Apple has revealed their newest additions to the Apple ecosystem today, the Macbook Air powered by M4 and the iPad Air powered by M3, and both devices are cheaper than usual.
Apple has pulled back the curtain today to give fans a look at what’s next in their catalogue of devices. The new Macbook Air has been officially revealed, showing consumers the thinnest device yet to receive the M4 chip treatment. The new Macbook features a light design, and a brand-new colourway to showcase how high the device can fly. The MacBook Air now comes in an all-new colour, sky blue, a metallic light blue that joins the previous colourways: midnight, starlight, and silver — giving MacBook Air its largest swath of colours yet. The most striking feature of Apple’s newest devices are their lower-than-expected price points and the new Air lineup follows the precedent set by the iPhone 16e.
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Greg Joswiak says “MacBook Air is by far the world’s most popular laptop, and today we’re giving everyone even more reasons to love it, including a big boost in performance with the M4 chip, a new Center Stage camera, and a beautiful new sky blue colour,” boasting the device “delivers more value to consumers than ever before, making this the perfect moment to upgrade or experience the Mac for the first time.”
New Macbook Air Key Specifications
- An onboard 12MP Center Stage camera with improved video quality gives users the ability to remain in the center of the frame even if the user moves around.
- Equipped with macOS Sequoia (which will be upgraded to version 15.4 next month), the new Macbook allows users to deploy iPhone mirroring real time. This lets users who have both an iPhone and Macbook to wirelessly interact.
- Apple Intelligence is baked in, giving users access to features that make Mac more helpful. ChatGPT is seamlessly integrated into Writing Tools and Siri so users will have an easier time getting things done with onboard AI assistance.
- Apple boasts the Macbook Air provides 2x faster speed than the M1 model. The M4 chip features a powerful 10-core CPU, an up to 10-core GPU, and support for up to 32GB of unified memory, giving users faster performance under the thin aluminum chassis.
- TouchID and Magic Keyboard return, letting users use functions they’ve grown accustomed to.
- Optionality between a 13 and 15-inch Macbook, both are less than half an inch thick improving portability over other models.
Apple wasn’t finished with just the Macbook Air M4 chip announcement, they’ve also introduced the new iPad Air, equipped with an M3 chip for faster performance. Apple’s Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, Bob Borchers said “iPad Air is so popular because of its unmatched combination of powerful performance, portability, and support for advanced accessories, all at an affordable price,” saying the new iPad is the ideal option for those on the go.
The iPad Air equipped with M3 brings a more powerful 8-core CPU to the table, with Apple boasting M3 is up to 35 percent faster for multithreaded CPU workflows than iPad Air with M1. M3 also brings further capabilities for Apple Intelligence, bringing AI to Apple’s lightest tablet. Apple is also rolling out iPadOS 18 on day one for the device, letting consumers utilize the new onboard features ranging from Audio Recording and Transcription to handwritten Smart Script-enabled note-taking.
The new Macbook Air equipped with M4 will launch on March 12, and pricing will start at $1,399 (CAD), with the 15-inch starting at $1,699 (CAD).
The new iPad Air equipped with M3 launches today, and pricing will start at $799 (CAD) for the Wi-Fi model, and $999 (CAD) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
Consumers can head to the official Apple website for more information regarding both Air devices, or to order the iPad Air today.
