MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 2025) vs MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024)
Quick look
| Figure | MacBook Air M41 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £1,1993launch price | £1,5994launch price |
| Chip | M4chip | M4chip |
| CPU | 10-coreCPU | 10-coreCPU |
| GPU | 10-coreGPU | 10-coreGPU |
| Memory | 16GBunified memory, base | 16GBunified memory, base |
| Storage | 256GBstorage, base | 512GBstorage, base |
| Battery life | Up to18 hrsvideo playback, claimed | Up to24 hrsvideo playback, claimed |
| Released | 12 March 20253ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 5 March 2025. | 8 November 20244ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 30 October 2024. |
| Security updates | Not available5Security updates | Not available5Security updates |
- Price
- The MacBook Air M4 is £1,199 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK); the MacBook Pro M4 is £1,599 at launch, per Apple Newsroom (UK).
True to scale
Footprints from above, from Apple’s published dimensions, drawn to one scale and superposed. 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 | MacBook Air M41 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 11.5 x 340.4 x 237.6 mm | 15.5 x 312.6 x 221.2 mm |
| Weight | 1.51 kg | 1.55 kg |
| Colours | Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, Midnight | Space Black, Silver |
| Ports | Two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, MagSafe 3 charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack | Three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3 port, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Thunderbolt ports | 2 | 3 |
| Thunderbolt version | Thunderbolt 4 | Thunderbolt 4 |
| USB-A ports | No USB-A ports.6 | No USB-A ports.7 |
| HDMI | No HDMI port.8 | HDMI port |
| SD card slot | No SD card slot.8 | Yes |
| Headphone jack | Yes | Yes |
| MagSafe | Yes | Yes |
| Keyboard | Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID | Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID |
| Touch ID | Yes | Yes |
| Touch Bar | Not available9 | No Touch Bar.10 |
Display
| Specification | MacBook Air M41 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Display size | 15.3 in | 14.2 in |
| Resolution | 2880 x 1864 | 3024 x 1964 |
| Pixel density | 224 ppi | 254 ppi |
| Display type | Liquid Retina display | Liquid Retina XDR display |
| Brightness | 500 nits | Not available11 |
| Brightness (SDR, outdoor) | Not available12 | 1,000 nits13 |
| Peak brightness (HDR) | Not available14 | 1,600 nits |
| Refresh rate | Not available15 | 120 Hz |
| Wide colour (P3) | Yes | Yes |
| Nano-texture option | No nano-texture display option.8 | Yes |
Chip and memory
| Specification | MacBook Air M41 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M4 chip | Apple M4 chip |
| Apple silicon | Yes | Yes |
| CPU cores | 10 | 10 |
| Performance cores | 4 | 4 |
| Efficiency cores | 6 | 6 |
| GPU cores | 10 | 10 |
| Neural Engine cores | 16 | 16 |
| Chip options | M4 with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU | M4 with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU16 |
| Memory (base) | 16GB | 16GB |
| Memory (maximum) | 32GB | 32GB |
| Memory options | 16GB, 24GB or 32GB | 16GB, 24GB or 32GB |
| Memory upgradeable by user | No, as Apple documents17 | No, as Apple documents17 |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 120 GB/s |
| Storage (base) | 256GB | 512GB |
| Storage (maximum) | 2TB | 2TB |
| Storage options | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB | 512GB, 1TB or 2TB |
| Media engine | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engineAV1 decode | Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engineAV1 decode |
Battery and power
| Specification | MacBook Air M41 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Battery capacity | 66.5 Wh | 72.4 Wh |
| Rated charge cycles | 1,000 cycles18 | 1,000 cycles18 |
| Video playback (claimed) | 18 h | 24 h |
| Wireless web (claimed) | 15 h | 16 h |
| Included power adapter | 35 W | 70 W |
| Fast charging | Yes | Yes |
Connectivity
| Specification | MacBook Air M41 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi | Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax) | Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax) |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Ethernet | No Ethernet port.8 | No Ethernet port.10 |
| External displays (base) | 2 | 2 |
Camera and audio
| Specification | MacBook Air M41 | MacBook Pro M42 |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View | 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View |
| Camera resolution | 12 MP | 12 MP |
| Speakers | Six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers | High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers |
| Microphones | Three-mic array with directional beamforming | Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming19 |
Sources
Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 2025) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with the M4 chip and a sky blue colour ·
↩Apple Newsroom (UK) — New MacBook Pro features M4 family of chips and Apple Intelligence ·
↩Security updates: no end date published.
↩MacBook Air (15-inch, M4, 2025): No USB-A ports.
↩MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024): 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: the Touch Bar was only fitted to MacBook Pro
↩MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024): No Touch Bar. No Ethernet port.
↩Doesn’t apply: Apple’s one SDR brightness figure is the outdoor one
↩Doesn’t apply: Apple lists no outdoor brightness for this display
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Doesn’t apply: Apple lists no separate HDR peak for this display
↩Not published by Apple.
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro: how to remove or install memory ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model ·
↩Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Pro model ·
↩Geekbench Browser (Primate Labs) ·
↩
Not published by Apple
MacBook Air M4. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: 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.
MacBook Pro M4. Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4, 2024) - Tech Specs; Apple Newsroom (UK) — New MacBook Pro features M4 family of chips and Apple Intelligence; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Pro model, 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 MacBook Air M4 (15-inch, 2025)? · Should I upgrade my MacBook Pro M4 (14-inch, 2024)?
Other comparisons
The pairs a buyer of either Mac would also weigh. Any two Macs in the catalogue can be compared from the chooser.