By Elena 
What’s the Deal with the M4 Chip?
Let’s kick things off with the heart of the beast—the M4 chip. It packs a 10-core CPU (4 performance + 6 efficiency cores), a 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. Oh, and it finally brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing to the Mac neat, huh?
How Much Memory Can You Get?
You can start with 16 GB or jump to 24 GB or even 32 GB of unified memory on the Air model. For the Pro/Max line, it starts at 24 GB and scales up to a whopping 128 GB for the M4 Max in case you’re modeling the entire universe.
Speed That’ll Make Your Head Spin
Let’s talk bandwidth: M4 clocks in at 120 GB/s. The Pro is way faster at 273 GB/s. And the Max? A mind-blowing 546 GB/s. That’s like upgrading from a push-bike to a rocket.
Rendering, AI, and Video? Easy.
The media engine handles H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW and AV1 like it’s nothing. Ray tracing? Yep. Neural computing? Blazing fast. M4 Pro and Max turbo-charge creative workflows like you won’t believe.
MacBook Air (M4) Basics Still Cool, Still Quiet
The Air model gets the M4 chip too, rocking up to 32 GB RAM and blazing SSD options up to 2 TB. It’ll stream video for up to 18–20 hours literally all-day battery life in a fanless, whisper-quiet design.
Pro Power Plays Ports, Display, and More
Jump to MacBook Pro: you get a Liquid Retina XDR display with 120 Hz ProMotion, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI 2.1, SDXC slot, MagSafe 3, plus Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. Basically, it’s a pro workstation in a sleek shell.
What About the Max? Ultimate Performance.
The M4 Max brings up to a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU, 128 GB RAM, and that insane memory bandwidth. Apple claims it’s miles ahead of M1 Max 3.5× faster in some creative workflows, rendering, and AI tasks.
Specs from the Top Reviewers
Wired raves about the 15-inch Air new sky-blue finish, external monitor support, fanless design, superb battery (18–20 h), and Apple Intelligence for macro-level smarts.
ITPro highlights the Air’s strong Geekbench scores, 10-core GPU, dual-monitor support, but notes the refresh rate stays at 60 Hz.
Student Budget vs Pro Muscle
The Verge names the M4 MacBook Air (2025) as the best all-rounder light, portable, powerful. The 16-inch Pro with M4 Pro or Max is top pick for creatives needing serious firepower.
Deals You Can’t Ignore
Prime Day and Labor Day brought killer deals Air M4 starting around $799, Pro 14-inch going as low as $1,299. Think of it as your wallet’s best friend.
Real Talk from the Internet
On r/macbookair someone wrote: “Mostly just seems like a better camera, 6E Wi-Fi connectivity & dual external monitor support. Base 16 GB RAM is awesome though.” Honestly, it’s fair praise Apple nailed the basics.
Another user chimed in, wondering if they should’ve gone Pro classic dilemma for power vs portability.