I thought I had this figured out. I was making a hard-headed decision to buy a refurbed M1 MacBook Air with 16GB RAM for half the price of a new M4 one, for reasons I’ll explain in a moment. But, ironically, it’s because the M1 version is so good that I think I’m at risk of selling it again and buying the shiny new M4 model …

Here are 7 upgrades the MacBook Air M4 offers over the MacBook Air M1. The most obvious upgrade between the laptops is their respective designs. The MacBook Air M4, like its M3 and M2-powered predecessors, features a sleek and minimalist square design. In contrast, the M1 Air’s once-inconic tapered design now appears ancient.

Apple’s latest iterative update to the MacBook Air gets better with the M4 chip, even though it doesn’t spark joy with any innovation.