Intro
Apple is now treating the MacBook Air to yearly releases that give us the latest and greatest Apple Silicon chips inside, boosting the performance and efficiency. It is the latest and naturally best-performing MacBook Air, but aside from the chip inside, you’re actually not getting many other new features in comparison with an older MacBook Air.
Cue in the MacBook Air M2, released in 2022, which serves as the blueprint upon which the MacBook Air M4 is built upon.
It introduced the modern new design language of the lineup, gave us the slightly larger notched display, the second-gen Apple M2 chip, a MagSafe port with fast-charging capabilities, four speakers as base option, as well as up to 24GB of unified memory, and more.
Most importantly, however, the MacBook Air M2 finally introduced a larger 15-inch version of the laptop.
MacBook Air M4 vs MacBook Air M2 differences explained:
| MacBook Air M4 | MacBook Air M2 |
|---|---|
| Modern flatter design language, similar to the MacBook Pro line | The same design language debuted on this MacBook Air |
| Available in two sizes, 13-inch and 15-inch | 13-inch released in 2022, 15-inch in 2023 |
| 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch 60Hz Liquid Retina display | 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch 60Hz Liquid Retina display |
| 500 nits peak brightness and display notch | 500 nits peak brightness and same display notch |
| Apple M4 chip (10-core CPU, up to 10-core GPU, 3nm) | Apple M2 chip (8-core CPU, up to 10-core GPU, 5nm) |
| Apple Intelligence support | Apple Intelligence support |
| Up to 32GB unified memory | Up to 24GB unified memory |
| Four (13-inch) or six (15-inch) speakers Spatial Audio support |
Four (13-inch) or six (15-inch) speakers Spatial Audio support |
| 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports 3.5mm audio jack |
2x Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports 3.5mm audio jack |
| MagSafe 3 charging port 30W USB-C (13″ M4 w/ 8-core GPU) 35W USB-C (13″ M4 w/ 10-core GPU or 15″) |
MagSafe 3 charging port 30W USB-C (13″ M2 w/ 8-core GPU) 35W USB-C (13″ M2 w/ 10-core GPU or 15″) |
| Fast-charging w/ 70W+ wall adapter | Fast-charging w/ 70W+ wall adapter |
| Supports two external displays with up to 6K resolution | Supports one external display with up to 6K resolution |
| 12MP 1080p FaceTime camera with Center Stage | 1080p FaceTime camera |
| Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.3 |
Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Starting at $999 (13-inch), $1199 (15-inch) | Starting at $999 (13-inch), $1199 (!5-inch) |
| Sky Blue Silver Starlight Midnight |
Midnight Silver Space Gray Starlight |
Table of Contents:
Design
Never change a winning team
The MacBook Air M2 was the one that brought the MacBook Air family into the modern era by introducing the current slab-like design that definitely reminds of a more compact MacBook Pro.
The tapered design of the original MacBook Air M1 was no more, substituted for this arguably more appealing and functional design language, which has remained mostly unchanged to this day on the MacBook Air M4 as well. Both laptops feature aluminum unibodies.
The difference between the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models (Image Credit-Apple)
The controversial notch was also brought to the MacBook Air range with the M2 model, while bezels became more uniform. Both feature the issue-free 78/79-button keyboard with scissor switches, as well as Touch ID in the power button.
Both the MacBook Air M4 and the M2 are available in 13-inch and 15-inch size versions. The Air M2 was actually the first one to offer a super-sized version, but it came nearly a year after the 13-inch model was released.
With the M2 flavor of the Air, Apple was eager to experiment with colors and released the Air M2 in a total of four different hues: Midnight, Silver, Space Gray, and Starlight. Certainly a livelier selection in comparison with the previous model. Continuing the trend, the new MacBook Air M4 also comes in four colors: Silver, Starlight, Midnight, and the exclusive for the range Sky Blue color.
Ports
MacBook Air M4 and Air M2 feature similar port selection (Image Credit-Apple)
The MacBook Air M4 and M2 have pretty similar port selection, but with some key differences.
After the lackluster Air with M1, the MacBook Air M2 scored a dedicated MagSafe 3 port for charging, allowing the dual Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports to remain free for other use cases. You can use either of these for charging, DisplayPort output, Thunderbolt 3 or USB 4 data transfer at up to 40GB/s, as well as USB 3.1 Gen 2 transfer at up to 10Gb/s.
The MacBook Air M4 keeps the same selection, but it features upgraded Thunderbolt 4 ports, in contrast with the Thunderbolt / USB 4 ones on the older model. These support charging, DisplayPort output, as well as data throughput speeds of up to 40Gb/s.
The new MacBook M4 can output a signal to up to two 6K external monitors, a first on the MacBook Air lineup. The older MacBook Air M2 can only output signal to a single 6K monitor.
Display
Both laptops come with the same display setups with no differences.
The 13.3-inch of the older M1 grew to 13.6 inches, ditched the right for rounded display corners (hence the transition from Retina to Liquid Retina), and got itself a slight resolution increase to 1664 vertical pixels, up from 1600.
MacBook Air M4’s display is mostly similar to the one on the Air M2 (Image Credit-Apple)
Apple’s True Tone technology, which adjusts the color temperature in accordance to the ambient lighting, as well as >100% sRGB and Display P3 coverage also remained part of the specs mix.
Peak brightness was also increased from 400 to 500 nits. MacBook Air laptops can’t display HDR content properly, but they can output it to a compatible external monitor.
What about the 15-inch display? It measures 15.3 inches across and boasts a 2880 x 1864-pixel resolution, but the overall sharpness remains consistent with the standard model.
| MacBook Air M4 | MacBook Air M2 |
|---|---|
| Peak brightness 500 nits |
Peak brightness 500 nits |
| Display Size 13.6-inch 15.3-inch |
Display Size 13.6-inch 15.3-inch |
| Display resolution 2560 x 1664 (13″) 2880 x 1864 (15″) |
Display resolution 2560 x 1664 (13″) 2880 x 1864 (15″) |
Performance & Memory
M4 offers a notable performance improvement in comparison with the M2
Serving as the direct successor to the M1 chip, the Apple M2 was a slightly improved version with four billion extra transistors as well as higher clock rate for both the performance and efficiency cores. This led to a decent performance increase that helped the MacBook Air lineup establish a pretty strong foothold and develop at a steady pace.
For the first time with the Apple M2 chip, Apple allowed consumers to configure the laptop they get, allowing them to choose between an 8-core or a 10-core GPU with the 13-inch model; the 15-inch model was only available with a 10-core GPU.
The newer Apple M4 features two extra efficiency cores in the base version, as well as a higher base clock for both the performance and efficiency cores.
The big difference here, however, is the manufacturing process. The Apple M2 continued to rely on the older and more stable 5nm manufacturing process, capable of fitting 20 billion transistors on the die, while the Apple M4 featured a second-gen 3nm manufacturing technology, which allowed for much denser transistor placement, and therefore even better performance.
| Apple M4 Chip | Apple M2 Chip |
|---|---|
| 10-core CPU (4 performance @4.41GHz, 6 efficiency cores @2.59GHz) | 8-core CPU (4 performance @3.5GHz, 4 efficiency cores @2.4GHz) |
| 28 billion transistors | 20 billion transistors |
| 3nm technology | 5nm technology |
| Up to 10-core GPU | Up to 10-core GPU |
| 16-core Neural Engine | 16-core Neural Engine |
| 120GB/s memory bandwidth | 100GB/s memory bandwidth |
| Hardware-accelerated ray tracing | – |
| Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW |
| ProRes encode and decode engine Video encode/decode engine |
ProRes encode and decode engine Video encode/decode engine |
| AV1 decode | – |
However, heat is one of the potential performance issues with either the MacBook Air M2 or the new M4 models, as neither feature a cooling fan inside. Thus, during intensive tasks or gaming, heat can’t get dissipated that good and the chip might get throttled. MacBook Pro laptops have active cooling, so they are more stable at higher utilization.
Here’s how Apple Silicon performance has evolved.
| Chipset | Geekbench Single-Core Score | Geekbench Multi-Core Score |
|---|---|---|
| Apple M4 (10-core CPU) | 3692 | 14819 |
| Apple M3 (8-core CPU) | 3043 | 11687 |
| Apple M2 (8-core CPU) | 2596 | 9728 |
| Apple M1 (8-core CPU) | 2346 | 8356 |
Software
Image Playground is now an integral part of macOS (Image Credit-Apple)
This one brought Apple Intelligence to all Apple Silicon-powered devices, giving users access to Writing Tools, ChatGPT integration, Image Playground, and Genmoji, but not the improved Siri, which has been delayed to 2027.
macOS 15.3 Sequoia also debuted iPhone Mirroring, an enhanced and more capable Safari browser, and improved gaming capabilities thanks to GPTK 2, which enables advanced game emulation through Wine.
So far, we don’t know for certain how long Apple Silicon devices will be supported for. Apple hasn’t dropped any Apple Silicon device from the support list. Judging from the long seven-year support of Intel-based MacBooks, we can expect at least similar support for Apple’s own chips, but hopefully even longer than that.
Battery and Charging
MagSafe 3 is now a standard feature on the range (Image Credit-Apple)
In spite of the hardware differences and the faster and more efficient chip on the newer laptop, the two devices boast mostly equal battery life. Apple claims up to 15 hours when browsing the web or up to 18 hours when streaming video.
| Apple MacBook Air M4 | Apple MacBook Air M2 |
|---|---|
| Battery size 66.5Wh (15-inch) 53.8Wh (13-inch) |
Battery size 66.5Wh (15-inch) 52.6Wh (13-inch) |
| Battery life (web) Up to 15 hours |
Battery life (web) Up to 15 hours |
| Battery life (video) Up to 18 hours |
Battery life (video) Up to 18 hours |
| Charging MagSafe 3 30W USB-C with 8-core GPU 35W Dual USB-C with 10-core GPU Fast charging with 70W+ wall adapter |
Charging MagSafe 3 30W USB-C with 8-core GPU 35W Dual USB-C with 10-core GPU Fast charging with 70W+ wall adapter |
Charging-wise, all laptops (still) come with wall adapters in the box. Both MacBook Air models featured 30W wall adapters in the base 13-inch versions, while the 15-inch ones came with slightly faster 35W adapters, likely to make up for the slightly larger batteries so that an equal charging times are achieved.
With the MacBook Air M2, Apple brought MagSafe 3 to the Air lineup, so you no longer had to sacrifice a Thunderbolt port for charging.
Both the older and newer MacBook Air support fast-charging when connected to a sufficiently fast 70W+ wall adapter.
Audio and camera
The 13-inch versions of both laptops boast four speakers that deliver pretty decent room-filling sound, with great bass and detailed mids and highs. The 15-inch flavors amp things up to eleven as they feature six-speaker systems with two force-cancelling woofers that improve the bass by a lot.
All models support spatial audio when playing Dolby Atmos audio/video content.
While both models feature three-microphone arrays with directional beamforming for loud and clear audio recording, the newer Air M4 is better-endowed here. As an extra, we get dedicated Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes, which can deliver enhanced clarity in both audio and video calls.
Finally, we have high-impedance 3.5mm jacks here.
Which one should you buy? Should you upgrade?
The ability to hook up two external screens and still use your MacBook Air M4 on the side is possibly the biggest upgrade (Image Credit-Apple)
The MacBook Air M2 was essentially the blueprint that was used for all subsequent members of the lineup. The broad strokes drawn by Apple with that specific model are still visible to this day, and remain mostly unchanged. That’s okay, as the Air M2 did just about everything right.
Sure, the most important aspect of a laptop is its computing power, and Apple has done well to keep things up-to-date here with the latest Air M4.
And to say that the older MacBook Air M2 is outdated would be wrong: it’s pretty much the same laptop as the MacBook Air M4, just slightly slower in certain scenarios, but a large part of the package remains the same.
Should you upgrade from the older to the newer computer, though? Well, if you absolutely need to output to two external monitors, then the newer device would be a decent way to do that on a tighter budget in comparison with getting a MacBook Pro.
However, you probably won’t get that much extra value from the newer laptop, as the M2-powered one is still mighty adequate.
