
Apple M4 MacBook Air Gets Geekbenched, Leaked Results Suggest Near MacBook Pro-level Performance
Apple's unannounced M4 MacBook Air family is likely reaching market availability status at some point next month. Last December, slimline notebook enthusiasts started hearing about an updated lineup; macOS's Sequoia 15.2 update reportedly referenced upcoming MacBook Air M4 13-inch and 15-inch models. An early sample unit—named "Mac16,12"—has participated in a Geekbench 6.4.0 (macOS AArch64) gauntlet; results appeared online yesterday. The alleged "MacBook Air 13" candidate posted an overall Metal score of 54,806, and an overall OpenCL tally of 36,305. The two separate Geekbench Browser entries confirm that the sampled device makes use of a 10-core M4 processor, with Cluster 1 containing four performance cores. Cluster 2 consists of six power efficiency-oriented cores. Base frequency is listed at 4.41 GHz; reportedly the highest recorded for an M4 SoC. Said chip accessed 24 GB of unified memory, during its macOS 15.2 (Build 24C2101)-based test session.
Notebookcheck and Wccftech compared the aforementioned data points with slightly older M4-equipped hardware, including a premium model. Both outlets observed a "measly" five percent performance difference. Elaborating on their findings, Notebookcheck stated: "as always, we would recommend taking early benchmark results with a healthy amount of skepticism for the time being. With that being said, the MacBook Air 13 benchmarked falls about 5% short of the median Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Metal results we achieved so far when benchmarking the M4 versions of Apple's Mac Mini and MacBook Pro 14." The rumored next-gen MacBook Air is expected to operate with a fan-less cooling system—press outlets reckon that the MacBook Pro's air-cooled operation puts it at a slight advantage (in benchmarks).
Notebookcheck and Wccftech compared the aforementioned data points with slightly older M4-equipped hardware, including a premium model. Both outlets observed a "measly" five percent performance difference. Elaborating on their findings, Notebookcheck stated: "as always, we would recommend taking early benchmark results with a healthy amount of skepticism for the time being. With that being said, the MacBook Air 13 benchmarked falls about 5% short of the median Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Metal results we achieved so far when benchmarking the M4 versions of Apple's Mac Mini and MacBook Pro 14." The rumored next-gen MacBook Air is expected to operate with a fan-less cooling system—press outlets reckon that the MacBook Pro's air-cooled operation puts it at a slight advantage (in benchmarks).