Apple MacBook Air M4 vs MacBook Air M1: Finally time to upgrade?
Intro
Apple's MacBook Air M4 went official earlier this month, and it appears this one might finally end the reign of the very first MacBook Air with the M1 chipset. Why?
Simply because it offers so many changes and upgrades in comparison with the Godfather of Apple Silicon that it finally makes sense to lay down the old fellow and upgrade to the newer base MacBook.
With the latest MacBook Air, Apple has boosted the value of its entry-level laptops to significantly higher levels, giving us more of everything: much faster chip, more external display capabilities, more configurable storage and chip configuration options, as well as a new color, and the price hasn't moved from its $999 starting position.
MacBook Air M4 vs MacBook Air M1 differences explained:
| MacBook Air M4 | MacBook Air M1 |
|---|---|
| Modern flatter design language, similar to the MacBook Pro line | The last one with the old-school tapered design language |
| Available in two sizes, 13-inch and 15-inch | Only available in a single 13-inch version |
| 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch 60Hz Liquid Retina display with 2560 x 1664 resolution | 13.3-inch 60Hz Retina display with 2560 x 1600 resolution |
| 500 nits peak brightness and display notch | 400 nits peak brightness but no display notch |
| Apple M4 chip (10-core CPU, up to 10-core GPU, 3nm) | Apple M1 chip (8-core CPU, up to 8-core GPU, 5nm) |
| Apple Intelligence support | Apple Intelligence support |
| Up to 32GB unified memory | Up to 16GB unified memory |
| Four (13-inch) or six (15-inch) speakers Spatial Audio support | Dual stereo speakers |
| 2x Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports 3.5mm audio jack | 2x Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 ports 3.5mm audio jack |
| MagSafe charging port 30W USB-C power adapter (13-inch M4 w/ 8-core GPU) 35W USB-C power adapter (13-inch M4 w/ 10-core GPU or 15-inch) | No MagSafe charging port 30W USB-C power adapter |
| Fast-charging capable with 70W+ wall adapter | Not fast-charging capable |
| Supports two external displays with up to 6K resolution | Supports one external display with up to 6K resolution |
| 12MP 1080p FaceTime camera with Center Stage | 720p FaceTime camera |
| Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.3 | Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Starting at $999 (13-inch), $1199 (15-inch) | Starting at $999 (13-inch) |
| Sky Blue Silver Starlight Midnight | Space Gray Silver Gold |
Table of Contents:
Design
Steady design evolution
Apple's MacBook Air laptops have employed a very similar design language for the past three years, one that's similar to the MacBook Pro. It's a uniform slab unibody with fairly flat sides curving towards the bottom plate. The 13-inch one is 1.13 cm thin, while the 15-inch one poetically measures 1.15 cm.
The display, on the other hand, enjoys fairly thin bezels and boasts a display notch that houses the front FaceTime camera. It's also now a unique design feature that differentiate the new MacBook Airs from the older laptops and brings design synergy with the MacBook Pro line.
The compact design has remained a staple of the MacBook Air lineup (Image Credit-Apple)
In stark contrast, the very first MacBook Air with an M1 chip still flaunted the older Apple laptop style. It came with a very tapered aluminum unibody that's thicker at the rear but becomes gradually thinner towards the front, from 1.61 cm to 0.41 cm.
It's a classic look that has dated fairly well, but is right now the outlier in Apple's design language and somewhat looks odd when compared with the slightly more uniform newer Apple laptops.
It also has an uninterrupted Retina screen with no display notch, but a fairly thick top bezel.
The newer laptop is slightly lighter, with the 13-inch version weighing just 1.24 kg, while the 13-inch MacBook with M1 weighed 1.29 kg. The 15-inch version of the newer tablet tips the scales at 1.51 kg.
Apple's move away from the butterfly-switch keyboard has been a great one (Image Credit–Apple)
Both laptops feature similar 78/79-button backlit keyboards with scissor switches with 12 function keys, and the spacious Force Touch trackpad that supports Multi-Touch. Both laptops feature Touch ID embedded right into the power button.
Ports
In terms of I/O ports, we get better variety on the MacBook Air M4, though utter minimalism rules supreme here. It boasts dual Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports that support charging, DisplayPort output, as well as data throughput speeds of up to 40Gb/s. You can also hook up two external screens with up to 6K resolution with the MacBook Air M4, a first for the MacBook Air lineup.
MacBook Air M4 is better equipped in terms of I/O ports (Image Credit-Apple)
There's also a third-generation MagSafe charger that supports fast charging with a compatible wall adapter, as well as a dedicated 3.5mm audio jack on the opposite side of the body.
Things were a bit more spartan with the MacBook Air M1. It had dual Thunderbolt 3 ports with USB 4 support that also support charging and DisplayPort output, as well as similar up to 40GB/s data throughput speeds. You can only hook up one external monitor here, also with up to 6K resolution. A 3.5mm on the opposite side is also available.
Display
The MacBook Air M4 comes with a 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina screen, while the older device features a 13.3-inch Retina one. What's the main difference? Well, it's the corners: Liquid Retina indicated rounded ones, while the Retina screen has regular right-edged corners.
Thanks to the notched display, you get 64 extra vertical pixels on the MacBook Air M4, eking out a resolution of 2560 by 1664 pixels, while the older laptop has a 2560 by 1600-pixel screen. The 15-inch model boasts a higher 2880 x 1864 resolution.
| MacBook Air M4 | MacBook Air M1 |
|---|---|
| Peak brightness 500 nits | Peak brightness 400 nits |
| Display Size 13.6-inch 15.3-inch | Display Size 13.3-inch |
| Display resolution 2560 x 1664 (13") 2880 x 1864 (15") | Display resolution 2560 x 1600 |
The rest of the specs are fairly similar: support for Apple's True Tone display tech, wide-color P3 and >100% sRGB color spaces. The newer device has a brighter screen, with Apple advertising a 500-nit peak brightness, whereas the MacBook Air M1 boasts a dimmer 400-nit one.
Unlike the MacBook Pro line, there's no proper HDR support on no screen here. However, both will output an HDR signal to a compatible external screen that will let you view the content as intended.
Performance & Memory
How does the latest M4 chip compares against the granddaddy of them all, the ubiquitous M1?
You've read that a hundred times, but Apple really changed the game with its Apple Silicon lineup of desktop-grade chips. Based on the ARM architecture (RISC) and not the x86 (CISC) that Intel still uses, Apple's M chips offer excellent efficiency and superb performance. Both of those go a long way in a laptop.
The first M1 chip was truly a revelation when it landed, elevating the MacBook Air from a niche product to a surprising challenger that rivaled dedicated gaming laptops when it came to performance. Nearly five years in, and it has aged beautifully, with most laptops using it still perfectly capable.
This created a funny problem for Apple: the M1 was so good that people didn't really find it necessary to upgrade to a MacBook with a newer version of the chipset. Sure, the performance gains were there, but for regular usage, the Apple M1 remains a completely adequate chip even to this day.
| Apple M4 Chip | Apple M1 Chip |
|---|---|
| 10-core CPU (4 performance @4.41GHz, 6 efficiency cores @2.59GHz) | 8-core CPU (4 performance @3.2GHz, 4 efficiency cores @2.1GHz) |
| 28 billion transistors | 16 billion transistors |
| 3nm | 5nm |
| Up to 10-core GPU | 7 or 8-core GPU |
| 16-core Neural Engine | 16-core Neural Engine |
| 120GB/s memory bandwidth | Not specified |
| Hardware-accelerated ray tracing | - |
| Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW | Hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC |
| ProRes encode and decode engine | - |
| AV1 decode | - |
The Apple M1 is an octa-core chip with quad performance and quad efficiency cores, a seven- or eight-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine, which supports Apple Intelligence. The newer Apple M4 is a deca-core chip with quad performance and six efficiency cores, up to 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine as well, with Apple Intelligence support as well.
A major difference between the two chipset families is the manufacturing technology: 5nm on the original Apple M1 and 3nm on the M4.
The difference is palpable in both real-life scenarios and in synthetic benchmarks:
| Chipset | Geekbench Single-Core Score | Geekbench Multi-Core Score |
|---|---|---|
| Apple M4 (10-core CPU) | 3692 | 14819 |
| Apple M3 (8-core CPU) | 3043 | 11687 |
| Apple M2 (8-core CPU) | 2596 | 9728 |
| Apple M1 (8-core CPU) | 2346 | 8356 |
One important peculiarity of the MacBook Air that's usually a strength, but occasionally a weakness, is the lack of a built-in fan to cool down the hardware assembly. That's a feature reserved for the MacBook Pro line. During intensive use and when gaming, the MacBook Air won't be able to dissipate heat that good, which could lead to thermal throttling and lowered performance.
The MacBook Air M4 is available with 16, 24, or 32GB of RAM, which is shared between the CPU and GPU. Storage-wise, you can get the device with a 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or a 2TB SSD inside.
At the same time, the MacBook Air with M1 came with either 8 or 16GB of unified memory, as well as the same 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage variants.
Software
Both the MacBook Air M4 and MacBook Air M1 currently run macOS 15.3 Sequoia. It debuted Apple Intelligence features on the MacBook, iPhone Mirroring, as well as an improved Safari, and improved gaming capabilities thanks to GPTK 2, which enables advanced game emulation.
The MacBook Air M1 landed with macOS Big Sur, but also went through Monterey, Ventura, and Sonoma.
macOS Sequoia introduced many Apple Intelligence features to Apple's desktop OS. Pictured here are some of the Writing Tools capabilities (Image Credit-Apple)
We don't know how long Apple will support the MacBook Air M1, which is… a good thing. So far, no Mac computer with Apple Silicon has been dropped from the macOS support list, so the longer we postpone that inevitable outcome, the better.
Apple supported most of its Intel-based MacBooks for at least seven years, so an even longer period than that is mostly a given with all Apple Silicon-based laptops.
As we mentioned, Apple Intelligence is supported on all Apple Silicon laptops. You get access to Writing Tools, ChatGPT integration, Image Playground, and Genmoji. However, we will have to wait a lot for the smarter Siri, possibly coming in 2027.
As we mentioned, Apple Intelligence is supported on all Apple Silicon laptops. You get access to Writing Tools, ChatGPT integration, Image Playground, and Genmoji. However, we will have to wait a lot for the smarter Siri, possibly coming in 2027.
Battery and Charging
Despite the efficiency advancements, the official battery life figures of these two MacBook Air generations remain the same: Apple claims up to 15 hours when browsing the web or up to 18 hours when streaming video. That said, the newer laptops come with larger batteries: 53.8Wh Li-Po for the 13-inch Air M4 and a 66.5Wh one on the 15-inch version, while the older Air M1 came with a 49.9Wh battery.
Charging-wise, the older device is severely handicapped, as it doesn't come with a dedicated MagSafe port. This means you need to dedicate one port for charging; while you can use a dedicated USB-C hub to alleviate this issue, it's not as "clean" as having a dedicated MagSafe port. That's the case with the newer MacBook Air M4, which means you can always have two free Thunderbolt ports at your disposal.
The older laptop doesn't support fast charging either. The new Air M4 can fast-charge when you hook it to a 70W+ wall adapter.
With the new laptop, you get either a 30W or a 35W wall adapter in the box, along with a braided USB-C cable; the MacBook Air M1 also came with a 30W charger in the box.
Audio and camera
We had dual stereo speakers on the MacBook Air M1, while the newer laptop features quad stereo speakers in the 13-inch or six speakers in the larger 15-inch variation and supports Spatial Audio.
It may sound like a gross oversimplification, but the more speakers you have, the better audio you get. The 15-inch MacBook Air is naturally the best-sounding one, as it has force-cancelling woofers for a room-filling deep and rich bass. The quad speakers on the regular model also sound just as good, it's just the bass that's slightly lacking.
Finally, the older MacBook sounds okay, but nowhere near as impressive as its successors.
The MacBook Air M4 comes with a 12MP FaceTime camera that supports 1080p video as well as the Center Stage feature, which intelligently keeps your face in the center of the frame. The older MacBook only had a 720p FaceTime camera with lower quality.
Which one should you buy? Should you upgrade?
Well, if you're wondering which MacBook Air to get, there's little doubt that you should go for the latest one.
It's the current culmination of the MacBook Air formula, with the best features and hardware on an Air so far. At its starting price of $999, it's a no-brainer to get this one.
Meanwhile, it doesn't really make sense to scour high and low for a second-hand MacBook Air M1. While great and still perfectly adequate, it won't be too long before that one gets a bit too old in the teeth. Getting one in 2025 doesn't make a lot whole of sense.
But should you upgrade to a new MacBook Air M4 if you have a MacBook Air M1? If you find that your laptop is already lacking in a certain area or no longer capable of fulfilling your needs, then the new MacBook Air M4 is the perfect laptop to upgrade to.
In all other cases, you can probably wait an extra year or two.
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