The MacBook Air M4 launched March 2025. £999 starting, 16GB RAM standard (up from 8GB), 256GB SSD. For most people this is the laptop they should buy.
Why not the Pro
Three reasons people buy the Pro: more performance, more screen, more ports. None of them apply to most users.
Source: Self-tested on M3 Air and M4 Air, identical projects
Performance gap is real but it shows up in specific workloads (heavy compilation, sustained video work). Web development, day-to-day office work, light creative tools: indistinguishable.
What you give up versus the Pro
Two USB-C ports instead of three. No SD card slot. 13.6-inch screen instead of 14.2-inch mini-LED. No ProMotion 120Hz (Air is 60Hz). Slightly fewer GPU cores. Speakers are good, not great.
What you get
A 1.24kg laptop that lasts 18 hours of light work, runs absolutely silent (no fan), and costs £600 less than the equivalent Pro.
The 16GB RAM upgrade
Apple finally raised the base RAM from 8 to 16. This was the biggest single complaint about previous Airs and they fixed it. 16GB is plenty for typical use; 24GB upgrade is cheap if you want headroom[1].
Who should still buy the Pro
Video editors. iOS engineers who compile big Swift projects. Anyone who connects to two external 4K displays. Photographers shooting RAW who want sustained performance without thermal throttling.
For everyone else: Air. Stop overspending on features you will not use.
About the data
A note on what the numbers in this post represent so you can read them with the right confidence:
- "My own bench" rows are personal measurements on my own hardware. They are honest about my setup and reproducible there, but they should not be treated as universal benchmark scores.
- Benchmark numbers attributed to public sources (Geekbench Browser, DXOMARK, NotebookCheck, FIA timing) are illustrative — the trend is what matters, not the third decimal place. Cross-check against the source for anything you would act on financially.
- Client outcomes and ROI percentages in business-focused posts are anonymised composites drawn from my own consulting work. Real numbers, real direction, sanitised so individual clients are not identifiable.
- Foldable crease-depth and similar engineering measurements are estimates pulled from teardown reports and reviewer claims; manufacturers do not publish these directly.
- Forecasts and "what I bet" lines are exactly that — opinions, not predictions with a track record yet.
If you spot a number that contradicts a source you trust, tell me — I would rather correct it than be the chart that was off by 6 percent and pretended otherwise.