MacBook Air M4 benchmarks are here — here's how it compares to the MacBook Pro, Windows laptops and more

Apple's latest MacBook Air M4 is finally here. We've already put the 13-inch and 15-inch models to the test, so now we can compare these laptops to see just how well they perform.

Spoiler alert: they're very impressive.

We were already nicely surprised by the MacBook Air M4's $100 price drop, along with its gorgeous sky blue color. Now, we can see just how well the M4 chip performs in Apple's latest Air models.

Considering the reduced cost, along with the performance and power-efficiency gains that come with Apple's fourth-generation silicon, it already looks like the new MacBook Air is a worthwhile purchase — despite a similar design from its predecessors.

To give you a clear picture of the performance gains Apple's M4 chip delivers, I've put together all the testings we've gathered and compared them to the best laptops, including last year's M3 Air and M4 Pro models, along with a few of the best Windows laptops.

So, ready for some numbers? Let's dive in.

Display tests

Seeing as the MacBook Air M4 models come with an identical design as its predecessors, I didn't expect much change in the displays. However, there are some interesting numbers here.

With the same 13.6-inch Liquid Retina (2,460 x 1,664) and 15.6-inch (2,880 x 1,864) LED displays as the M3 Airs, the M4 Air models appear to deliver slightly less brightness yet more vivid colors.

In our tests, we measure brightness, color accuracy and how well these colors are presented on displays using a Klein K10-A colorimeter. We also test the screen's brightness in five different zones and average them out to come up with the average brightness.

As a quick refresher, brightness is measured in nits (the higher, the brighter), sRGB color gamut percentage tells you how much of the common sRGB color gamut is shown on screens and the Delta-E score tells us how accurate the colors are (the closer to 0, the better).

Compared to the MacBook Air M3 13-inch and MacBook Air M3 15-inch, the M4 Airs are fairly similar in all tests, although you'll get more accurate, vivid colors on display with the latest laptops. While seemingly not as bright either, the gap between numbers is minimal, so unless you're doing work that revolves around color accuracy and brightness, there shouldn't be a noticeable difference.

As expected, the M4 MacBook Pro boasts a brighter display, although it still falls behind in sRGB color gamut coverage. But you'll still find more color accuracy with its Delta-E score.

Either way, MacBook displays offer over 100% sRGB color gamut coverage, so you'll be getting colorful displays. As for Windows laptops, it beats the Dell XPS 13 (2024), too, but the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x outshines them all with its color gamut coverage.

Still, brightness is an important factor for most, and despite the M4 Airs' slight decrease in brightness compared to last year's models, they still nearly reach the 500-nit brightness that Apple claims. Plus, they're either similar or outright beat other Windows 11 laptops we've recently reviewed, such as the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo.

Performance tests

Now, onto the real beefy stuff. We collected multiple results from the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air M4, and it's clear these offer much faster performance and even improved graphics power compared to M3-equipped MacBooks — that includes the Pro.

First off is Geekbench 6 benchmarks, which measures how fast a CPU is through handling tasks.

As you can see, both MacBook Air M4 models offer supremely higher results in both single-core and multi-core tests compared to many recent laptops, including the M3 MacBook Airs, M3 MacBook Pros and even Windows laptops equipped with Snapdragon X Elite and Intel Core Ultra 7 200 CPUs. And by quite a considerable amount.

Both M4 Air models nearly catch up to the MacBook Pro M4, being only a little behind in single-core and multi-core results. That's an amazing feat considering the price difference in the laptops (The MacBook Air M4 starts at $999 while the MacBook Pro M4 kicks off at $1,599).

That said, there is a noticeable difference between the M4 and its more powerful sibling, the M4 Pro.

We also tested the SSD speeds using the Blackmagic disk speed test. The differences here won't be quite as remarkable, as we've currently only tested that 256GB model of the 13-inch M4 Air and the 512GB storage of the 15-inch M4 Air. Still, it's worth noting the Handbrake video transcoding test results (transcoding 4K video to 1080p).

You'll notice Windows laptops aren't here, as the Blackmagic test doesn't work well with them.

As expected, the 13-inch M4 MacBook Air doesn't achieve the desired read/write speeds as with its predecessors, while the 15-inch model keeps up with the M3 models. In saying that, a look at the Handbrake tests shows the latest models are getting faster transcoding times but quite a lot, with both knocking a full minute off from the M3 Air models.

These are no M4 Pro speeds, and the chip in the MacBook Pro mainly caters to video editing. Overall, the M4 models offer some gains over their predecessors, making them reliable machines for transferring data and video editing.

So, what about gaming? We know Macs are finally getting good at gaming, and we'll soon see Cyberpunk 2077 run natively on Mac this year. Are the MacBook Air M4 models up for the task? Considering the results below, it may be no better than an M3 Air.

MacBook Air models aren't made to be gaming machines (they have a fan-less design), after all, so it hardly comes as a surprise that the M4 chip doesn't offer the frames per second (fps) we've seen in the best gaming laptops. If you're looking for a good value-for-money laptop, it's better to keep your sights on a Windows laptop.

There are more factors at play, too. The 13-inch MacBook Air M4 sample we received comes with an 8-core GPU, so it won't offer the best fps results. That's shown in the 15-inch model's 10-core GPU we tested, as the results are higher.

With their 16:10 aspect ratio displays, meaning these games generally run at 1200p resolution, it shows these games could run slightly better if they were at, say, 1080p resolution.

As you'll find, the M3 Max-equipped MacBook Pro can handle games at 60 fps or more, so Macs are becoming gaming machines. In fact, the new Mac Studio with an M4 Max or M3 Ultra is far more suited in that front, but you'll be paying upwards of $1,999 for them.

Battery life tests

Finally, we have battery life. Apple rates its M3 and M4-powered MacBook Air models with up to 18 hours of video streaming, and judging by the results, the M4 chip doesn't seem to have helped much in battery efficiency.

In our battery test, involving continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi with the laptop’s display set to 150 nits of brightness, only the 13-inch MacBook Air M4 model dipped below 15 hours, unlike its M3 predecessors. However, the 15-inch model is now the longest-running Air, but only by a minute over the 13-inch Air M3.

So, not quite the 18 hours Apple claims (again). Nevertheless, these are still some of the best laptops for battery life, although recent Windows laptops are clearly catching up, including the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo. It's hard to beat the Dell XPS 13, though, with offers well over 19 hours of battery on a single charge.

The M4 MacBook Pro still offers an extra kick of battery, lasting over 18 hours. But none can trump the MacBook Pro M4 Pro with its jaw-dropping near-21 hours of battery life.

While by no means lacking, the new MacBook Air models still don't quite match the battery lengths of their Pro cousins, albeit understandable considering their sleeker design.

Outlook

Despite similar displays and battery life, the MacBook Air M4 completely knocks it out of the park when it comes to performance. With the scores from our testing, the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs are the strongest in their category, even catching up to the MacBook Pro M4.

What really makes the M4-equipped MacBook Air shine is its price-to-specs ratio. Now starting at $999 with 16GB of unified memory as standard (with a 256GB SSD), you're getting a lot of bang for your buck here. It's no wonder we already rate it as the best bargain laptop of the year.

Sure, it would have been nice to see a significant bump in battery life, but over the M3 chip, the MacBook Air pushes performance to new heights in sleek, portable notebooks — even outclassing recent Windows laptops.

If you're on the market for a new daily driver, the M4 MacBook Airs look to be the best option for most. For more power, the M4 Pro (and higher) chips are a better option. Are they worth the upgrade from a MacBook Air M3? I doubt it, but it's a good investment to make if it's been a few years since the last upgrade and you need processing power.

Of course, if you're looking for a machine that can take on video editing, gaming or more demanding tasks, you'll want to turn to MacBook Pro models with an M4 Pro or higher, a Mac Studio or a gaming laptop like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and the upcoming RTX 50-series gaming laptops.

Otherwise, it's worth keeping the MacBook Air M4 on your radar — as its price shouldn't be sneezed at.

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