Apple removed two well-known Macs from the range as part of the launch of the MacBook Air M3 on Monday. These are models from the same series. Apple is now putting these machines on sale – they are likely to remain available in stores for a long time.
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Bye, M1
The first machine that will soon be no longer available is the MacBook Air M1, which Apple introduced as one of the first Macs with Apple Silicon. It was released in November 2020 and its form factor was based on its predecessor with an Intel chip. The computer was recently one of the cheapest mobile Apple computers; it is currently available in stores from around 900 euros.
Apple is now replacing this machine with the 13-inch MacBook Air M2. Apple sells it for at least 1200 euros, but it is cheaper in stores. In the end, the M1 variant was only worth it if you bought it at a discount sale.
15 inches only with M3
In the future, the 15-inch MacBook Air will only be available in the M3 variant, which Apple showed for the first time this week, as mentioned. It costs at least 1,600 euros at Apple, but in retail stores it is likely to be several hundred euros cheaper in the coming weeks. The entry-level version is rather narrowly equipped with 8 GB of shared RAM and a 256 GB SSD. A better equipped model with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD costs 2060 euros from Apple.
According to Apple, the new models are up to 60 percent faster than the M1 MacBooks, which are now over three years old. According to the manufacturer, the Air is the best end customer laptop for AI applications. For the first time, two external monitors (up to 5K at 60 Hz) can be operated directly on the MacBook Air with Apple chip, but only if the Air itself is closed. Alternatively, the laptop supports an external 6K display in parallel with using the integrated screen. Apple has announced that it will also equip the MacBook Pro M3 with support for at least two screens; this will happen via a software update.
(bsc)