Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M3) vs Apple MacBook Air (Mid 2009)

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MacBook Air 13″ (M3) compared with MacBook Air (Mid 2009)

	AppleMacBook Air 13″ (M3)	AppleMacBook Air (Mid 2009)
Overview
Released
Released	March 2024	June 2009
Display
Screen size
Screen size	13.6″	13.3″
Resolution
Resolution	2560 × 1664 (better)	1280 × 800
Panel
Panel	IPS LCD	–
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	60 Hz	–
Brightness
Brightness	500 nits	–
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Liquid Retina display; LED-backlit with IPS technology	Glossy LED-backlit widescreen LCD, millions of colours; panel technology, refresh rate and brightness unpublished by Apple.
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	Apple M3	Intel Core 2 Duo SL9400 or Intel Core 2 Duo SL9600
CPU cores
CPU cores	8	2
Graphics
Graphics	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
Memory
Memory	8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB (better)	2 GB
Storage
Storage	256 GB to 2 TB (better)	120 GB to 128 GB
CPU
CPU	8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores	Dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo SL9400 at 1.86 GHz or SL9600 at 2.13 GHz, 6 MB shared L2 cache and 1066 MHz frontside bus. Exact identities confirmed by EveryMac and Notebookcheck.
GPU
GPU	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	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory	2 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 onboard memory, not upgradeable
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	100 GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD, configurable up to 2 TB	The 1.86 GHz base has a 120 GB 4200-rpm Serial ATA hard drive; the 2.13 GHz base has a 128 GB solid-state drive. Configurations preserve these published combinations. Optional external USB MacBook Air SuperDrive; no built-in optical drive.
Cooling
Cooling	Fanless	–
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 18 hours	–
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	52.6 Wh (better)	40 Wh
Weight
Weight	1.24 kg (better)	1.36 kg
Thickness
Thickness	11.3 mm (better)	19.4 mm
Width × depth
Width × depth	304.1 × 215 mm	325 × 227 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to 15 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery	Built-in 40 Wh lithium-polymer battery. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process; no runtime figure on the current maker technical sheet.
Charger
Charger	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	45 W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure; tapered thickness from 4 to 19.4 mm
Fast charging
Fast charging	With the 70 W USB-C Power Adapter	–
Colours
Colours	Silver, Starlight, Space Grey, Midnight	Silver
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × Thunderbolt 3, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	USB-A, MagSafe, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	802.11n draft; compatible with 802.11a/b/g
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	2.1 + EDR
Webcam
Webcam	1080p FaceTime HD	Built-in iSight camera
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	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	One USB 2.0 port up to 480 Mb/s, Mini DisplayPort video output, headphone jack and MagSafe. USB Ethernet Adapter supplied; DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI video adapters sold separately.
External displays
External displays	One at up to 6K 60 Hz alongside the built-in display; with the lid closed, a second at up to 5K 60 Hz	Built-in screen plus one external display up to 2560 × 1600, both with millions of colours; dual display and video mirroring
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (US) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys	Full-size backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Multi-Touch trackpad with two-finger scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three-finger and four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap and drag gestures
Speakers
Speakers	Four-speaker sound system; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos	Mono speaker
Microphones
Microphones	Three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes	Omnidirectional microphone
Biometrics
Biometrics	Touch ID	–
In the box
In the box	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)	MacBook Air, 45 W MagSafe power adapter, AC wall plug, power cord, USB Ethernet Adapter, install/restore DVDs, display cleaning cloth and documentation; Mac OS X Leopard and iLife ’09