Apple MacBook Air M4 13-inch and 15-inch review: Upgrade at a better price

At the risk of repeating yourself from Engadget's Macbook Air M1, M2 and M3 reviews: The MacBook Air equipped with an M4 is almost flawless super convenience. Even better, the price now starts at $999, which is $100 less than before. Although I still want to see more ports and faster screen refresh rates, the MacBook Air still holds its head and shoulders. And, when the company tries to fill up Apple, as Asus does on its 2.2-pound Zenbook A14, it only proves that Apple's hardware is actually better designed.

Since the M2 model arrived in 2022, its design has not changed, it's easy to take the MacBook Air for granted. Today, it is still a great machine, it is a fast, lightweight and well-built machine. The only major drawback is that Windows users have some learning curves for the first time jumping. But beyond that, if you're looking for new super conveniences, the MacBook Air is effortless.

hardware

Once again, both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook air models feel thinner (0.44-inch thickness) and light, weighing 2.7 pounds and 3.2 pounds respectively. Last year, I pointed out: “Its one-piece aluminum shell feels as solid as a boulder. This is a computer that I simply like to touch.” All of this stays the same with the M4 model.

In fact, it is even more impressive that Apple has such a design leader when its competitors have the opportunity to catch up. Despite our love for the Surface laptop, XPS 13 and Asus'Zenbook S14, Apple still maintains a first-class polish that the PC Maker doesn't exactly match. The MacBook Air case feels more luxurious than other situations, and its keyboard is a dream and it is one of the best trackpads around. (And I was still mostly a Windows desktop user until you called me an Apple Fanboy.)

Apple's M4 chip (with a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine (or what you call NPU in your PC)) is a major upgrade to these new MacBook Airs. It is also worth noting that the 8-core GPU for the base $999 13-inch model is slightly lower, which will slightly hinder gaming and media creation performance. There are no physical design changes other than the new sky blue option. Apple has also upgraded its webcam to the new 12-megapixel center shooting game, which can be especially useful if you want to show off the contents of the table. (Introduction to it later.)

The 13-inch MacBook Air has a 13.6-inch liquid retina display that actually feels like a 14-inch screen, while the larger model has a 15.3-inch display. They are still limited to 60Hz, which is an annoyance, as a large number of PC Ultradables ship faster and smoother – but they are impressive, but still support the P3 wide color gamut and 1 billion colors. Both screens can also achieve a brightness of up to 500 columns, which is enough to be available on sunny days.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

In use: fast and light

The 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook plays my basic workflow without sweating: juggling browsers with plenty of open tags, Slack, Spotify, messaging apps, and PixelMator Photo Editor. But this is not surprising, because the previous models were similarly quasi-P. Still, it's refreshing to use a laptop that seems eager to go to work after recently testing the slow Zenbook A14's Zenbook A14.

Actually, I feel no different about jumping to an M4 chip, but according to the Geekbench 6 benchmark, single-threaded tasks are 19.5% faster than the M3, while multi-threaded tasks are 21% faster. This is a typical incremental jump for CPU improvements, so I won't be knocking too much of an Apple there. The M4's GPU gain is impressive, 6% higher than the M3 in the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Benchmark and 16.3% higher in the Geekbench GPU test.

You probably won't do a lot of serious creative work on your MacBook Air, especially since there are no fans to cool down. But you can still squeeze out some performance in a tight situation. I was able to transfer 4K clips to 1080p in 27 seconds using the M4 CPU in handbrake, and only 17 seconds using the GPU. By comparison, the Dell XPS 13 subsystem has a CPU speed of 32 seconds and its GPU is 24 seconds.

Graphic strength p Smooth running at 60 fps with a height set to 1080p. The same goes for the M3 MacBook Air, but this time around the performance seems to be more consistent. While I will never recommend that you keep in mind the MacBook Air using the game, it's nice to handle at least some game time.

I found a lot of both likes when jumping between the 13-inch and 15-inch models. The smaller one is definitely easy to travel, but I also like the 15-inch immersive screen. Ultimately, the choice between choices boils down to what matters most to you.

Again, the leap to the 12-megapixel center stage camera isn't entirely shocking, but I'm glad to have a better picture on the video call. I usually turn off the actual center stage feature on my Mac, but I'm sure some people will love the ability to track you around the room. The new camera also supports desktop view, which shows a skewed view of the area in front of the MacBook Air.

As for battery life, both MacBook Air models lasted more than 18 hours when playing HD videos. The 13-inch air lasted 18 hours and 15 minutes, while the 15-inch laptop lasted 18 hours and 23 minutes.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

How does Apple improve MacBook Air?

Although I like the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air, there are still many ways Apple can improve them. As I mentioned above, having a higher refresh rate displays is very good, which makes it easier to scroll the document on your eyes. While I don't need Apple to go all out, it's nice to have at least one USB-C connection on the right side of the air to allow charging to be easier. Now you come across a MAGSAFE charging port and two USB-C connections.

Of course, I really don't expect Apple to actually offer these upgrades anytime soon. I bet the company will push higher demanding users to the $1,599 14-inch MacBook Pro, which boasts a lot of ports and a high refresh rate promotional screen. Despite this, a geek dreams.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Should you buy an M4 MacBook Air?

If you can't tell right now, I think the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air are the ideal super-end items for most people. To be sure, if you buy stylish laptops in the market, they are worth considering. And, if you are a hesitant Windows user, I suggest you try it for a while. It's not difficult to learn the basics of MACOS, and you can always go back if you're not satisfied (be sure to double-check the retailer return strategy).

While I bet most users can use the base $999 13-inch MacBook Air with 256GB storage, if you plan on light media work, it might be worth jumping to the $1,199 model with a 10-core GPU and a 512GB SSD. Or just jump straight to the $1,199 15-inch model with a 10-core GPU.

As usual, I also recommend you avoid paying Apple's ridiculous upgrade fees. If you are considering spending $400 more for 32GB of RAM, you should probably consider using a MacBook Pro. If you want to save some cash, several retailers are still selling the M2 MacBook Air for a high price of $700. Even if this is an older chip, the laptop can still serve most users in a few years (just make sure you get 16GB of RAM).

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

wrap up

Again, the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air are basically everything we need for a super-convenient laptop. They are Zipp, lightweight and lightweight, and can last a full day of work. While the M4 chip is not a transformative upgrade, it can help Apple keep pace with the evolving PC notebook chip. Now, the MacBook Air starts at $999, and even Windows users should consider making a jump.

This article originally appeared on Engadget