Apple has finally updated the MacBook Air with the M4 chip, and this time offering it at the $1000 price point instead of continuing to sell the previous generation chip at that price and charging $100 extra for the latest. But if you have an M3, M2, or M1 MacBook Air already, what’s new with the M4 model, and should you upgrade? Let’s find out!
The Outside
Starting on the outside, the only difference from the M3 and the M2 is the addition of the new Sky Blue color option to go alongside Silver, Starlight, and Midnight. The good news is that Sky Blue doesn’t seem to be a fingerprint magnet like the Midnight color was. The M1, on the other hand, is a much older design that looks quite outdated by now, has a height that tapers from thinner to thicker, is slightly less deep by .1 inches, and weighs a tenth of a pound more.
We continue to get 13.6 and 15.3 inch size options, with the latter starting at $200 more, which includes a $100 2-core GPU upgrade, so it’s really only $100 more for the size. That part was the same on the M3 and M2, but since the starting price is $1000 for the latest gen now, that means the 15-inch with latest gen M4 is also cheaper than before at $1200. The M1 Air only has a single size that is even smaller at 13.3 inches with larger bezels, and is 20% less bright at 400 nits instead of 500 in the M2 and above.
The Chip
Let’s talk a bit about the chip differences. The first major one is that the CPU is now 10-cores instead of 8 on the M3 and earlier, adding on 2 more efficiency cores for a 4+6 configuration. Single core CPU performance for M4 is about 23% higher than M3, 49% higher than M2, and 63% faster than M1. M4’s multi-core performance is 26% faster than M3, 57% faster than M2, and 82% faster than M1.
Graphics cores in the M2 to M4 generations remains at 8 for the base model and 10 for the upgrade. If we look at Metal benchmarks averaging the high and low scores for each generation, the M4 is 21% faster than the M3, 26% faster than the M2, which is a smaller difference than you might expect, and 75% faster than the M1. Note that the M1 Air had only 7 GPU cores in the base model and 8 on the high end. Besides performance, support for newer tech was also introduced along the way. In particular, the M3 chip brought dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and mesh shading.
There continues to be 16 neural cores on each chip, but AI performance is improved with each generation. The M4 does 38 TOPS, 111% faster than the 18 TOPS of M3, 141% higher than the 15.8 TOPS of the M2, and 245% faster than the 11 TOPS of the M1.
Memory bandwidth on the M4 is at 120 GB/s, 20% higher than the M3 and M2 with 100 GB/s (actually 102.4), and 76% higher than the M1 with 68.3 GB/s.
The M4 media engine supports the same encode and decode acceleration as the M3, and both offer AV1 decoding, which the M2 and M1 do not. The M1 media engine also lacks ProRes encoding and decoding.
Upgrade Options
We talked about the $100 2-core GPU upgrade already, which can increase graphics performance up to 25%, so let’s jump to memory.
If you bought a base model M3, M2, or M1 MacBook Air before the M4 chips launched in other Macs in late 2024, you only have 8GB of memory. Apple started offering the M2 and M3 Airs with a base of 16GB afterward, and that continues with the M4. From there, you can increase by 8GB increments for $200 each upgrade to 32GB, while the M3 and M2 maxed out at 24 GB, and the M1 Air at 16GB.
Storage continues to start at 256GB and go up to 2TB, with the first bump to 512GB still costing a whopping $800 / TB, keeping the crown for the worst deal in the history of upgrades.
Everything Else
Now let’s cover all the other differences.
The webcam has been upgraded on the M4 Air to a 12MP camera with Center Stage, which keeps you in the frame, and Desk View support, which allows you to show what’s on your desk during meetings or calls. Unfortunately video recording is still limited to 1080p like the M3 and M2 Airs, even though the megapixel count should have no problem supporting 4k video. The 1080p webcam on the M3 and M2 Air is only 2 million pixels, so the M4 Air’s webcam should give much better quality, and doubly so compared to the 720p, or less than 1 million pixel camera, in the M1 Air.
Speakers and audio features are the same on the M4 and M3, but there are some differences with the M2 and M1. The M2 lists wide stereo sound support while the M3 and M4 do not, but that could just be the removal of a meaningless label. The M2 and above have 4 speakers on the 13-inch model and 6 speakers on the 15-inch, while the M1 Air only has 2 speakers, and doesn’t support Spatial Audio. The mics on the M4 and M3 do support voice isolation, wide spectrum and enhanced voice, while the M2 and M1 do not. And finally, the M2 and above models’ headphone jacks support high-impedance headphones while the M1’s does not.
For communication, the M4 and M3 support Wi-Fi 6E while the M2 and M1 only has Wi-Fi 6. It’s a bit unfortunate that the M4 doesn’t have Wi-Fi 7 though. M2 and above are also all on Bluetooth 5.3, while the M1 Air is using Bluetooth 5.0.
For ports, the 2 Thunderbolt ports on the M4 Air are now Thunderbolt 4, while the M3 and below have Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports. Notice the way Apple lists it to avoid showing the number 3. Though there is no real speed difference between Thunderbolt 3 and 4 as they are both 40 GB/s, Thunderbolt 4 does ensure better display compatibility and support.
Indeed, speaking of displays, one huge benefit of the M4 Air is the ability to run 2 external displays at the same time as using the built-in display on the laptop, while the M3 Air could only do this if you closed the lid and didn’t use the built-in display. Furthermore, that second display could only go up to 5K resolution instead of 6K, so the bandwidth was reduced. On the M2 and M1 Air, one of the displays has to be the built-in one, so only 1 external monitor is supported.
And finally, the battery is ever so slightly bigger on the 13-inch M4 at 53.8 watt hours compared to 52.6 watt hours on the M3 and M2, and 49.9 watt hours on the M1, but the claimed battery life is the same across all models. The 15-inch model’s battery size hasn’t changed though.
When it comes to charging that battery, the M1 Air lacks the MagSafe charging connector introduced with the M2 generation, and also doesn’t support 70 watt fast charging.
Summary: M4 vs M3 Air
In summary, if you move from the M3 to the M4 MacBook Air, you’ll get:
- 25% faster CPU performance, 20% faster GPU performance, over 100% faster AI performance, and 20% more memory bandwidth
- 16GB of memory in the base model instead of 8 if you bought before the first M4 Macs came out, and the option to go up to 32GB of memory
- A much higher resolution 12 MP webcam with Center Stage and Desk View support
- Thunderbolt 4 ports instead of Thunderbolt 3, with no bandwidth difference
- The ability to run 2 external displays instead of just 1 while still using the built-in display at the same time
- A slightly larger battery on the 13-inch model, but with the same claimed battery life
- And the new Sky Blue color option
- Audio mute key symbol update!
Of these, the only reasons that might be worth upgrading from M3 to M4 is if you really need the extra display support, have a specialized use case for the webcam, or for the sky blue color, which, honestly, looks pretty amazing. If you really need 32GB of memory, you probably need more performance too, so look into the Pro or Max chip options.
One exception is if you have only 8GB of memory on your Macbook Air and are feeling some slowness. Upgrading to a 16GB machine can make the usage experience quite a bit smoother.
Summary: M4 vs M2 Air
If you move from the M2 Air to the M4, you’ll get:
- Everything already mentioned for the M3 upgrade, except the M2 cannot run 2 external displays with the lid closed like the M3 can
- Also, the performance differences become 50% faster CPU performance, 25% faster GPU performance, 140% faster AI performance
- AV1 decoding on the media engine
- Better microphones with voice isolation, wide spectrum and enhanced voice support
- And Wi-Fi 6E instead of Wi-Fi 6
This move is a much more significant upgrade in performance, but should only be considered if you’re doing things beyond basic office tasks, web browsing, and media consumption, which the M2 and even M1 chips may be plenty capable of. Again, experiencing some slowdown with only 8GB of memory may be a good reason to upgrade to 16GB or higher.
Summary: M4 vs M1 Air
And finally, if you move from the M1 MacBook Air to the M4, you’ll get:
- A redesigned body with new color schemes including the cool new Sky Blue and the fingerprint magnet Midnight, which also results in a uniform height and 0.1 pounds less weight
- Also full-height function row on keyboard, larger (wider/slightly less tall) trackpad
- Larger and brighter 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch screen options
- 75% faster CPU and GPU performance, nearly 250% faster AI performance, and 76% more memory bandwidth
- A media engine that supports ProRes encoding and decoding, and AV1 decoding
- 16GB of memory in the base model instead of 8, with the option to go up to 32GB
- A vastly higher resolution 12 MP webcam with Center Stage and Desk View support instead of the 720p webcam
- Better sounding 4-speaker (on 13-inch) or 6-speaker (on 15-inch) systems with Spatial Audio support, better microphones with voice isolation, wide spectrum and enhanced voice support, and a better headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support
- Wi-Fi 6E instead of Wi-Fi 6, along with Bluetooth 5.3 over 5.0
- Thunderbolt 4 ports instead of Thunderbolt 3, with no bandwidth difference
- The ability to run 2 external displays instead of just 1
- And a slightly larger battery on the 13-inch model, but with the same claimed battery life, but with MagSafe charging and Fast charging support
Upgrading from the M1 to the M4 MacBook Air gets you a heck of a lot of advancements. But if you’re still happy with your M1 machine, then as always, don’t waste your money on things you don’t need. But if you’ve been feeling it’s not quite as snappy or cool as it used to be, maybe the new M4 Air is exactly what you’re looking for.
