When Apple announced the M3 MacBook Air with much fanfare at a press event, it seemed like a modest update that would only introduce new chipset power to an already sophisticated line of ultrabooks.

However, there appears to be an upgrade that Apple did not mention, which should be of special interest to those considering the entry-level 256GB models of the M2 Air and M3 Air.

In other words, Apple has significantly improved the SSD speed of the 256GB model. This is not something that those considering a tier with more storage capacity need to consider, but it is a great reason to consider the 256GB M3 Air over the now reduced M2 model with the same storage.

As explained last year, the problem with the cheapest M2 model of the MacBook Air is that it uses only one 256GB storage chip. This made it slower than not only the higher capacity models, but also the M1 MacBook Air, which split the same 256GB capacity between two 128GB storage chips.

The M3 MacBook Air has apparently returned to full speed; YouTube channel Max Tech did a teardown of the new laptop, and once again, the 256GB M3 MacBook Air has 128GB of NAND that can perform tasks simultaneously It was revealed that it has two chips and a much faster data transfer rate.

How much faster? In the video, the new M3 MacBook Air records a write speed of 2,108 MB/sec, up about 33% from the M2 model's 1,584 MB/sec. Read speeds are even more pronounced, nearly doubling from the M2's 1,576 MB/sec to the M3's 2,880 MB/sec.

These speeds are quite close to the 256GB M1 MacBook Air, which achieved a write speed of 2,221MB/s and a read speed of 2,910MB/s. Yes, it is slower, but only noticeably so in the benchmark software, and it is definitively overshadowed by the M3 processor's significant improvement over the M1.

A full review of the new M3 MacBook Air laptops will be posted soon, but you can read our hands-on impressions of both the 13-inch and 15-inch models now. In short, it's another home run for Apple, and there are few problems with it. [In our hands-on review of the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air, our global editor-in-chief, Mark Spoonauer, says, "Very strong performance from the M3 chip combined with super-long battery life, a great display, and a rugged, lightweight design "The Intel Core Ultra 7 processor is the key to the new model.

"Competing Windows laptops with Intel Core Ultra 7 processors offer a bit more processing power, but they don't come close to the 15-inch Air when it comes to durability.