Apple MacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010) vs Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M3)

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MacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010) compared with MacBook Air 13″ (M3)

	AppleMacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010)	AppleMacBook Air 13″ (M3)
Overview
Released
Released	October 2010	March 2024
Display
Screen size
Screen size	11.6″	13.6″
Resolution
Resolution	1366 × 768	2560 × 1664 (better)
Panel
Panel	TN LCD	IPS LCD
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	–	60 Hz
Brightness
Brightness	–	500 nits
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Glossy LED-backlit widescreen LCD, millions of colours; TN panel confirmed by Notebookcheck's exact-model review. Refresh rate and brightness unpublished by Apple.	Liquid Retina display; LED-backlit with IPS technology
Pixel density
Pixel density	–	224 ppi
Colour range
Colour range	–	Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours
Display features
Display features	–	True Tone
Performance
Processor
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 or Intel Core 2 Duo SU9600	Apple M3
CPU cores
CPU cores	2	8
Graphics
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 320M	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU
Memory
Memory	2 GB or 4 GB	8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	64 GB to 128 GB	256 GB to 2 TB (better)
CPU
CPU	Dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 at 1.4 GHz or optional SU9600 at 1.6 GHz, with 3 MB shared L2 cache and 800 MHz frontside bus. Exact identities confirmed by Notebookcheck and EveryMac; the faster processor is offered only on the higher storage base, as documented by Macworld.	8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
GPU
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce 320M with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory	8-core or 10-core GPU; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode engine
AI engine
AI engine	–	16-core Neural Engine
Memory type
Memory type	2 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 onboard memory, configurable to 4 GB	Unified memory
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	–	100 GB/s
Storage type
Storage type	64 GB flash storage with SU9400; 128 GB base supports SU9400 or SU9600. Configurations preserve the base-specific upgrade restrictions; memory cannot be upgraded after purchase.	SSD, configurable up to 2 TB
Cooling
Cooling	–	Fanless
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 5 hours	Up to 18 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	35 Wh	52.6 Wh (better)
Weight
Weight	1.06 kg (better)	1.24 kg
Thickness
Thickness	17 mm	11.3 mm (better)
Width × depth
Width × depth	299.5 × 192 mm	304.1 × 215 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Built-in 35 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 5 hours wireless productivity or 30 days standby under Apple's test conditions. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.	Up to 15 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery
Charger
Charger	45 W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management	30 W USB-C adapter with the 8-core GPU model; 35 W Dual USB-C Port Compact adapter with the 10-core GPU, 512GB model
Fast charging
Fast charging	–	With the 70 W USB-C Power Adapter
Materials
Materials	Aluminium enclosure; tapered thickness from 3 to 17 mm	–
Colours
Colours	Silver	Silver, Starlight, Space Grey, Midnight
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, MagSafe, headphone jack	2 × Thunderbolt 3, MagSafe 3, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g	Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	2.1 + EDR	5.3
Webcam
Webcam	FaceTime camera	1080p FaceTime HD
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	Two USB 2.0 ports up to 480 Mb/s, Mini DisplayPort output, MagSafe and headphone jack supporting the Apple iPhone headset remote and microphone; no card reader. DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI require separate adapters.	2 × Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40 Gb/s) and USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s); MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support
External displays
External displays	Built-in screen plus one external display up to 2560 × 1600, both with millions of colours; dual display and video mirroring	One at up to 6K 60 Hz alongside the built-in display; with the lid closed, a second at up to 5K 60 Hz
Keyboard
Keyboard	Full-size keyboard without backlighting	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (US) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys
Trackpad
Trackpad	Multi-Touch trackpad	Force Touch trackpad
Speakers
Speakers	Stereo speakers	Four-speaker sound system; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos
Microphones
Microphones	Omnidirectional microphone	Three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes
Biometrics
Biometrics	–	Touch ID
In the box
In the box	MacBook Air, power adapter, AC wall plug and power cord; Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife ’11, Software Reinstall Drive and documentation	13-inch MacBook Air, 30 W or 35 W Dual USB-C Port power adapter (by model), USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m)