Like on last year’s model, Apple provided a Sky Blue MacBook Air for review. It’s a welcome, subtle change from the traditional silver—it looks similar, at a glance, and still fits a professional setting. The color is more evident at certain angles, making it difficult to capture in photos. I’m personally more drawn to the Starlight or Midnight options, but this is a fun, chic color that fits with the MacBook Air’s totable design.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
On that note, the Air measures 0.44 by 12 by 8.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 2.7 pounds, identical to the M4 model. It’s as slick and portable as ever, living up to the iconic Air name for those seeking a slim and lightweight laptop to take on the road. The aluminum build is a step above many Windows alternatives in this price band, though you will find more all-metal PCs than you used to—no doubt in an effort to compete with this exact laptop.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
You’ll indeed find this common thread across the design: This system is identical to last year’s model. The keyboard remains unchanged, with its comfortable and quick feedback. If you’re a heavy-handed typist, the keys will bottom out sometimes. Without much vertical travel on these keys, I can feel the keys hit the bottom of the housing fairly often. This experience is expected on a super-thin laptop.
Touch ID is still on the power button, while the haptic trackpad remains the industry standard thanks to its smooth, responsive input and intuitive gesture controls.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
An unchanged design also means the display is the same. In addition to the roughly 1600p resolution, the screen features a 60Hz refresh rate and a 500-nit brightness rating. Apple has run the Air with the same display for a while now, while the market has advanced. The divisive camera “notch” returns, though I don’t find it too obtrusive. It sticks out at first, but since the macOS menu bar runs along the top of the screen, that space is already occupied, anyway. The notch is not much of an intrusion in practice.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
Even last year, we noted that the Air’s panel was getting a little long in the tooth. There’s nothing wrong with the display—it’s still bright and sharp enough, and pleasant to use—but an OLED option or other upgrade increasingly feels like a missed opportunity as the years progress. You can find fairly affordable PCs with OLED screens in 2026, and some with refresh rates above 60Hz. The HP OmniBook 5 14, for example, has an OLED display despite its $879.99 starting price. A lot of factors go into the MacBook Air’s higher cost, of course, but OLED technology has generally reached the MacBook Air’s market segment by now. The vibrancy of an OLED screen would really sing on this device.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
On the other hand, I also understand the decision to hold firm for now. Rising computer prices (driven most notably by the memory crisis) make this a difficult time to upgrade core parts of a laptop—especially since the Air’s price already increased this year due to other factors. While the MacBook Neo has entered the fray as Apple’s “true” budget laptop, the Air still needs to be approachable, and the conditions are not right to add pricier components. The lack of OLED might mean one less reason to upgrade to the M5 version for some, beyond the chip. Maybe next year.
