M3-powered MacBook Air benchmarks surface, up to 21% faster than M2-powered predecessor in CPU tests
Apple recently refreshed its MacBook Air lineup with the new M3 SoC, and initial performance benchmarks have begun to surface. According to a Geekbench 6 listing spotted by MySmartPrice, the M3-powered MacBook Air demonstrated significant improvements over its M2-powered predecessor.
In the Geekbench 6 tests, the M3-powered MacBook Air achieved a single-core score of 3,157 and a multi-core score of 12,020. In comparison, the previous generation M2-powered Air scored approximately 2,600 in the single-core test and 10,000 in the multi-core test. This represents an approximate 18% increase in multi-core performance and a 21% improvement in single-core performance for the M3-powered Air over its predecessor, showcasing rather impressive gains with this generational upgrade, as can be expected from the M3.
However, it's important to note that while both the M3-powered MacBook Air and MacBook Pro share the same SoC, unlike the passively-cooled MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro benefits from active cooling, allowing for far better sustained performance. Additionally, the MacBook Pro offers many other benefits such as a much superior Mini-LED display, longer battery life, and a wider array of ports.
The M3 SoC, introduced during Apple's "Scary Fast" event in October of last year, boasts an 8-core setup, comprising of 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. Its GPU configuration boasts up to 10 cores and features hardware-accelerated ray tracing - a first for any Apple product, and dynamic caching for optimized memory utilization.
The newly refreshed 13 and 15-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,099 in the United States, with deliveries slated to begin on Friday, March 8th. As a result of the update, the M1 MacBook Air has been discontinued, while the M2 version is now available at a discounted price of $999.
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