New MacBook Air M4 launch live updates– laptop officially lands alongside new Mac Studio

Game time

The evolution of gaming on the Mac is moving along quite well, especially as our Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff saw a demo of Cyberpunk 2077 running on the ultra-powerful new Mac Studio.

For folks who want a Mac, let’s say specifically or mostly for gaming, the case could be made for a machine with the best chip and a hefty amount of RAM to ensure everything runs smoothly. We’ve seen a steady stream of AAA titles become available for all M-series, and while they do run well on the MacBook Air and even the Mini, it’s likely the Mac Studio will deliver the best of the best experience.

Making big comparisons

There’s some interesting choice of comparisons in Apple’s press release about the M4 MacBook Air. Note how often it’s compared to an Intel MacBook Air, even though such a thing hasn’t been sold since 2020.

• Spreadsheet calculation performance in Microsoft Excel is up to 4.7x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air, and up to 1.6x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air with M1.
• Video editing in iMovie is up to 8x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air, and up to 2x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air with M1.
• Photo editing in Adobe Photoshop is up to 3.6x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Air, and up to 2x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Air with M1.
• Web browsing is up to 60 percent faster when compared to a PC laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, and more demanding tasks get up to 2x faster performance.

Cynics will possibly say that Apple is just trying to offer the biggest possible comparison numbers – but I think it’s probably a lot more deliberate than that. Apple knows a lot about people’s buying behavior and how often they update, and I’m guessing that it’s got strong data saying that people who bought Intel MacBook Airs or MacBook Pros are starting to now look to replace them. It’s making the case for what a huge update the MacBook Air will be to these people specifically.

The color of hue

The Blue Sky MacBook Air is an interesting one, in that it takes this laptop further towards meeting the iPad Air, which has been available in lovely pastel hues for a while. If this takes off, will we get pink and green MacBook Air models? I’d be very tempted by the latter, and I could see Apple releasing them later in the year, to tempt people to buy one for the holiday season.

Regarding the Mac Studio getting an M3 Ultra as the top-of-the-line chip versus an M4 Ultra, Matt Bolton – TechRadar’s Managing Editor, Home Entertainment – has some thoughts.

“It’s perhaps a little odd that the Mac Studio uses the M4 Max, but the M3 Ultra – and not an M4 Ultra. There are three obvious potential reasons why:

• The M4 Ultra might just produce too much heat for the Mac Studio’s thermal design to handle compared to the M3 Max
• The M4 Ultra would be two M4 Max chips Frankensteined together, and perhaps Apple thinks it will struggle to make enough M4 Max chips to meet supply if it has to use two of them per M4 Ultra model sold
• The Mac Pro is perhaps about to be upgraded as well, and the M4 Ultra is being saved for that (perhaps partly connected to the reason above – maybe Apple would struggle to produce enough Ultra chips for both machines)

Of course, there could be any other marketing or logistical reason, but it remains one of the more surprising foibles of the new machines.”

Alongside debuting the MacBook Air with M4, Apple removed the MacBook Air with M3 for sale, as we expected with a new generation, but also removed the MacBook Air with M2, which was the entry point to the lineup.

The 13-inch MacBook with M4 at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 fills that entry-level spot. Arguably, that will get Apple’s latest chipset in the hands of more folks at a more affordable price. In the United States, with an educational discount, the MacBook Air is just $899 with the M4 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.

Even so, while Apple is no longer selling the M2- or M3-powered MacBook Air, there is a good chance that third-party retailers will still offer it until stock runs out. Remember, you can still find the M1 MacBook Air at Walmart for a pretty unbeatable value.

Early thoughts on the MacBook Air M4

TechRadar’s Managing Editor (Core Tech) Matt Hansen is very familiar with both the MacBook Air family and Apple’s M4 chip, having done in-depth tests of both. And he reckons the new M4 version looks very promising, on paper.

“It’s good to see the 13-inch MacBook Air M4 launch at $999, the original price of the M1 MacBook Air. That’s incredible value for money considering the premium design and build quality” he said.

“And from my time using the M4 chip in the latest MacBook Pros, and last year’s iPad Pro, I’m pretty confident that it will be a great performer,” he added. We’ll give you our official verdict on where it sits in our guide to the best laptops soon once we’ve done some benchmarking and real-world testing, of course.

I’ve decided… the new Sky Blue looks like a winner

At first, I was a bit surprised that Apple had replaced Space Grey with its new Sky Blue color option for the MacBook Air M4. I always thought Space Grey was a bit of a default option and maybe Apple’s most popular hue (though I have no data to back this up).

But after looking at the available photos of the new color, I’ve decided it’s probably the one I’d go for. Space Grey is a bit serious for what is an entry-level laptop and metallic blue color looks like a nice compromise between going too iMac and keeping things safe and dull.

The color-matched MagSafe charging cables are nice, too. I’ll reserve final judgement until I see it in the flesh, mind…

That MacBook Air M4 price drop…

Here’s some confirmation of that unexpected, but very welcome, MacBook Air price cut with international pricing.

The 13-inch model starts at $999 / £999 / $1,699, which is a drop from the MacBook Air M3’s tag of $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,799. If you want a bigger screen, the 15-inch version starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,099, which is again a drop from last year’s starting tag of $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,199.

That new M4 chip brings more power in the form of a 10-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU. You can also upgrade the laptop to 32GB of unified memory, though the base model starts at 16GB RAM.

All in all, getting those upgrades for less money than last year is likely to make the new MacBook Air very popular indeed. Still a but surprised that Apple dropped the Space Grey version for the new Sky Blue shade, though…

And just for good measure… a new Mac Studio

Well, this is turning into quite a day for Mac fans. Apple has also just announced a new Mac Studio, which it’s billing as “the most powerful Mac ever”.

It seems that Apple still wants to make sure this relatively compact desktop offering is still overclocked. It offers a range of ports, with the two USB-Cs now being a Thunderbolt 5 flavor, but the real change is under the hood.

The Mac Studio comes with the M4 Max, which is already well-reviewed, and a brand-new M3 Ultra. And while it’s not an “M4 Ultra,” it’s the most powerful one in the lineup, essentially fusing two M3 Max chips.

You can pre-order the Mac Studio from today with prices starting at $1,999 (we’ll follow up with international pricing shortly).

The MacBook Air M4 is here!

So it’s finally here – Apple has just announced the new MacBook Air M4. Alongside that new M4 chip, Apple has upgraded its 12MP FaceTime camera with some Center Stage powers – it also now has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a boost from last year’s Thunderbolt 3 ones.

And wait, there’s also a new color. Apple has replaced the Space Gray option (which I always thought that was the most popular) with Sky Blue, which it’s offering alongside Midnight, Starlight and Silver.

Pre-orders for the MacBook Air M4 open today ahead of shipping on March 12 – the 13-inch model starts at $999 and the 15-inch one starts at $1,599. Impressively, that looks like a $100 price cut from last year. More news on the promising entry-level laptop and its international pricing when we get it…

This time yesterday…

Yesterday’s iPad Air M3 announcement took place at 9am ET / 2pm GMT. Could Apple repeat that trick today for the M4 MacBook Air?

It’s by no means certain – Apple’s launch process seems much more scattergun and unpredictable these days. But I’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on my inbox and Apple’s newsroomas the clock ticks closer to that time…

Which iPad Air M3 should you get?

Before we return to today’s MacBook Air M4 rumors, here’s an interesting price comparison between the many possible iPad Air M3 configurations from TechRadar contributor Alex Blake.

His conclusion after balancing the value offered by all the different Air M3 models? For many people, the 11-inch iPad Pro might be a better bet. It starts at just $100 more ($999 / £999 / AU$1,699) than the larger 13-inch iPad Air M3 with 256GB storage – and it gives you a lovely tandem OLED display, Face ID, ProMotion refresh rates, up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness, and the M4 chip, among other benefits.

Of course, you may well need a larger 13-inch screen instead, in which case the Air M3 could offer better value. And if you don’t add lots of upgrades, the base Air M3 model is tempting at $599 / £599 / AU$999. But it’s definitely a useful comparison if you’re thinking of pre-ordering a new iPad…

The end of Apple’s 64GB era

An interesting footnote from yesterday’s launches, as spotted by MacRumors – Apple no longer offers any iPhones or iPads with 64GB storage options.

That’s because the iPhone 16e and new base iPad A16 have replaced the last two models that offered what today seems a pretty measly 64GB of base storage.

Of course, many will see 128GB as too little storage in this day-and-age, but we can expect the MacBook Air M4 to go beyond that if it arrives today. The current M3 model offers 512GB, 1TB and 2TB options, albeit for the usual hefty Apple premium…

What to expect from the M4 MacBook Air

It’s been a long wait for a MacBook Air M4, with the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini all getting Apple’s latest silicon before the entry-level laptop. But what can we expect if it does indeed arrive today?

On the performance front, some leaked benchmarks last month showed that the M4 Air could be only slightly behind the M4 MacBook Pro in terms of performance and efficiency. Naturally, this will also come down to how you spec the laptop and we won’t know for sure how it performs until we test it, but the Geekbench hints are promising.

Aside from that new M4 chip, the next MacBook Air is also expect to get an improved LCD display (sadly an OLED panel is still a few years away), a better webcam, and stronger support for connecting multiple monitors.

As someone who’s running an aging MacBook Pro from mid-2018, I’m definitely keeping a close eye on the new Air to see if it offers better value than a new Pro.

So, what could be coming today?

Hello, and welcome again to our Apple liveblog for its “There something in the air” launches this week. If you missed yesterday’s news, we saw Apple announce:

But is that going to be the end of the story? Not according to the rumor mill, which is still predicting the imminent arrival (perhaps even today) for:

That Mac Studio wouldn’t fit into the ‘Air’ theme of Apple’s teaser, but Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman think it’s “imminent” and “could be announced as early as this week along with the new MacBook Airs”.

Whether we see either or both of those today remains to be seen – but I’m keeping a very close eye on Apple’s newsroom and will be rounding up all the latest rumors here over the coming hours.

Of course, Tim Apple didn’t say “iPad Air” in his hint on X, he just said “Air,” which is why we’ve been anticipating a MacBook Air refresh, but is it possible there is another Air on the way? Maybe I just have smartphones on the brain after an exciting start to 2025, with some of the best phones we’ve seen already making an early appearance, but I think it’s possible, if remotely so, that Apple could talk about a new iPhone.

I don’t mean the iPhone 16e, of course, I mean the hotly-anticipated iPhone Air. Samsung showed off a Galaxy S25 Edge, a super-thin version of its latest flagship smartphone, and that seemed to make sense considering all the rumors we’ve heard about a slim new iPhone.

Apple usually launches new iPhone models in September, but the iPhone 16e just launched, and it wouldn’t hurt sales too much to announce an upcoming member of the family, just to get people excited (and maybe help buyers forget about Samsung).

If Apple announces the iPhone Air this week, I’ll take a bow, but don’t hold me responsible if it never comes up.

Are you bummed that the new Apple iPad only got an Apple A16 chip, which means it won’t get the most advanced Apple Intelligence features? Our News Chief Jake Krol reasons that the latest update still leaves Apple with the strongest tablet offering. The iPad is still the best tablet, even without Apple Intelligence.

Frankly, even with just an Apple A16 chipset inside, the iPad remains one of the most powerful tablets you can buy as well. I’ve reviewed the fastest Android tablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, and Apple is far ahead of its Android rivals when it comes to power and performance. The real question is what will you do with all of that power?

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has taken to X to shed a bit more light on what we could see tomorrow. As he previously reported, the MacBook Air with the upgraded M4 processor is still expected to arrive this week, but we also might be getting some other devices.

It would make sense that Apple wants to finish updating its entire Mac lineup to its latest and greatest chipsets. The MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac were all upgraded to the M4 chip series in October of 2024, leaving the MacBook Air, Mac Sutido, and Mac Pro needing an update at some point.

While it’s fully expected that if the MacBook Air’ does get an upgrade, they’ll replace the M3 chip with the base M4, Gurman predicts that the new Mac Studio will get an M4 Max chip, but instead of an M4 Ultra it’ll be the M3 Ultra. Still likely plenty powerful, though.

Where does this leave the MacBook Air M4?

It initially looked odds-on that Apple would announce the MacBook Air M4 today, rather than a new iPad Air – but the rumor mill isn’t always correct, and it was new iPad day instead.

Does this mean the new MacBook Air is on the back burner? Not at all – in fact, I’d imagine we’ll see that laptop refresh sooner rather than later. Maybe even tomorrow, if we’re lucky.

While Apple isn’t quite adopting the 12 days of OpenAI approach we saw last year, when the ChatGPT maker made a new announcement every day for almost a fortnight, it is definitely moving away from big events towards smaller announcements.

With that in mind, keep your eyes peeled this week for a MacBook Air M4 refresh – we’ll be here to update you the second it’s announced.

When can you buy the new iPad Air M3?

You can pre-order the new iPad Air M3 right now, with availability starting from March 12. So that’s just over a week to wait, but which version should you get? I’ve broken down the pricing below.

With the maxed out version iPad Air M3 costing $1,449 / £1,449 / AU$2,499 (that’s with 1TB storage and both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity), it might not sound so mid-range.

But that’s unlikely to be necessary for most people – I’d personally be tempted by the 11-inch (512GB) Wi-Fi version, which looks ideal for travel, streaming and photo editing. Your needs may vary though, so here’s a price breakdown for every model…

What’s new with the Magic Keyboard?

Arriving in the slipstream of the new iPad Air M3 is a refreshed Magic Keyboard for the Air series – so what’s new?

The new keyboard attachment – which costs $269 / £269 / AU$399 for the 11-inch model, and $319 / £319 / AU$499 for the 13-inch one – gives you a larger trackpad than before, and also a row of function keys that you could previously only get on the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro.

That means you can quickly tweak things like screen brightness or music volume, and generally get a more laptop-like experience. That’s important because, with its new M3 chip, the latest iPad Air could tempt those who think (with some justification) that the iPad Pro 13-inch is overkill for their needs…

New base iPad misses out on Apple Intelligence

We’ve previously said that the Apple Intelligence launch is a mess – and Apple’s quiet refresh of the entry-level iPad isn’t going to help change people’s minds about that.

Apple base iPad – now called the iPad (A16) – comes with a new chip, double the starting storage (128GB, up from 64GB), and the same price tag as before (starting at $349 / £329 / AU$599). But bizarrely, that A16 chip means it can’t support Apple Intelligence.

Granted, Apple Intelligence features still aren’t exactly living up to their potential, but it’s strange for Apple to add a new product to its iPad lineup that doesn’t support the features it’s been crowing about for the last six months.

It might also make it difficult to recommend the new cheaper iPad, but we’ll see when we get it in for testing…

Apple announces… a new iPad Air M3

Well, that wasn’t quite the MacBook-flavored news we were expecting, but we’ll take it for now – Apple has just announced a new iPad Air with an M3 chip plus a new Magic Keyboard.

The new Air comes in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes – and the chip upgrade hasn’t affected its price tag either, with the prices starting at the usual $599/£599/AU$999 (11-inch) and $799/£799/AU$1,349 (13-inch). The new Magic Keyboard, meanwhile, has a bigger built-in trackpad and a new 14-key function row.

Will the new iPad Air be an option for those waiting for the new MacBook Air M4? Probably not, judging by our Managing editor Matt Hansen’s experiences when swapping his laptop for an iPad. But Apple’s new Air certainly looks like a compelling mid-range tablet option.

The only question now is when we’ll see that MacBook Air M4…

The page for the MacBook Air M3 is still up and running. Usually if there’s a product drop that’s imminently imminent, then Apple tends to have a message saying its updating the store.

Equally, pre-orders for a new MacBook Air might not go live on the same day as the announcement. Watch this space.

As an FYI, I’m keeping an eye on the Apple Newsroom webpage, just in case Apple suddenly drops its announcement today.

I reckon Apple’s announcement will come on Wednesday

So when do I think Apple will make an announcement? I’m predicting Wednesday.

Historically, Apple has favored Tuesdays for its product launches, but the iPhone 16e was launched on Wednesday, February 20. And my gut instinct tells me Apple could drop its announcement tomorrow, which would be two weeks on from the last announcement.

I feel that makes sense as it give some room for the nws to breathe before we get into the weekend. Of course, I could be totally wrong.

Don’t expect a new iPad Air this week

But then maybe Apple could go a bit rogue and reveal a new iPad Air.

However, putting aside Gurman’s speculation that new iPads won’t get revealed this week, I’m not convinced we’ll see a new iPad Air this week. The Apple iPad Air 13-inch got launched last year to critical acclaim from TechRadar and others.

That iPad uses the M2 chip, so is arguably due a specs boost. But I’m not sure the iPad Air necessarily need a lot more power. For power-users the M4-equipped iPad Pros exist, albeit at pretty high prices.

Then again, giving a refreshed iPad Air an M3 chip would be one way for Apple to use up any M3 chips it had lying around and give it something else to announce. If that’s the case, then I tend to agree with Gruman and don’t expect to see a new iPad Air get revealed today; likely Apple will keep such an announcement in its back pocket for a reveal later.

As I mentioned earlier, the blue line that strikes through the word ‘Air’ has the look of a MacBook Air when closed, so would point towards a revealed of a new Air models.

Right, enough chatter about my thoughts on the MacBook Air. Let’s take a closer look at the video Tim Cook posted. Check it out below.

Speaking of AI, I’d expect Apple announcement to lean hard on talking about Apple Intelligence and its integration into macOS, along with how an M4 chip-equipped Air will be poised perfectly to crunch through onboard AI tasks.

Not sure that’ll rock my world but I stand ready to be entertained and informed.

Then again, I’m not a huge user of the AI-powered Apple Intelligence tools, which I suspect will only get more demanding as they advance.

So having M4 power could certainly make a new MacBook Air more futureproof.

Speaking from my experience with the MacBook Air M2, I’m rather unfussed on the next-generation Air having a dollop more power.

My Air has enough grunt to deal with basically any everyday task I throw at it. I opted for the model with 8GB of RAM and I don’t think it’s ever felt slow. Sure, it won’t churn through the handful of proper PC games macOS supports, but it can run the excellent Baldur’s Gate 3 so one might argue what more does one need…

Dialing in my specualtion, the obvious upgrade for the MacBook Air, and one that I’ve mentioned earlier, would be an M4 chip.

We’ve already seen this system-on-a-chip get used in the latest versions of the iPad Pro, Mac mini and iMac, so it makes sense for new MacBook Air models to get it.

I highly doubt Apple will have tweaked the silicon to work any differently for the MacBook Airs than these other devices, though there’s sure to be more headroom to push the chipset a little harder in a laptop chassis than in the iPad Pro.

A final request for a MacBook Air upgrade would be a move to OLED displays. I feel Apple could thread the line of balancing bolder display tech with energy efficiency.

But if such an upgrade was coming this year I reckon the rumor mill would have been churning it out by now; we’ve heard no whispers.

When I’m in the office I use a Samsung laptop with an OLED display and adore how rich its colors are, and that deep contrast OLED offers. So there’s potential here, but I suspect Apple will keep OLED panels for its MacBook Pros for a good few years still.

Other design changes and upgrades I’d like to see could come in the form of faster charging; the MacBook Air is by no means a slouch when sucking up electrical juice but it’s not amazingly quick either.

I’d also not mind a few more ports. An extra USB-C slot would be appreciated, especially if Apple adds it to the right-hand side where there’s seemingly loads of spare space.

And while I doubt Apple will ever do it, I’d love to see a full-sized SD card slot on the next-generation MacBook Air, as that would make transferring photos from my DSLR to macOS far easier than it currently is for me.

On the flipside, I’d not want Apple to mess with the Force Touch trackpad, which is basically the best trackpad I’ve used on any laptop.

It’s big, smooth and responsive and I adore it. Force Touch is an odd name however…

Other areas for MacBook Air improvement could come in the form of a refreshed keyboard. I love the keyboard on my Air, and my fingers fly across it when I’m writing at speed.

However, there’s not the deepest of key travel and sometimes I feel the keyboard lacks the tactile feel of the amazing keyboard on the Microsoft Surface Laptop models; those balanced snappy responses with a decent bit of travel to make for a wonderfully tactile experience; I feel nostalgic for my old Surface Laptop 2.

But there are no rumors indicating to a reworked MacBook Air design. So I’m not going to hold my breath and expect the display notch to have been given a nip and a tuck.

Equally, one can never be 100% sure when it comes to Apple. And the MacBook Air’s design language is a bit long in the tooth for tech standards. So perhaps we could be in for a surprise.

I’d like a new design for the MacBook Air please Apple

Having said that I love the MacBook Air M2, I’d not mind a few tweaks to the slim laptop’s design. A 14-inch display, perhaps facilitated by some narrowing of the display bezels and a trimming down of the display notch, would definitely get my attention.

I love the LCD Retina display on my Air M2, but it can feel a tad cramped at times when I’m trying to get work done on the go and at speed.

As someone still using the MacBook Air M2, which is a fantastic little laptop that’s going very strong after two years of consistent use, I’m not overly convinced Apple really needs to refresh the Air lineup on just a specs basis.

But Apple is Apple, and minor refreshes to its products are to be expected… if not exactly desired.

Expect M4 chip power

So what do I and others expect to see from the Apple announcement? Well as discussed it’ll very likely be a pair of new MacBook Air laptops.

While the current pair of MacBook Airs are hardly old, having been refreshed last year with the M3 chip, they don’t sport the very latest chips; those can be found in the MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch.

Those models rock the ‘Pro’ version of the M4 chip, so we can expect to see non-pro version come to refreshed Airs.

The last Apple announcement of the newsroom ilk came in the form of the iPhone 16e reveal. Apple simply posted an information drop on its website and had the phone up for pre-order pretty sharpish.

There was a decent amount of information to chew over but one could argue the announcement lacked Cupertino’s normal appetite for showmanship. I expect the announcement this week to be very similar to that of the iPhone 16e’s.

Thinking differently…

In days gone by, Apple would normally have a couple of big events a year with an in-person or live streamed event that would usually see the reveal of a handful of products around specific categories, such as phones, tablets and computers.

But as the crew at Cupertino have started to push out ever-more iterative updates to Apple’s product lines, these events have given away to announcements on social media and Apple’s own newsroom page. To me this lacks the spectacle but does give us regular Apple announcements to chew over.

Hello. Mobile Computing Managing Editor Roland Moore-Colyer here to take you through the Apple rumors and TechRadar musings so far. I’ve been covering such Apple announcements and major Apple events for years, so I feel I’m qualified to have a good ol’ stab at speculating what we might see from Apple this week.