MacBook Air Laptop 13-inch Apple M4 chip, Built for Apple Intelligence, 10-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16GB Memory, 256GB SSD Storage

We turned these on and didn’t see a drop in performance, but the AI features can be toggled off if you do notice any lag over time. In one test, in which we launched 15 browser tabs containing videos, livestreams, and social media sites, the older processor slowed down briefly. The newest version of the MacBook Air has benefited from a few generations’ worth of improvements, so you’re likely to notice a significant upgrade in the quality of the display, the webcam, the speakers, and the overall speed. The 13-inch Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020) was released in 2020, and it remains a fantastic laptop for the price. Like the last MacBook Air, the M4 version has fast charging, so it will charge to 50% battery in just 30 minutes on a charger with at least 67 W of power.

Behind Kyle Hanagami’s viral dance creations edited with Final Cut Pro

The MacBook brand was the "world's top-selling line of premium laptops" as of 2015update. The MacBook brand replaced the PowerBook and iBook brands during the Mac transition to Intel processors, announced in 2005. Center Stage keeps you in frame during video calls, even as you move around or when more people join your frame. The eye-popping Liquid Retina XDR display offers 1,600 nits peak HDR brightness. M5 brings next-generation speed and powerful on-device AI to university students, business users and aspiring creators.

• We included the two PugetBench tests for Adobe Photoshop as well as Premiere Pro, but please keep in mind that the benchmarks only work with the emulated versions of the apps.
• A smarthome hub and FaceID-powered doorbell will connect up your home, a foldable iPhone, and augmented reality glasses.
• In his spare time, you’ll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn’t already.
• When it comes to the do-all MacBook, the 13-inch Air with M4 is the perfect option for that.
• It’s integrated into the core of your Mac through on-device processing.

Like the M3 MacBook Air, this new version can also power two external displays, whereas previous generations were limited to one. It also has two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe port, which allows the laptop’s power connector to magnetically snap into place and then harmlessly detach if accidentally snagged. The M5 MacBook Pro is a luxe upgrade if you want a faster processor, a better screen, and more ports. The M1 MacBook Air has a comfortable keyboard, good performance, and a reasonable amount of storage—things that haven’t always been true of previous MacBook Air models. The M4 MacBook Air is a slim, powerful Apple laptop that has a notably upgraded 12-megapixel webcam.

• It has the same boxy chassis introduced in 2022 and a 13.6-inch LCD screen (with a 60-Hz refresh rate and a max brightness of 500 nits).
• Apple M2 Pro or Apple M2 Max chip
• The MacBook is still superior to Windows laptops in terms of keyboard illumination, even after all these years.
• AppleCare offers one-stop support and service for all of your Apple products — from the people who know them best.
• Historically, the performance difference between the Pro and Air is only around 2 percent, despite the Air being thinner, quieter, and cheaper.
• Like the 13-inch model, the 15-inch MacBook Air supports the Wi-Fi 6E standard, but you’ll need a Wi-Fi 6E router to take advantage.
• Each configuration comes with a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, a slight boost in graphics over the base 13-inch MacBook Air.

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The company has kept its touch devices (iPad) and laptops (MacBook) separate so far, with Steve Jobs once famously claiming that touch screens don't belong on laptops. We'll reportedly see new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Studio computers in the "first half of the year," wrote Gurman, adding that Apple also working on a new display. Beyond the processor, the only other notable change to the base model was PCIe 5.0 storage. Also, Apple's next quarterly earnings call is scheduled for Thursday, January 29, and the company has introduced new products shortly before these calls on several occasions. Apple's new Creator Studio bundle of creative apps, announced last week, launches on Wednesday, January 28, so this event is surely related. Mara was also invited to an Apple event in September to test out the latest iPhone 17 Pro models.

Apple claims it's up to 2.5 times faster than the M1 Ultra. Confusingly, it remains the most powerful chip in the M-series lineup—even better than the latest M4 Max and M5. As for GPU performance, it's said to be up to 50 percent faster than the M1 laptop Max and 20 percent faster than the M2 Max. According to Apple, the CPU performance is up to 80 percent faster than the M1 Max and up to 50 percent faster than the M2 Max. It's the ideal in-between for those who need a chip that's more powerful than the M3 but won't utilize the full power of the M3 Max. Compared to the M1 Pro, however, the M2 Pro is up to 40 percent faster in GPU performance and 20 percent faster in CPU performance.

Mac Support

It also starts with 16 GB of unified memory, which will help power Apple Intelligence (the company's suite of artificial intelligence features) a lot more smoothly. Meanwhile, the neural engine is over three times faster than the original and twice as fast as the M3. The M5 is around 10 to 15 percent faster in CPU performance, but also takes a significant step up in GPU, AI workloads, and even storage speed.

If Apple delivers these features and changes in a way that resonates with customers, the machine could represent the company’s biggest laptop evolution since the launch of the first Apple Silicon Mac. For years, Apple argued that macOS wasn’t meant for touch, seeing its laptop experience as keyboard-and-trackpad-first. The new model is expected to introduce OLED display technology, delivering richer colors and deeper blacks, while Apple reportedly strengthens the hinge design to support touch interactions without screen wobble or structural compromises. Every year, Notebookcheck independently reviews hundreds of laptops and smartphones using standardized procedures to ensure that all results are comparable. If you want the maximum performance of the M3 Max even under sustained workloads, however, you should get the larger MacBook Pro 16.

WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. There's a reason the Dell 27 Plus 4K (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is our most highly recommended product in our Best Monitors guide. It packs several USB-C ports, all of which are nicely labeled by their maximum speed. It has great battery life too—I've gone over a year without needing new batteries. It comes equipped with a Touch ID button, so you can use it to log in, download apps, and pay for purchases.