M4 MacBook Air review: More power than ever, at a lower price point

Apple's latest MacBook Air doesn't push the envelope, but it contains several worthwhile changes that make it an easy choice for PC switchers and legacy users.

On March 12, Cupertino's most well-known company launched its newest laptop -- the M4 MacBook Air. It comes almost exactly a year following the M3 MacBook Air, which is about what we expected from the Apple Silicon refresh cycle.

As the previous model did, the 2025 model ships once more in both 13-inch and 15-inch sizes. There are several upgrades, from the M4 chip to a new finish.

For this review, we'll be taking a look at the 13-inch model outfitted with 1TB of storage, 16GB of memory, and a 10-core GPU. Naturally, we selected the new light blue color.

M4 MacBook Air review: Same design, new color

The MacBook Air was last redesigned in 2022, making this the third generation in this current form factor. It's a general net positive, though some still preferred the tapered design.

At the time, even though the taper did feel smaller on the front edge, the universal thickness is more comfortable for us. It's also thinner overall without the thicker back edge of the wedge.

So, year after year, we've had the same MacBook Air design for a few years ago, now. In 2025, with the same design, we did get a new colorway -- a striking light blue. And we mean light.

In a vacuum, many would mistake the new blue as silver. It is only in certain lighting or when directly compared to the neutral silver that the blue becomes more readily apparent.

The blue joins the previously available Midnight, silver, and Starlight, replacing Space Grey. Currently, the lineup could be accurately summarized as dark blue and three different silvers -- cool silver, silver, and warm silver.

We like this new color but would like a bit more saturation, a bit more blue. While it won't appease everyone, it is clean, bright, and refreshing.

It is nice to see a lighter color added to the Mac line instead of another dark one. Maybe next we'll get even more poppy colors.

M4 MacBook Air review: The familiar form remains

Besides the familiar overall shape and the new blue color, the rest of the all-aluminum design has carried over as well. It's the same MacBook Air we've loved.

It has either a 13.6 or 15.3-inch display. The model in our studio, the 13-inch, has a resolution of 2560 by 1664 with 500 nits of brightness while the 15 measures 2880 by 1864 pixels.

It's still an LED display, which looks good, but lacks the higher brightness, deeper blacks, and optional matte finish that the pros offer. It also lacks the typical 60Hz refresh rate.

The left side of the machine has two Thunderbolt ports and a MagSafe 3 charging port. The right side is home to the 3.5mm audio jack.

It has the same expansive glass trackpad that Apple is known for and a low-travel backlit keyboard. Apple did make one keyboard change this time, changing the icon on the mute button.

Before, there was a speaker with no lines, a speaker with one sound line, and one with three sound lines representing mute, volume down, and volume up. Now, the mute is a speaker with a line through it.

Battery life is still rated at up to 18 hours, the same as the last generation. We can confidently say that for typical work, we easily get through the day on the MacBook Air.

M4 MacBook Air review: A newer processor for the masses

What's most important in this upgrade is the Apple-designed silicon on the inside -- namely, the M4 chip.

An M4-series chip can also be found in several other Macs, like the MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Studio. Only the Mac Pro is still on an M2 series chip with the M2 Ultra.

It's a 10-core processor with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. The old M3 was an 8-core chip with the same number of performance cores.

Otherwise, it still has a 16-core Neural Engine, video encode and decode engines, and supports Apple Intelligence. It also includes the GPU.

The base model has an 8-core GPU but there is also an option for a 10-core. We're testing the latter and also comparing it to the 10-core M3 in our benchmarks.

Speaking of which, in Geekbench 6, we saw a score of 3,777 on the single core, a roughly 500-point gain over the M3 model and more than double the performance of the original M1.

On the multi-core, we clocked in at 14,772. Again, double the performance of the M1 model.

With the GPU, running the Geekbench Metal benchmark, we had a 55,344 on the new M4. That was a big jump from the 10-core M3, which has a 47,985.

In use, it's mostly anecdotal. There will be better graphics performance when using apps like Final Cut Pro or Affinity Photo, but your average daily use will be very similar to what it has been the last couple of years.

Apple silicon is very capable, and as the newest chip, it's still easy to recommend this machine for almost everyone's workload, outside of pros.

M4 MacBook Air review: Other improvements for 2025

We got a few other improvements with the 2025 incarnation of the MacBook Air, aside from a shiny new color and the M4 chip.

The ports, for example, are now full Thunderbolt 4 ports. Thunderbolt 4 is largely the same as Thunderbolt 3 but improves the minimum requirements, among other aspects.

When using Thunderbolt 4 accessories, they should prove to be more reliable as all accessories are required to support double the minimum data bandwidth which now sits at 32Gb/s.

The M4 supports 120GB/s of memory bandwidth, which happens to be 20% more than the 100GB/s on the M3. It also now has a 32GB max, instead of 24GB.

One of the most substantial changes is for external displays. Apple has taken some hits on the chin for its woeful external display support on the MacBook Air line.

For a while, it only supported one external display. Then Apple finally allowed two with the M3 chip, with an asterisk.

Two were only supported if the lid was closed and the MacBook Air was used in clamshell mode. With the M4, that asterisk is gone.

You can connect two 6K external displays to the M4 MacBook Air, while also using the built-in display at the same time.

The last upgrade for this model is the built-in camera. Apple says it is a higher resolution 12MP camera that supports Center Stage to follow you as you move.

It also supports Desk View. This essentially films the space in front of your laptop and adjusts the perspective.

It's helpful if you are sketching something or want to demo something in your hands on the table. It works well, but not as well as if the camera was maybe a bit further away.

The tight space still leaves some things quite distorted around the edges or if you go up off the table. Still, we'd rather have it than not.

The only things we would have liked to see are support for Wi-Fi 7 and Thunderbolt 5. While the lack of Thunderbolt 5 is understandable as it's new and a very pro-oriented standard, the Wi-Fi situation is disappointing.

It only supports Wi-Fi 6E, and, while Wi-Fi 7 is also relatively new, when people buy a Mac, they expect to have it for years. Even if you don't have Wi-Fi 7 now, you might have it in a year or two, making it preferable for your MacBook Air to support it.

M4 MacBook Air review: Should you buy it?

Apple has ramped up its releases lately, for better or worse. Instead of going perhaps a couple of years between refreshes, we're seeing near-yearly release cycles for many Mac models, including the MacBook Air.

Because the changes feel smaller and more iterative, it has the unfortunate side-effect of making new models feel less exciting. However, buying an M4 MacBook Air means you get newer tech.

It also makes it easy to recommend. If you have an M2 or M3 MacBook Air -- fret not. There's little reason to upgrade to the M4.

Even M1 users should take a moment to consider whether or not it's time to trade up. While the M4 MacBook Air does offer better performance, the improvements alone may not justify the upgrade.

For those users, we'd say look forward to the M5 model, which should not only deliver a year-newer chip but also Wi-Fi 7 and hopefully Thunderbolt 5. That would be a solid upgrade.

This machine is perfect for anyone on an Intel-based MacBook Air or a PC user making the switch. For them, we can emphatically and wholeheartedly recommend this machine.

It's insanely portable, a hundred dollars cheaper than before, fast, and reliable. Picking up an M4 MacBook Air will ensure its usability for years to come.

M4 MacBook Air review: Pros

• New color option to choose from
• Familiar design still looks and feels great
• Welcomed minor upgrades including more memory, better camera, and M4 chip
• New lower price
• Fantastic value
• Apple Intelligence support

M4 MacBook Air review: Cons

• No Wi-Fi 7
• Blue isn't very "blue"

M4 MacBook Air rating: 4.5 out of 5

Where to buy the 2025 M4 MacBook Air

Apple's M4 MacBook Air is on sale now, with exclusive discounts in effect at Apple Premier Partner Expercom. When you shop through our exclusive pricing links in the M4 MacBook Air 13-inch Price Guide and M4 MacBook Air 15-inch Price Guide, you can save up to $168 on every configuration.

We've also rounded up the best MacBook Air deals across the range, including closeout markdowns on M3 models.

You can jump straight to your favorite merchant below:

• Save up to $168 on every model with exclusive savings at Expercom
• Grab discounts on M4 models at Amazon
• Get M4 MacBook Air sale prices at B&H Photo