MacBook Air M4 vs MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max: Power, portability, and performance compared
Intro
The latest MacBook Air has scored the M4 chip, double the base memory, and introduced a new color option, which are all in all great additions to Apple’s ultraportable laptop lineup.
But does it offer enough to entice users of the older and still mighty adequate MacBook Pro laptops with the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips? After all, there’s a lot more going on with the Pro models than performance alone.
MacBook Air M4 vs MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max 14″/16″ differences explained:
| MacBook Air M4 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max 14″/16″ |
|---|---|
| A modern, slab-like design language that reminds us of the MacBook Pro | Very similar design language, a bit thicker and heavier |
| Available in two sizes, 13-inch and 15-inch | Also available in two sizes, 14-inch and 16-inch |
| 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch 60Hz Liquid Retina display | 14.2-inch or 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion |
| 500 nits peak brightness and display notch | 500 nits SDR brightness 1000 nits sustained XDR brightness 1600 nits peak HDR brightness |
| Apple M4 (10-core CPU, up to 10-core GPU, 3nm) | Apple M1 Pro (Up to 10-core CPU, up to 16-core GPU) Apple M1 Max (Up to 10-core CPU, up to 32-core GPU) |
| Apple Intelligence support | Apple Intelligence support |
| Up to 32GB unified memory | Up to 32GB unified memory |
| Up to 2TB storage | Up to 8TB storage with M1 Pro or M1 Max |
| Four or six speakers Spatial Audio support |
Six Hi-Fi speakers Spatial Audio support |
| 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports 3.5mm audio jack |
3x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports SDXC reader HDMI port High-impedance 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 67W USB-C (14″ M1 Pro with 10-core CPU) 96W USB-C (14″ M1 Pro with 10-core CPU or M4 Max) 140W USB-C (16″ M1 Pro or M1 Max) |
| Fast-charging w/ 70W+ wall adapter | Fast-charging w/ 96W+ wall adapter (14-inch M1 Pro or M1 Max) Fast-charging w/ 140W+ wall adapter (16-inch M1 Pro or M1 Max) |
| Supports two external displays with up to 6K resolution | Support for up to two external 6K@60Hz displays (M1 Pro) Support for up to two external 6K@60Hz and one 4K@60Hz displays (M1 Max) |
| 12MP 1080p FaceTime camera with Center Stage | 1080p FaceTime camera |
| Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.3 |
Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Starting at $999 (13-inch) $1199 (15-inch) |
Starting at $1,999 (14-inch) $2,499 (16-inch) |
| Sky Blue Silver Starlight Midnight |
Space Gray Silver |
Table of Contents:
Design
Different-sized, but with the same design language
Over the course of the past few years, Apple unified the design language of the MacBook Air and Pro lineups, bringing the two closer to each other than ever before. Both laptops feature the now iconic and signature slab design language, with flat frames and just a few rounded corners here and there.
Both the MacBook Air M4 and the older MacBook Pro are available in two sizes: 13-inch and 15-inch, as well as 14-inch and 16-inch, respectively. A robust selection that aims to cater to as many users as possible.
When it comes to overall size, the Air stays true to its name and is significantly more compact. The base 13-inch version is 30.41 x 21.5 x 1.13 cm in size and weigh just 1.24 kg, which is astonishing. The larger 15-inch version weighs slightly more (1.5 kg), and is naturally larger at 34.04 x 23.76 x 1.15 cm.
Meanwhile, the MacBook Pro boasts beefier dimensions: 31.26 x 22.12 x 1.55 cm and 1.6 kg in weight for the 14-inch model, while the 16-inch one measures 35.57 x 24.81 x 1.68 cm and tips the scales at 2.14 kg.
Apple has stuck with this design for the MacBook Pro since 2021 (Image Credit-Apple)
Apple hasn’t really changed the philosophy behind the keyboard on its MacBooks for years now, still relying on the tried-and-true scissor switch mechanism. Frankly, we don’t see a need for change here, and the brief interlude with butterfly switches didn’t honestly turn out too well.
The two laptop lineups feature similar 78/79-button QWERTY keyboards with versatile function rows, Touch ID in the power buttons, and the signature large capacitive trackpads that make interface navigation a pleasure rather than a chore.
The new Air can be yours in Silver, Starlight, Midnight, and Sky Blue colors. The latter is the latest color addition to the MacBook family and is a rather unique colorway for a laptop.
Meanwhile, the older MacBook Pro could be yours in just two color options: Space Gray and Silver.
Ports
Ports are one of the great differentiators between the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro families. And although Apple has improved the port selection on the Air, the Pro lineup still reigns supreme with sheer volume and variety here.
The MacBook Air M4 comes with two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, while the 2021 MacBook Pro gives you three of those. Slightly less capable than the newer Thunderbolt 5, the older Thunderbolt 4 standard delivers slightly slower data throughput (up to 40GB/s) over USB 4.
Right-hand side of a MacBook Pro (Image Credit-Apple)
Both laptops feature the latest MagSafe 3 charging port; it actually debuted with the MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max back in 2021.
MacBook Air has fewer ports (Image Credit-Apple)
The MacBook Pro has two extra ports: a handy HDMI port and an SDXC card reader, which greatly expand its overall versatility.
All MacBook Pro laptops also come with a dedicated MagSafe 3 charging port, an SDXC card reader, an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The latest MacBook Air M4 supports up to two external displays (up to 6K resolution at 60Hz). Unlike previous MacBook Airs, the native screen here is fully functional, and you don’t have to close the lid to enjoy the added external screen support.
An M1 Max powering a couple of extra monitors without much hassle (Image Credit-Apple)
Display
Apple doesn’t really change the display configuration of its laptops that often.
That’s why the older MacBook Pro has a mostly similar display to the newer models. We get 14.2-inch and 16.2-inch Liquid Retina screens, with 3024 by 1964 or 3456 by 2234 native resolutions that make out 254 pixels per inch for a very sharp picture.
The MacBook Air M4 also has a display notch like the big boys (Image Credit-Apple)
The display technology here is mini-LED, which is essentially a very advanced take on IPS LCD that uses thousands of backlighting areas to achieve superb contrast and brightness, rivaling OLED. There’s also 120Hz ProMotion that makes for a smooth experience on the MacBook Pro.
Standard brightness topped out at 500 nits, but it also supports 1000 nits of sustained XDR brightness and 1600 nits of peak HDR brightness. Thanks to some third-party apps like Lunar or BetterDisplay, you can force the MacBook Pro to display XDR brightness levels at all times, but do that at your own risk.
MacBook Pro has higher peak brightness (Image Credit-Apple)
At the same time, the MacBook Air M4 comes with a 13.6-inch or a 15.3-inch IPS LCD screen, with a resolution of 2560 by 1664 or 2880 by 1864 pixels.
The refresh rate is also choppier at 60Hz, and the peak brightness also tops out at 500 nits. There’s also no HDR support on the native MacBook Air display, though the laptop will happily output such signal to an HDR-capable external monitor.
| MacBook Air M4 | MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max |
|---|---|
| Peak brightness 500 nits |
Peak brightness 500 nits SDR 1,000 nits XDR sustained 1,600 nits HDR |
| Display technology IPS-LCD |
Display technology mini-LED |
| Display Size 13.6-inch 15.3-inch |
Display Size 14.2-inch 16.2-inch |
| Display resolution 2560 x 1664 (13-inch) 2880 x 1864 (15-inch) |
Display resolution 3024 x 1964 (14-inch) 2880 x 1864 (16-inch) |
Performance & Memory
More options with the older MacBook Pro, but the MacBook Air has better performance
With Apple Silicon, Apple reimagined what performance and efficiency should look on a modern laptop, delivering capable hardware that simply takes small sips out of the on-board batteries.
Now in its fourth generation, Apple Silicon has relied on TSMC’s 3nm manufacturing technology for the two latest chip releases, and the Apple M4 is the latest one here.
The standard version of the Apple M4 that’s powering the latest MacBook Air has ten cores, six performance and four efficiency ones. You can configure the model with either an 8-core or a 10-core GPU, and either one supports hardware ray tracing for advanced graphics performance.
The MacBook Air beats the older MacBook Pro in both performance and efficiency, but the older laptop holds its own in graphics performance (Image Credit-Apple)
As usual, the latest MacBook Air doesn’t feature active cooling, so no fan inside. This means some extremely demanding tasks could lead to thermal throttling.
At the same time, the MacBook Pro we have here were the first to introduce slightly more powerful versions of Apple Silicon that truly showed the potential of the platform in comparison with the standard M1 chip.
The base M1 Pro chip is an octa-core one, with six performance and dual efficiency cores, but consumers could configure it with a 10-core version. The GPU in the base model was a 14-core one, but the 10-core M1 Pro came with a 16-core GPU. The M1 Max, on the other hand, was a 10-core chip with eight performance and dual efficiency cores, and either a 24 or a 32-core GPU. The M1 Max was only available in the 16-inch MacBook Pro model.
None of the older M1 chips support hardware ray-tracing, but all come with 16-core Neural Engines for advanced AI computing.
| Apple M4 Chip | Apple M1 Pro chip | Apple M1 Max chip |
|---|---|---|
| 10-core CPU 4 P-cores @4.41GHz 6 E-cores @2.59GHz TDP 22W |
8 or 10-core CPU 6/8 P-cores @3.2GHz 2 E-cores @2.1GHz TDP 30W |
10-core CPU 8 P-cores @3.2GHz 2 E-cores @2.1GHz TDP 50W |
| 28 billion transistors | 33.7 billion transistors | 57 billion transistors |
| 3nm technology ARMv9 instruction set |
5nm technology ARMv8 instruction set |
5nm technology ARMv8 instruction set |
| Up to 10-core GPU @1.8GHz | 16/14-core GPU @1.3GHz | 32/24-core GPU @1.8GHz |
| 16-core Neural Engine | 16-core Neural Engine | 16-core Neural Engine |
| 120GB/s memory bandwidth | 200GB/s memory bandwidth | 400GB/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 | 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 |
Dual ProRes encode and decode engines Dual video encode engines Video decode engine |
| AV1 decode | – | – |
Notably absent on the older chips are niceties like hardware ray-tracing, as well as support for the hottest video codec in town, AV1.
But has the performance of the base M4 caught up to the M1 Pro and M1 Max?
| Chipset | Geekbench 6 Single-Core Score | Geekbench 6 Multi-Core Score |
|---|---|---|
| Apple M4 Max (16-core) | 3986 | 26190 |
| Apple M4 Max (14-core) | 3996 | 23725 |
| Apple M4 Pro (14-core) | 3899 | 22639 |
| Apple M4 Pro (12-core) | 3864 | 20499 |
| Apple M4 (10-core) | 3692 | 14819 |
| Apple M3 (8-core) | 3043 | 11687 |
| Apple M2 (8-core) | 2596 | 9728 |
| Apple M1 Max (10-core) | 2431 | 12673 |
| Apple M1 Pro (10-core | 2328 | 10305 |
| Apple M1 (8-core) | 2346 | 8356 |
The M4 fares better than the Apple M1 Pro and M1 Max in the Geekbench 6 synthetic benchmark tests. The performance difference in the single-core test is particularly major and in favor of the newer chip.
While the M4 is more efficient and performs better, the M1 Pro and Max still hold some advantage in graphics performance thanks to their more capable GPUs, despite the lack of hardware ray-tracing.
The MacBook Air M4 is available with 16GB, 24GB, or 32GB of RAM, shared between the M4’s CPU and GPU. On the other hand, the older MacBook Pro arrived with 16GB of RAM in the base version, but users could configure it with 32GB RAM. The M1 Max started with 32GB of RAM, but was configurable to 64GB.
| MacBook Air | MacBook Pro 14″/16″ M1 Pro | MacBook Pro 14″/16″ M1 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Memory 16GB 24GB 32GB |
Memory 16GB 32GB |
Memory 32GB 64GB 128GB |
| Storage 256GB 512GB 1TB 2TB |
Storage 512GB 1TB 2TB 4TB 8TB |
Storage 1TB 2TB 4TB 8TB |
Software
All of Apple’s current MacBooks are upgradable to macOS 15.3 Sequoia, which gives us iPhone Mirroring, an improved Safari browser, and vastly better gaming capabilities thanks to GPTK 2. The latter supercharges the Wine compatibility layer, allowing macOS gamers to emulate even newer AAA games and other software through Crossover or Whisky.
Apple Intelligence is great for generating dragonfly images, but not much else (Image Credit-Apple)
In terms of support, we expect that either one of these laptops will be supported for at least seven years or more.
Battery and Charging
Apple’s MacBook Air didn’t really surprise when it comes to battery capacity––it’s a sleek laptop after all, so not much space for a large battery under the hood.
MagSafe 3 is supported on both laptop lineups (Image Credit-Apple)
The smaller 13-inch version got a 53.8Wh battery, while the larger 15-inch model has a 66.5Wh one. Either one delivers a very similar battery life, though: 15 hours of web browsing and 18 hours of video streaming.
The older Pros had larger batteries––a 70Wh for the 14-inch MacBook Pro and a massive 100Wh for the 16-inch flavor. Battery life, however, is slightly lower here. The 14-inch laptop gives you up to 11 hours of web browsing and 17 hours of video playback, while the larger device delivers 24 hours of web browsing and 21 hours of video playback.
| Apple MacBook Air M4 | Apple MacBook Pro M1 Pro/Max |
|---|---|
| Battery size 66.5Wh (15-inch) 53.8Wh (13-inch) |
Battery size 100Wh (16-inch M1 Pro/M1 Max) 70Wh (14-inch M1 Pro/M1 Max) |
| Battery life (web) Up to 15 hours (15″ and 13″) |
Battery life (web) Up to 14 hours (16″ M1 Max or M1 Pro) Up to 11 hours (14″ M1 Max or M1 Pro) |
| Battery life (video) Up to 18 hours (15″ and 13″) |
Battery life (video) Up to 21 hours (16″ M1 Max or M1 Pro) Up to 17 hours (14″ M1 Max or M1 Pro) |
| 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 67W USB-C with 14″ M1 Pro 8-core 96W USB-C with 14″ M1 Pro 10-core or M1 Max 140W USB-C with 16″ M1 Pro/M1 Max Fast charging with 96W wall adapter (14″ M1 Pro/M1 Max) |
Audio and camera
The 16-inch MacBook Pro is probably the best-sounding one (Image Credit-Apple)
In terms of audio, things are pretty similar between the old Pro and the new Air.
The 13-inch MacBook Air features quad speakers, while the 15-inch one adds two force-cancelling woofers for extra bass response.
The MacBook Pro arrived with a similar six-speaker setup on all models, but Apple calls it a high-fidelity one here, and rightly so––it sounds great.
The newer MacBook Air features a 12MP FaceTime camera with Center Stage and Desk View support, whereas the older MacBook Pro has a regular camera capable of 1080p video-recording and not much else.
Which one should you buy? Should you upgrade?
Severance will probably look better on the MacBook Pro (Image Credit-Apple)
The older MacBook Pro with M1 Pro veteran is still a pretty adequate machine, all things considered. I’d know––I have one. The performance is still more than enough for just about any task, battery life surprisingly still holds up rather well, and the overall capabilities of this Apple veteran have aged beautifully.
At the same time, the newer MacBook Air models are gradually starting to make stronger and stronger cases for themselves, as they are gradually frog-leaping the first Pro laptops with Apple Silicon on board.
Once a Pro user, always a Pro user: I don’t see anyone upgrading from a MacBook Pro to an Air, no matter how much faster the latter is. Once you get accustomed to the better battery life, better screen, and all the extra ports, it’s difficult to downgrade to Apple’s ultra-compact laptop lineup.
