Whittling to Perfection

I just returned my new M4-powered MacBook Air. Not because it's bad. But because it's so good. I decided that it's going to be my main Mac for the next two-to-three years, so I want to future-proof it by maxing it out with RAM.

I've been ragging on Apple a lot recently, I know. To be sure, I believe it's warranted. But it's perhaps worth pointing out the obvious: the ragging, and really, all the interest in Apple is because their products – certainly the hardware – remain so good. That was my exact feeling using the new MacBook Air over the past couple of weeks. Honestly, it feels like the computer, perfected.

Of course, I've said this same basic thing before, about the same product. But with every iteration, Apple keeps whittling and whittling and as a result it's ever-so-closer to perfection. In fact, I feel pretty confident in saying that the only thing that will top it is the inevitable M5 MacBook Air. And that will only be topped by the M6 MacBook Air.

And so on...

But those will probably feature slight upgrades in processing speed. The real reason why I think this particular MacBook Air is at or near perfection is the aforementioned RAM capabilities. This is the first such machine that can go up to 32GB – the last couple of generations maxed out at 24GB. Normally, such a jump might not matter, but in our age of AI, RAM is becoming king again – especially if you aim to run such technology locally, which it feels like will increasingly be the case as models improve and get smaller.¹

In a way, I'm reminded of being a teenager in the 90s again when processor speeds and hard drive size started to give way to RAM capacity as the true power boost.

Granted, if you're an actual developer – remember them, Apple? – working in the AI space, you're going to want more RAM than what the MacBook Air can grant you, even with this upgrade. And so it will be MacBook Pro or Mac mini or Mac Studio (I guess Mac Pro, though it's oddly under-powered now compared to those others with more recent upgrades) for you. But for basically everyone else, the MacBook Air just feels like that perfect machine.

After the last major design change for the Air alongside the M2 chip, I actually moved over to a MacBook Pro. And obviously there are not a lot of complaints there either. But actually feeling just how much more svelte the Air is in day-to-day usage, you're reminded that little differences in bulk and weight do add up.

And, of course, there's the cost-difference to consider. The fact that you can once again get a state-of-the-art Air for under $1,000 feels like a steal.

Yes, the Pro has a better screen, and that's perhaps one of the few remaining tweaks Apple can make to the Air in order to perfect it. But it would also undoubtedly come with some trade-offs – maybe a slight variation in weight, but more likely, a slight hit to battery life. So Apple is probably just waiting for batteries to continue their rate of marginal improvements to keep that time-of-use steady-state. The battery may as well last forever now. I took it on the road last weekend and didn't have to charge it once, with a decent amount of usage.

The 20-something-year-old version of myself, lugging around an 8 pound computer with a two-hour battery – in perfect conditions, i.e. not when it was operating at the heat of an oven, which was often – still cannot believe this.

The two other additions that get talked about for how to improve the Air include a touchscreen and a cellular connection. But if the screen upgrades might ding the battery life, both of these additions certainly would. And so again, I suspect we'll see them with time – I really don't want to re-open the whole touchscreen Mac vs. iPad debate, but I'd also advise you to stay away from any child under 10 with your MacBook if you don't want your screen touched – and especially with Apple now doing their own cellular modems.²

The other "big" upgrade this year was the new "Sky Blue" color for the Air. I'm a little more torn on this. I like it, but it's so subtle that it's mostly not noticeable, to be honest. It feels like yet another shade of gray in Apple's seemingly endless silver palette. Yes, I'd still love more iMac-like bold color options, but I also recognize that Apple is probably worried that those would be too garish for going out and about regularly. It's like the giant demon tattoo that seemed like a good idea at the time but doesn't age particularly well. Sometimes, you just want to go to a cafe and not have your computer screaming visual bloody hell at the other patrons. The Blue Steel look here is subtle, but nice, especially in certain types of light.

The last thing I'd say is that given how close the MacBook Air is to perfection, I still wish Apple would now take the opportunity to shift its name back to simply 'MacBook'. I know there are branding and marketing reasons for why they don't want to do this – everyone is always gunning to top this particular machine. But it just continues to feel like the perfect computer for the vast majority of people should be named in the most streamlined way. The 'MacBook Air' implies the existence of a 'MacBook' and yet that device no longer exists. So unless Apple wants to bring back the 12" variety of computer that last held that name – and I wish they would! – let's run it back, no?

For now, I eagerly await my 32GB M4 MacBook Air.

¹ And really, I'm just pre-empting my inevitable purchase of a Mac mini with 64GB of RAM or a Studio with 128GB. You know, for science.

² Fine, one other thing that may make the MacBook Air more perfect: the return of the glowing Apple logo. But I suspect it's long gone for some of the same reasons listed above!