Apple is marching in with new products for the spring, including a new MacBook Air featuring the M4 chip, a new iPad Air, uniquely featuring the M3 chip, and a new Mac Studio desktop, with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options. While enthusiasts await the launch of the coveted M5 chip series devices, including the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro later this year– the tech brand has brought in the expected refresh of its early-year devices. Notably, the MacBook Air and iPad Air see yearly upgrades, while the Mac Studio is getting its first revamp since 2023.
While largely maintaining their external designs, most changes to the devices can be found by way of hardware and AI support upgrades. Apple is looking to showcase Apple Intelligence app integration as functional and accessible to users. The brand is competing on the market with many on-device AI experiences, such as Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs and Chromebooks inundated with Google Gemini.
The MacBook Air starts at $1,000, while the iPad Air at $600, and the Mac Studio at $2,000, with several configurations priced much higher. Notably, the most expensive, highest-configured Mac Studio is priced at an eye-watering $14,000.
I got to view and test demos of several apps and programs on the 2025 MacBook Air, iPad Air, and Mac Studio and was impressed with the power behind the M4 and M3 series chips. The devices show their immense prowess, especially at creative tasks, from enthusiast level to professional tier. The lineup presents something for everyone.
M4 MacBook Air
The 2025 MacBook Air is available in the customary 13-inch and 15-inch Liquid Retina display options. Apple hasn’t made many major changes to the external design of the laptop. Many staple features remain, including the MagSafe 3 charging port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The laptop supports two 6K external displays, in addition to the built-in display.
However, the brand has introduced a new Sky Blue colorway, discontinuing its Space Gray color in the process. Upon first glance in rather bright lighting, the Sky Blue has a silverish tone that might not be that distinguishable from the Silver color option MacBook Air. It is a trick of the light blue that is rather beautiful when you notice it, more likely in the shadows. It’s kind of like how Starlight and Silver can look similar in certain lighting, and Midnight has a deep blue undertone. With that said, the other color options are Starlight, Midnight, and Silver. If I had to choose a color, it would likely be Starlight. The yellow background was rather striking, and I think you’d be able to have fun with custom backgrounds and the sparkling gold tone.
Having handled the smaller, 13-inch MacBook Air models for my hands-on, the device was true to its name at 2.7 pounds. Holding the laptops and moving them around didn’t feel bulky or meddlesome. The device maintains a petite 0.44-inch frame, one of the slimmest on the market. The larger 15-inch model wasn’t available for handling- only a visual demo. But it remains as slim as the previous Air model with a height of 0.45 inches, and a weight of 3.3 pounds. The size difference between the two models would be notable for different consumers. I’m partial to the smaller configurations of all MacBook models, as an owner of a much older 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Though the devices were wiped for fingerprints between each user, I didn’t find them getting scuffed as I handled them. Keeping in mind that older MacBook Air models were fingerprint magnets until Apple implemented an anodization seal. The Sky Blue was virtually devoid of fingerprints, and you should feel confident selecting Midnight without immediately soiling it with the oils of your paws.
Apple demoed several apps and features on the 15-inch MacBook Air, including the 12-megapixel Center Stage camera with 1080p video quality, in conjunction with the Pixelmator Pro app. Another demo showcased the MacOS Sequoia feature, Window Tiling. The notetaking app, Bear includes Apple Intelligence integration. Apple noted that the popular Blender 3D assets app is five times faster on the M4 MacBook Air than on the M1 model. Finally, the brand demoed the open-world RPG game Wuthering Waves on the MacBook Air running at particularly high frame rates and the game flowed smoothly after all of the previous demos with no noticeable lagging and no flubs in the presentations. All functions demoed were done on battery power only with no performance lost. Apple indicated the device essentially reached its maximum in terms of thermal performance and power efficiency, having been run all day.
Notably, the 2025 MacBook Air is the first that can configure up to 32GB of memory. Both models support up to 18 hours of battery life.
M3 iPad Air
The iPad Air includes the M3 chip to improve its graphics performance and the AI capabilities of Apple Intelligence for the brand’s notable tablet. The iPad Air is available in 11-inch and 13-inch Liquid Retina display options– and is paired with the Magic Keyboard. The accessory is known for its floating design and is updated with a larger trackpad and a 14-key function row. Rounding out the design is a USB-C connectivity port and four color schemes, Blue, Purple, Starlight, and Space Gray.
As someone who is not a tablet aficionado, I was impressed by the app support and the power behind its various functionalities, in addition to the ease of use and the practicality of what would likely be challenging tasks in different programs.
Apple demoed some interesting third-party apps to showcase the power of the M3 chip. The Detail: Video Editor is an AI-based video workflow app that includes Apple Intelligence integration to simplify functions in the production software. The app can tap to sync with other Apple products like an iPhone to set up an interview-style feed. From your point-of-view as the interviewer, you have the main controls on your end and the interviewee can see you, and whatever you project to them from their device, such as questions or a script. You can tap to remove the background around yourself in the video feed for a more seamless stream. You can also move your feed to any part of the screen. This uses the M3 neural engine to make the changes immediately. You can add text by engaging the keyboard or using the Writing Tools Apple Intelligence feature, for assistance. Similarly, you can move text around the screen to your preference. After filming you can transcribe and timestamp the audio for viewers. The M3 neural engine also assists in easily editing content by identifying silent pauses in both audio and video so you can edit out those portions with a tap. Playback should be continuous moving forward. Once complete, you can export projects in 4K video, airdropping them to yourself.
The demo was notably done in landscape mode; however, you can change the setting to portrait mode, maintaining all of the captions in the video, which you can adjust to the new viewing mode.
Another demo showed how you can use the Writing Tools Apple intelligence feature within the Notes app, to create an AI image of a mountain scene based on a rudimentary sketch. You can draw your sketch, use an Apple Pencil to circle the sketch and activate the prompt. Then you select among the generated images for the one you want to insert into the Notes app. The demo situation was planning a weekend hiking trip to Switzerland. After that, you can use Writing Tools in conjunction with ChatGPT to generate a list of items you should pack for the trip. The feature reminds me of Google’s AI tool called Whisk, which uses other images as the base prompt. In a similar fashion, the tool is intended to use more contextual prompts to create the desired AI results.
Further showing the power of the M3 chip, Apple demoed an app called Uniform. It allows you to create 3D objects on the iPad. In the demo they quickly created a pawn chess piece in a few simple moves, using an Apple Pencil for design accuracy. Apple indicated that the app is beneficial for students and enthusiasts, who might not have as much experience developing 3D shapes. The iPad Air M3 chip works in tandem with its GPU, promoting the real-time rendering of each shape. For further practical use, Apple suggested that users could proceed with 3D printing designs directly from the iPad Air.
Mac Studio
Apple called the latest Mac Studio version its most powerful Mac while demoing the desktop in different situations. The PC can be configured in M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options and is ideal for conditions that require high visual processing. It includes Thunderbolt 5 ports among its outputs. While the M4 Max supports up to five displays, the demo included three connected displays and three additional peripherals to showcase a tool called Autodesk Flame, which is typically used for Hollywood visual effects. The M4 Max Mac Studio includes a 14-core CPU and 32-core GPU. Other hardware support includes 36GB of unified memory and 512GB of SSD storage.
While Apple hosted a more modest setup for the M3 Ultra Mac Studio, it supports up to eight displays. The demo showcased a large language model (LLM) developing a Python script for a creative project. Apple noted that what would typically be a day’s work in manual scripting was completed in seconds.
Meanwhile, there was a demo of a pre-release version of Cyberpunk 2077 for Mac running in the background, while the LLM was computing in the foreground– as the game was previously presented. Demonstrating the power of the M3 Ultra, Apple noted that the popular video game is one of the most graphically demanding games currently on the market, to run alongside an equally demanding LLM. Cyberpunk 2077 for Mac will be available later this year.
The M3 Ultra includes a 28-core CPU and 60-core GPU. Other hardware support includes 96GB of unified memory and 1TB of SSD storage.
Conclusion
It is very simple. Many brands want consumers to buy AI PCs, and Apple is no different. However, Apple having a distinctive app ecosystem may give it an edge to easily integrate its Apple Intelligence AI system across many third-party apps, as well as across macOS, iPadOS, and iOS at large. This is one of the primary takeaways I got from the MacBook Air, iPad Air, and Mac Studio demos.
I was impressed by the power of the hardware, but what is often missing from AI, is a reason for the everyday user to integrate it into their everyday tasks. Many of the demos I saw gave a clearer picture of what a high-powered AI device can offer a regular user.
While the Mac Studio may be more novelty, accessibility is exactly what most MacBook Air and iPad Air users are looking for in a daily driver. From my limited time with the devices, I think they stand to be solid options.
