MacBook Air M4 Review — Efficiency and Portability

The MacBook Air M4 arrives as the most balanced update to the Air line since the M2, bringing Apple's new chip with improved energy efficiency and multicore performance that puts pressure on Windows laptops at up to double the price. We tested the 16 GB and 512 GB model for two weeks in real work use, including light video editing, software development, and intensive browsing.

Performance: More Than Enough for Most

The M4 base chip delivers an 18% gain in single-core and 22% in multicore compared to the M3, according to our benchmarks with Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2024. In practice, the Air M4 with 16 GB of unified memory handles Xcode development projects, RAW photo editing in Lightroom, and long sessions with dozens of open Safari tabs effortlessly. 4K video exports in Final Cut Pro take approximately 40% less time than the M2 at the same resolution and codec.

The passive cooling system — no fan — maintains stable performance under moderate loads. Under prolonged and intensive workloads, the chip begins throttling after 10 to 15 minutes, which is expected and acceptable for a product without active dissipation. For continuous and heavy professional tasks, the MacBook Pro with M4 Pro is the right choice; for everything else, the Air is more than sufficient.

Battery Life and Verdict

The battery delivered 14h22min of real mixed-use in our test protocol — better than the M3 Air and competitive with any laptop on the market. The design remains practically unchanged, with the bright and color-accurate 13.6" Liquid Retina display. For students, mobile professionals, and users who want the best value for money in a Mac, the Air M4 is the unreserved recommendation of 2026.