Apple MacBook Air review (M4, 2025): you get a little more for a little less

So after the iPad Pro, iMac and MacBook Pro got the M4 treatment, it’s time for Apple’s everyday laptop to get it – the MacBook Air. In all but the chip, this MacBook is very similar to the 2022 M2 version of this laptop, which was the first to introduce the squared-off design to match the MacBook Pro.

In 2023, the 13in model was joined by a long-rumoured 15in version. Last year, Apple upgraded both to have an M3, while keeping the M2 on sale as a cheaper option. Now, it has discontinued both the M2 and M3 in favour of the new M4 chip – but to compensate Apple has dropped the price of the entry-level M4 model to $999/£999.

Unlike the MacBook Pro, the Air is available with just the M4 rather than the M4 Pro or Max, the only difference being that the very cheapest version has 8 core graphics rather than 10 core and, weirdly, a 30W power adapter rather than a 35W one – you do wonder what is behind a decision like that.

The rest of the specs are the same between the different default versions, with the different models on Apple’s website offering step-ups in memory and storage from the 16GB/256GB minimum, which is respectable – no more miserly 8GB of RAM here. And, of course, it’s now available in 13 and 15in variants, with four colours.

My review model is a 15in in the new sky blue colour. It does have a 512GB SSD rather than the base level 256GB, meaning it clocks in at $1399/£1399, which is $200/£200 more than the base level 15in model.

Design: still great, but no changes

This design of MacBook Air debuted in 2022. Gone was the old wedge shape of the MacBook Air M1 and before, replaced by a flat oblong that had a lot more in common with the MacBook Pro. The bezels are noticeably thicker than those on the Pro, though are by no means off-puttingly so.

The design of this MacBook hasn’t changed over the previous two versions, but that doesn’t change the fact it’s one of the thinnest laptops you can get at 1.13cm (the 15in is ever so slightly thicker). It’s very sleek although not showy. And it’s still very lightweight at 1.24kg or 1.51kg depending on the size you go for.

The sky blue finish on my 15in review model is OK but doesn’t float my boat. It is more of a tint rather than an out-and-out blue – it’s certainly less blue than the ‘sapphire’ Surface Laptop Copilot+ from the tail end of last year. Last time out I had a starlight version, which is a great second choice to the midnight/black in my opinion. And, of course, it’s also avaiable in classic MacBook silver. Space gray has gone away.

If there is a little annoyance about the finish of modern Macs it’s that you will scratch the surface of the lid during normal use. My review model is fairly unscathed so far, however.

Display: unchanged, but with proper dual-external display support

The LED display is once again one of the best around at 224ppi and with 500 nits of brightness, though it naturally lags behind the superior Mini-LED display on the MacBook Pro lineup.

If you struggle with screen real estate on an ultraportable, the 15in model is well worth looking at, but it is surprisingly quite a bit more unwieldy, so if you prefer a smaller laptop than the 15in isn’t for you. That said, it does give you a lot more room for a $200/£200 step-up in price.

The notch is still there, despite it not really being that useful for anything – surely the webcam can live in the bezel? For whatever reason Apple doesn’t want to bring Face ID to the MacBook yet although this will surely be revealed as a revelation at some point.

One of the big headlines around last year’s M3 model was the ability to support two external displays, something the MacBook Air M1 and M2 couldn’t do. However, there was a drawback that has been fixed with this new M4 model, namely that if you connected the two external displays, you needed to close the lid of the MacBook Air to make them both work (in other words, you couldn’t use the internal display). This isn’t a problem with M4, so two external displays can be connected without affecting the internal display.

Specs and battery life: good riddance to 8GB of RAM

Finally, the MacBook Air is available with 16GB of RAM as a default. 8GB of RAM was still available on two of the models last year and, despite Apple’s protestations that it was enough, it was too restrictive when the processor was as capable as the M3.

After all, if you’re using any kind of pro software, from Apple, Adobe or others, then you need 16GB. I have 32GB inside the MacBook Pro with M2 Pro I’m writing this review on and it’s currently using 14GB. And you will find the Air uses more than you think.

Apple finally fixed the MacBook Air’s SSD speeds last year which had meant the drive speed was significantly worse than the MacBook Pro, but it is no longer, being able to write around 3200MB per second in the Blackmagic Design Disk Speed Test – that’s only a shade slower than we’ve seen from a Pro (around 200MB per second slower).

As with the M2 and M3 before it, there’s superb power efficiency on show from the bleeding edge M4 here. The cited 18 hours of battery life hasn’t gone up from the previous generation, so in my experience, you’re probably talking around 14-15 hours for intensive use – you can eek it out to the full 18 though. We can only vouch for the 15in which has a 66Wh battery versus 53.8Wh for the 13in.

Once again the Air has two Thunderbolt USB-C ports but they’re both on the left as with the previous models. I’d really like it if Apple would provide on option on the right, but I guess the choice there is to go Pro if you need it.

Performance: a fine improvement

In terms of the M4, it obviously isn’t a game-changing step-up from the M3 or even from the M2 but there is a performance uplift even so. You can tell this by the way that Apple keeps referring to numbers comparing it with the last Intel MacBook Air, which is over half a decade ago now.

If we look at a couple of benchmarks, the ARM-based M4 doesn’t just perform well, but it’s superior to just about everything else out there. While that’s impressive, it’s not that surprising considering the performance of its predecessors and the fact it uses ARM’s very latest CPU architecture.

In Cinebench R23, the multi-core score it only behind a couple of AMD Ryzen Threadripper chips and a top-notch Intel Xeon server chip. But it’s on a single-core performance that the M4 once again outshines absolutely everything.

Geekbench 6 scores show a major uplift versus the M1 and M2. There’s much less of a gap between the M3 and M4 (around 10-15 percent I’d estimate), but if you were coming from a 2020 M1 MacBook Air, you’d notice the difference in even basic tasks such as app loading, let alone cranking up a game from Apple Arcade. The M4’s graphics offer around 10 percent uplift versus the M3 (Geekbench 6’s Metal test).

Apple MacBook Air M4 verdict

The MacBook Air M4 clearly takes things on a step from the M3, with various small improvements combined with that lower starting price. And as such, it can’t really be argued with as a potential purchase (unless you can pick up an M3 at a low price before that completely disappears). While Intel, AMD and Snapdragon Windows ultraportables are improving all the time, they can’t quite match the performance and battery life on show here. If you’re considering one of these, then the cheapest option is a steal at $999/£999. Although it can’t quite beat the step up to the new design that we saw with the M2 in 2022, it shows that Apple is determined to keep ahead of its rivals on performance.

Apple MacBook Air M4 tech specs