It was a surprise to many that after announcing the MacBook Pro M4 and other computers equipped with the same M4 chip, Apple did not also present the counterparts of the “Air” line. Currently, the M3 MacBook Airs are still the latest to launch, but it'sis about to change.
The leaks clearly indicate that MacBook Air M3 will be announced in just a few months. We won't have to wait until the end of the year to see them with the M5 and in fact, it could debut this spring alongside other highly anticipated devices like the iPhone SE 4 and iPad 11.
How many M4 MacBook Airs will Apple introduce?
As has already been the case since the MacBook Air M2, Apple will once again focus on two MacBook Air models of different sizes. As usual, in each version you can configure one chip or another, add more memory and other accessories. However, there will be two devices as standard.
- 13-inch MacBook Air with M4 chip.
- 15-inch MacBook Air with M4 chip.
What will the design of the MacBook Air M4 be?
This is what the MacBook Air M3s look like and it doesn't look like the M4 is going to change this design.
Although it is not excluded that the weight may increase or decrease slightly due to the components, for visual and practical reasons They will retain the same design as their predecessors. Apple doesn't typically change the design of its laptops every year and given that the “Air” design changed in 2022, it doesn't look like there will be any changes this year.
Where there might be a surprise is in the computer colors. Current M3 models offer the option to purchase them in Midnight, Gold, Space Gray and Silver. Although the latter three seem to continue in the new generation, it is not excluded that midnight will be replaced by another.
Apple MacBook Air 2024 13-inch with M3 Chip: Liquid Retina Display, 8-Core CPU, 8-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 256GB SSD, Touch ID, Midnight
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
Then, regarding the screen, we will find 13.6 and 15.3 inch IPS-LCD panels (although to keep it simple, Apple calls them “13” and “15” respectively). On the panel we could find a brightness higher than the 500 nits of current models, although a little more. They will continue with a 60Hz refresh rate and resolutions of 2560 x 1664 for the 13 and 2880 x 1864 for the larger size. And with a notch in the upper central part.
What processor will the MacBook Air M4 have?
It seems obvious that by calling them “the M4” they wouldn't have this chip. Indeed, they will have it. However, it should be clarified that unlike the MacBook Pro, in these You will not be able to configure an M4 Pro or M4 Max. In this they will be similar to the iMac M4, which only supports this processor.
Now we remember that there is two versions of M4 depending on the kernelsgiven that due to the chip manufacturing process itself, some are still found with disabled cores. And although both are considered M4, they have some differences.
|
M4 CHIP |
M4 CHIP |
|
|---|---|---|
|
MANUFACTURING PROCESS |
3 nanometers (2nd generation) |
3 nanometers (2nd generation) |
|
NUMBER OF TRANSISTORS |
28 billion |
28 billion |
|
PROCESSOR CORE |
8 |
10 |
|
GPU CORE |
8 |
10 |
|
NEURAL MOTOR NUCLEI |
16 |
16 |
|
MAXIMUM ON-BOARD MEMORY |
24 GB |
32 GB |
This processor generally involves having a 25% more speed than the M3. Additionally, it could provide you with increased autonomyalthough for the moment this is unknown.
How much RAM will the MacBook Air M4 have?
Thanks to what we saw in the aforementioned iMac M4 and Mac mini M4, we can guess that the MacBook Air M4 They will start with 16 GB of base memory. It's an open secret since a few months ago Apple withdrew the previous models with 8 GB from the market and they still sold them in its stores.
Therefore, still depending on the type of chip chosen based on the cores, we would have these three integrated memory options:
Needless to say, as is already the case with all Apple Silicon, memory cannot be increased once installed. It is not integrated into the card via its own slot and it is not even soldered there, but rather it is unified with the processor and therefore to change it you have to change the entire SoC.
What other new features will the MacBook Air M4 have?
One of the leaked new features of the MacBook Air M4 is that its 12-megapixel front camera would now offer the function of centered framing and it allows you to follow the person during video calls to always keep them in focus.
Other changes that could be made are related to connectivity and integrating as much as possible of three Thunderbolt 4 ports which would allow them to connect to up to two 4K monitors. However, no changes are expected in the Wi-Fi 6E standard, thus excluding Wi-Fi 7.
What cannot be ruled out is that with macOS 16 they could arrive artificial intelligence news. All MacBooks with an M chip are now compatible with Apple Intelligence and perhaps in the new update they will add new features exclusive to the M4 chip, although this is nothing more than a theory not confirmed at this time.
When will the MacBook Air M4 be released?
Unless there are any surprises, the big launch of these MacBook Air M4s will take place in March. This is expected to be a month in which Apple introduces new devices such as the aforementioned iPhone SE 4, iPad 11 and even a new “HomePod with display” that would actually be Apple's own version of the Amazon Echo Show.
Therefore, it is not yet ruled out that a special event will be broadcast to present all the devices. However, even though they were presented through a press release, what is clear is that They would go on sale the same month. As of yet, Apple hasn't confirmed anything, but it won't be long before we see new signs of it.
How much will the MacBook Air M4 cost?
That's the million dollar question with every new release and unfortunately it's something we won't know until Apple announces it. This data is usually not filtered beforehand, and if it is filtered, it is usually not very reliable. Therefore, we can take the prices of current MacBook Air models as a reference to predict something like this:
MacBook Air M4 13-inch
- From 1,299 dollars in its version with 8 CPU and GPU cores.
- From 1,529 dollars in its version with 10 CPU and GPU cores.
MacBook Air M4 15-inch
- From 11,599 dollars in its version with 8 CPU and GPU cores.
- From 1,829 dollars in its version with 10 CPU and GPU cores.
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