MacBook Air M4 Review: Apple Silicon Gets Even Faster

Apple's MacBook Air with M4 is the best laptop for most people. It delivers desktop-class performance in a fanless, feather-light design, at a price that undercuts almost all comparable Windows competition. After two weeks of intensive use as a primary work machine, here is everything you need to know.

What's New with M4

The M4 chip features a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU — up from M3's 8-core GPU. Apple claims a 25% CPU improvement and 30% GPU improvement over M3. In our real-world tests, these numbers hold up. Video export in Final Cut Pro that took 4 minutes on M3 Air took under 3 minutes on the M4 Air.

Display

The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display (2560×1664, 500 nits) is bright, accurate, and excellent for creative work. The 15-inch model now supports ProMotion (up to 120Hz adaptive refresh), a first for the Air lineup.

Battery Life

Apple claims 18 hours. Our mixed-use test yielded a consistent 16–17 hours. This is among the best battery life on any laptop, period. A quick 30-minute charge via USB-C adds about 4–5 hours of use.