MacBook Air 2025
Apple (Hacker News, MacRumors, ArsTechnica):
Apple today announced the new MacBook Air, featuring the blazing-fast performance of the M4 chip, up to 18 hours of battery life, a new 12MP Center Stage camera, and a lower starting price. It also offers support for up to two external displays in addition to the built-in display, 16GB of starting unified memory, and the incredible capabilities of macOS Sequoia with Apple Intelligence — all packed into its strikingly thin and light design that’s built to last. The new MacBook Air now comes in an all-new color — sky blue, a metallic light blue that joins midnight, starlight, and silver — giving MacBook Air its most beautiful array of colors ever. It also now starts at just $999 — $100 less than before — and $899 for education, making it an incredible value for students, business professionals, or anyone looking for a phenomenal combination of world-class performance, portability, design, and durability.
The previous model started with only 8 GB of memory and went up to 24 GB. Between the RAM increase and the price decrease, the base model is much better than before. Upgrading to 32 GB of memory costs $400, though, and of course the SSD prices are still outrageous.
In Apple’s current M4 models, the smallest internal storage on offer is 256 GB. For the great majority, that’s barely adequate if you don’t install any of your own apps.
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Don’t be tempted to skimp with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 external SSD if that’s going to be your main storage. While it might seem a reasonable economy now, in 3-5 years time you’ll regret it. Besides, it may well have severe limitations in not Trimming as standard, and most don’t support SMART health indicators.
Thus, your expected saving by buying a Mac with only 512 GB internal storage, and providing 2 TB main storage on an external [Thunderbolt] SSD, is around $/€/£ 200-220, and that’s really the only advantage in not paying Apple’s high price for an internal 2 TB SSD.
Using an external boot drive just doesn’t work very well these days, in my experience, especially with a laptop and if you want to put the Mac to sleep. On the other hand, if you mostly need the storage for a media library, USB is fine and much less expensive. A 2 TB Samsung T7 is currently only $130 vs. $800 for Apple’s 2 TB upgrade.
Many noticed rapid changes in their SSD wear indicators, and some were getting worryingly close to the end of their expected working life after just three years. Users also reported that SSD performance was falling. The reasons for those are that SSDs work best, age slowest, and remain fastest when they have ample free space. One common rule of thumb is to keep at least 20-25% of SSD capacity as free space, although evidence is largely empirical, and in places confused.
The M4 also completely unlocks a feature that some MacBook Air fans have been clamoring for since the Apple silicon era began: The ability to drive two external displays and its own display, simultaneously.
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A big quality-of-life upgrade in this model is the addition of a new 12-megapixel camera that supports Center Stage. These specs are identical to those found in the recently upgraded M4 iMac and M4 MacBook Pro. If this upgrade is anything like those, it’ll be a major improvement.
New MacBook Airs look great but Apple really needs to R&D the tech to add an extra USB-C port so you can charge from either side
The Apple Color Czar needs to get Apple’s Blue Accessory Department under control. 11 current products, all with different blues…
Previously:
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I bought a refurbished M3 MacBook Air late last year, so I'm not tempted. And I'll be entirely unsurprised if there are a lot more refurbished MacBook Airs available through Apple in the coming months. Highly recommend if you're on a budget. I did a quick check on the Apple UK website, and an equivalent spec MacBook Air to mine is now £200 cheaper than previously... but there are similarly spec'd M3 versions in the Refurbished store for several hundred less again. And you could save more if you're willing to step down to an M2 model.
I have many thoughts regarding Howard's storage upgrade considerations.
1. 256 GB of internal storage not being manageable for the “great majority” is a Mac power user legend.
2. Most people in need of a storage upgrade need only 512 GB, which bumps the price of the machine by 20% at MSRP.
3. Entry models get more frequent and bigger discounts (up to 20%). BTO models are never discounted.
4. In five years the entry storage might well be 512 GB. (64 GB ended in 2013, 128 GB in 2020.) In five years you can also upgrade one year sooner than needed and still come out ahead, even at MSRP. Most people don't need to upgrade every five years though (much less “3-5 years”).
I’ve been waiting for the M4 MacBook Air since the release of Apple Silicon. When Apple does something well from the outset, particularly hardware, it seems like it’s around the third or fourth generation where the products really hit their stride. I use Macs for a long time, so catching them in that kind of sweet spot is worth the wait.
One of these days I’ll decide if a 13” Air or a 14” MacBook Pro is the move for me. Then I’ll wait for a price I’m willing to pay. As of today, I could get a refurbished 14” MBP with the nano-texture display, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD for US $1,529 before tax. That alone is tempting.
No matter what I get I’ll keep using this mid-2013 13” Air because of one piece of software which won’t run on a new machine and would require a $35/month subscription. And this 2013 Air? I paid $1,550 for it, so it’s cost about 35 cents per day. I’m okay with that. I’ll likely spend roughly the same amount of money today for my next Mac and that will get me significantly better hardware.
