MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) vs MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4)

Apple released these almost eight months apart: the Air on 4 March 2024, and the Pro on 30 October 2024, in US stores from 8 November 2024. The Pro here is the base M4 model. If the one you’re looking at says M4 Pro or M4 Max, it has a different chip with different core counts.

Side by side

Spec	MacBook Air 13-inch (M3)	MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4)
Screen	13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560 × 1664, 224 ppi	14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR, 3024 × 1964, 254 ppi, ProMotion up to 120Hz
Brightness	500 nits	1,000 nits SDR outdoors; 1,000 nits sustained XDR; 1,600 nits peak HDR
Ports	MagSafe 3, headphone jack, two Thunderbolt / USB 4	MagSafe 3, SDXC, HDMI, headphone jack, three Thunderbolt 4
Battery	52.6 Wh; up to 18 hours movie playback, 15 hours web	72.4 Wh; up to 24 hours video streaming, 16 hours web
CPU	M3, 8-core (4 performance, 4 efficiency), 100GB/s	M4, 10-core (4 performance, 6 efficiency), 120GB/s
GPU	8-core; 10-core optional	10-core
Memory	8GB (to 16GB or 24GB) or 16GB (to 24GB)	16GB or 24GB (to 24GB or 32GB)
Storage	256GB, up to 2TB	512GB or 1TB, up to 2TB
Camera	1080p FaceTime HD	12MP Center Stage
Speakers	Four	Six, with force-cancelling woofers
Cooling	Fanless	Fans
Weight	2.7 lb (1.24 kg)	3.4 lb (1.55 kg)
US launch price	$1,099	$1,599 (education $1,499)

The screen is the biggest difference

The Air’s screen is a 13.6-inch LED-backlit Liquid Retina panel: 2560 × 1664 pixels (224 per inch) and 500 nits, with True Tone and wide P3 color at 1 billion colors. It’s a good everyday screen, but it isn’t mini-LED, and there’s no ProMotion or nano-texture option.

The Pro’s 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR screen is 3024 × 1964 at 254 pixels per inch, with a million-to-one contrast ratio and the same 1 billion colors, P3 range and True Tone. ProMotion runs up to 120Hz, and there are fixed refresh rates of 47.95, 48, 50, 59.94 and 60Hz. Apple rates it at up to 1,000 nits for SDR content outdoors, 1,000 nits sustained across the full screen for XDR, and 1,600 nits peak for HDR while the panel is below 25°C.

That outdoor rating is twice the Air’s 500 nits, which you’ll notice by a window or outside. Nano-texture glass is an option on the Pro, and it comes with a polishing cloth.

HDMI, an SD slot and a third Thunderbolt port

On the Air you get MagSafe 3, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a pair of USB-C ports rated for Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4, both at up to 40Gb/s. The Pro has MagSafe 3, an SDXC card slot, HDMI, a headphone jack and three Thunderbolt 4 ports at up to 40Gb/s. If you shoot to SD cards or plug into projectors and TVs, the Pro saves you the adapters. If your day runs through one USB-C dock, the Air isn’t short of a port you’d use.

External monitors split the same way. The Air runs one at up to 6K at 60Hz with its lid open, and a second at up to 5K at 60Hz only with the lid closed. The Pro runs two with its own screen still on: two at up to 6K at 60Hz over Thunderbolt, or one 6K Thunderbolt display plus one at 4K and 144Hz over HDMI. Over HDMI alone it can drive one display at up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 240Hz.

Wireless is a tie. Both have Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, and neither has Wi-Fi 7.

Battery and charging

The Pro has the bigger battery, 72.4 watt-hours against 52.6, and the longer rating: up to 24 hours of video streaming and 16 hours of wireless web, against 18 and 15 hours on the Air (whose video figure is for movie playback in the Apple TV app). Apple’s Pro figures come from tests run between August and October 2024 on a 10-core CPU and GPU with 24GB and 1TB, not the 16GB model the price starts with. The Air was tested in January 2024 with an 8-core CPU and GPU, 8GB and 256GB.

The Air comes with a 30W adapter (8-core GPU) or a 35W Dual USB-C Compact adapter (10-core GPU with 512GB), and it fast-charges with a 70W adapter. The Pro comes with a 70W USB-C Power Adapter and a MagSafe cable, and a 96W adapter is the option for fast charging.

Chips, memory and storage

The Air’s M3 has an 8-core CPU (four performance and four efficiency cores), a 16-core Neural Engine, 100GB/s of memory bandwidth and an 8-core GPU with a 10-core option. The Pro’s M4 has a 10-core CPU (four performance and six efficiency cores), a 10-core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine and 120GB/s. Both GPUs have hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

The Air shipped with 8GB or 16GB of memory and could be ordered with up to 24GB; the Pro comes with 16GB or 24GB and can be configured to 24GB or 32GB. The Air’s storage starts at 256GB and goes to 2TB; the Pro comes with 512GB or 1TB and goes to 1TB or 2TB. Neither offers 4TB. Memory is soldered on both, so a cheap 8GB Air and a 16GB Pro aren’t the same machine at two prices.

Camera, sound and build

The Air’s camera is 1080p FaceTime HD. The Pro’s 12MP Center Stage camera tracks you as you move around the frame, and it can add an overhead view of whatever’s in front of the keyboard. The Air has four speakers; the Pro has six, with force-cancelling woofers. Both have Touch ID.

The Air is fanless and silent; the Pro uses active cooling. The Air weighs 2.7 pounds (1.24 kg) and the Pro 3.4 pounds (1.55 kg). The Air comes in silver, starlight, space gray and midnight, the Pro in Space Black and silver.

What they cost

The Air launched at $1,099. The Pro launched at $1,599, or $1,499 for education. The $500 between them pays for the XDR screen, HDMI, the card slot, a third port, the longer battery rating and a newer chip. If you only need a Mac for documents and the web, that’s a lot to spend on features you won’t use.

Both are earlier models now. Apple describes the M3 Air as 2024 stock, so unless Apple still lists it you’ll be buying used, refurbished or at an education price, and the 14-inch Pro has since moved to M5. Check current prices before you buy. The Pro launched in the macOS Sequoia era, and Apple lists Apple Intelligence for M1 and later, which covers both.