Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025) vs MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 2025)
Quick look
| Figure | Mac Studio M4 Max1 | MacBook Air M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £2,0993launch price | £1,1994launch price |
| Chip | M4 Maxchip | M4chip |
| CPU | 14-coreCPU | 10-coreCPU |
| GPU | 32-coreGPU | 10-coreGPU |
| Memory | 36GBunified memory, base | 16GBunified memory, base |
| Storage | 512GBstorage, base | 256GBstorage, base |
| Battery life | Not available5No battery | Up to18 hrsvideo playback, claimed |
| Released | 12 March 20253ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 5 March 2025. | 12 March 20254ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 5 March 2025. |
| Security updates | Not available6Security updates | Not available6Security updates |
- Price
- The Mac Studio M4 Max is £2,099 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK); the MacBook Air M4 is £1,199 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK).
- Kind of Mac
- The Mac Studio M4 Max is a desktop; the MacBook Air M4 is a laptop. The MacBook Air M4 has a built-in 15.3-inch display, a camera and a battery, whereas the Mac Studio M4 Max has none of them.
True to scale
A desktop and a laptop are different shapes, so they stand side by side rather than superposed: the front face of one and the footprint of the other, from Apple’s published dimensions, at one scale. Corner rounding is our drawing convention, not a measurement.
Specifications
Each figure is from the source marked by its Mac’s name unless it carries its own small number, which links to where that figure was read.
Body
| Specification | Mac Studio M4 Max1 | MacBook Air M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 95 x 197 x 197 mm | 11.5 x 340.4 x 237.6 mm |
| Weight | 2.74 kg | 1.51 kg |
| Colours | Silver | Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, Midnight |
| Ports | Four Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports, two USB 3 (USB-A) ports (up to 5Gb/s), HDMI 2.1 port, 10Gb Ethernet, 3.5mm headphone jack; on front (M4 Max): two USB-C ports (up to 10Gb/s), SDXC card slot (UHS-II) | Two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, MagSafe 3 charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Thunderbolt ports7 | 4 | 2 |
| Thunderbolt version | Thunderbolt 5 | Thunderbolt 4 |
| USB-A ports | 2 | No USB-A ports.8 |
| HDMI | HDMI 2.1 port | No HDMI port.9 |
| SD card slot | Yes | No SD card slot.9 |
| Headphone jack | Yes | Yes |
| MagSafe | Not available10 | Yes |
| Keyboard | Not available11 | Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID |
| Touch ID | Not available12 | Yes |
Display
| Specification | Mac Studio M4 Max1 | MacBook Air M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Display size | Not available13 | 15.3 in |
| Resolution | Not available13 | 2880 x 1864 |
| Pixel density | Not available13 | 224 ppi |
| Display type | Not available13 | Liquid Retina display |
| Brightness | Not available13 | 500 nits |
| Wide colour (P3) | Not available13 | Yes |
| Nano-texture option | Not available13 | No nano-texture display option.9 |
Chip and memory
| Specification | Mac Studio M4 Max1 | MacBook Air M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M4 Max chip | Apple M4 chip |
| Apple silicon | Yes | Yes |
| CPU cores | 14 | 10 |
| Performance cores | 10 | 4 |
| Efficiency cores | 4 | 6 |
| GPU cores | 32 | 10 |
| Neural Engine cores | 16 | 16 |
| Chip options | M4 Max with 14-core CPU and 32-core GPU, or M4 Max with 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU14 | M4 with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU |
| Memory (base) | 36GB | 16GB |
| Memory (maximum) | 128GB14 | 32GB |
| Memory options | 36GB; 48GB, 64GB or 128GB (16-core CPU and 40-core GPU)14 | 16GB, 24GB or 32GB |
| Memory upgradeable by user | Not available15 | No, as Apple documents16 |
| Memory bandwidth | 410 GB/s | 120 GB/s |
| Storage (base) | 512GB | 256GB |
| Storage (maximum) | 8TB14 | 2TB |
| Storage options | 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB or 8TB14 | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB |
| Media engine | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginetwo video encode enginestwo ProRes encode and decode enginesAV1 decode | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engineAV1 decode |
Battery and power
| Specification | Mac Studio M4 Max1 | MacBook Air M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Battery capacity | Not available5 | 66.5 Wh |
| Rated charge cycles | Not available5 | 1,000 cycles17 |
| Video playback (claimed) | Not available5 | 18 h |
| Wireless web (claimed) | Not available5 | 15 h |
| Included power adapter | Not available18 | 35 W |
| Fast charging | Not available5 | Yes |
| Maximum continuous power | 480 W | Not available19 |
Connectivity
| Specification | Mac Studio M4 Max1 | MacBook Air M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) | Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax) |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Ethernet | 10Gb Ethernet (Nbase-T Ethernet with support for 1Gb, 2.5Gb, 5Gb and 10Gb Ethernet using RJ-45 connector) | No Ethernet port.9 |
| External displays (base) | 5 | 2 |
Camera and audio
| Specification | Mac Studio M4 Max1 | MacBook Air M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | Not available20 | 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View |
| Camera resolution | Not available20 | 12 MP |
| Speakers | Built-in speaker21 | Six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers |
| Microphones | Not available15 | Three-mic array with directional beamforming |
Sources
Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 2025) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils new Mac Studio, the most powerful Mac ever ·
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with the M4 chip and a sky blue colour ·
↩Doesn’t apply: no battery
↩Security updates: no end date published.
↩Different Thunderbolt generations. Mac Studio M4 Max: Thunderbolt 5. MacBook Air M4: Thunderbolt 4.
↩MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 2025): No USB-A ports.
↩MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 2025): No HDMI port. No SD card slot. No nano-texture display option. No Ethernet port.
↩Doesn’t apply: MagSafe is a notebook charging port
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in keyboard
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in keyboard, and Touch ID is a keyboard feature
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in display
↩Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs ·
↩Not published by Apple.
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro: how to remove or install memory ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops ·
↩Doesn’t apply: internal power supply, no power adapter in the box
↩Doesn’t apply: a notebook lists its power adapter, not a maximum continuous power
↩Doesn’t apply: no built-in camera
↩Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model ·
↩Geekbench Browser (Primate Labs) ·
↩
Not published by Apple
Mac Studio M4 Max. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — Mac Studio (2025) - Tech Specs; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple unveils new Mac Studio, the most powerful Mac ever; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your Mac Studio model, read 9 Oct 2026.
MacBook Air M4. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: refresh rate, storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 2025) - Tech Specs; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with the M4 chip and a sky blue colour; Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers, read 9 Oct 2026.
If you own one of them
Whether to move is a different question from which is better. Each Mac has a page on it: what its successor changes (the newest Mac in its line where Apple sells one, otherwise the Mac this site treats as its replacement, which can be in another line), what it fetches and whether it still gets updates. Should I upgrade my Mac Studio M4 Max (2025)? · Should I upgrade my MacBook Air M4 (15-inch, 2025)?
Other comparisons
The pairs a buyer of either Mac would also weigh. Any two Macs in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.