The short answer
If you own a MacBook Air M1 and your work is documents, email and video calls — do not upgrade. You will not feel the performance difference. The one reason worth switching is memory: the M4 starts at 16GB, while 8GB on the M1 is starting to feel tight with the way people keep dozens of tabs open now.
Three weeks of real use
The most obvious thing is how cool and quiet it stays — no fan, so no whoosh when you have 30 tabs open and a Zoom call running. We measured 12–14 hours at 60% brightness, enough for a full workday without carrying the charger.
What is worth complaining about
- 256GB of storage fills up fast, and the jump to 512GB costs more than it should.
- Only two Thunderbolt ports — plug in the charger and you have one left, so a hub is near-mandatory.
- The screen is still 60Hz; after a 120Hz phone, scrolling looks slightly choppy.
Who should buy it
Anyone still on an older Intel Mac, students who need light weight and long battery, and office workers who want silence. Video editors and gamers should look elsewhere.