Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) — Review: Sleek, Powerful, and Built for the Future
If you’re after a laptop that combines sleek-light design, impressive power under the hood, and long-lasting battery life — the 2025 15-inch MacBook Air with M4 chip is one of the most tempting choices around. In this review I’ll walk through what makes it shine, where it might fall a little short, and whether it’s worth buying in 2025.
What You Get: Key Specs & Features
-
15.3-inch Liquid Retina display — 2880×1864 resolution, 500 nits brightness, support for 1 billion colours, wide P3 colour gamut, and True Tone. Apple Support+2Apple+2
-
Apple M4 chip: 10-core CPU (4 performance + 6 efficiency cores) and 10-core GPU, plus a 16-core Neural Engine — giving strong performance for everyday tasks and even heavier workloads. Apple Support+2Macworld+2
-
16 GB unified memory (with options to upgrade to 24 or 32 GB) for smooth multitasking. Apple Support+1
-
256 GB SSD storage (configurable to 512 GB / 1 TB / 2 TB) — fast storage for apps, files, projects. Apple Support+1
-
Camera: 12 MP “Center Stage” webcam with Desk View support — ideal for video calls, online meetings, content creation. Currys+1
-
Built-in features: Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, Force Touch trackpad, aluminum unibody design, lightweight build, MagSafe 3 charging, two Thunderbolt 4 ports + headphone jack. Apple+2Currys+2
-
Excellent portability: weight ~ 1.51 kg — easy to carry if you move around a lot. Currys+1
-
Battery life: up to ~18 hours video playback or ~15 hours wireless web browsing — great for a full day of work away from the socket. Apple Support+1
What Works — Where the MacBook Air 15″ Excels
🔋 Performance & Efficiency
The M4 chip delivers a smooth experience whether you’re writing, designing, editing photos, browsing, doing freelance work, video calls — even light creative workloads run well. The unified memory and SSD make multitasking, loading apps, and switching between programs lightning fast.
🖥️ Gorgeous, Spacious Display
That 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display gives you plenty of screen real estate — ideal for multitasking, working on spreadsheets or documents, content creation, or editing. The high resolution, wide colour gamut and brightness make images, video, text and design work look crisp and vibrant.
💼 Great for Work, Travel & Everyday Use
Because it’s slim, light and powerful, it's perfect if you travel, work in cafés, move between home and studio — or if you want a machine that’s easy to carry but still capable. Battery life means you don’t always need to hunt for a plug midday.
📸 Modern Webcam & Good Audio
The 12 MP Center Stage camera and improved mic/speaker setup makes it a solid choice for video calls — handy for remote work, meetings, or content creation.
🔐 Convenience & Build Quality
Touch ID, MagSafe charging, aluminium build, backlit keyboard — Apple packs in a lot of convenience and refined design, making the MacBook Air feel premium and “ready for anything.”
What to Keep in Mind — The Trade-offs
-
Storage may feel limited — 256 GB SSD is fine for many, but if you plan to store lots of large files (video, big photo libraries, etc.) you may want to upgrade to a larger SSD or rely on external/cloud storage.
-
Not a “Pro workstation” — while M4 is powerful, the fanless thin-body design and thermal limits may not suit extended heavy-duty workloads (very heavy video editing, 3D rendering, large datasets).
-
Ports are minimal — only two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports + headphone jack; no USB-A, SD card slot, so you may need dongles or hubs depending on your workflow.
-
Relatively expensive — you're paying for premium build and performance; if all you need is basic browsing, writing, emails, a cheaper laptop might suffice.
Who This Laptop Is Perfect For
This MacBook Air 15″ (M4) is especially good for:
-
Freelancers, remote workers, students, writers, bloggers
-
Creatives doing design work, photo editing, light video editing
-
People who travel or work between different places — cafés, home, studio, on the go
-
Users who value portability, battery life, and a polished overall experience
If you want a “do-everything” laptop — strong enough for creative work, but light enough for travel — this hits a sweet spot.
Verdict — Recommended (with caveats)
The 2025 15-inch MacBook Air with M4 is a fantastic all-rounder. It blends power, portability, premium build, and versatility into a sleek package. For most people — especially those doing everyday tasks, creative work, freelance writing, content creation or remote work — it’s more than enough.
If you mainly want a reliable, long-lasting, high-quality laptop that will stay useful for years — this MacBook Air is worth the investment. If your work demands heavy-duty power (big video editing projects, 3D, heavy rendering), then maybe consider a more powerful “Pro”-class machine.
