MacBook Air M4 announced: new 'Sky Blue' color, updated webcam, and $100 cheaper
Apple just dropped a new MacBook Air powered by M4, and it's more impressive than we thought it would be
💻 Apple just announced its newest MacBook Air
🦾 The laptop now comes with an M4 chip for improved performance
🎥 There’s also a new 12MP webcam and support for more external displays
📏 It still comes in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes
💵 Apple is slashing the starting price by $100
📅 It’ll go on sale March 12
After Tim Cook teased its release earlier this week (and following the introduction of the latest iPad Air with M3), Apple has launched its newest MacBook Air. The laptop is being upgraded with Apple’s M4 chip, which has been rumored to happen for some time now. The new chip lives inside a familiar design, this time outfitted in a new “Sky Blue” colorway. Meanwhile, there’s also a new 12MP FaceTime camera and a new, cheaper starting price. It’s a pretty big upgrade for Apple’s most popular laptop.
What’s new with the MacBook Air?
🤖 M4 has arrived. After it debuted in the OLED iPad Pro last year, Apple has finally brought the M4 processor to the MacBook Air. Apple says it’s twice as fast as the now five-year-old M1 processor, so if you’re still using the classic 2020 MacBook Air, you’ll get a huge performance jump by upgrading. It’s also up to 23 times faster than Intel-based Macs, which went out of style a while ago. The 10-core CPU is backed by up to a 10-core GPU and supports up to 32GB of RAM (plenty for Apple Intelligence).
📺 Upgraded display support. Thanks to the M4, Apple says you can now output to two 6K displays simultaneously with the MacBook Air. That’s a lot of power for a laptop many will just use for checking email and online shopping.
🎥 An improved FaceTime camera. Look in the notch at the top of the display and you’ll find an updated 12MP FaceTime web camera. Apple doesn’t specify how big an upgrade this is, but it notes that you’ll get improved picture quality as a result. We’ll need to test this to be sure, so stay tuned.
🔵 Is the Sky Blue sky blue? To keep things interesting (and to let your friends know that you have the new MacBook Air), Apple is adding a new Sky Blue color to the lineup alongside Stardust, Jet Black, and Silver. It’s a gentle blue that reminds me a lot of a springtime sky with light clouds, which feels appropriate for this time of year.
💵 It’s $100 cheaper. Perhaps the best part of the new MacBook Air is the price. Apple has lowered the starting price to $999, which gets you 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It’s the first time the laptop has started at that price since Apple redesigned it a few years ago, and it makes for an even better value for customers than we’ve seen before. It’s even cheaper for students thanks to the $100 discount, bringing it down to $899.
💻 The same design, sizes, and battery life. Other than that, this is the same MacBook Air that many people love. It comes with a slim and light design and two Liquid Retina XDR display options: 13.6 inches and 15.3 inches. You’ll get up to 18 hours of battery life with the device, Touch ID, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe charging, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a headphone jack.
Pricing and availability
The MacBook Air with M4 is launching on Tuesday, March 12. Preorders are opening today on Apple’s website. It’ll be available through Apple directly and plenty of other retailers over time.
Max Buondonno is Editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.