MacBook Air update arrives with lower starting price & M4 performance boost

Apple has updated the MacBook Air line with a new lower starting price, plus the 13-inch and 15-inch models given a bump in performance thanks to the inclusion of the M4 chip.

Arriving after many rumors of an update, the New MacBook Air is largely a spec-bump update for the well-established notebook line. In its early 2025 refresh, Apple has given its entry-level notebook range a bit more performance to work with.

"MacBook Air is by far the world's most popular laptop, and today we're giving everyone even more reasons to love it," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing in a statement, "including a big boost in performance with the M4 chip, a new Center Stage camera, and a beautiful new sky blue color."

As well as the new Sky Blue color, the MacBook Air is also available in the same Midnight, Starlight, and Silver colors as before.

New M4 processor

The main change consumers will care about is that processor upgrade. Gone is the M3 chip with its eight-core CPU and either eight or ten-core GPU, in favor of the entry-level chip of the M4 generation.

Now, the MacBook Air's M4 has a ten-core CPU, with four efficiency cores and in comes the M4 with its ten-core CPU and again an eight or ten-core GPU. There's also higher-bandwidth 120GB/s memory, with storage allocations from 16GB to a new high of 32GB.

The display continues to be a 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina Display, depending on the model. A pair of Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports are on the sides, with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 handling wireless duties.

This new MacBook Air also now supports up to two 6K displays, alongside its own Liquid Retina Display.

Center Stage

Apple has updated the MacBook Air camera to be a new 12MP one, that supports Center Stage. This is the feature that has previously been limited to the MacBook Pro, and automatically repositions the subject in the frame as they move during video calls.

The same feature also gives the MacBook Air the same Desk View feature as the MacBook Pro. This lets a user seemingly switch from a face-on view to a top down one of their desk, without having to physically rotate the camera.

Prices start at $999 for the 13-inch model, and $1,199 for the 15-inch edition. Both models can be pre-ordered now, and will ship to customers beginning March 12, 2025.