Apple announces its new MacBook Air M4. The device brings some new features and is even more powerful than its predecessor. It is also available in a new color and at a lower price than the previous generation model.
Yesterday, Apple made the iPad Air M3 and the iPad A16 official. Today, it is the turn of the MacBook Air M4 to be presented by the brand with the apple, available in its 13-inch and 15-inch versions. It replaces the MacBook Air M3 launched at the same time last year.
The main attraction of this new model is of course the M4 chip. This one embeds a 10-core CPU, a GPU up to 10 cores and a RAM up to 32 GB depending on the chosen configuration. The new MacBook Air is “up to 2x faster than the model with M1 chip” and “delivers up to 23x faster performance than the fastest MacBook Air with Intel processor”, Apple promises.
A MacBook Air with even more performance
The Neural Engine of the M4 chip is up to 3x faster than that of the M1 chip, we learn, enough to accelerate complex AI tasks like automatic photo editing and removing background noise in videos. Apple compared the performance of this MacBook M4 to that of the MacBook M1 and the highest-performance Intel MacBook to give us an idea of its capabilities:
- Spreadsheet processing in Excel is up to 4.7x faster than the highest-performance Intel MacBook Air and up to 1.6x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air with M1 chip.
- Video editing in iMovie is up to 8x faster than the highest-performance Intel MacBook Air and up to 2x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air with M1 chip.
- Photo editing in Adobe Photoshop is up to 3.6x faster than the highest-performance Intel MacBook Air and up to 2x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air with M1 chip.
“Web browsing is up to 60% faster than on a laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, and performance is up to 2 times faster for more demanding tasks,” adds the manufacturer, which also highlights a battery life of up to 18 hours. The MacBook Air is of course compatible with all Apple Intelligence features. We won't go into detail about it again, these are the same ones we've already described for the iPad Air M3.
A slight price drop
The laptop benefits from a new 12 MP Center Stage camera, for improved video quality in video calls. The Center Frame feature tracks the subjects' movements to keep them in the center of the frame, while the Desk View shows both the subject and a bird's eye view of their desk. A three-microphone system improves voice clarity, Apple assures, while we are sold an immersive audio system with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos for three-dimensional sound.
This new model supports up to two 6K monitors in addition to the integrated Liquid Retina display (up to 500 nits of brightness and a billion colors), to expand its workspace. It features Touch ID and the backlit Magic Keyboard, as well as MagSafe charging, two Thunderbolt ports and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Wireless connectivity is handled by Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, the absence of Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 is a bit disappointing.
The MacBook Air M4 is coming out on March 12, 2025, but pre-orders are already open. It's available in the already-familiar Midnight, Starlight, and Silver colors, as well as a new Sky Blue color. Its price starts at 1,199 euros for the 13-inch and the least equipped version, which is 100 euros less than the MacBook Air M3. The 15-inch model starts at 1,499 euros.
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