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Tech · Apple · 2024

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024)

The newest fanless Air you'll find used in numbers, and the first that drives two external displays.

Refurbished MacBooks: five Apple-silicon picks on eBay — #2

Overall

8.7

out of 10

Axis scores

Strongest on Ease of use (9.0), weakest on Value (7.8), a 1.2-point spread. The 8.7 overall is the plain average of all 5 Tech axes, with no weighting.

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) — axis scores out of 10Horizontal bar chart of editorial scores out of 10 across 5 axes. Bars run from a shared zero baseline; longer is better. Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024): Performance 8.8, Value 7.8, Durability 8.8, Ease of use 9.0, Design 9.0.PerformanceApple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) — Performance 8.8 out of 108.8ValueApple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) — Value 7.8 out of 107.8DurabilityApple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) — Durability 8.8 out of 108.8Ease of useApple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) — Ease of use 9.0 out of 109.0DesignApple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3, 2024) — Design 9.0 out of 109.0Editorial score out of 10 — higher is better
  • Performance — How well it does the core job
  • Value — What the same money buys elsewhere
  • Durability — Failure and fade reports past the one-year mark
  • Ease of use — Setup, daily operation, cleaning, maintenance
  • Design — Build quality and how it sits in a room

Specs

Display
13.6-inch Liquid Retina (LCD)
Chip
Apple M3 (8-core CPU)
Memory
8GB, 16GB, or 24GB
Ports
2x Thunderbolt / USB 4, MagSafe 3, headphone jack
Battery
Up to 18 hrs movie playback
Weight
2.7 lb

As published by the manufacturer. We didn't measure these ourselves.

Is it for you

Buy it if

  • A desk with two monitors that you dock the laptop into, lid closed
  • Silence; there is no fan to spin up
  • You want the most years of macOS updates on this list

Skip it if

  • A listing shows 8GB; earlier M3 Airs shipped with it and it's the tier to avoid
  • Sustained video exports are a regular job; without a fan it slows under long loads

Apple raised the base memory on the M3 Air to 16GB in late 2024, which means two generations of the same laptop are on eBay under one name. Units built before that change shipped with 8GB unless the first buyer upgraded. Memory is soldered, so the listing has to say 16GB, or the seller should show the About This Mac window. Otherwise assume 8.

Dual external displays only work with the lid closed. Reviewers flagged that at launch. For a docked desk setup it’s ideal, but it’s not a three-screen workstation.

It looks identical to the M2 Air, so check the model in About This Mac before you trust the title. eBay listings mix them up often. The M3 is the safer pick for longevity, since it’s the newest chip here and will stay on macOS releases the longest.

Last updated . The scoring method is on how we rank.