Here's a Look Inside the New M4 MacBook Air

Repair site iFixit today disassembled the M4 MacBook Air for one of its traditional teardown videos, providing us with a look inside of the machine and giving some insight into its repairability.


There have been no changes to the design and opening process this year, and Apple is continuing to use the same chassis as the M2 model that was introduced in 2022. While Apple implemented iPhone battery adhesive that releases with electricity, the same change hasn't been brought to the Mac lineup yet. The ‌MacBook Air‌'s battery is held in place with traditional adhesive strips that need to be carefully removed.

The USB-C ports, a frequent point of failure, are still easy to access with not too much effort or danger of damaging other internal components. The display, the keyboard, and the Touch ID button remain difficult to access.

iFixit didn't note any changes to the arrangement of internal components, which is not surprising given that the only updates were to the webcam and the Apple silicon chip.

The site said that the ‌MacBook Air‌ has the potential to earn a good repairability score thanks to Apple's extensive product manuals and parts option, but there continue to be issues with parts pairing and calibration when using components not bought directly from Apple. Overall, iFixit gave the ‌MacBook Air‌ a repairability score of 5 out of 10.

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Top Rated Comments

G5isAlive Avatar
8 months ago
so let me get this straight, in computers one year apart, that look identical, that have mostly the same parts except for the CPU and camera, have the same screen, the same chassis ... you open it up and inside , no major differences? wow. who would have guessed.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Spock Avatar
8 months ago

Parts pairing continues to be the biggest bunch of BS from a company already famous for its consumer unfriendly proprietary BS.
Imagine if car makers did this. You can buy a battery or an oil filter through a third party that are every bit as good if not better than OEM, but if you dare install either without paying the Apple tax, your entire vehicle is bricked.
Now defend Apple’s parts policies.
If the car is specifically tuned for a a certain air filter, I would want to purchase that filter from the manufacturer to make sure that it was calibrated properly for the best performance.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnny907 Avatar
8 months ago

If the car is specifically tuned for a a certain air filter, I would want to purchase that filter from the manufacturer to make sure that it was calibrated properly for the best performance.
… it’s a sedan, Spock, not a formula one race car or Mars One.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sleeptodream Avatar
8 months ago

Parts pairing continues to be the biggest bunch of BS from a company already famous for its consumer unfriendly proprietary BS.
Imagine if car makers did this. You can buy a battery or an oil filter through a third party that are every bit as good if not better than OEM, but if you dare install either without paying the Apple tax, your entire vehicle is bricked.
Now defend Apple’s parts policies.
Playing devil’s advocate: If car theft was easy and rampant, and the cars were being parted out, it would be a good way to cut down on thefts if those parts were tied to the original car and couldn’t be resold, and the entire car was bricked when it was stolen
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnny907 Avatar
8 months ago
Parts pairing continues to be the biggest bunch of BS from a company already famous for its consumer unfriendly proprietary BS.
Imagine if car makers did this. You can buy a battery or an oil filter through a third party that are every bit as good if not better than OEM, but if you dare install either without paying the Apple tax, your entire vehicle is bricked.
Now defend Apple’s parts policies.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
8 months ago
If anyone's curious about M4 MacBook Air 256GB read/write speeds ('https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/what-are-the-read-and-write-speeds-of-m4-air-with-256-512-and-1tb-ssd.2452792/') vs prior M-series MacBook Air 256GB ('https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/base-model-m3-macbook-air-has-faster-ssd-speeds-after-controversy-with-previous-model.2421496/')

M1 write = 2221 MB/s
M2 write = 1584.3 MB/s
M3 write = 2108.9 MB/s
M4 write = between 1919 MB/s and 1966 MB/s (based on 2 people)


M1 read = 2910 MB/s
M2 read = 1576.4 MB/s
M3 read = 2880.2 MB/s
M4 read = between 2882 MB/s and 2891 MB/s (based on 2 people)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)