Apple officially announced the new MacBook Air on March 5 (Japan time). This model packs the M4 chip, delivering a performance boost over the previous M3-equipped model.
A New "Sky Blue" Color Joins the Lineup
This time, Sky Blue has been added as a new color. There are four colors to choose from: Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, and Midnight. It looks like Space Gray has dropped off the list this time around.
Finally! The M4 Chip Comes to the Air
The M4 chip first appeared in the iPad Pro, then made its way into the MacBook Pro, and has at last landed on the MacBook Air as well. The M4 is Apple's latest SoC (as of writing), with a faster CPU and GPU than the previous generation. The core layout has also changed: what used to be 4 performance cores + 4 efficiency cores is now 4 performance cores + 6 efficiency cores — basically, more high-efficiency E-cores. Personally, I'd have been even happier if the P-core count had been increased a little too. Memory bandwidth has also been upgraded from 100GB/s to 120GB/s. You may not really feel the difference in everyday use, but the performance is steadily improving step by step.
Price and Release Date
The new MacBook Air is already up for pre-order on the Apple website and at Apple Store locations, and goes on sale on March 12. Pricing starts at around 164,800 yen (about 1,099 USD, tax included) for the 13-inch model, and around 198,800 yen (about 1,325 USD, tax included) for the 15-inch model.
※ USD figures are approximate, calculated at roughly 150 yen per USD at the time of writing.
With this upgrade, the MacBook Air is going to be an attractive option for a lot of people. As for me, I just bought a 15-inch MacBook Air with the M3 chip, so I'm honestly a little envious of everyone who gets to grab the M4 model from here on out!
