Apple launches new MacBook Air with M4 chip

1 week ago 4

Apple on Wednesday introduced a new MacBook Air on its website, offering improved performance while retaining the familiar design. The new laptop is equipped with Apple’s M4 chip, the most recent addition to the M-series chip lineup.

The MacBook Air comes in two sizes. Customers can choose between a 13-inch and a 15-inch display. Pricing starts at $999 for the 13-inch model, which is $100 lower than the previous entry price of $1,099. Pre-orders open today and shipments start on Wednesday, March 12.

This update maintains 16GB of RAM in the base configuration, unchanged from last year’s model. This means that the entry-level MacBook Air still meets the minimum requirements for Apple Intelligence. Customers can upgrade built-in memory to 32GB when purchasing the laptop.

Previous MacBook Air models had two Thunderbolt 3 ports. Apple still offers two Thunderbolt ports, but it is upgrading those ports to Thunderbolt 4. With those ports, you can plug up to two external displays and keep the built-in display running. Customers also get a MagSafe 3 charging port and a good old 3.5mm headphone jack port.

The webcam has been upgraded and now supports Center Stage, a software feature that puts the person currently talking in the center of the frame. Apple also offers a brand new color called sky blue. The three other colors (midnight, starlight, and silver) are still available.

While the MacBook Air is lighter and more affordable than the MacBook Pro, these advantages come with some trade-offs. For instance, the MacBook Pro offers longer battery life and boasts a nicer mini-LED display with higher pixel density.

Despite these differences, the MacBook Air remains one of the top-selling laptops due to its good balance between performance and price. Although the M4 update isn’t a radical change, it is likely to maintain strong sales, similar to the M3 MacBook Air.

Apple first introduced the M4 chip with the iPad Pro

in May 2024. Over the past year, the company has gradually transitioned its product lineup to the M4 chip, with the MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and iMac now featuring M4 chips or their Pro and Max variants.

Romain Dillet is a Senior Reporter at TechCrunch. He has written over 3,000 articles on technology and tech startups and has established himself as an influential voice on the European tech scene. He has a deep background in startups, privacy, security, fintech, blockchain, mobile, social and media. With twelve years of experience at TechCrunch, he’s one of the familiar faces of the tech publication that obsessively covers Silicon Valley and the tech industry. In fact, his career started at TechCrunch when he was 21. Based in Paris, many people in the tech ecosystem consider him as the most knowledgeable tech journalist in town. Romain likes to spot important startups before anyone else. He was the first person to cover N26, Revolut and DigitalOcean. He has written scoops on large acquisitions from Apple, Microsoft and Snap. When he’s not writing, Romain is also a developer — he understands how the tech behind the tech works. He also has a deep historical knowledge of the computer industry for the past 50 years. He knows how to connect the dots between innovations and the effect on the fabric of our society. Romain graduated from Emlyon Business School, a leading French business school specialized in entrepreneurship. He has helped several non-profit organizations, such as StartHer, an organization that promotes education and empowerment of women in technology, and Techfugees, an organization that empowers displaced people with technology.

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