In our previous reviews of the Apple MacBook Air , we ’ve rated it as thebest 13 - inch laptopbut kibosh short of giving it a perfect score . With the advent of Apple ’s M4 chipset , which is n’t a sea change over the M3 but is nevertheless significantly stronger , I do n’t see any reason to hold back .
We can dispute if a laptop with a 13.6 - inch display is officially in the 13 - inch category or undecomposed belong to the14 - in laptopsegment . But who really worry ? The MacBook Air 13 is incredibly thin , tripping enough to be highly portable , very fast , and oh - so - effective . It ’s a remarkable accomplishment in terms of making hardware that ’s sheer brilliance , and it does n’t suffer that the entry level cost of $ 1,000 now hold to the current chipset and includes a more fairish 16 GB of RAM .
Specs and pricing
It used to be that Apple would release a new MacBook Air and keep the previous genesis around at the lowest $ 1,000 Mary Leontyne Price . With this coevals , Apple is offering a 10 - essence CPU/8 - core GPU M4 chipset , 16 GB of RAM , a 256 GB , and the sole display option , a 13.6 - inch Liquid Retina display , for that same $ 1,000 . That also alleviates one of the primary colic with Apple ’s premature base model that were limit to just 8 GB of RAM . While $ 1,000 is n’t a budget terms , this is most definitely not a budget laptop . That ’s a very attractive price for a automobile with so much endure for it .
From there , the Mary Leontyne Price follows Apple ’s typical convention . you could upgrade to a somewhat faster 10 - core CPU/10 - core GPU M4 for $ 100 . Upgrading to 24 GB tup costs $ 200 , and there ’s now a 32 GB RAM choice for an extra $ 400 . Storage upgrades range from 512 gigabyte for $ 200 up to 2 TB for $ 800 . A full configured MacBook Air 13 with the faster chipset , 32 GB of RAM , and a 2 TB SSD is $ 2,199 .
That ’s expensive compare to some of the Windows rival . For example , theLenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 Gen10 costs $ 1,835 with an Intel Lunar Lake chipset , 32 GB of RAM , a 1 TB SSD , and a 14.0 - inch 4K+ OLED video display . That ’s an attractive laptop computer as well , but it ’s not nearly as fast and its battery life does n’t fare skinny . If it were me , I ’d buy the MacBook Air 13 foundation model with an upgrade to 512 GB for $ 1,299 and call it a day .
Design
I ’ve had flock of hands - on time with the modern MacBook Air 13 plan , with a construction that ’s remained almost exactly the same since the entry of the M2 chipset . And really , I ca n’t incur any reason to fault Apple ’s pattern here . The MacBook Air 13 is probably the slender 13 - inch laptop computer useable today at 0.44 inches , and it ’s passably abstemious at 2.7 British pound sterling . In fact , the weight actually create such a thin laptop nullify feeling flimsy thanks to an impression of density . And that makes sentiency , given that the MacBook Air 13 is CNC - machine from a individual block of Al . It exudes lineament , and while some Windows laptop computer are also well - made — like the Yoga Slim 9i 14 I name above — none have quite the same feel . observe as well that I would blame Apple for make the MacBook Air 13 so thin if the battery life was n’t so incredibly good . While the show bezels are n’t the modest around ( and yes , there ’s still a webcam nick ) , they ’re small enough that the overall size find tiny enough .
Aesthetically , the MacBook Air 13 clearly belong to a clear-cut family of laptop . It has the same simple , blocky flavour with rounded side of meat and sharp edges that ’s immediately recognizable . I like the looking as being elegant and minimalist , and while HP ’s OmniBook and Lenovo ’s various Yoga machines are more complex , I tend to prefer Apple ’s minimise design . There ’s a unexampled Sky Blue color way to go with the Silver , Starlight , and Midnight coloration , and it ’s a nice edition . That ’s my revue unit , and while I ’d probably go for the Midnight exemplar , I could sure enough live with this one .
Of of course , build quality is complete . I dinge the previous couple of MacBook Air 13 generation because the eyelid was a little more flexible than I like , while the form and keyboard pack of cards were as self-coloured as always with Apple product . This meter , though , Apple seems to have addressed that business organization , because there ’s zero give anywhere . This is a very well - built laptop that really makes you take account your investment funds . you’re able to feel the timber with the flexible joint that opens smoothly with one hand , something you ’ll do all the time and palpate great . And , I mentioned its density above , which makes the MacBook Air feel like a square chunk of alloy that will last forever .
Keyboard and touchpad
I ’ve been a huge buff of Apple ’s Magic Keyboard since they went away from the blemished butterfly switches . The MacBook Air 13 does nothing to change that . It ’s a comfortable layout with rich key spatial arrangement and large keycaps , and the switches are perfectly light and snappy . I can type quicker on this keyboard than I can any other . Somehow , Apple managed to make it just as easy to type on the MacBook Air 13 as it is on the much tumid 16 - column inch MacBook Pro model . For a writer , that ’s incredibly important .
And I care the Force Touch haptic touchpad just as much . It ’s as great as you ’ll find on a 13 - inch laptop , and it works better than any other I ’ve used . The haptics are staring , it ’s super quick , and the Force Click feature adds useful functionality . I usually like tinge display on Windows laptop computer , but I do n’t really overleap it when I ’m using MacBooks . The touchpad is just that dandy .
Webcam and connectivity
Most 13 - inch laptops have minimum connectivity lately . The MacBook Air 13 keep up that movement , with just two Thunderbolt 4 port wine . However , unlike theDell XPS 13 , Apple kept the 3.5 mm audio shit , and the MacBook Air 13 has Apple ’s MagSafe 3 connector that keeps both Thunderbolt 4 interface available while charging . You ’ll need a dongle , just like with most diminutive laptop computer . Wireless connectivity is a multiplication behind , which will matter more when Wi - Fi 7 roll out to more gadget — which will take a few year to happen .
The webcam has received a significant rise . It ’s now a 12MP version , and it features Apple ’s Center Stage functionality that keep the exploiter perfectly placed even as they move around during a videoconference . It works fantastically well , and the image is excellent with great depressed - lightness performance . The Desk View feature film also works well enough , give a top - down view of the drug user ’s screen background that ’s shared to participant , along with a picture - in - picture video recording . It ’s more recess , but if you need it , you ’ll appreciate it . Of course , the MacBook Air 13 M4 still has the controversial notch , but frankly , I ’ve kind of forgotten all about it at this peak .
The M4 chipset has a fresh , much quicker Neural Engine that now run at 38 Pidlimdi cognitive process per second ( TOPS ) , an improvement over the M3 Neural Engine that run at 18 top . It ’s now closelipped to modern-day Windows laptops that start up out at 40 summit and go up from there . However , if Apple has trip lately , it ’s in its rollout of Apple Intelligence , which is well behind the contender and does n’t really take advantage of that superfluous on - gimmick AI processing performance . Whenever Apple catches up , though , the MacBook Air 13 will be easily equipped to take advantage .
Performance
Maybe the biggest news with the MacBook Air M3 is the M4 chipset . It ’s received a meaningful upgrade , which includes a base of 10 CPU core compered to the M3 ’s eight CPU nitty-gritty . The GPU option stay eight and 10 cores , and they ’ve been upgraded as well with second - generation computer hardware - speed ray tracing and the same mesh blending and dynamical Caching as before . I mentioned the faster Neural Engine above .
The result is a laptop computer that ’s importantly faster , especially in single - marrow tasks where each M4 meat is considerably degraded than the M3 combining weight . In fact , the singe - core advantage over any Windows chipset is moderately amazing . If you ’re doing typical productiveness tasks that do n’t utilize a bunch of cores , then the MacBook Air will be observably quick — which is saying a sight given that mod laptops are generally dissolute enough across the board .
The M4 does n’t break new ground in multi - core performance , but it still gravel out the late Windows competition of flimsy - and - light laptops . And remarkably , there ’s no fan , so the MacBook Air 13 runs all silent . That might induce a penalty when consort really long , call for undertaking , but give this laptop ’s productivity focus and its overall speed advantage , that ’s in all likelihood not going to be too much of a concern . And the frame never got more than fond to the touch .
The M4 is also faster in GPU performance , enough so that the 8 - core GPU on my MacBook Air 13 was only 3 % slower than the 10 - core GPU on the MacBook Air 13 M3 . If you take the 10 - core GPU rendering , you ’ll get a 13 % upgrade . It ’s not Brobdingnagian , but it ’s enough to extend the MacBook Air ’s advantage over its Windows contender .
The MacBook Air 13 M4 is a firm small laptop computer for even the most demanding productivity users . It will also do some weak play , something that Apple is focusing on more latterly , and the M4 chipset has some optimization that make the laptop computer astonishingly adequate to for more intensive tasks like video editing .
Battery life
Apple Silicon introduced groundbreaking efficiency . No matter which size laptop computer , MacBooks have lead the means . In fact , it ’s pushed Windows laptop computer God Almighty , along with Intel and Qualcomm , to deepen architectures to endeavor to keep up .
I did flow into a bit of a snag be given our web surf tryout . Google vilipend the late shaft we used to create the script to run through our test web sites , and the version I find to interchange it might not be working quite the same way . Although the M4 model endure an minute longer than the M3 in our telecasting iteration trial , it did n’t last as long in World Wide Web browse . I have to suppose that ’s down to the tool and not the laptop , something I ’ll be prove more as I move ahead .
Note that the M4 chipset does just as well with intensive tasks , go for the longest we ’ve seen when running the demanding Cinebench R14 multi - core bench mark . Not only does it last a long time , but it maintains libertine public presentation . And , it ’s slightly up from the M3 , meaning the chipset got more efficientandfaster , which is impressive .
The bottom billet is that while Intel ’s Lunar Lake chipset and , to a less level , Qualcomm ’s Snapdragon X chipsets , have narrowed the gap between Windows and MacBooks in terms of assault and battery life , Apple Silicon is still improbably strong . The Acer Swift 14 AI in reality did intimately in our tests , which is a great solution for Acer . However , the Swift 14 AI ’s performance was n’t closely as fast , and it ask a 75 James Watt - hr barrage fire to pair the MacBook Air 13 ’s 53.8 watt - hr capacity .
You ’ll get multi - day battery lifetime out of the MacBook Air 13 . That ’s impressive give the size and execution .
Display and audio
The MacBook Air 13 use a 13.4 - column inch display in a ( roughly ) 16:10 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2560 x 1664 . That ’s very sharp , and the display looks bully out of the box . It ’s the same Liquid Retina IPS display that Apple ’s used on its MacBook Airs for several generations .
According to my tintometer , it remains a quality dialog box . It ’s very smart at 468 nits , well above our 300 - nit criterion , and its contrast is very beneficial at 1,150:1 ( higher than our 1,000:1 threshold ) . coloring material are wide at 100 % sRGB , 83 % AdobeRGB , and 94 % DCI - P3 , and accurate at a DeltaE of 1.34 ( anything less than 2.0 is very serious ) . The average IPS exhibit has 100 % , 75 % , and 75 % respectively and accuracy that ’s close to a DeltaE of 2.0 .
More and more laptops are using OLED displays latterly , and certainly , this one is n’t as colorful and does n’t have the same inky Negro . But , for productivity work , all but the most demanding creativity task , and media phthisis , this is a great exhibit that adds the benefit of outstanding electric battery animation . OLED is beautiful , but it ’s a top executive hog .
In terms of outside exhibit support , you may link up two monitors to go with the internal presentation . That ’s less than you may plug into to forward-looking Windows laptops .
The MacBook Air 13 ’s audio timbre is the best you ’ll find on a 13 - in ( or 14 - inch ) laptop . There are four speaker , two tweeter and two force - cancelling woofers , and in footing of volume , mids and highs , and freshwater bass , there ’s nothing in force . This is one laptop where you wo n’t worry all that much about using headphones unless you want to plunge yourself in sound .
As near to perfect as I’ve seen yet
I ’m go to go ahead and give the 2025 MacBook Air 13 a consummate score . It ’s about time . To commence with , this might very well be the perfect 13 - inch ( or 14 - in ) tenuous - and - Light Within laptop plan . It ’s unanimous as a careen , looks great , and is eminently portable given its mad leanness . No , it does n’t have OLED ( yet ) , but until organic light-emitting diode can provide the same kind of efficiency , it ’s not necessarily the best trade-off for this course of study of laptop computer .
It ’s also very fast , beating out its competition in multi - core carrying into action and demolishing it in single - core speed . And , its shelling living maintains the most attractive operation - efficiency proportion over the salutary Windows has to propose . With a starting terms of $ 1,000 for a very operational conformation , the only reason to return up the MacBook Air 13 is if you just simply ca n’t live without Windows . I suspect that this will be fewer and few hoi polloi as time goes by .
