MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) vs MacBook Air 13-inch (M3)

Apple announced the M4 Air on 5 March 2025, a year and a day after the M3 arrived on 4 March 2024, and it reached US stores on 12 March 2025. From the outside the only giveaway is a new sky blue finish. What changed is less visible: how much memory every model gets, the camera, and how many monitors it can run.

Side by side

Spec	MacBook Air 13-inch (M4)	MacBook Air 13-inch (M3)
Announced	5 March 2025	4 March 2024
CPU	M4, 10-core (4 performance, 6 efficiency), 120GB/s	M3, 8-core (4 performance, 4 efficiency), 100GB/s
GPU	8-core; 10-core optional; hardware ray tracing	Same
Memory	16GB (to 24GB or 32GB)	8GB (to 16GB or 24GB) or 16GB (to 24GB)
Storage	256GB, up to 2TB	256GB, up to 2TB
Camera	12MP Center Stage, 1080p video	1080p FaceTime HD
External displays	Two up to 6K at 60Hz, lid open	One up to 6K at 60Hz; a second up to 5K at 60Hz with the lid closed
Ports	MagSafe 3, headphone jack, two Thunderbolt 4	MagSafe 3, headphone jack, two Thunderbolt / USB 4
Screen	13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560 × 1664, 224 ppi, 500 nits	Same
Battery	53.8 Wh; up to 18 hours video streaming, 15 hours web	52.6 Wh; up to 18 hours movie playback, 15 hours web
Weight	2.7 lb (1.24 kg)	2.7 lb (1.24 kg)
Colors	Sky blue, midnight, starlight, silver	Silver, starlight, space gray, midnight
US launch price	$999 (education $899)	$1,099

16GB in every M4

The M3 came in two memory configurations: 8GB, which you could order with 16GB or 24GB, or 16GB, which you could take to 24GB. The M4 starts every model at 16GB and goes to 24GB or 32GB. There’s no 8GB M4 and no 32GB M3, and memory is soldered on both, so what a laptop shipped with is what it keeps.

For an M3 owner, this is the deciding question. If yours has 8GB, the M4 is a real step up. If it has 16GB or more, the M4 isn’t much of one.

A camera that follows you

The M4’s 12MP Center Stage camera reframes the shot to keep you in it as you move around, records 1080p video, and can show a top-down view of your work surface during a call. The M3 has a 1080p FaceTime HD camera without those tricks. If video calls are an occasional thing, the M3’s camera is fine.

The microphones and speakers didn’t change: each has a three-mic array with Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum (the M4 also lists directional beamforming) and four speakers with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.

Two monitors with the lid open

The M4 runs two external displays at up to 6K at 60Hz while its own screen stays on. The M3 manages a single external display at up to 6K at 60Hz with its own screen on; for a second, at up to 5K at 60Hz, you have to close the lid. If you use two monitors and want the laptop’s screen as a third, only the M4 does it.

Apple lists the M4’s two USB-C ports as Thunderbolt 4, where the M3’s are rated for Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4, each at up to 40Gb/s. Either way there are two, plus MagSafe 3 and a headphone jack, so the charger never takes a data port. Apple doesn’t list a 4K at 144Hz mode for the M4’s external displays. Neither Air has HDMI or an SD card slot; for those you’d need a 14-inch Pro.

The faster CPU, and everything that stayed

The M4’s CPU has 10 cores, four performance and six efficiency, against the M3’s eight (four of each), and memory bandwidth rises from 100GB/s to 120GB/s. Both have a 16-core Neural Engine and an 8-core GPU with a 10-core option and hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Storage starts at 256GB on both and goes to 2TB, with no 4TB option.

The display didn’t change either. It’s a 13.6-inch LED-backlit Liquid Retina screen with 2560 × 1664 pixels, 224 to the inch, rated at 500 nits and showing 1 billion colors in wide P3 with True Tone. It isn’t a touchscreen or the mini-LED XDR panel of a 14-inch Pro, and there’s no ProMotion or 120Hz mode.

The fanless aluminum cases are identical too: 0.44 inches thick, 11.97 wide and 8.46 deep (1.13, 30.41 and 21.5 centimeters), at 2.7 pounds (1.24 kg). The M4 trades space gray for sky blue, so it comes in sky blue, midnight, starlight and silver, while the M3 comes in silver, starlight, space gray and midnight.

In the box, 8-core GPU models get a 30W USB-C adapter and 10-core GPU models a 35W Dual USB-C Compact adapter (on the M3, only with 512GB of storage), plus a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable. Both fast-charge with a 70W USB-C Power Adapter.

Battery life is rated the same: 18 hours for video (streaming on the M4, Apple TV app movies on the M3) and 15 hours of wireless web. The M4’s battery is slightly bigger, 53.8 watt-hours against 52.6, and the test machines differ. Apple’s January 2025 run used an M4 with the 10-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16GB and 256GB; its January 2024 run used an M3 with eight CPU and eight GPU cores, 8GB and 256GB. Both ran the 25-site browsing test at the same brightness, eight clicks from the bottom.

What they cost

The M4 launched at $999, or $899 for education; the M3 launched at $1,099. The newer model started cheaper while moving every configuration to 16GB and keeping 256GB of storage. Both are older models now, so a used M3 makes sense only if it already has the memory you need at a clearly lower price. Check current prices and the configuration before you buy.

Both run macOS with Apple Intelligence, and the M4 launched in the macOS Sequoia era. If you want the Air that starts at 512GB and adds Wi-Fi 7, that’s the 13-inch M5.