MacBook Air with M4 chip South African prices revealed

Digicape, a South African Apple Premium Reseller, has opened pre-orders for Apple’s new M4-powered MacBook Air.

Apple rolled out updated MacBook Air laptops and Mac Studio desktops this week. The new MacBook Air gets the speedier, AI-focused M4 processor, an upgrade from the M3.

The models come in the same 13-inch and 15-inch sizes and start at R22,499 and R26,999, a substantial price cut from the launch prices of last year’s M3 MacBook Airs.

The updated laptops have an improved 12-megapixel videoconferencing camera and can connect to two external monitors. They are also being offered in a new sky blue option.

Apple’s new MacBook Air computers became available for pre-order in the United States on Wednesday and will launch on 12 March 2025, the company said. The South African launch date has yet to be confirmed.

Bloomberg reported that Apple’s Mac line performed better than expected during the holiday season, helping offset sluggish demand for the iPhone.

The segment grew 16% to $8.99 billion (R163 billion), topping Wall Street’s estimate of $7.94 billion (R144 billion).

On the company’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Tim Cook cited the MacBook Air as one of the reasons.

The M4 chip comes to the MacBook Air after launching in the iPad Pro last May. The processor was also at the heart of the MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac mini models unveiled last year.

The chip’s central processing unit (CPU) has 10 cores, up from eight in the M3 MacBook Air. Both versions include a graphics processing unit (GPU) with 10 cores, although the base 13-inch model has an 8-core GPU.

Apple said the M4 Air is twice as fast as the M1 MacBook Air, though that machine was released in 2020 and included Apple’s first crack at a Mac processor. AI processing on the latest machine is three times faster, according to the company.

The new camera on the MacBook Air is an upgrade from the prior system, which was advertised as a 1080p sensor.

The component allows for Center Stage, which lets the camera automatically focus on and follow someone in the frame. It also enables Desk View, which can show someone on a video call what’s on the MacBook Air user’s desk.

Battery life remains at 18 hours for both screen sizes. For the first time in a MacBook Air, Apple is offering the option to configure it with as much as 32 GB of RAM, up from the previous limit of 24 GB.

Wednesday’s Mac upgrades follow a slew of other new Apple products.

On Tuesday, the company introduced an iPad Air with an M3 chip and a low-end Magic Keyboard, as well as an updated entry-level iPad that adds an A16 processor. Last week, it started selling the iPhone 16e.

Digicape’s pre-order prices for Apple’s new M4-powered MacBook Air range are summarised below.