MacBook Air M2 and M3: Apple offers double the memory at no extra cost, 16GB out of the box

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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — This week alone, Apple announced its new M4-powered iMac, Mac Mini and MacBook Pro lineup.

While there’s no M4-powered MacBook Air yet, Apple has given its popular MacBook Air series a memory upgrade at no extra cost. This means no more pathetic 8GB of Memory, and consumers can get the cheapest Mac laptop with a minimum of 16GB out of the box.

The 16GB unified memory for the base MacBook Air M2 and M3 is effective immediately and you can order one now from the Apple Store. Interestingly, the newer MacBook Air 13 and 15 powered by M3 are now at least RM200 cheaper in Malaysia even with the new memory upgrade.

MacBook Air M2 Malaysia Pricing

The pricing for MacBook Air M2 in Malaysia. — Picture from SoyaCincau

The cheapest MacBook Air right now is the M2 version which was launched back in July 2022. At the moment, the MacBook Air with M2 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 16GB unified memory and 256GB SSD storage is going for RM4,499. You can upgrade it to a 10-core GPU version for an extra RM425, and increasing the memory from 16GB to 24GB costs RM850.

If you need more storage, you can upgrade from 256GB to 512GB SSD for RM850, or to 1TB for RM1,700 or to 2TB for RM3,400. Take note that any memory or storage upgrades will automatically switch the processor to the 10-core GPU version.

MacBook Air M3 Malaysia Pricing

The current MacBook Air powered by the M3 chip was launched in March 2024 with a starting price of RM5,199 for the 13″ and RM6,199 for the 16″ version.

As mentioned earlier, the MacBook Air 13 and 15 powered by M3 are getting a minimum of 16GB memory and are now RM200 cheaper. Here’s the new pricing in Malaysia:

MacBook Air 13 2024 (M3) Malaysia Pricing

The pricing for MacBook Air 13 2024 (M3) in Malaysia. — Picture from SoyaCincau

MacBook Air 13 M3 (8-core CPU, 8-core GPU), 16GB Memory, 256GB SSD – RM4,999MacBook Air 13 M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 16GB Memory, 256GB SSD – RM5,424MacBook Air 13 M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 16GB Memory, 512GB SSD – RM5,849MacBook Air 13 M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 24GB Memory, 512GB SSD – RM6,699

If you need more storage, you can upgrade from 512GB to 1TB for RM850, or to 2TB for RM2,550.

MacBook Air 15 2024 (M3) Malaysia Pricing

The pricing for MacBook Air 15 2024 (M3) in Malaysia. — Picture from SoyaCincau

Meanwhile, here’s the pricing for the MacBook Air 15 M3 in Malaysia:

MacBook Air 15 M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 16GB Memory, 256GB SSD – RM5,999MacBook Air 15 M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 16GB Memory, 512GB SSD – RM6,849MacBook Air 15 M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU), 24GB Memory, 512GB SSD – RM7,699For the larger MacBook Air 15″, only the 10-core GPU chip is being offered. Similar to the rest, you can upgrade from 16GB to 25GB memory for RM850. If you need more storage, you can upgrade from 512GB to 1TB for RM850, or to 2TB for RM2,550.

When we did our review early this year, the MacBook Air 15 with 16GB memory and 512GB storage was priced at a hefty RM7,799. Now, the same configuration costs RM6,849, which is RM950 cheaper.

The MacBook Air comes in 4 colours — Midnight, Starlight, Space Grey and Silver.

MacBook Air key specs and features

The current MacBook Air series comes in two Liquid Retina Display sizes with a resolution of 2880×1864 pixels. — Picture from SoyaCincau

The current MacBook Air series comes in two Liquid Retina Display sizes – 13.6″ with a resolution of 2560×1664 pixels and 15.3″ with a resolution of 2880×1864 pixels. Both offer a maximum brightness of 500 nits.

The slim laptop features a four-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio support and a three-mic array with directional beamforming. The MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt (USB4) ports, MagSafe and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The M2 version supports WiFi 6 while the M3 can support faster WiFi 6E. Both M2 and M3 MacBook Air models boast up to 18 hours even for the 15″ model.

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