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The 2025 13-inch MacBook Air with M4 (model A3240) is a strong choice for portable everyday computing: it is light, silent, responsive in common tasks, and delivered roughly 13 to 15 hours in several independent battery tests. Its main trade-offs are a 60Hz display, only two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, soldered memory and storage, and less suitability for sustained demanding work than a laptop with active cooling. It fits students, frequent travelers, and general-purpose users especially well; buyers who need extensive ports, high-refresh gaming, or sustained workstation performance should weigh those limits before choosing it.
What model is A3240?
A3240 identifies Apple’s 2025 13-inch MacBook Air with M4, not the separate 15-inch Air. ENERGY STAR lists it as a notebook and records U.S. market availability beginning March 5, 2025. Apple’s launch announcement said availability would begin March 12, 2025; these dates refer to different records, not a guarantee of availability in every country.
Apple announced the laptop at a U.S. starting price of $999 and an education price of $899 in March 2025. Those are launch prices, not current quotes. Check current pricing and stock with retailers before buying.
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Portable, quiet design
The Air weighs 2.7 pounds and measures 11.97 by 8.46 by 0.44 inches. Its fanless design avoids fan noise. Independent reviewers found it responsive for routine browsing and writing, and Tom’s Guide’s reviewer also considered it capable of photo editing. Those strengths make it a natural fit for class, travel, office work, and other everyday tasks.
#1 Best Overall
- BUILT FOR COLLEGE. AND BEYOND — MacBook Air with the M5 chip packs blazing speed and powerful AI capabilities into an incredibly portable design. And with up to 18 hours of battery life,* this thin and light powerhouse is ready to take on almost any major, just about anywhere.
- TEAR THROUGH TOUGH ASSIGNMENTS — With its faster CPU and unified memory, the M5 chip delivers even more performance and fluidity across apps, making multitasking and creative workflows smooth and responsive. A powerful Neural Engine and next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerators give you a powerful platform for AI.
- MAKE QUICK WORK OF YOUR TO-DO LIST — Apple Intelligence helps you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly — whether it’s for school or everyday life. With groundbreaking privacy protections, it gives you peace of mind that no one else can access your data — not even Apple.*
- UP TO 18 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE — MacBook Air delivers incredible battery life with amazing performance, so you can power through a full day of classes without worrying about plugging in.
- A BRILLIANT 13.6-INCH DISPLAY* — The gorgeous Liquid Retina display on MacBook Air supports 1 billion colors, making photos and videos pop with rich contrast and sharp detail, and text appears supercrisp. So everything — from class presentations to movies to games — looks truly stunning.
Display and sound
Apple specifies a 13.6-inch IPS Liquid Retina display with a native resolution of 2560 by 1664. Tom’s Guide measured 470 nits while showing HDR content and praised image quality. The display is 60Hz, however, rather than a high-refresh panel; RTINGS notes that some premium Windows ultraportables offer 120Hz screens.
Tom’s Guide praised the four-speaker system for video, but found its bass underwhelming for music. For a laptop this thin, the speakers may be convenient for casual listening, but they are not a substitute for dedicated audio equipment when fuller sound matters.
M4 performance and workload limits
Apple lists an M4 with a 10-core CPU—four performance cores and six efficiency cores—and either an 8-core or 10-core GPU. The chip also includes a 16-core Neural Engine, 120GB/s memory bandwidth, and hardware-accelerated media engines. These specifications support capable everyday use, but they do not make the Air a workstation for every sustained workload.
Rank #2
- BUILT FOR COLLEGE. AND BEYOND — MacBook Air with the M5 chip packs blazing speed and powerful AI capabilities into an incredibly portable design. And with up to 18 hours of battery life,* this thin and light powerhouse is ready to take on almost any major, just about anywhere.
- TEAR THROUGH TOUGH ASSIGNMENTS — With its faster CPU and unified memory, the M5 chip delivers even more performance and fluidity across apps, making multitasking and creative workflows smooth and responsive. A powerful Neural Engine and next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerators give you a powerful platform for AI.
- MAKE QUICK WORK OF YOUR TO-DO LIST — Apple Intelligence helps you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly — whether it’s for school or everyday life. With groundbreaking privacy protections, it gives you peace of mind that no one else can access your data — not even Apple.*
- UP TO 18 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE — MacBook Air delivers incredible battery life with amazing performance, so you can power through a full day of classes without worrying about plugging in.
- A BRILLIANT 13.6-INCH DISPLAY* — The gorgeous Liquid Retina display on MacBook Air supports 1 billion colors, making photos and videos pop with rich contrast and sharp detail, and text appears supercrisp. So everything — from class presentations to movies to games — looks truly stunning.
RTINGS describes the M4 Air’s performance as impressive for a fanless ultraportable, while cautioning that demanding work can exceed its suitability and high-resolution footage may stutter. Tom’s Hardware likewise reported silent operation and a chassis that could become warm during its stress test. If your work involves long, intensive rendering or other sustained heavy processing, a laptop with active cooling is a more appropriate category to consider.
How long does the battery last?
Apple claimed “up to 18 hours” in its March 2025 launch announcement. That is a company maximum, not a promise of typical runtime. Independent results offer more practical reference points, but their test methods differ:
| Source | Reported result | Test conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Tom’s Guide | Nearly 15 hours | Continuous Wi-Fi web surfing at 150 nits |
| Tom’s Hardware, 2025 | 15 hours 14 minutes | Mixed web browsing, video streaming, and simple OpenGL work at 150 nits |
| WIRED reviewer Brenda Stolyar, 2025 | About 13 hours | Workday use; the reviewer noted that video calls affect battery life |
These are separate reviews, not a controlled comparison. Your runtime will depend on brightness, apps, calls, wireless use, and workload, so treat the results as test-specific reference points rather than a universal battery estimate.
Rank #3
- BUILT FOR COLLEGE. AND BEYOND — MacBook Air with the M5 chip packs blazing speed and powerful AI capabilities into an incredibly portable design. And with up to 18 hours of battery life,* this thin and light powerhouse is ready to take on almost any major, just about anywhere.
- TEAR THROUGH TOUGH ASSIGNMENTS — With its faster CPU and unified memory, the M5 chip delivers even more performance and fluidity across apps, making multitasking and creative workflows smooth and responsive. A powerful Neural Engine and next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerators give you a powerful platform for AI.
- MAKE QUICK WORK OF YOUR TO-DO LIST — Apple Intelligence helps you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly — whether it’s for school or everyday life. With groundbreaking privacy protections, it gives you peace of mind that no one else can access your data — not even Apple.*
- UP TO 18 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE — MacBook Air delivers incredible battery life with amazing performance, so you can power through a full day of classes without worrying about plugging in.
- A BRILLIANT 13.6-INCH DISPLAY* — The gorgeous Liquid Retina display on MacBook Air supports 1 billion colors, making photos and videos pop with rich contrast and sharp detail, and text appears supercrisp. So everything — from class presentations to movies to games — looks truly stunning.
Is 16GB of memory enough?
The entry configuration tested by RTINGS had a 10-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD. Apple’s listed options include 16GB, 24GB, or 32GB of unified memory and 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of SSD storage. Memory and storage are soldered, so neither can be upgraded after purchase.
There is no universal requirement to buy more than 16GB. Match the configuration to the apps you use, how much you multitask, the size of your projects, and how long you expect to keep the laptop. Choose extra memory or storage at purchase if your expected workload or local-file needs justify it; you cannot add either later.
Can it run two external displays?
Yes. Apple specifies support for the built-in display and up to two external displays, each up to 6K at 60Hz. Depending on your monitors, cables, and other connected devices, you may need adapters or a dock to make the setup work.
Rank #4
- BUILT FOR COLLEGE. AND BEYOND — MacBook Air with the M5 chip packs blazing speed and powerful AI capabilities into an incredibly portable design. And with up to 18 hours of battery life,* this thin and light powerhouse is ready to take on almost any major, just about anywhere.
- TEAR THROUGH TOUGH ASSIGNMENTS — With its faster CPU and unified memory, the M5 chip delivers even more performance and fluidity across apps, making multitasking and creative workflows smooth and responsive. A powerful Neural Engine and next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerators give you a powerful platform for AI.
- MAKE QUICK WORK OF YOUR TO-DO LIST — Apple Intelligence helps you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly — whether it’s for school or everyday life. With groundbreaking privacy protections, it gives you peace of mind that no one else can access your data — not even Apple.*
- UP TO 18 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE — MacBook Air delivers incredible battery life with amazing performance, so you can power through a full day of classes without worrying about plugging in.
- A BRILLIANT 13.6-INCH DISPLAY* — The gorgeous Liquid Retina display on MacBook Air supports 1 billion colors, making photos and videos pop with rich contrast and sharp detail, and text appears supercrisp. So everything — from class presentations to movies to games — looks truly stunning.
Are two USB-C ports enough?
The physical connections are MagSafe 3, two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Apple says the Thunderbolt ports support charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40Gb/s, and USB 4 up to 40Gb/s. Because there are only two USB-C ports, connecting multiple peripherals while charging can require a hub or dock. WIRED’s Brenda Stolyar noted that she wanted another USB-C port and used a hub as the workaround.
Is the M4 Air a good choice for gaming?
Do not decide from the chip specification alone. Tom’s Guide’s Mark Spoonauer noted that many PC games in his Steam library were unavailable on Mac or did not run well there. Check compatibility and performance for the specific games you want to play before buying; a capable processor does not ensure that a game is available or works well on macOS.
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Should an M1 or M3 owner upgrade?
For an M1 or M3 owner, the decision depends on whether the A3240’s capabilities address a real need. WIRED characterized the changes as iterative and said an upgrade is easier to justify for someone with an older Intel Mac or an M1 owner who wants newer capabilities. That is the reviewer’s judgment, not a universal upgrade rule. If a larger built-in screen matters, consider the 15-inch Air; if sustained power is the priority, WIRED suggests looking at MacBook Pro instead.
What should you compare before buying?
When weighing this Air against another laptop, compare the details that affect your own work rather than relying on a single chip label or battery claim:
Quick Recap
- Screen size, resolution, and refresh rate.
- Weight and dimensions if you carry it frequently.
- Port count and whether your monitor setup works alongside the built-in display.
- Performance in your actual apps, including sustained workloads and cooling.
- Battery results with the test method shown, not just a manufacturer maximum.
- Memory and storage configuration, including whether either can be upgraded.
- Operating-system, app, and game compatibility.
- Current verified price and availability, rather than the 2025 launch price.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
