Apple's latest M4 MacBook Air has arrived just 12 months after the M3 version, continuing the company's accelerated silicon development cycle. While the new model brings performance improvements and a lower starting price, a significant discount on the previous generation raises an interesting question for potential buyers: is the latest and greatest worth it, or does the discounted M3 represent better value?
The M4 MacBook Air: Incremental Improvements
The new M4 MacBook Air maintains the same physical design as its predecessors, with improvements focused entirely on the silicon inside. Available in both 13-inch and 15-inch variants, the laptop now starts at USD $999 for the smaller model and USD $1,199 for the larger one—USD $100 less than last year's M3 versions. Apple has also introduced a new Sky Blue color option to refresh the lineup.
Performance Enhancements
Built on what Apple calls a second-generation 3nm architecture, the M4 chip packs 28 billion transistors compared to the M3's 25 billion. This translates to approximately 15% better performance in benchmarks, with GPU performance specifically seeing up to a 30% improvement over the M3. The new chip also enables better power efficiency, resulting in slightly longer battery life under similar workloads.
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| The M4 MacBook Air enhances performance for creative tasks such as video editing |
New Capabilities
One notable upgrade with the M4 MacBook Air is its ability to connect to two external monitors while keeping its built-in display active—effectively supporting three screens simultaneously, which the M3 could not do. The laptop also ships with macOS Sequoia, bringing features like iPhone screen mirroring, improved window tiling, and enhanced Apple Intelligence capabilities.
The M3 Alternative: A Compelling Value Proposition
While the M4 brings modest improvements, a heavily discounted M3 MacBook Air has emerged as a compelling alternative. A near-maxed out configuration with 24GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is currently available for USD $1,099 at Amazon—just USD $100 more than the base M4 model, but with USD $300 slashed from its original price.
RAM and Storage Considerations
The base M4 MacBook Air comes with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. For users running RAM-intensive applications or handling prosumer tasks like 4K video rendering or RAW photo editing, the 24GB of RAM in the discounted M3 model provides valuable headroom that could outweigh the raw performance advantage of the newer chip.
Storage Speed Matters
Beyond capacity concerns, the base 256GB storage configuration in entry-level MacBook Airs operates on a single NAND flash memory chip, which can result in slower read/write speeds compared to the 512GB models that utilize dual chips. Testing has shown up to 50% faster loading times with the larger storage configuration, making this another significant advantage for the discounted M3 model.
Price-Performance Analysis
Upgrading a base M4 MacBook Air to match the discounted M3's specifications would cost an additional USD $400 (USD $200 each for RAM and storage upgrades). This represents a substantial premium for what amounts to a 15% performance improvement in the processor, making the value proposition of the discounted M3 particularly attractive for budget-conscious buyers.
Making the Right Choice
For users who absolutely need the latest technology or who can benefit from the M4's ability to drive multiple external displays, the new model makes sense. However, for many users—especially those who multitask heavily or work with large files—the near-maxed out M3 MacBook Air at its current discounted price represents exceptional value that may be difficult to pass up.
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| Choosing between the latest M4 MacBook Air and the value-packed M3 model can be a tough decision for users |