I just tested Apple's best and newest MacBook – and it's now even more 'wow'

Feather-light, and punching above its weight.

Apple MacBook Air M4 15in
(Image: © Future / Ian Evenden)

Our Verdict

Of course it’s great. The combination of Apple’s thin and light laptop and the M4 processor leads to a machine that’s only just behind the low-end MacBook Pro, and which has had a price-drop too. Highly recommended.

For

  • M4 processor power
  • Thin and light
  • Great screen

Against

  • Ummm...
  • Well...
  • It could have a few more ports?

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This has to be Apple’s best laptop. It may not be the most powerful – we have the MacBook Pro for that – but there's nothing like the 15-inch MacBook Air to make you go ‘wow’ when you get it out of the box. It feels incredibly refined, the combination of 15in width with Air slimness and the shiny Apple logo give it an undeniable X factor that sets it apart from other ultraportable PCs.

This M4 refresh of the Air brings with it the ability to connect two external displays without having to switch off the laptop’s built-in screen, Thunderbolt 4, and a MagSafe charging port. It’s also had a slight price drop compared to the M3 model, which just makes it an even more tempting proposition, as does the fact it now comes with 16GB of RAM as standard. It's heading straight for our best laptops for graphic design list.

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CPU:

Apple M4, 10 cores

NPU:

16-core Neural Engine

Graphics:

Integrated, 10 cores

Memory:

16GB (24 or 32GB options available)

Storage:

256GB (512GB, 1TB (version tested), 2TB options available)

Screen size:

15.3 in

Screen type:

LED-backlit IPS

Resolution:

2880x1864

Refresh rate:

60Hz

Colour gamut (measured):

100% P3

Brightness (measured):

532 nits

Ports:

2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x MagSafe charging, 1x 3.5mm audio

Wireless connectivity:

Wi‑Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3

Dimensions:

11 x 340 x 237 mm

Weight:

1.51 kg

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Header Cell - Column 0 Header Cell - Column 1

[enter product name]

GEEKBENCH 6

CPU Single-core:

3721

Row 1 - Cell 0

CPU Multi-core:

14866

Row 2 - Cell 0

GPU OpenCL:

34868

CINEBENCH 2024

CPU single-core:

173

Row 4 - Cell 0

CPU multi-core:

736

Row 5 - Cell 0

GPU:

3867

TOPAZ VIDEO AI

Enhancement:

24.94

Row 7 - Cell 0

Slowmo:

46.77

Row 8 - Cell 0

Combined:

341.56

PUGETBENCH for PHOTOSHOP

General:

99.1

Row 10 - Cell 0

Filter:

106

PUGETBENCH for DAVINCI RESOLVE

Overall:

3124

Row 12 - Cell 0

GPU Effects:

14.7

Row 13 - Cell 0

Fusion score:

39.1

Row 14 - Cell 0

AI score:

16.3

Row 15 - Cell 0

H.264 encoding:

202.94

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[Product name] score card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Design:

Thin, light and built very nicely indeed.

5/5

Features:

While there are only two ports, they're fast enough to handle anything.

4/5

Performance:

Just a little slower than the MacBook Pro, and silent too.

4/5

Value:

Apple's cheapest laptop, but performs very well for the price.

5/5

Apple MacBook Pro M4
Apple MacBook Pro M4: at creativebloq.com

 It's incredibly well built, the screen is predictably great and it's loaded with a bunch of ease-of-use features for anyone, plus the addition of Apple Intelligence adds an AI-shaped layer to the experience of having one. But 3D and moving-image processing is disappointing for such a high-end (and expensive) laptop.

Asus ZenBook Duo (2025)
Asus ZenBook Duo (2025): at creativebloq.com

ASUS' gorgeous two-screened laptop returns for a 2025 refresh, and is as good as ever. That comes with a caveat though - there's still no discrete graphics chip in this baby - but if you can live with that then it’s a top-notch portable computing experience.

HP Omnibook X 14
HP Omnibook X 14: at creativebloq.com

While it suffers from the same GPU issues - namely a lack of power and compatibility - as other Snapdragon laptops, the HP Omnibook X 14 pulls a rabbit from the hat in the form of extremely long battery life, even when compared to other ARM-based machines.

The Verdict
9.5

out of 10

Apple 15" MacBook Air M4 (2025)

Of course it’s great. The combination of Apple’s thin and light laptop and the M4 processor leads to a machine that’s only just behind the low-end MacBook Pro, and which has had a price-drop too. Highly recommended.

Ian Evenden
Freelance writer

Ian Evenden has been a journalist for over 20 years, starting in the days of QuarkXpress 4 and Photoshop 5. He now mainly works in Creative Cloud and Google Docs, but can always find a use for a powerful laptop or two. When not sweating over page layout or photo editing, you can find him peering at the stars or growing vegetables.