Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 2025) Hands-on: Fanless, featherlight, and genuinely fast. The Air that makes the Pro feel like overkill.

A quick note: this hands-on is based on the Japan-market unit. The keyboard layout, language and bundled software may differ in your region.

Here’s my full hands-on review of the MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 2025). I actually bought this unit and have been using it as my daily driver. Here’s the config I tested:

Note: configuration may vary by retailer and region.

Design

I went with the Midnight colourway, and it looks rather sharp. There’s something satisfyingly understated about a matte-black machine with a blacked-out Apple logo on the lid. ✨ I always end up going dark when I buy a MacBook — can’t seem to help myself.

The Midnight colourway: sleek and understated.

Fair to say though: dark colours mean fingerprints. 😅 Silver would probably be far better in that regard, even if it doesn’t have quite the same visual punch. The lid still looks great — that blacked-out Apple logo is clean.

That matte black Apple logo on the lid — genuinely nice.

The thinness makes an impression the moment you pick it up. 11.3 mm sounds like a number on a spec sheet, but in hand you immediately think “oh, that’s actually thin.” Slides into a rucksack effortlessly. 💼

True to the Air name — impressively thin.

The rubber feet on the base aren’t the stickiest I’ve come across. The chassis is light enough that it does slide a little on smooth surfaces — though not enough to be genuinely annoying during typing.

Four rubber feet on the base — functional, if not particularly grippy.

One thing that genuinely impressed me: the lid opens one-handed without the base lifting off the desk. On a laptop this light, you’d normally expect it to tip up — but Apple’s engineering keeps it planted. Nice touch. 👍 The maximum opening angle isn’t the full 180° you get from some Lenovo models, but it never caused any issues in practice.

Opens one-handed — the base stays put. Max opening angle is an intentional Apple design decision.

Portability

Actual weight came in at 1.22 kg. Not ultra-light territory, but firmly in the “light” category — and combined with the slim profile, it never feels heavy in a bag. 🚶‍♂️ Portability is genuinely excellent.

Measured at 1.22 kg — light enough to carry every day.

The included charger weighed in at 162 g — impressively light for a laptop charger. Total carry weight stays manageable. 🙆‍♂️ And if you picked up the Midnight colour, the cable matches — a small detail only Apple bothers with.

162 g charger — light enough to forget it’s in your bag. The cable even matches the Midnight finish. Classic Apple.

One-handed carry is no bother at all. 1.22 kg is comfortable enough to grab off the desk and walk room to room without thinking about it. 😄

One-handed carry? Easy.

Display Quality

Retina IPS panel, and the colour reproduction is genuinely great. Punchy and vivid — watching video on this is a treat. 😍 Max brightness reaches 500 nits, which holds up well in bright indoor settings. Eye fatigue in long sessions? Barely noticeable — the panel quality really comes through.

Retina IPS: punchy, vivid, easy on the eyes.

IPS means wide viewing angles — colour accuracy holds up even when someone’s looking over your shoulder. ✅

Wide viewing angles — no colour shift from the side.

The 16:10 aspect ratio gives noticeably more vertical real estate than a 16:9 screen. I put it next to a VAIO running 16:9, and the difference in how much you see per scroll was immediately obvious.

16:10 on the left vs. 16:9 VAIO on the right — more vertical space makes a real difference.

It’s a glossy panel, so reflections are a factor. There appears to be some anti-reflective treatment applied — better than bare glass — but depending on your lighting, it could bother you.

Glossy panel — factor in your lighting situation.

Keyboard Feel

The key layout is clean and well-organised. This review unit has a JIS (Japanese) keyboard, so UK retail units will have a standard layout. ⌨️

Clean, well-organised keyboard layout.

Key feel is genuinely good — nice rebound for a thin chassis, and I personally enjoyed typing on it. One minor thing: the keycaps have a noticeably smooth, almost silky texture. Coming from the Magic Keyboard’s feel, this took a little adjustment. Whether that suits you is personal preference.

Thin chassis, solid key rebound — a satisfying type.

Backlight is included and gets genuinely bright — fully legible in a dark room or late-night session. 🌙

Backlit keyboard handles low-light sessions fine.

Trackpad

The MacBook trackpad. It’s large. It’s smooth. No other laptop manufacturer is doing this consistently at scale. 😄

Large, smooth, accurate. This is what a trackpad should be.

Three- and four-finger gestures integrate seamlessly with macOS — Mission Control, app switching, all very fluid. I’m mostly a mouse person when docked, but I’m still impressed every time I use this trackpad. Once you’re used to a Mac trackpad, going back to Windows genuinely feels like a step down. 😉

Multi-finger gestures feel native with macOS.

It’s a Force Touch trackpad — haptic feedback simulates the click rather than physically depressing. The big advantage: consistent click feel wherever you press on the pad. Normal trackpads get stiffer near the top; this one doesn’t. ✅

Performance

The M4 chip is genuinely powerful. Coding, video editing, driving multiple monitors — all handled without a hiccup. Geekbench 6 scores: Single-core 3,637 / Multi-core 14,720.

Geekbench 6 CPU: 3,637 single / 14,720 multi — strong numbers for an Air.

On the GPU side: Steel Nomad Lite hit 2,985 and Geekbench GPU came in at 35,911. Honestly, I was surprised. 😮 “I didn’t know an Air could do that” was my exact reaction.

3DMark Steel Nomad Lite: 2,985. Geekbench GPU: 35,911.

Storage reads hit 3,177 MB/s. Some Windows laptops at this price point push 5,000–6,000 MB/s on paper, but you will not feel the difference in real-world use.

Storage read: 3,177 MB/s — plenty fast in practice.

Battery Life

Battery verdict: excellent stamina

53 Wh battery paired with M4’s efficiency equals solid real-world endurance. Apple’s 18-hour claim is the optimistic ceiling, but for light-to-moderate work, all-day use away from a power socket is entirely realistic. The fanless design probably helps — less heat, less wasted energy. Heavier tasks like sustained video editing or running multiple monitors will eat through it faster. And since it charges via USB-C, you’re not tied to Apple’s own charger — any decent USB-C charger will do. 🔌

USB-C charging — any quality charger works, not just Apple’s.

Fan Noise & Heat

Completely silent. Unsettlingly so, at first. No fan means no fan noise — ever. If you’ve ever been irritated by a laptop spinning up during a video call or a long compile, the absence of that noise here is genuinely liberating. Fanless is the right call. 😄

Zero fan noise. The decibel meter is basically decorative here.

Ports & Connectivity

Left side: two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and MagSafe. Right side: headphone jack only. The port selection isn’t expansive. 😅 No USB-A, no HDMI — if you use a fair number of peripherals, a USB-C hub becomes a given.

Left: Thunderbolt 4 ×2 + MagSafe. Right: headphone jack only.

That said, one decent USB-C hub unlocks HDMI, USB-A, SD card — basically everything. In practice, I run a monitor, speakers, and a webcam off mine without any issues. “Two ports, but it works out” is an honest summary.

One USB-C cable to a 27” 4K monitor opens up a lot of screen real estate.

A USB-C monitor is a cracking upgrade — well worth it.

My personal setup: two external monitors via USB-C, Apple keyboard and mouse, MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 2025) in clamshell mode all day. Going desktop with this machine makes a real difference to productivity.

One USB-C cable to a 4K monitor — clean desk, big screen.

One more thing I appreciate: since it’s Apple Silicon, clamshell mode is genuinely worry-free. On older Intel Macs, running with the lid closed would heat things up fast. The Silicon chip runs so much cooler that I just leave it closed without a second thought. 👍

Clamshell + dual monitors: my favourite way to use this.

Webcam

12 MP webcam, and the image is surprisingly bright. The sensor handles low-light rooms well — you don’t look like a silhouette on video calls. The built-in camera is good enough that you’ll never feel the urge to do the whole “use your iPhone as a webcam” thing. 😄

12 MP webcam with solid low-light performance — video calls look great.

No physical privacy shutter, so if that matters to you, a stick-on cover is worth picking up.

Speaker Quality

I genuinely didn’t expect speakers this capable from a chassis this thin. The low end is actually present, and the mids have real body. I watched a film on Amazon Prime Video and it felt like a proper viewing experience — not “laptop speakers doing their best.” 🎬 Pair that Retina display with these speakers and media consumption is legitimately enjoyable.

Thin chassis, real bass — surprisingly capable speakers.

Security

Touch ID is built into the power button. Login, browser passkeys — all sorted with a fingerprint tap. ✅ It’s one of those features you start taking for granted, and then you use a laptop without it and immediately miss it.

Touch ID in the power button — fast and reliable.