I was wrong!

I hate being wrong, but I may just have made a mistake about my M3 MacBook Air – but not in the way you may be thinking.

If you have followed me this summer then you’ll know I’ve been on a bit of an iPad mission! I’d never used an iPad Pro before this year. Having started to use the M4 iPad Pro though I found that I loved it and have been reaching for it more often than not.

But that love affair has come at the expense of the MacBook Air. The nature of what I do as a creator means I have to keep my eye on the calendar and I knew it was about time to make my ubiquitous ‘6-months’ with content about it.

Having picked it up and started to use it again I now remember just how good it is at virtually everything and how much I adore using the 15-inch MacBook Air.

It’s so good it could almost wear the ‘Pro’ moniker on it. The M3 Apple silicon inside makes it fast, competent and, of course, quiet. But it’s not all roses in the garden – re-visiting the MacBook Air has also surfaced a few problems as well.

MacBook Air – the specs

I have a bit of a thing for MacBook Airs.

My first Mac was one of the first-gen Airs and since then I’ve owned, I guess, maybe 3 or 4 of them. With that said, you’d think I’d know how to spec them up, yet I’ve continually made silly mistakes at the checkout stage when buying them…until now that is!

Finally, this time around I think I’ve hit the sweet spot in making the most out of this beautiful bit of kit.

Last year I bought the 13-inch model and that was my primary mistake that time around. If you know me at all then you’ll know I adore big screens on Macs, iPads or iPhones. Because of the work I do – and I have to begrudgingly admit, my age too, I simply prefer more screen real estate.

When it came to buying this year’s MacBook Air I used Apple’s trade-in deal which helped ease the pain of buying this one. So the specs I have gone with are:

• 15-inch display in silver
• 512 GB of SSD storage
• 16 GB of memory
  

Those specs pull out the best of this MacBook Air while still staying true to its core USP of being lightweight and portable. The config I went for weighed in at £1700 before the M2 trade-in.

By the way, if you’ve not tried using Apple’s trade-in you should give it a go. It’s super straightforward and in my case offered an OK deal on that M2 MacBook Air. Sure I probably could have got a few pounds more, but the ease and immediacy of the trade-in made it a no-brainer as far as I was concerned and I’d certainly use it again.

True to the cause

Even the 15-inch Air remains light and portable – in other words staying true to its heritage. It weighs almost the same as my 13-inch M4 iPad Pro (once you add on that hefty Magic Keyboard) but somehow it manages to feel lighter in a rucksack than the iPad.

I think the iPad is more dense in its weight distribution whereas the larger footprint of the MacBook Air gives it a better balance. It’s hard to describe better than that but I can only tell you the facts as I see them.

A day spent in London is more comfortable with the MBA.

The screen is decent but at only 500 nits struggles in sunlight – so if working outdoors is something you do a lot, bear that in mind. The thicker body of the iPad allows it to have Face ID which I’d love on a Mac but understand that the mechanics just don’t allow for it as things stand.

A little side rant – unlocking with Apple Watch. It sounds great in theory but it’s a bit of a faff in real life. The watch has to be unlocked for it to work…how often do you remember to unlock your watch before reaching for your Mac? Be honest now…

Luckily though, the Touch ID works ever so well. The MagSafe charger is a life-changer (and MacBook saver) particularly given that the MacBook Air is going to be used a lot in hotels and coffee shops where the charger cable could easily become a risky liability.

Now, on to the areas that I have changed my mind on since coming back to the MacBook Air this past couple of weeks.

Could do better

The speakers are a letdown.

Let me put that another way – they are okay but lack when compared to other devices. OK – I get why the MacBook Pros speakers sound better. The laws of physics will always win out and with more physical space and air the MacBook Pros speakers will always deliver a better punch.

But the fact that the speakers on the M4 iPad sound better is what confuses me. By those same rules of physics, the MacBook Air should sound better – but they don’t.

I’m not a true audiophile but I do like decent sound. The speakers on the MBA are sadly lacking in the mids which is where voices and much of the ‘meat’ of the mix sit. The best way of describing the speakers on the MacBook Air is they sound vague or woolly.

The 1080p camera is only as good as sufficient and you have to wonder if Apple couldn’t have run to a 4K camera in the Air given the buying power the company has. That said, the Voice Isolation of the mics is stunning and will give you crystal-clear audio on any call.

The I/O is limited. Yeah, it has MagSafe and a headphone jack. But other than that all you get are a pair of Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports. They are quick enough with speeds of up to 40Gbps but you only get the pair – and they are both on the same side which is not ideal.

There is no SD card slot – not even a micro SD card slot and no display ports. To really open things up I bought this Ivanky FusionDock Max 1. That way when I am back at the desk with the MacBook Air it transforms into a meaningful productive workhorse.

Speaking of displays – with the lid open you can only use one external display or with it shut a pair. Either way, the most displays you can use with the MacBook Air in its native form is just two. In this multi-display era we work in now, I’d love to have seen two external displays supported in addition to the built-in display.

The good bits

Every iteration of Apple silicon shows improvement and so is true of this M3 MacBook Air.

Everything feels quick, snappy and ultra-responsive. Whether that’s opening up apps or working in Lightroom, Photoshop or Final Cut Pro. That’s where this Mac starts to hit above its weight – you quickly start to forget that you’re not working on a pro machine. It is so capable.

It’s so good that I have wondered if I’d ever need to buy another MacBook Pro. Apple silicon these days just eats up everything in its path.

The keyboard is a sheer joy to use. Because it’s that bit larger than the iPad’s it makes it even easier to work on and because it sits flat on the desk it’s equally as comfortable.

And being a Mac means it runs macOS. That comes into its own when using programs like Final Cut or Audition which both rely on plugins. Sadly iPadOS still doesn’t let you use plugins.

This MacBook Air is so powerful that easily handles 4K and 10-bit ProRes footage without breaking a sweat. I’ve experienced M4 firsthand with my iPad and if Apple does release the rumoured M4 Pro Mac mini this year you can bet I will be at the front of the queue waiting to try it out. That would be a first for me – I’ve never owned a Mac mini before.

Last thoughts

Don’t be tempted to try to make the MacBook Air into something it’s not supposed to be – in other words don’t tick too many boxes.

If you go with 24 GB of memory and 2 TB of storage then this Mac suddenly costs a whopping £2500. To put that into context for £200 less you could buy a 14-inch MacBook Pro with 1 TB of storage, an XDR display and better speakers.

Just let the MacBook Air do what it does best – and it does a helluva lot very, very well.