Up until now, Apple’s M4 Mac mini refresh has been widely regarded as the best value Mac. At $599/£599 you get all of Apple’s latest computing power with M4. But you don’t get any peripherals. Now, the MacBook Air has been refreshed with M4, and as a laptop, it’s the complete package
The M4 chip brings a 10-core CPU, an up to 10-core GPU, and support for up to 32GB of unified memory. Apple reckons it’s up to twice as fast as the M1 model. That’s not the best comparison, since we have an M3 Air already. But if you’re still using an Intel MacBook Air, well, Apple claims this new model is 23x faster. It also features an improved Neural Engine that makes AI-based tasks run up to 3x quicker. Battery life is still impressive, stretching up to 18 hours, so you can procrastinate all day without reaching for the charger.
A new 12MP Center Stage camera makes video calls look better, while the laptop now supports up to two external 6K displays—finally giving Air users proper multi-monitor setups. As for ports, you’re getting MagSafe charging, two Thunderbolt ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack (because headphones still refuse to die). This isn’t anything new – we’ve had it since the refresh that happened when the M2 chip launched.
Unfortunately (and as I correctly predicted) the nano-texture display option hasn’t made it to this laptop. It seems as though Apple has reserved this options for its “Pro” machines. You can find it on both the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro.
The new MacBook Air is up for pre-order now and launches on March 12. Pricing starts at $999 for the 13-inch model and $1199 for the 15-inch version, with education pricing knocking $100 off both. It’s available in silver, starlight, midnight, and a new sky blue.
