When you upgrade from an M1 Mac to an M4 Mac, you’ll notice a big surge in speed and power efficiency. Newer models can run multiple RAM-heavy apps for hours without overheating. The minimized thermal throttling also contributes to better responsiveness, smoother transitions, and sustained daily performance. Here’s what those improvements would look like in real life.
1. Better Battery Life
The M4 chip is built on a 3nm process, compared to the 5nm architecture in the M1 chip. Its smaller node makes it more power-efficient in handling anything from word processors to AI-driven 3D modeling. The efficiency cores also run more background tasks without waking the performance cores. This reduces battery drain during multitasking or long idle sessions.
All that efficiency adds up in daily use. You can run Safari with multiple tabs, Slack, Apple Music, and a few background apps while barely moving the battery on an M4 MacBook Air. Video playback and Zoom calls also push screen time past 12 hours without needing a charge. If your M1 Mac gets you through a workday, the M4 stretches that comfort zone even further.
2. Sustained Performance
While both the M1 and M4 chips are fast, the M4 delivers more consistent speed over time. It has better thermal management, improved memory bandwidth, and higher core efficiency under load. Whether you’re compiling large projects, rendering video, or batch-processing RAW images, the M4 maintains performance without throttling as quickly.
Even a non-tech-savvy individual will easily notice the difference. Let’s take video editing as an example. On an M1, export times may start fast but slow down mid-process as the chip heats up. With the M4, you can run multi-layered timelines in Final Cut or juggle development tools like Xcode and Docker containers without slowdowns halfway through.
3. AI and On-Device Intelligence
Both the M1 and M4 are compatible with Apple Intelligence, but M4 chipsets support a broader range of features. You’ll get advanced language models, on-device image generation, and contextual features across apps like Mail, Notes, Safari, and Photos. The M4 has a more capable Neural Engine, enabling faster on-device inference and lower latency for AI tasks integrated into macOS Sequoia.
And considering Apple’s track record, it’s unlikely M1 support will last long. We’ve already seen how quickly Apple phases out older chips from new features—Live Text, Stage Manager, and now Apple Intelligence have all launched with strict hardware cutoffs.
4. GPU Upgrades
Apple introduced a new GPU architecture with the M4. It added support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading. You won’t find these functions on the M1, which relied on a simpler GPU design. Graphics-intensive workloads like real-time 3D rendering, gaming, and motion design, benefit the most from the added instruction sets and more unified memory access.
If you play modern games like Death Stranding or work in tools like Motion, Blender, or DaVinci Resolve, you’ll notice smoother playback, less stutter, and faster render previews. The gap widens with each generation, and for anything visual, the M4 feels closer to a desktop GPU than the M1 ever did.
5. Display Support
One of the M1 MacBook Air’s biggest limitations was its support for just one external display. That restriction is gone with the M4 MacBook Air. It now supports two external monitors with the lid closed without relying on DisplayLink adapters or workarounds. The same goes for M4 Pro and Max models, which can drive even more displays.
This change alone makes the upgrade worth it for multi-monitor users. You can finally run a full desk setup with two external displays on a MacBook Air, something that wasn’t possible with the M1.
6. Media Engine Improvements
The M4 includes an updated media engine that improves hardware acceleration for video encoding and decoding. It now supports AV1 decoding natively, in addition to ProRes, H.264, and HEVC. This reduces CPU load during playback and makes video exports more efficient, especially for high-resolution content.
In real-world use, that means smoother video previews in editing apps and faster render times for YouTube uploads or ProRes exports. If you work with video even occasionally, the M4’s media engine makes post-production feel lighter and less intrusive on battery and system performance.
7. Thermals and Noise
One underappreciated upgrade is how much cooler the M4 runs. Thanks to its 3nm design and more efficient core layout, the chip generates less heat even during extended tasks. On fanless models like the MacBook Air, you might notice fewer slowdowns from thermal throttling.
There’s also some difference in sustained workloads. The M1 gets warm quickly and may slow down mid-task. The M4 stays cooler, handles longer exports without dips in speed, and in fan-equipped models, runs quieter even when under load.
If you’re still on the fence, it helps to see how the M4 Mac performs outside the spec sheet. We reviewed the MacBook Air with M4 after a week of real-world use, from work apps to media and multitasking.