Gurman: M4 MacBook Air Models to Launch by March 'At the Latest'

[switz]

Over the many years I have been around, the programming has changed from machine code to different "languages" which has resulted in larger programs and then new features are added and the program grows some more. That is just the disk space. The amount of memory required to run the program and include the data files in use has also continued to grow.

As many have found out to their chagrin that the minimum memory last year is not enough this year.

The term "future proof" means to me that I acquire the maximum memory on offer for machines with low memory size choices so it will still be relevant some undetermined years down the road. Back when we could do both a memory and storage swap to larger capacities, the initial choices could be upgraded as needed. Now there are no after market choices as all is soldered into place. One can acquire external drives, but the transfer speeds for data are no where near the buss speeds inside the box so the interface between the drive and computer becomes the data bottleneck for doing work that requires more disk (or SSD) space.

I will be 80 in a few more weeks and my computer purchase could easily last longer than me and still be useful to whomever gets it it when I am gone.

I have never seen a U-Haul behind the hearse so I am not taking this stuff with me.

 

[Mac-key]

Mine just keeps on truckin' 😂

My only laptop usage is occasional travel, so it's hard to justify replacing it

When I do, though, it's probably going to be a gently preowned one that's "a chip behind"

I like your thinking! iPowerresale has some very nice deals on some M3 MacBook pro's.

 

[picpicmac]

I have never seen a U-Haul behind the hearse so I am not taking this stuff with me.

Amen.

Also to note: if one wants to run the full DeepSeek R1 then one needs a half terabyte of RAM for it. I wish Apple made such a Mac (they did briefly years ago) but alas not with the current system.

It should be possible to make an M series that can have 512GB of RAM (that's a lot of lpDDR chips, probably 16 if one can get 32GB lpDDR chips) but doing so will take up a lot of the SoC area for memory controllers.

Still, we can dream of the return of the Terabyte Mac.

 

[brilliantthings]

I'm bouncing between the 14" Pro and 15" Air. Enjoy that new MBP!

15" is such a great screen size

 

[switz]

Had the 16” 2019 Intel MacBook Pro fully spaced out. Lots of fan noise and heat but was the best if the time. Jumped on the 14” M1 Max fully loaded. What a jump in performance and portability. That morphed into my 16” M4 Max fully speed with nano screen. Larger screen is easier on my eyes with larger text.

Glad I have had the chance to acquire this.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Larger screen is easier on my eyes with larger text.

Truer words have never been spoken

 

[brgjoe]

Good. Maybe the M2 15" Macbook air might get a further price cut. I have an M3 16" Macbook Pro which I really do like. And while it isn't necessarily onerous to pack up and take on the road, it sits on my desk more and more lately.

So something like a 15" Air with that larger screen than my iPad would make a pretty decent machine to travel with.

 

[Nibo10]

Let's get 'em out so I can decide between an M4 Air and Pro and upgrade my M1 Mini. Make it so, Tim.

On same boat but I couldn't take it anymore; pulled the trigger for the pro.

 

[Realityck]

On same boat but I couldn't take it anymore; pulled the trigger for the pro.

The display is totally worth the price of admission. Then you have a fan at least. Weight wise 15” to 14” about .1 lb more.

 

[Nibo10]

The display is totally worth the price of admission. Then you have a fan at least. Weight wise 15” to 14” about .1 lb more.

I agree, my reasoning was around the display. I also have a bit of changed circumstances so no need to daily carry it in my bag.

 

[TechRunner]

On same boat but I couldn't take it anymore; pulled the trigger for the pro.

I'm leaning that way for the screen (photo editing), but I recently upgraded to a color calibrated monitor so it's not as critical as it was before. I'll compare them side by side at an Apple store, then decide. Enjoy your new MBP!

 

[TechRunner]

15" is such a great screen size

It's the biggest consideration for me in possibly going with the Air. I have a 15" Dell XPS 9510 and the screen size is just right for me. But the MBP screen is better for photo editing, so I'll be comparing side-by-side once the M4 Air is released, then pulling the trigger on one.

 

[Big_D]

I still have no reason at all to update my M1 Air, but yeah hopefully these models keep upping the RAM so that when I do need to update its at a decent level.

Until Sequoia it was the same here. But I was always pushing it close to the limit (8GB running a WoA VM + Office + Teams, TeamViewer, RDP, VOIP and a few other things) and since the update it beachballs a lot, especially with Outlook.

 

[Junior117]

I actually only have 8GB in my M1 Air, and it’s still blazing fast doing all of those things. Just not all at the same time 😉

Would I be better off with 16GB? Yes, undoubtedly. But I doubt there’d be any noticeable difference in going to 24 or 32GB.

Yes, more RAM makes the Mac more future proof. However Apple’s RAM upgrades are so insanely expensive that I genuinely believe you are better off just saving your money and instead upgrading more often.

That is fair. And like I said before, I understand where this statement is coming from and it's true in many cases for various groups of people. This is a valid response. However, for my personal needs, I've realized that I do, in fact, need at least 32 GB of RAM.

Unless you have any ideas of how to reduce the RAM of a virtual machine without affecting the virtual machine's performance, I'm not exactly in a position to simply coast on by with 16 GB (well, not anymore; back when M1 Macs were the most powerful, I was able to do it, but the apps I use demand more RAM, unfortunately). Attached is what my Mac deals with on a typical day. This isn't ideal: I should invest in 32 GB. But most aren't me: most people aren't running Ubuntu Linux in a VM (I use it to quickly build and run Swift code to make sure my project runs on Linux), alongside Xcode (or VS Code), alongside running 100+ tabs in Safari because you're struggling to fix this one damn problem with your code (happens too often).

That said, I suppose I demand too much for my Mac at the same time.

 

[thefrost]

Mark Gurman really wants to make sure that he is not wrong! If he wanted to be 100% sure, he would say "at some point this year"!

 

[Falhófnir]

Haven't been keeping up with the rumour mill, is it definitely nailed on to be a M4, or is there a chance Apple could pull an M4 iPad Pro and Launch the Air with the M5 chip?

 

[Otwer22]

Haven't been keeping up with the rumour mill, is it definitely nailed on to be a M4, or is there a chance Apple could pull an M4 iPad Pro and Launch the Air with the M5 chip?

Anything is possible, but this seems unlikely .

 

[Reason077]

Haven't been keeping up with the rumour mill, is it definitely nailed on to be a M4, or is there a chance Apple could pull an M4 iPad Pro and Launch the Air with the M5 chip?

I think the best surprise we can hope for in the new MacBook Air might be the rumored display upgrade to an Oxide-TFT LCD panel, which is said to be coming to the Air at some point.

I do wonder why it's taking so long to update the Air. Surely if it was just a simple chip swap from the M3 to the M4, it would have been released already?

 

[Falhófnir]

I think the best surprise we can hope for in the new MacBook Air might be the rumored display upgrade to an Oxide-TFT LCD panel, which is said to be coming to the Air at some point.

I do wonder why it's taking so long to update the Air. Surely if it was just a simple chip swap from the M3 to the M4, it would have been released already?

Oh, I saw the OLED Air rumour was pushed back, does this suggest mini LED for the Air first? That would be ideal IMO! I suppose the M5 was a long shot, but I don't think anyone really saw the M4 coming in the iPad Pro early last year, either. There was some suggestion Apple was sweating the competition a bit more than expected so pulled the timeline for their chip releases up a bit. I suppose the Air is more directly in competition with the M4 Pro, though, so if that's not launching until its usual October timeframe Apple might not want to give the Air a better chip.

 

[Reason077]

Oh, I saw the OLED Air rumour was pushed back, does this suggest mini LED for the Air first? That would be ideal IMO!

Yes, that's exactly what's been suggested. But most likely not this year, unfortunately?

I suspect even if the M5 was ready to ship, they wouldn't put it in the Air first because they wouldn't want the Pro having an older generation chip than the Air. The iPad Pro, on the other hand, is a lower-volume product and it doesn't compete directly with the MacBook Pro, which makes it a good place to debut new chips as they begin their production ramp...