimp on the base model to rob you later. Shame, they could just set the base to 16gb / 512 and charge 1499 and people would be happy its the robbing that leaves a bad feeling.

Apple is just making this s***t up now. My 2014 can run a display when the lid is closed.

Tossing up between the MacBook Air M3 15"(24gb/1tb, as a comparable, portable option to my iMac), or the soon to be released, spec'd out iPad Pro M3. Can the MacBook be used as a second display to my iMac, via USB-C or "Sidecar", like I can with my current iPad 10???

This would be nice for Immersed VR

If Apple fixed the multi monitor support with software than they would lose key selling points for the m5 MacBook…

What game were you playing at 6:44?

helpful video thank you!

Thank you Greg for the honest and to-the-point review! I feel it is reasonable to expect base-level Macs to come with more storage than the base-level iPhones. Now-a-days the base-level iPhones are as close in price point as the base-level Macs. 🤔

Is that “Unapologetic” by Eddy i playing in the background?

Nothing justifies shipping a device in 2024 with basic storage of 256 and 8 gb RAM, especially for such high price tag. FYI, devices with less RAM and storage tend to have shorter lifespans than devices with higher specs.

im new here i really did enjoyed your video and i subscribed to your channel 👍. i had just spoke to the apple support about the closing the lid when using the 2 external display if its a software thing or hardware thing but they just told me it could be either and they told me to just submit a feature request feedback to them not sure if that feedback will do anything but hopefully it gets noticed which i have no clue of that. Besides from that, i just got the MacBook Air M3 with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB storage upgrading from the M1 MacBook Air 8GB RAM with 256GB storage all because i like that MagSafe charger, newer chip, thinner design and much lighter weight to it. thats basically it.

Any idea when Apple is going to have their event this month because I’m curious to see what they might come up with for the Mac mini or something else I need more than a MacBook Air and I can’t afford a MacBook Pro right now and I need to screen real estate. I’m torn between waiting and getting a full loaded iMac to start my stream.

Do these M2-3 laptops are affected by staingate issues?

I still have my M1 Macbook pro and it still looks new.. its perfect for my needs 👍🏻

Apple does offer higher configuarations, and everyone is free to order them if they need to. I ordered the config with 24GB/2TB. So what's the point? Aah, get it. You want it cheaper.

I had the M1, upgraded to 16gb and 1tb. The base model was just not going to do what I needed it to do, but I didn't feel the need for a Pro. Then my M1 needed to be replaced, and I got an M2 with the same configuration. I wish I'd gotten 24gb RAM, but otherwise it's still okay. Again, I feel no pull toward the Pro models, but I sure couldn't take the base configuration. I can't imagine ANYONE being seriously okay with the base model. It's just too, too limited.

i want more power for video/foto editing... not just only more storage... even if its entry level.

16 GB RAM and 512 SSD should be base without the giant price boost. I think logenvity is on the line here. The base model specs pretty much doom this as a low end laptop, that will need to be replace sooner than later.

If I could get more than 2TB storage then I would strongly consider a MacBook Air as my travel laptop.

Can’t understand why the mini wasn’t upgraded at the same time, 256GB was too small back in 2020 when we got the first M1’s. I must of missed something by I thought the the new air got the M3 last year but that must of been the 15 inch only

Butttt, when you get the base MacBook Pro you will still need to upgrade the ram as well at least. Which them least puts that at 1900

At $1499 you get a good computer but then I can hear people saying "if it only had a fan!". I can't buy a computer without a fan and I don't want one that throttles and slows down because it gets too hot!

Before the base-model Macbook Air comes with 12GB/16GB RAM, the base model Macbook Pro needs to come with that. And only now with M3 the base-model Macbook Pro started with 512GB SSD. So I guess you'll have to wait for a long time still for the Macbook Air to have their base RAM/SDD upgraded.

I’ve been putting up buying a new Mac for ages. My MBP is 11 years old and I still use it daily. There has been always something wrong with the new ones, and I feel that every single current MBP is overpriced. I could do with MBA for my coding and usual stuff, most of my real computing happens on cloud or remotely on my desktop, as I’ve started doing with my old laptop. Plus the company provided laptop is quite nice. 😅 But 16GB RAM and 512GB storage are the absolute minimum, I feel 8GB of unified memory is an insult and 256GB storage is just there for people to pay 200$/€ for the upgrade so +400$/€ for both (WTH with these prices?!?!). Other than that, the current MBA seems like the best compromise for me.

Great video. You’re right. Full Stop. No “buts”, no what if’s only “what is” I think Apple continued 8gb of RAM because they know it is good enough for 99% of Air users. Until the competition can produce a base model laptop more powerful than the Air. It’s business. Most Air users don’t need 3 screens or 16 GBs of RAM and Windows laptops are not better.

Honestly the base specs aren’t even the problem imo. There are users they would be absolutely fine for. The problem is their ridiculous upgrade prices. Upgrading to 512gb and 16gb shouldn’t cost even $100 combined and yet they want $400. That’s predatory pricing.

I don't know why Apple still is offering 8GB RAM for the baseline Macbook, I guess Apple will say 8GB RAM is different from other PCs, or even better than others, we need to focus on experience, not only specification 😅

If the MBA can do 2 displays with the lid closed, the M3 Pro should be able to do 3 displays with the lid closed.

Dual monitor is in the past, ultrawide monitors are king.

4:50 Good idea. AAPL, are you listening?

Omg the 256SSD isn't slower than the M1 anymore? For real? That's fantastic news! I already ordered an M3 MacBook Air 16GB 256GB, and I know that it probably wouldn't have any impact on me, but I couldn't help myself from feeling depressed that for a single extra upgrade, I could have gotten read/write speeds AT LEAST as fast as the old M1. But it seems I don't have to worry about that anymore, which is great! I still have to worry about 256GB potentially not being enough storage space, but there are ways around that, and there are only 1 or 2 things that I may or may not download which might cause me to approach the full 256GB of storage anyway.

Why not a space black option? Think this is a lazy release.

thinking of switching from my intel macbook pro from 2020 to this...

I agree. I understand if they want to keep iphones and ipads at base 8 gb ram. But any laptop that’s more than $1000 should automatically have more than 8 gb ram (DDR5) nowadays. And that also goes to you Nvidia. Anything that’s $500+ gpu should have 16 gb vram minimum.

Was going to pick up a 15 inch M3 MacBook Air with 16 GB/one TB. Then I saw the 14 inch M3 MacBook Pro for $50 less at $1849. For a somewhat similarly spec laptop on the Windows side I could get the same ram and storage configuration For a little over half the price I paid. I will say coming from a mid 2014 MacBook Pro, Apple’s laptops do last. I would have had it for 10 years in September of this year. So maybe their prices are justified? Especially since before I switch to Mac I used to buy Windows computers every 3 to 4 years because of a motherboard issue or a bad display or something where it cost too much to repair than what it was worth.

they trying to make money off y'all don't be fooled m1 still the king started from the bottom now we here to take your money

Sooner or later they will have to go to 16gb of ram and 512gb of storage. It's just a basic configuration as an entry point. The longer they wait is the longer they miss out on sales. I was interested but in Australia the initial purchase price is over the top, and the upgrade costs are insane. So no, it's a hard pass. Plenty of quality windows laptops out there with decent configs for the money.

Can anyone tell me the advantages of getting a macbook over a windows laptop?

the thermal throttling takes away most of the gains of the chip upgrade... the only meaning full upgrade if someone buys this is the faster read and write speeds and two displays... thatsalll

Yeah you're right, turning off the display when you close it is dumb... it could turn it off as soon as it detects 2 external displays are connected and turn it back on when less than 2 are connected. I doubt Apple will change it, they've already made up their mind how it should work.

Apple being money hungry as always

and those but's cost a lot to upgrade.

As much as I hate myself saying this, I was against the 8GB model. Did not recommended it to anyone, until I used it. You can basically do anything and notice no difference. Most MacBook Air users are using it for emails and web browsing, maybe a little bit of note taking and programming. I am yet to come across anyone who uses Final Cut Pro or video editing as their daily, so I cannot comment on this, however, the 8GB is still not a bad machine for that. However, shipping the 1999€ model MacBook Pro with 8Gb is a crime.

Yeah, I do a lot of data analysis with large spreadsheets and need a ton of screen real estate but not much power. I finally gave in and got at ~$700 Lenovo yoga with 16 GB Ram instead of saving up for a MacBook Pro. I have it hooked up to 3 screens through a dock for 4 total with its own screen. This new “solution” with the M3 MacBook Air is seems like a bandaid rather than actually fixing an issue that shouldn’t exist in the first place. Why can cheap windows laptop support twice the number of screens for half the price?

My son has 5 yr old Intel MBA. this is a good replacement laptop for him later this year

8 Gb Ram version exists so Apple can charge for an upgrade to 16 Gb

I want to buy my wife a new macbook, an upgrade from her M1, but I'm just toooooo sour on not being able to upgrade ram/storage after purchase. It's the one thing that's keeping us from upgrading.

Ive owned both an m2 air in midnight and m3 pro in black and the print resistance is only marginally better on the m3. Minimal difference.

It's a very old, and frankly deplorable sales technique. They draw you in with a low price but you have to purchase "extras" (In this case, £200 on more memory) before it will work properly.

It’s the price gouging requirement to upgrade both the storage and RAM that’s stopping so many of us from buying them. I have an older Intel MacBook Pro and whilst it’s good and all when I’m doing spreadsheets, chatting on Skype video makes it too hot to sit on my lap. There’s always a gotcha and it’s getting on my nerves A LOT.

A. Apple is just being greedy regarding memory and storage. B. The trade in program does assuage some of that. I got $580 for my MB Air M1, so it offset the cost of upgrading to the 12 ram/1 TB version. C. But it is time to start with 10 ram and 512gb.

WHY CANT THEY PUT THE PRO DISPLAY WITH IT ?!? The worst part of it

Apple definitely aware of this short coming. It simply wants to make money out of it.

I want a better front facing camera and yeah they need to fix that dual monitor issue.

why do they make the base model so low...? Because they want to raise prices, but for marketing reasons, need a way to advertise lower prices, but hope everyone buys the more expensive models, by making the base advertised price model crappy. Its the same old marketing gimmick they have used for many many years... get them in the door however you can, then upsell them.

8gbs in 2024 and a notch. They must be remote employees that don’t give a sheet and are not held accountable.

Companies won’t learn until consumers start voting with their wallets.

Apple gimps out their macbook for the money. As long as people continue to buy then they won't change.

In 2024 Apple must let by default 16Gb ram

Why Do You KEEP DOING THIS! The MBA M2 is one of the best laptops out there. But the keyboard is just rubbish. Yes it types but the key travel is not enough for me. The keys also wear off very quickly. The dual screen setting is also shit. Why does the MBA needs to be closed? Nearly any Windows laptop can support 3 screes for a 1/3 of the price. The MBA M3 is not worth the upgrade. The speed difference is neglegible. Anything up to 10% is not worth mentioning it. It becomes interesting from a 20% difference. 8GB is not standard and 256 is also no longer standard but Apple wants your money for something that is not expensive.

Except the ugly notch, its fine.

I bought a base M2 MBA and I just want to tell you that I won´t upgrade until 2027 even for a MBP I will go to a MBP M2 PRo. Those machines are powerful enough Unless you do very heavy task a MBA is enough even the base model.

Nice video

I still don't understand why Apple have a base level of 8GB of RAM. I can only assume that their reasoning is to extort more money out of their customers. Sure, some of their customers won't ever really require anything over 8GB of RAM, but for those of us who do like to multitask, a minimum of 16GB would be a godsend. Hell, 12GB of RAM would be beneficial for ALL of Apple's MacBook customers. But, many Apple users tend to accept what Apple serves up without question, and without demanding more. Apple knows this, so they continue to serve up overpriced, under-spec'd products knowing that they can get away with it.

Apple stupidity: ok, disable built in screen - but at least allow keep laptop open to use keyboard and trackpad, camera ffs!

If you can afford it, get the MacBook Pro instead. I get it, its expensive, but all Apple products are, but you might as well have a MacBook Pro, I'm not saying put 36GB of memory in it or get M3 Max on it, I did the 36GB of memory upgrade on M3 Pro since I edit videos, among other things I do with it. Just get the base M3 Pro 14" MacBook Pro, you'll have what you're looking for, enough storage and memory, for most people, that's all they would need. I think 256GB of storage and 8GB of memory is just not cutting it on any laptop in 2024. I use the 16" MacBook Pro, since I have more screen real estate to edit videos.

Apple keeps doing this because they know they can get away with it. People keep complaining and still buy the base model. Wale up people!!! Stop buying them Apple will bump up the specs eventually.

Im ok wuth butts. Buts make the world go round. 😅

Apple has become a byword for cheap and tacky due to the low RAM and storage cash grab. They spent so much on branding their products as luxury items... but then act like pathetic used car salesmen. It's in their power to sell good stuff but instead they take part in the enshitification of everything.

5:49 Hey now, 1500 MB/s is NOT painfully slow! A mechanical hard disk is painfully slow, the M2 Air was not.

Because giga nerds keep buying this pos 😂😂😂

"If you need more power, you'll have to pay for it." Imagine that. For the record, 90%+ users DON'T need that extra power/storage.

When Apple stops lying I will consider buying one. They claim they care about the environment but they do not....If they did then their devices would not be some of the least repairable devices on the planet.

Money

People who buy 8gb ram for 1000 bucks needs to be... ***

8+256 existing is to make people buy 16+256 or 8+512😂😂😂 so Apple makes more money

U and Luke Miani tend to make the same videos occasionally - is that planned?

Using "literally" repeatedly, especially as it's unnecessary, detracts from the clarity and impact of your statements. When speaking people understand you are speaking literally,.on the rare occasions this is not so use figuratively to indicate you are not speaking literally. If it is an attempt to sound relevant and now then this literally became clichéd decades ago. I literally hope you understand.

8 GB of ram in 2024.. apple is out of touch with reality 32 GB is where DDR5 duel channel starts. there is no 4 gb sticks of DDR5 unless they are running this in a single channel. Apple will get zero dollars from me sorry. for 1000 I can get an LG gram with 1TB and 32 gb of memory.

Just buy a windows machine with 16GB RAM, it will serve you well, and you have plenty of money for other things, 95% of the people it will do the job just fine. Your welcome.

new waffle maker with M3 processor...

Crazy idea: the laptop already has a screen, if you need 2 screens just have one external monitor. Also desktops exist. :)

Only weak NPCs get stuck in Apple's ecosystem.