Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010) vs Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M4)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010) | AppleMacBook Air 13″ (M4) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | October 2010 | March 2025 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 13.3″ | 13.6″ |
| Resolution | 1440 × 900 | 2560 × 1664 (better) |
| Panel | TN LCD | IPS LCD |
| Refresh rate | – | 60 Hz |
| Brightness | – | 500 nits |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Glossy LED-backlit widescreen LCD, millions of colours; TN panel confirmed by Notebookcheck's exact-model review. Refresh rate and brightness unpublished by Apple. | Liquid Retina display; LED-backlit with IPS technology |
| Pixel density | – | 224 ppi |
| Colour range | – | Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours |
| Display features | – | True Tone |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo SL9400 or Intel Core 2 Duo SL9600 | Apple M4 |
| CPU cores | 2 | 10 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 320M | 8-core GPU or 10-core GPU |
| AI engine (NPU) | – | 38 TOPS |
| Memory | 2 GB or 4 GB | 16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better) |
| Storage | 128 GB to 256 GB | 256 GB to 2 TB (better) |
| CPU | Dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo SL9400 at 1.86 GHz or optional SL9600 at 2.13 GHz, with 6 MB shared L2 cache and 1066 MHz frontside bus. Exact identities confirmed by Notebookcheck and EveryMac; the faster processor is offered only on the higher storage base, as documented by Macworld. | 10-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce 320M with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory | 8-core or 10-core GPU; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode |
| AI engine | – | 16-core Neural Engine |
| Memory type | 2 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 onboard memory, configurable to 4 GB | Unified memory |
| Memory bandwidth | – | 120 GB/s |
| Storage type | 128 GB flash storage with SL9400; 256 GB base supports SL9400 or SL9600. Configurations preserve the base-specific upgrade restrictions; memory cannot be upgraded after purchase. | SSD, configurable up to 2 TB |
| Cooling | – | Fanless |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 7 hours | Up to 18 hours |
| Battery capacity | 50 Wh | 53.8 Wh (better) |
| Weight | 1.32 kg | 1.24 kg (better) |
| Thickness | 17 mm | 11.3 mm (better) |
| Width × depth | 325 × 227 mm | 304.1 × 215 mm |
| Battery life detail | Built-in 50 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 7 hours wireless productivity or 30 days standby under Apple's test conditions. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. | Up to 15 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery |
| Charger | 45 W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management | 30 W USB-C adapter with the 8-core GPU model; 35 W Dual USB-C Port adapter with the 10-core GPU model |
| Fast charging | – | With the 70 W USB-C Power Adapter |
| Materials | Aluminium enclosure; tapered thickness from 3 to 17 mm | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure; more than 55% recycled content overall |
| Colours | Silver | Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, Midnight |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 2 × USB-A, MagSafe, headphone jack, SD card slot | 2 × Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe 3, headphone jack |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g | Wi-Fi 6E |
| Bluetooth | 2.1 + EDR | 5.3 |
| Webcam | FaceTime camera | 12MP Center Stage |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Port detail | Two USB 2.0 ports up to 480 Mb/s, Mini DisplayPort output, MagSafe, SD card slot and headphone jack supporting the Apple iPhone headset remote and microphone. DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI require separate adapters. | 2 × Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s); MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support |
| External displays | Built-in screen plus one external display up to 2560 × 1600, both with millions of colours; dual display and video mirroring | Up to two at up to 6K 60 Hz, alongside the built-in display |
| Keyboard | Full-size keyboard without backlighting | Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (US) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys |
| Trackpad | Multi-Touch trackpad | Force Touch trackpad |
| Speakers | Stereo speakers | Four-speaker sound system; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos |
| Microphones | Omnidirectional microphone | Three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes |
| Biometrics | – | Touch ID |
| In the box | MacBook Air, power adapter, AC wall plug and power cord; Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife ’11, Software Reinstall Drive and documentation | 13-inch MacBook Air, 30 W or 35 W Dual USB-C Port power adapter (by model), USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m) |
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