The MacBook Air has been the absolute best value for money that will suit the needs of 95% of people every since Apple Silicon was introduced, but Apple has taken it further than ever with the M4 MacBook Air which is now cheaper than the previous model.
From the outside, there’s not a heap of difference with the M4 MacBook Air still coming in 13-inch and 15-inch models and still being ridiculously thin and light. There’s a new Sky Blue colour (pictured throughout this review) which replaces Space Grey and I really like it.
It’s a subtle blue, so don’t go expecting it to look like an iMac, but it really changes depending on the light, so sometimes it’ll look bluer and other times it’ll look quite silver, but I think it’s the perfect mix for those that want a pop of colour but it’d still not look out of place in an office.
@shannongrixti The new cheaper M4 MacBook Air is fantastic value for money and the new Sky Blue colour is absolutely gorgeous #MacBookAir #MacBookAirM4 #M4MacBookAir #Apple #MacBook #SkyBlueMacbookAir #Laptop #Tech
I once again tested the 15-inch model which I still find to be the perfect balance between weight and thinness but having a larger screen. It’s still an LCD display with a 60hz refresh rate, but at this price point and for this demographic, it’s more than fine.
The new M4 chip is the same one that I reviewed in the base M4 MacBook Pro. It’s just ridiculous how good these chips are getting. Obviously, there’s no fan in the MacBook Air so performance will dip a little from the Pro, but I was able to export 4K videos with Photoshop and a million tabs open and it absolutely handled it even with the new 16GB of base memory.
Similarly, if you’re wanting to play AAA games such as Death Stranding, Stray, Resident Evil Village (or the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows), you can do so quite confidently with the M4 MacBook Air thanks to MetalFX upscaling. Whilst not every game is on the Mac, it’s absolutely getting better with every single Apple Silicon release.
THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $1,699 AUD FROM APPLE
Battery life on the M4 MacBook Air is the same as the M3 with up to 18 hours of battery life whilst watching videos. If you’ve used an Apple Silicon laptop, you’ll know that it lasts all day and that’s absolutely the case here, which continues to amaze me given the size of the laptop.
Other improvements include a new 12MP Center Stage camera which is the same one on the M4 MacBook Pro. It’s a big improvement from what was there before and allows Center Stage to track you, or for you to use desk view in addition to the increased clarity. If you’re someone that has a home setup, i’d still recommend investing in a webcam, but for out and about or the occasional call, it’s a lot better than it ever has been previously.
Another big improvement comes in the way of external display support. When the M1 MacBook Air was introduced, you could only use one external display with the MacBook closed. The went up to two external displays with the M3 and it’s now two external displays plus the MacBook Air screen on the M4 chip, so this is truly able to be the perfect out and about laptop and then connect to your home workstation to be a complete workhorse.
Not that Apple Intelligence is new or exclusive to the M4 MacBook Air, but I do feel like a lot of people upgrading probably haven’t used it on a Mac, so I felt a need to talk about it.
The biggest one has been summaries which helps summaries bulk notifications among all of your apps but primarily Apple Messages, Mail and Facebook Messenger and as someone who receives dozens of notifications every minute across a number of group chats, email inboxes and Facebook groups, this is absolutely going to increase my mental wellbeing and productivity. It wasn’t always perfect, but I recognise that it’s still in beta and 98% of the time did an absolutely fantastic job at summarising notifications to either give me key information such as dates and times of events, or just give me the general gist to know whether a notification was worth opening.
I’m a big Focus mode user when I’m in meetings or really need to get something done and I spent multiple days this week using a new Apple Intelligence Focus mode called Reduce Interruptions and it was an absolute game-changer. This uses Apple Intelligence to only delivery you the most important notifications again based on timelines or from a loved one that might need need a direct response or something that is deemed to be an emergency. Again, it wasn’t perfect, but it more often than not only let through notifications that were those that actually needed a response and can only get better with time.
Another big one that I think a lot of people will get use out of is Writing Tools which can be used within any app to re-write chunks of text in a more professional or casual tone, or summaries chunks of text into lists. I’m not somebody that has used AI tools in this way (even though there’s a bunch available), and I recognise that a lot of people get use out of these, and it’s great that they’re so accessible here.
The MacBoook Air has always been a fantastic laptop for most, but it just continues to go from strength with Apple Silicon and the M4 MacBook Air with its new price point and increased base memory is absolutely no exception. If you’re still rocking an Intel Mac, now is absolutely the perfect time to upgrade.
Conclusion
The M4 MacBook Air further cements itself as the best value for money laptop on the market especially given the fact that it’s now cheaper with double the base memory. Improvements to the webcam and display support are just the icing on top of what is an otherwise still near perfect computing experience.
Positives
Cheaper With Double The Base Memory
New Sky Blue Colour Is Great
Still The Best Value For Money Laptop
Fantastic Performance And Battery Life
Negatives
Ports All On Left Still Can Be A Little Annoying
