MacBook Air M4

Fast, lightweight, and comes in a very appealing new colour too

- 

The latest MacBook Air M4 follows a proven formula that has seen previous versions heralded as not only the best MacBook - but one of the best laptops on the market.

The perfect laptop needs to be small, lightweight and easy to carry without compromising on performance. By definition, the MacBook Air M4 does exactly that, even in the larger 15-inch model that’s available - as there’s also a 13-inch model to choose from - which weighs just 1.51kg and is only 1.15cm thick. It has a battery life of up to 18 hours and the M4 chip is one of the fastest on the market right now. Plus, thanks to the fanless design, it runs completely silently.

The MacBook Air M4 has all the ingredients for a winning laptop formula, but is it good enough to tempt you away from a larger MacBook Pro? This machine is normally viewed as the one to go for if you're serious about getting stuff done, but the new MacBook Air is capable of more than just writing documents and emails, though.

On the surface, you would struggle to tell the difference between the MacBook M4 and the previous M3 model which came out last year. Design-wise, they are identical, with the exception being the new Sky Blue finish which is likely to draw a new audience to this laptop. Until recently most modern MacBooks only came in a Silver or ‘Space Grey’ finish. The addition of the Space Black and Midnight versions proved extremely popular, though, so now we are seeing an experiment with another colour, albeit a subtle one. Under some lighting conditions, it’s easy to mistake the blue for silver. Subtle though it may be, it keeps the new MacBook Air looking classy. A bolder blue, like that used on the iMac, could have potentially cheapened the look of it - less is often more with something designed for being used on the move. The Midnight option is probably still the best colour, though.