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With the release of the new M3 chipsets, the debate about MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro has started once again. At first glance, you would think that they are the same laptop but with different sizes, but that would be an oversight. Yes, they look the same, but the internals are different. They are designed for different classes of performance. Their gaming capabilities also vary widely.
So, which is the better gaming laptop? M3 MacBook Air vs M3 MacBook Pro? The M3 MacBook Pro is the better option.
This article explains why that's the case and how much better it is.
M3 MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro: Specs battle
While the MacBook Air can be used for both casual and gaming workloads, it's the MacBook Pro that's designed for professional workloads and hardcore gamers.
For this specs comparison, we only chose the smaller version of both MacBook Air and Pro. Here are the specs of M3 MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro:
M3 MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro: Major differences
As you can see from the specs, the M3 MacBook Pro has wildly more options in terms of the chipset, RAM, and storage. The Macbook Air can only be configured with M3 chipset, while the MacBook Pro has M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max.
These chipsets can go up to 14 CPU cores and 30 GPU cores. These little beasts can beat the MacBook Air with its 10 GPU cores three times over.
However, cooling down such a beast of a chipset is not easy, and therein lies a secret between the two MacBooks. The MacBook Air is cooled passively, which leaves very little thermal headroom, whereas the MacBook Pro is actively cooled with up to two dedicated fans. The difference can be massive depending on the configuration of your choice.
The passively cooled MacBook Air often suffers from thermal throttling during long gaming sessions. This happens as the heat travels inside the MacBook passively. Once the thermal headroom is exhausted, heat gets trapped, and the chipset starts throttling.
The MacBook Pro also has a higher-resolution display and even better battery life compared to the MacBook Air.
M3 MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro: Which is the better gaming laptop?
A MacBook with M3 Pro or the M3 Max can be 2 - 3x more powerful than the M3 MacBook Air. Not to mention, the MacBook Pro is also actively cooled. It is better at gaming in every sense of the word.
The MacBook Pro is the ultimate winner of the M3 MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro debate. With competitive games, you may not have seen much difference between the two MacBooks.
But with the release of AAA console games like Resident Evil: Village, Assassins's Creed: Mirage, and more, the difference in performance between the two laptops is further apart than ever before. Even the recently released Baldur's Gate 3 shows a massive difference between the two.
The M3 MacBook Pro runs the game smoothly, even with Ultra graphics, but the M3 MacBook Air struggles to deliver a solid performance. So, keep that in mind before deciding between the two laptops.
