digestVidSign in
summary

Marques Brownlee - M4 Macbook Air Review: Too Easy!

Thumbnail of the video “Marques Brownlee - M4 Macbook Air Review: Too Easy!”
Community upload. AI output has not been independently verified.
Author: Marques Brownlee
Categories: Education Productivity Creativity & Design
Tags: education, productivity, creativity
Views: 2 · Last viewed: 2026-10-16 08:09 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: The new M4 MacBook Air at $999 is a strong buy for most people, since its base configuration now includes 16GB of unified memory and 256GB of storage, and the M4 chip handles far more than basic tasks. The physical design is nearly unchanged from the previous generation, so the chip, memory, and price are the real upgrades.

Key Points

  • The base price drops back to $999 after the M2 generation raised it to $1,199, while the base memory doubles from 8GB to 16GB.
  • Apart from a new pale "Sky Blue" color that replaces Space Gray, the design is essentially unchanged, keeping the notch, two USB-C ports, MagSafe charging, headphone jack, and no fans or speaker grills.
  • The M4 chip's upgraded 16-core Neural Engine speeds up AI-related tasks such as background cutouts and Pixelmator Pro's photo enhancer.
  • Despite being passively cooled, the Air handles 4K and 8K Final Cut Pro timelines with almost no hesitation, which previously required a Pro chip.
  • The reviewer's main complaint is the display, which lacks Mini LED, ProMotion, and nano-texture options reserved for the MacBook Pro.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions: The reviewer advises that if you never plan on high-end tasks, the base configuration is sufficient, and the 8GB model from the last generation at $799 is a good budget alternative, particularly for owners of Intel MacBooks. Buyers who need more memory should expect upgrades to be expensive, so the base spec is the practical starting point. If you do not already own a fast charger, a faster charger is available for about $20.
  • The battery capacity rises slightly from 52.6Wh to 53.8Wh, about 2% more, which the reviewer jokingly notes as a tiny detail he's paying close attention to.
  • The webcam is now a 12MP Center Stage camera that can follow you in frame, though the reviewer keeps it turned off.
  • The Air can now drive two 6K displays at once with the lid open, which the previous generation could not do.
  • The reviewer notes that heavy sustained workloads will be slower than on a Mac Mini, since the Air has no fans.

Bottom Line

The M4 MacBook Air at $999 offers the most value of any recent Air, delivering Pro-level capability with the base configuration suitable for most users.