New M4 MacBook Air: 6 Key Things You Should Know

iea96 said:
Still no compelling reason to upgrade from my M1 MBA. Will consider when they get rid of the notch and switch the screen to OLED. So around 2037 I'm guessing...
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Modern design with larger (and brighter) display in smaller chassis, MagSafe, much more powerful CPU and GPU, far superior webcam with center stage, better speakers, better microphones, support for multiple external displays, WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 vs WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5, etc.

It's actually a MASSIVE upgrade...
 
MacRumorUser78 said:
A cellular modem would be nice, but then using iPhone hotspot saves $120 a year or more. If you used it all the time cellular would be great. iPad has had cellular option for a long time.
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Agreed! I always bought Watches and iPads with the cellular upgrades to have max capabilities and "resale value," but then I always got stingy at the thought of additional data plans. AND I never bother to sell old stuff, thus negating the resale argument. In the rare instances where I need service but don't have wifi access, I now use my phone hotspot, so I will no longer waste $$ on any cellular upgrades.
 
Overall very happy with the new Macbook Air. With a cheaper price, it gets better camera and proper support for two external displays. The new colour seems to be good too. Planning on buying sometime during this year.
 
I have a 2020 MBP 1TB and 32GB of Ram that works fine.

Should I upgrade? Will the speed boost be worth it? Apple will give me $345 for my current one.
I don't use the MBP for video or photo processing. Use the iMAC for that.

Thank you.
 
Anaxarxes said:
In 2025 asking for USB-A? Even in 2020 it'd be a strech but suuuure.
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We know there is zero chance. It would be Apple admitting they made an error to begin excluding it from products as long ago as 2015. Backtracking is not the Apple way, even though including just one solitary USB-A port would be zero skin off their back. But their stubbornness doesn't stop there being countless millions of USB-A devices old and new which won't natively connect to any current Macbook, Mac Mini or iMac, without dongles.
 
MajorFubar said:
We know there is zero chance. It would be Apple admitting they made an error to begin excluding it from products as long ago as 2015. Backtracking is not the Apple way, even though including just one solitary USB-A port would be zero skin off their back. But their stubbornness doesn't stop there being countless millions of USB-A devices old and new which won't natively connect to any current Macbook, Mac Mini or iMac, without dongles.
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Asking for USB-A ports on a new device is simple mental in 2025

MacBooks do not include a DVDRW or CDRW drive anymore? They done have vga out not IR receivers?

What are you on about? USBa to c converters are simply 1 USD on Amazon. Literally the world has gone to s*** with people complaining about everything.

Hope Apple adopts wireless usb and make MacBook Air portless. Average broadband or AirDrop is fast enough to share files.
 
Why can't I plug in a THIRD display if I close the lid? Any PC laptop worth its value can do this in 2025. It's not the early 2Ks any more, Tim Apple.
 
MajorFubar said:
They exclude legacy ports because of 'Courage'
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They exclude legacy ports because of various reasons including space/dimensions, cost, competing bandwith with thunderbolt ports and because… wait, are we still discussing this in 2025?!
 
MajorFubar said:
We know there is zero chance. It would be Apple admitting they made an error to begin excluding it from products as long ago as 2015. Backtracking is not the Apple way, even though including just one solitary USB-A port would be zero skin off their back.
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They added HDMI, SD, and MagSafe back to the Pros and MagSafe to the Air; and the Minis and Studios have legacy ports so you're not exactly correct.
 
Anaxarxes said:
Hope Apple adopts wireless usb and make MacBook Air portless. Average broadband or AirDrop is fast enough to share files.
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I guess that might be fine for little children using it as a toy. There’s a billion scenarios why people need computers physically tethered to things, which any kind of wireless USB would be hopeless for. Just because you’re too narrow minded to think of them shouldn’t force these people to buy a potentially-over-specified MacBook Pro.

EDIT: I mean it’s barely five minutes since some people were complaining bitterly that MBAs couldn’t use two external monitors. Can’t wait for those people to react your dumb idea.
 
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aevan said:
They exclude legacy ports because of various reasons including space/dimensions, cost, competing bandwith with thunderbolt ports and because… wait, are we still discussing this in 2025?!
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Ok on the one hand my throwaway comment is now being blow up out of context. Lack of USB-A is not a huge drama it once was.

But...can we stop posting strawman arguments like this to try to justify it? I can walk into Curry’s and buy a £300 new Windows laptop with a USB-A port. But not a Macbook. Because apparently it would compromise some design-aspect or rob bandwidth elsewhere. I call bull on that. Additionally, folks like me aren't asking to have our Macbook come with wax-cylinder writers like it's 1901: loads of stuff out there brand new still comes with USB-A connectivity, not least most memory sticks.

EDIT: But yeah. Context time. As time passes it’s less of an issue than it was ten years ago. But that doesn’t take away the fact that including a port would be no issue for Apple whatsoever.
 
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darngooddesign said:
They added HDMI, SD, and MagSafe back to the Pros and MagSafe to the Air; and the Minis and Studios have legacy ports so you're not exactly correct.
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You're right. And I bet somewhere at Apple HQ, the bruises on their shins from backpedalling still sting.
(Mini no longer has USB-A though.)
 
AppleFanBoyCAN said:
Why do they keep limiting the nicest colors to non-premium products! I want a sky blue MacBook Pro!
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Professionals "want" conservative colours, according to manufacturers...

To be honest, I'd have liked my MacBook Pro to be in Desert Titanium, like my iPhone 16 Pro or Starlight, like my iPad Air... But the black is very nice all the same.
 
Belisama said:
+1
The only feature I miss is the "12MP Center Stage Camera", but when necessary I use my iPhone as a webcam and it's even better (and more flexible).
The battery of my 2020 M1 MBA is still is excellent condition, possibly thanks to AlDente. MacOS is fully functional.
I hope the next major design update will be notch-free, with a better display and even better battery life. This persistent and antediluvian notch is really a bummer.
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I'll be looking at replacing my work Air next week. The M1 is slowing down noticeably with each update. With Big Sur it was fine, but with Sequoia it beach balls a lot now, something my private MBP M4 Pro doesn't do, naturally.

In my case, I'm guessing I'm just pushing it too hard, the company bought an 8GB model for an MDM project then never used it, so when my Windows laptop died, I grabbed the Air. But with Parallels, Brave, Safari, Outlook, TeamViewer, Microsoft Windows App (RDP client), ELO, Teams, SwyxIt! (telephone), Adobe Reader, Word and Excel it struggles sometimes. Luckily I hardly need Parallels any more, just for a bit of testing now and then, but even so it is hitting its limits more regularly now.
 
MacRumorUser78 said:
But $200 to go from 16GB to 24MB. Assuming I am reading the store page correctly.
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You are, sort of... The 24GB is only available with the higher end processor (more GPU cores), so it isn't just a RAM upgrade, but it is still an expensive upgrade.

MacRumorUser78 said:
Thinking about upgrading M1 MBA and other than a speed bump, no compelling features. Not trying to start a discussion war, but I suspect most people won't care or notice the changes in practice. And would we miss those features five years out?
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I went from an M1 mini to an MBP M4 Pro, okay, Pro makes a bit more of a difference, but for the workloads I was running, the differences are very noticeable - photo editing, virtual machines etc. Windows on ARM in Parallels is orders of magnitude faster.

My company Air also only has 8GB and that is the limiting factor, which is making that crawl - the mini had 16GB and was appreciably faster, mainly because it wasn't beachballing all the time.
 
Anaxarxes said:
In 2025 asking for USB-A? Even in 2020 it'd be a strech but suuuure.
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I have a keyboard (2024), microphone (2023) and webcam (2021) which are all USB-A. That said, they are all plugged into a Thunderbolt 4 docking station and I don't need any of them when on the move. Everything else I have is USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 or 4.
 
Big_D said:
I have a bunch of adapters, uGreen and Anker, around 8€ for 2 on Amazon...
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Yeah but they really don't want you using those lol. Someone at Apple right now is deeply bitter that they can't patch the OS to stop the machines from recognising them, same way they used to do with third-party unlicenced Lightning adapters.
 
Belisama said:
No.

"Pro" products must be black, or gray.

In The World According to Tim, "pros" don't need colors. Pros are serious people. Serious people don't need colors.

Kapish?
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Pros that need colour accuracy prefer that their work environment not interfere with perception.
They could still offer neon colours for the fanboys who basically use pro devices to play on social media.
 
Note that the new 13-inch and 14-inch MacBook Air
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It’s still 13-inch and 15-inch, right? Especially considering you later say:
The 15-inch model starts at $1,199, maintaining the same price point as its M3 predecessor.
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…except the 15-inch M3 started at $1299, right??
 
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