Laptops · 2025
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4)
A fanless MacBook Air with a 13.6-inch display, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe charging and a 12 MP Center Stage camera. Memory, graphics and SSD capacity depend on the configuration ordered.
Technology glossary
Apple M4
Apple’s chip built on a second-generation 3 nm process, first used in the iPad Pro.
The M4 was introduced on 7 May 2024 with the iPad Pro. It has 28 billion transistors on a second-generation 3 nm process. Its CPU has up to 10 cores (4 performance, 6 efficiency); some configurations use a 9-core version with 3 performance cores.
The 10-core GPU supports Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading. The Neural Engine reaches up to 38 trillion operations per second.
A new display engine was designed to drive the tandem OLED Ultra Retina XDR display, which combines light from two OLED panels. Core count and memory vary by device and configuration; for example the 11-inch iPad Pro has a 9-core CPU and 8 GB RAM in 256/512 GB models and a 10-core CPU and 16 GB RAM in 1/2 TB models.
Devices using this technology
Tablets · 2024
Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M4, Wi-Fi, 256 GB)
The 11-inch iPad Pro (M4) is Apple’s 5.3 mm tablet with a tandem OLED screen, introduced in 2024. It offers an Ultra Retina XDR display with 1,000-nit full-screen brightness, the M4 chip, a Thunderbolt / USB 4 port, Apple Pencil Pro support and a Center Stage front camera. Testing measured a very bright, colour-accurate screen but found PWM flicker at lower brightness; the ultra-wide camera was dropped. Owners praise the screen, speed and battery life, and mostly criticise the price and cost of accessories.