Apple announced the MacBook Air M4 a week ago, and as per the norm, people are clamoring to learn more about Apple’s new, more affordable laptop. Reviews have already sprung up across the Internet from the likes of CNET, MKBHD, and Ars Technica, among others.
There’s good reason to be excited. In our hands-on, Mashable’s Stan Schroeder noted the familiar feel of the modern MacBook Air family while also praising Apple for finally including 16GB of RAM on the base model. For the most part, the M4 MacBook Air appears to focus mostly on refining previous iterations while remaining ultraportable.
So, with a mix of some new features while also including a lot of similarities to prior releases, reviewers at times criticized Apple’s aging design while remaining enthusiastic about some of the upgrades. We encourage you to seek out reviews but if you want a TL;DR, here are the biggest things reviewers liked and disliked about Apple’s new Macbook Air.
4 things reviewers liked about the MacBook Air M4
Overall, reviews for the MacBook Air M4 were staggeringly positive. Apple has always been pretty consistent about delivering a complete product, and that’s the general sentiment of reviewers across the Internet. However, here were some things that especially stood out about the M4 to reviewers.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
It’s true that Apple only updates its laptop chassis about once every half-decade or so. Thus, the first thing you may notice about the MacBook Air M4 is that it looks strikingly like the MacBook Air M3 and the M2. We’ll talk more about Apple’s penchant for reusing its designs later, but for the vast majority of reviews, everyone appears to be cool with it.
Gizmodo notes that the latest MacBook Air still feels good to use while maintaining a solid display and sound quality from the speakers. The M4 also carries over the quiet, fanless design from prior models, which PCMag was happy to see in their review. (Full disclosure: PCMag is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.) Wired echoed this sentiment, stating that Apple reached peak MacBook Air design with the M3 model and that carries over to the M4.
In short, there wasn’t much in the way of negativity when it comes to the basics of the MacBook Air. The keyboard, screen, speakers, and overall design are still highlights, giving consumers a very portable package that still looks and feels good to use. About the only complaint here is the notch for the front-facing camera, which is still as intrusive as it was on the M2 and M3.
The spec upgrades were a long time coming
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the M4 is faster than the M3, as that tends to happen when new chips come out. For the record, the PCMag notes that the M4 boosts AI performance by a significant percentage, while SixColors did benchmarks to show that it was overall faster than the M3 processor. So, the performance gains are quite good and worthy of praise all on their own.
However, the inclusion of the M4 took a backseat to another performance-related upgrade that users and reviewers alike have been begging Apple to include for a few years now.
That change is the upgrade to 16GB of RAM on the base model of the MacBook Air M4. This is a big deal, as prior base models made do with 8GB. In a fast-paced technological landscape where a single browser tab can eat a couple of GB worth of RAM and AI applications can take up even more, doubling the RAM on the most budget-friendly models signals that Apple really does listen to its customers sometimes. Every reviewer we saw praised the change.
Better cameras, better displays
The one big change to Apple’s formula that reviewers talked about was the upgraded front-facing camera. It has been upgraded to 12 MP from the 1080p camera that was featured on the MacBook Air M3. Along with the boost to the megapixels, the webcam also features Apple’s Center Stage and Desk View features.
Desk View uses the wide angle on the 12 MP camera to show your face and your desktop at the same time, while Center Stage uses that same wide angle to keep the user centered in the frame while in voice calls. Some reviewers like Wired and MKBHD turned the software features off, but Wired was appreciative of the higher resolution.
Mashable Light Speed
It’s a small thing, but Ars Technica noted the differences in quality are noticeable if you look close enough. SixColors noted that the camera is much better in low light than its predecessor. In short, the new webcam is sharper and better, albeit not by a whole bunch. However, it does keep pace with the MacBook Pro M4, which received the same upgrade when it came out last year.
In addition, nearly every review praised the MacBook Air for its newfound ability to connect two 6K displays at 60 Hz without needing to turn the internal display off.
The price tag is on point
The big narrative that all reviewers enjoyed was that Apple kept the base price of the MacBook Air M4 reasonable. It starts at the same price as the MacBook Air M3, which is $999 for the 13-inch model and $1,199 for the 15-inch model.
Reviewers praised Apple for keeping the price the same between generations. In prior years, the price for a base MacBook Air has fluctuated quite a bit. The MacBook Air M1 went for the usual $999 before Apple bumped up the price for the M2 to $1,199. This was a complaint several people had at the time, and Apple brought the price back down to $999 for the M3 model and appears to be keeping it for the M4 model as well.
So, in short, you can get all of the above upgrades along with Apple’s already excellent design, screen, and speakers for under $1,000 before tax. Most reviewers agree that this makes it the best MacBook for typical use and that an upgrade to a MacBook Pro is only really needed for more hardcore use cases.
4 things reviewers didn’t like about the MacBook Air M4
No product is perfect, even if it’s from Apple, and reviewers made sure to issue grievances to make sure people know that. Reviewers noted a few disappointments, although none of them appear to be deal-breakers. In any case, let’s not bury the lede too far here and get right into it.
That blue ain’t blue
Apple introduced a new Sky Blue colorway for the MacBook Air M4, and its reception has been lukewarm at best. Virtually all reviewers note that it’s basically a cold silver color, or silver with just a hint of blue. In fact, here at Mashable we had to put the blue MacBook Air next to a standard silver MacBook to see the difference, as it’s not immediately evident under certain lighting conditions.
That isn’t to say that it looks bad, but some reviewers wished the blue had been a bit more saturated. Gizmodo compared the blue to Microsoft’s Surface Pro and noted that the Pro was what they would consider blue, whereas the sky blue MacBook was more silver with a blue tint. CNN wrote in its review that it would’ve called the color ice blue instead of sky blue.
While all reviewers noted the subtlety of the blue, not all of them disliked it. Ars Technica said they liked the subtle blue as an extra option alongside Apple’s three typical colors. Wired noted that the sky blue color made them wish Apple had even more color options to compete with the classic Apple silver, gold, and black. In short, we recommend looking at it in a store before buying so you know what kind of blue you’re getting.
The RAM is good, but not the storage
Several reviewers noted that while Apple finally increased the RAM to 16GB, the storage remained at a less-than-stellar 256 GB on the base model MacBook Air M4. The issue here is fairly evident. That amount of storage simply doesn’t get you as far as it used to.
There are myriad reasons for this depending on how you use your laptop. Modern AI applications can take up dozens of GBs, if not more, with add-ons and extras. Modern MacBooks also come with AI Intelligence baked in, which eats into the storage before users have a chance to install anything. Software isn’t getting any smaller either.
Anyone shopping for a MacBook Air and thinking of taking Apple up on any of its expensive upgrades, storage might be the first one we’d look to do.
It’s a boring laptop
It’s unreasonable to expect a flashy new product every 365 days, but that doesn’t make it any less boring when companies don’t do it. While most reviewers praised Apple for putting together a complete package, there isn’t too much about the MacBook Air M4 that separates it from the MacBook Air M3 (or even the M2) except for the upgrades listed above.
Thus, a lot of the pros and cons are the same as in prior years. The latest MacBook Air has the same number of ports (sans the addition of a MagSafe charging port), the same scissor-switch chicklet keyboard, the same large but exceptionally functional trackpad, and the same overall design.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it didn’t give reviewers a lot to latch onto when it came to reviewing the laptop. Ars Technica noted that they had no additional notes, while MKBHD called his review of the MacBook Air M4 “too easy.” CNN said it was “the best boring laptop” they’d ever used. It’s still quite good, but MacBook M2 or M3 users looking for something more splashy will have to look to the MacBook Pro to get something super different.
The 15-inch model is more comfortable
This one isn’t specific to the MacBook Air M4, but a few reviewers said that they would prefer the 15-inch model over the 13-inch model for the sake of comfort. Namely, CNET and CNN noted that they used the 15-inch model more during reviews. (Full disclosure: CNET is owned by Ziff Davis, the same parent company as Mashable.) The reason is that the 15-inch model can fit more stuff on the screen comfortably, while the keyboard deck is a little bigger, allowing for more comfortable use.
This isn’t intrinsic to Apple, though, and is a common theme among smaller laptops. There are plenty of good 13-inch laptops on the market, and they’re superior for portability, especially for students and business travelers. However, there is no denying that those extra two inches of space make for a more comfortable experience. So, if you’re shopping around, make sure to try out both to see if you can live with the 13-inch model.
