Feed aggregator

Teacher unions and some parent groups condemned the cuts, while school choice advocates celebrated them.

(Image credit: Mark Schiefelbein)

The Trump administration has accused Khalil of engaging in anti-Semitic activity and support of Hamas. The administration wants Khalil deported. But he's a legal permanent resident, and his attorneys deny any involvement with the terrorist group.

(Image credit: Adrian Florido)

The Trump administration has shuttered, fired or targeted for resignation individuals, offices and agencies that could serve as a check on President Trump. Supporters say that is exactly the point.

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Tariffs on steel and aluminum are increasing to 25% — not the 50% that President Trump had recently threatened, but high enough to be a headache for automakers.

(Image credit: Sylvain Lefevre)

The Gunners take a seemingly unassailable six-goal lead back to the Emirates.

• Researchers from Mandiant saw a new hacking campaign targeting Juniper Networks routers
• They attributed it to a Chinese actor, targeting telcos, defense, and tech firms
• Users are urged to upgrade and scan their devices

Chinese hackers are targeting Juniper Networks routers with different modifications of a backdoor malware, in an attempt to access defense, technology, and telecommunications organizations in the US, and Asia.

Google’s cybersecurity team Mandiant wrote an in-depth analysis on the group earlier today. As per the report, the researchers first spotted malicious activity in mid-2024, and attributed it to the China-nexus espionage group UNC3886.

TechRadar Pro has reported about this threat actor on numerous occasions in the past, when they were observed targeting VMware, Ivanti VPN, and other products, with backdoors and malware.

Six malware samples

Mandiant says that the attackers infiltrated Junos OS-powered devices by circumventing Veriexec, (Verified Exec), the device’s kernel-based file integrity subsystem that protects the OS from unauthorized code binaries such as libraries and scripts.

“Execution of untrusted code is still possible if it occurs within the context of a trusted process,” the researchers explained. “Mandiant’s investigation revealed that UNC3886 was able to circumvent this protection by injecting malicious code into the memory of a legitimate process.”

UNC3886 targeted its victims with six distinct malware samples, all of which are a variant of the TINYSHELL backdoor with unique capabilities. While all have the same core backdoor functionality, they differ in terms of activation methods and different OS-specific features.

Mandiant says that the attackers “continue to show a deep understanding of the underlying technology” of the appliances being targeted, and recommended users upgrade their Juniper devices to the latest images. These include mitigations and updated signatures for the Juniper Malware Removal Tool (JMRT), which should be activated after the upgrade to scan the integrity of the endpoints.

“At the time of writing, Mandiant has not identified any technical overlaps between activities detailed in this blog post and those publicly reported by other parties as Volt Typhoon or Salt Typhoon,” Mandiant added, suggesting that Salt Typhoon, Volt Typhoon, and UNC3886, are distinct entities (but possibly working under the same umbrella).

You might also like

• Chinese hackers quietly exploited a VMware zero-day for two years
• We've rounded up the best password managers
• Take a look at our guide to the best authenticator app

Out-of-whack cortisol levels can seriously affect your daily life. Here are the symptoms and how to fix it.

If you're buying a gift for the fitness fan in your life, we've got your back. From resistance bands to the latest smart ring, these editor-approved fitness gifts are just the ticket.

Metronet offers Fayetteville's fastest and cheapest plans, making its fiber network the top internet provider in town.

• GAT Online publisher Take-Two is suing Paiao Network Technology, the owner of online marketplace PlayerAuctions
• The lawsuit claims PlayerAuctions makes millions from facilitating the sale of illegitimate content and hacked accounts
• Such sales can give new players massive advantages in GTA Online, basically enabling a form of cheating

As GTA V is one of the biggest games in the world, it’s no wonder developer Rockstar and publisher Take-Two Interactive take it very seriously, so much so that the latter is suing online marketplace PlayerAuctions for allegedly selling unauthorized content that infringes GTA V’s copyright.

Spotted by Polygon, the lawsuit is directed at Chinese company Paiao Network Technology, which owns the PlayerAuctions platform, and alleges that the marketplace sells "thousands of listings for unauthorized, infringing GTA Online content – including heavily modified player accounts, in-game assets, and virtual currency – all gained by using hacking software, cheats, and technical exploits."

The filing accuses PlayerActions of doing this with the full knowledge that sellers on the website were “engaged in rampant infringement and other unauthorized conduct” and that it makes millions in reverence by taking a cut in these illicit transactions.

While it’s not illegal to sell your GTA Online account, it does infringe the terms of service for GTA Online, which is one of the issues Take-Two has with PlayerAuctions. But the big issue is that third-party sellers are selling illegitimate items that have been gained by hacking accounts or using exploits to sell high-ranked game accounts or masses of game currency, as well as unlock content that would usually require an investment in gaming time or legitimate purchase via GTA Online’s virtual currency.

On top of all of this, selling such accounts gives players a massive advantage in GTA Online that’s tantamount to cheating, meaning online marketplaces like PlayerAuctions could be seen as nirvana for people who want to get ahead in a game without putting in the gaming grind.

While in-game purchases are absolutely part of GTA Online, they tend to be balanced in a way that doesn't give players an overwhelming advantage, and people who don’t want to spend real money for in-game currency can still earn virtual money by playing the game and completing heists.

“Through these offerings, PlayerAuctions markets to Take-Two’s customers an otherwise impossible experience: new players can begin GTA V with billions in VC and with a massive arsenal of in-game content — such as vehicles, clothing, and weapons — configurations only possible by hacking and modifying the GTA V game in breach of the Rockstar TOS. In some cases, these listings advertise ‘unlock all’ accounts preloaded with maxed-out character levels and virtually all in-game assets available to acquire in GTA Online,” Take-Two’s lawsuit explained.

GTA V is arguably one of the largest games in history, with the online element making billions of dollars for Rockstar and Take-Two. As such, both companies are bound to take action on anything that could mess with their money-making machine.

While it’s hard to feel a great deal of sympathy for Take-Two, especially as GTA can make hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue per quarter, having masses of cash hopefully means Rockstar has the resources and funds to make GTA 6 one of the best entries in the series, if not one of the best games ever. Rockstar’s last major game was Red Dead Redemption 2, arguably a masterpiece in open-world design and cinematic storytelling – it’s one of my favorite games – which I’m sure benefitted from the wild success of GTA V and its online element.

We’ll have to see how this lawsuit plays out, but by the looks of it Take-Two has a strong claim; I for one wouldn't like to be in the shoes of Paiao Network Technology’s legal team.

You might also like

• Hitman: World of Assassination hits PSVR 2 soon, finally giving you a reason to dust off your headset
• I’ve spent hours honing my swing in PGA Tour 2K25, and while its shot craft remains excellent, familiar frustrations can’t keep it totally out of the rough
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 blends Western gaming sensibilities with JRPG panache in 2025’s weirdest role-playing game

Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4): Two-minute review

The MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) is the latest edition of Apple’s large-screen thin and light laptop, launched alongside the smaller MacBook Air 13-inch (M4). Many of us have been waiting for Apple’s most popular laptops to get the powerful M4 chip since it debuted last year with the iPad Pro.

Since then, we’ve had M4 versions of the MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac mini, which has left MacBook Air fans (and there are a lot of them, with the MacBook Air being the most popular Mac product) waiting for their turn.

It’s perhaps understandable that some people might feel like the M4 MacBook Airs are an afterthought, with Apple taking so long to bring its latest chip to its most affordable laptops, but it seems Apple has settled into this release schedule. After all, the M3 MacBook Air (in both 13-inch and 15-inch configurations) launched pretty much exactly a year ago, in March 2024.

It seems Apple doesn’t want to get into another controversy by releasing a new MacBook model less than a year after the previous one. It did that with the MacBook Pro M3, which launched around nine months after the MacBook Pro M2, and it got a lot of flak for that.

By spacing the launches out for a year, it’s less likely to annoy people who have bought the previous model, and I get the feeling that Apple’s made the calculation that because the MacBook Air is aimed at a more casual, mainstream audience, there’s less clamor to get the latest and greatest hardware.

To be fair, that’s probably the right call, and no one who has an M3 MacBook Air should feel the need to upgrade to the M4 model. We go into more depth about what the M4 brings to the MacBook Air in our MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) review, but this release is more of a refinement than a complete reimagining.

(Image credit: Future)

When a laptop is as good as the MacBook Air (in either size), then that’s no bad thing at all, and if you’re looking for a new laptop, especially coming from a much older MacBook or Windows laptop, then there’s a very good chance that you’ll absolutely love the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4).

With a starting price of $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,099, Apple gave us all a pleasant surprise, as like the 13-inch model, the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) has actually had a price cut, as the base model of the 15-inch MacBook Air with M3 started at $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,199.

A better model for less money is fantastic to see, especially these days where things seem to be getting ever more expensive, and I’ve got to give Apple credit for this. One of the best things about the MacBook Air is its affordability compared to laptops of a similar spec, and it’s great to see that Apple understands this.

This lower price does come at some cost, however, as unlike with previous generations, Apple is no longer officially selling any of the older MacBook Airs. When the MacBook Air M2 came out, for example, Apple reduced the price of the M1 model and sold it as a more affordable option, and the same thing happened with the M3 model (the M2 model got a price cut).

Instead, Apple is only selling the M4 models of the new MacBook Airs, so if you want to buy direct from the company, there’s no cheaper option available. However, third party retailers will continue to sell older MacBook Airs as they clear their inventory, and we’ve already seen some impressive MacBook Air deals since the announcement of the M4 model.

The base model of the 15-inch MacBook Air comes with the M4 chip with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB of unified memory and 256GB of SSD storage – the same as the base model of the new 13-inch MacBook Air.

In fact, in many ways, the M4 MacBook Air 15-inch is the same as the 13-inch model, but with a larger screen, and therefore larger overall size. Even the sharpness of the two screens are essentially the same, due to the larger 15.3-inch screen coming with a higher resolution of 2880 x 1864 which works out at 224 pixels per inch, compared to the 13.6-inch screen’s 2560 x 1664 resolution, which also offers 224 pixels per inch.

(Image credit: Future)

This means the screens offer the same level of sharpness, and with the other similarities of the hardware, it really boils down to which screen size you’d prefer. The 15-inch MacBook Air offers a larger screen that some people will find more comfortable to work on, while the 13-inch model’s smaller size will appeal more to people who want a laptop they can rely on while traveling.

One big difference between the 13-inch and 15-inch M4 MacBook Airs is that the larger MacBook comes with six built-in speakers with force-cancelling woofers, while the smaller laptop makes do with four speakers, and no force-cancelling.

So, the 15-inch MacBook Air with M4 offers a much richer and more immersive sound experience, while the woofers offer deeper bass without shaking or vibrating the MacBook. The sound is certainly impressive considering the thin and light design of the 15-inch MacBook Air – it’s certainly one of the best sounding laptops you can buy, and if audio quality is of the utmost importance to you, then you will likely be better off buying the 15-inch model rather than the 13-inch.

There have also been some slight design tweaks since the last generation of MacBook Airs. The MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) (as with the 13-inch model) now comes with a 12MP Center Stage webcam. When broadcasting, you can move around and the Center Stage camera will keep you in frame (within reason – you can’t move too far). It does a decent job, and the video quality is clean and crisp.

The new webcam also supports Desk View, which cleverly keeps you in shot, while also showing your desk in another shot. This can be useful if you’re demonstrating something to an audience, and previously you’d need two cameras to achieve the same effect – one to shoot you from the front, the second angled to shoot your hands.

While not everyone is going to make use of this feature, it’s pretty clever, and works well. The new webcam also uses the M4 chip to offer machine learning-enhanced video effects such as Studio Light, which adjusts the lighting, brightness and contrast of your footage to give you a more professional look. It’s similar to the Windows Studio Effects tool found in Windows 11 laptops which come with AI-capable processors.

The new M4-powered MacBook Airs also come with a new color choice: Sky Blue. Don’t go thinking this is a vibrant, iMac-like hue, however. It’s a more subtle, metallic color with a hint of blue, and while understated, I do like it (Apple was kind enough to send me a review unit in the new color). The MagSafe charge cable comes in a color that matches the color of the MacBook Air, which is a nice touch.

Overall, the new MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) is an excellent thin and light laptop, and one of the best 15-inch laptops you can currently buy. However, if you have an M3, or even M2, version, there’s not much different that will make you feel the need to upgrade. That’s no particular slight on the M4 chip, but rather a testament to how good the M2 and M3 remain.

(Image credit: Future) Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) review: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? Starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,099
• $100 / £200 / AU$100 less than M3 model
• When is it available? On sale now

In a very welcome move, Apple has released the new MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) at a lower price than the M3 model launched at, beginning at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,099, which gives you an M4 chip with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB of unified memory and 256GB of SSD storage.

After getting an increasing amount of flak for launching modern MacBook Airs with 8GB of memory and 128GB SSDs, which isn’t enough these days, Apple – to its credit – doubled the base amount of memory and storage without increasing the price of the M3 model, and I’m pleased to see that it has continued to offer 16GB and 256GB as its minimum configuration.

If you’re a student, then you can get a further price cut which makes the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) much better value, and even without that discount, you’ll be hard pushed to find a 15-inch laptop that offers the same level of performance, design and build quality for a similar price. A recent model of the Dell XPS 15, for example, launched at $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,498.

In fact, the only competition the 15-inch MacBook Air with M4 has is… the 13-inch model, which offers the same level of performance, but with a smaller screen and fewer built-in speakers, and starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699. As impressed as I am with the price of the 15-inch MacBook Air, I’m not sure the larger screen and better sound justify the extra $200 / £200 / AU$400.

Unlike with previous generations, where Apple continued selling an earlier model as a more affordable option, it’s no longer selling M2 or M3 MacBook Airs, and while third party retailers will continue selling those models whilst stock lasts, the M4 models are now the only option available to buy direct from Apple, which means you have less choice if you want to get a cheaper MacBook.

The good news is that since the launch of the M4 MacBook Airs, we’ve seen some fantastic deals on the older models already.

• Price: 4.5 / 5

Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) review: Specs

Here are the specs for the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) at a glance.

Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) review: Design

• New Sky Blue color
• Upgraded webcam
• Otherwise same design

Since getting a major design overhaul with the M2 model back in 2022, Apple has pretty much stuck to the same design for its MacBook Air releases, with the 15-inch model essentially looking identical to the 13-inch model – just larger.

This is pretty much true with the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4), which largely keeps the look of the M3 model, but with a few welcome tweaks. The lack of a major new look isn’t too much of an issue, as the design remains stylish and modern.

With dimensions of 0.45 x 13.40 x 9.35 inches (1.15 x 34.04 x 23.76cm) and a weight of 3.3lbs (1.51kg), it remains an impressively slim and light 15-inch laptop, though the smaller dimensions of the 13-inch MacBook Air mean that’s the laptop I’d recommend to people who want the most portable machine.

While some rival laptop makers are putting out stylish and incredibly light laptops, especially LG with its ‘gram’ lineup of laptops, the 15-inch MacBook Air is unmistakably a premium Apple product with a stylish design and solid build quality.

(Image credit: Future)

On the left-hand side are two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a MagSafe 3 charging port (which contains magnets which makes plugging and unplugging the power connector convenient – and protects the MacBook from damage should the cable be yanked out by accident), and on the right-hand side is a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Thunderbolt 4 ports offer speeds of up to 40Gb/s, and while it would have been nice to have faster Thunderbolt 5 ports, for most people this will be plenty fast enough for transferring large files to and from an external hard drive.

It’s not the best selection of ports, and we’ve seen rival thin and light laptops feature a greater array of ports, such as HDMI, without sacrificing their svelte looks, but at least the inclusion of the MagSafe 3 port means you don’t have to give up one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports when charging (though you can still use a USB-C charger to top up the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4)’s battery if you leave your MagSafe charger at home.

(Image credit: Future)

There have been a few changes to the design, however. For a start, the webcam is now a 12MP Center Stage camera which also offers the Desk View feature, which effectively splits your footage into two – a front-on portrait shot, and a wide angled view of your hands and desk. The image quality is excellent (boosted by the M4 chip), though the divisive ‘notch’ that surrounds the webcam and dips down into the screen remains.

This has been a part of the MacBook Air’s design for three years now, so most people who had a problem with this have likely made peace with its inclusion, and I’ve never had an issue with it, but it’s worth pointing out, especially as there are rival Windows 11 laptops that include just as good a webcam into thin bezels without needing a notch.

(Image credit: Future)

Another very minor design change is with the keyboard. It remains backlit, with a Touch ID button for quickly logging into macOS or confirming Apple Pay payments using a fingerprint, and is comfortable to use (and no longer plagued by stuck keys, which older MacBooks sometimes suffered from). What’s changed, however, is the mute icon on the F10 key, which has changed from a symbol of a speaker to a symbol of a speaker with a line through it.

This might seem like a minor change, but it’s actually one I welcome, as it means the symbol now matches the icon that appears on screen when you mute the sound of the laptop. It also matches what most other devices use as a mute symbol, and also means the mute button and the volume down button (which also has a speaker icon) are less easily confused, as they now look more distinct.

The biggest design change, however, is the new Sky Blue color. Apple sent me the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) in this color, and you’ll be able to see what it looks like in the photos that accompany this review. It’s a subtle, metallic color that means it doesn’t look out of place next to the existing Midnight, Starlight and Silver colors, and while it’s not as vibrant as the iMac colors, it does mean it looks professional, while offering a hint of personality. It’s always nice to see the braided MagSafe cable that’s included in the package match the color of the MacBook Air you choose as well.

Overall, the design of the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) remains stylish, thin and portable. If you’re looking for a 15-inch laptop with a premium look, then you’ll be very happy with the design of this machine.

• Design: 4 / 5

Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) review: Performance

• Very good performance
• M4 remains impressive
• Big leap over Intel Macs

While the design of the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) feels like an iterative update over the previous model, the hardware and performance of the new MacBook Air… also feels like a limited leap rather than a generational one.

In some ways this is to be expected due to Apple’s yearly release schedule for its M-class chips. There’s only so many improvements and refinements you can make, and unlike with an iPhone, you’re unlikely to want to upgrade your laptop every year or so.

What this means is that if you already own an M3-powered MacBook Air, the performance upgrade you’re going to get by moving to the M4 isn’t going to be huge.

This is why in most of Apple’s marketing and documentation for the new MacBook Air 15-inch (M4), the company highlights the performance gains over the 13-inch MacBook Air with an Intel Core i7 processor from around 2020.

According to Apple, the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) offers around 20 times the performance of the Intel MacBook Air in certain tasks. Meanwhile, the difference between the M3 and M4 MacBook Air, according to Apple’s own figures, is much more modest (I’m talking single digit increases).

Having used both the M2 and M3 MacBook Airs extensively, as well as my time testing the M4 MacBook Air, I have to say that there was little noticeable performance difference. Pretty much every app, and the macOS operating system itself, ran smoothly, and almost every major application now supports the Arm-based M4 chip natively, which meant I didn’t need to rely on the Rosetta 2 tool which allows apps designed for Intel Macs to run (which comes with a slight hit to performance).

(Image credit: Future) Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) benchmarks

Here's how the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) performed in our suite of industry-standard benchmarks and game tests.

Geekbench 6.4:
Single - 3,799
Multi - 14,921
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test:
Read: 3,012.5MB/s
Write: 3,335.1MB/s
Cinebench:
Single-core - x
Multi-core - 904
GPU - 3,860
Battery life test:
15 hours 14 minutes

More intensive tasks, such as editing 4K raw footage in Premiere Pro, saw a bigger improvement, but, again, not enough to warrant upgrading from the M3. Most people looking to buy a MacBook Air won’t be performing heavy duty tasks with it, but for day-to-day use, the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) is truly excellent. The efficiency of the M4 chip means that it is also once again fanless, so the MacBook Air remains silent throughout use – a lovely change from many Windows 11 laptops that like to whirr up their fans seemingly at the drop of a hat.

The screen remains excellent, with bright, vivid colors, though an increasing number of competitors, such as the Asus Vivobook S 15 Copilot+ threaten to beat Apple here with support for OLED screen technology which makes a huge difference to image quality. We’re also seeing an increasing number of 4K laptops that offer sharper resolutions as well.

That’s not to say that the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4)’s screen is bad – far from it – but rivals are catching up fast at this price point. A new feature with the M4 chip is that the MacBook Air can now support two external displays at once, while also powering its built-in screen as well – a welcome tweak that people who like to use multiple monitors at once will be very pleased with.

Where the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) remains a leader in its class is with the audio. Watching shows and movies in Apple TV+ looked good, but sounded even better thanks to the six-speaker sound system offers a depth and clarity that other thin and light laptops can’t match. In movies especially, the six speakers offer a wide soundstage, with sound effects coming from either side of the screen. Apple also talks up the spatial audio abilities of the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4)’s speakers, and while it doesn’t compare to my physical Dolby Atmos home theatre setup, there are still moments of impressive immersion as the sound envelops you. Considering the slimline design of the 15-inch MacBook Air, this is very impressive.

(Image credit: Future)

What does disappoint, slightly, is that Apple has stuck with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless networking and peripheral connections, two last-gen technologies that lack some of the features and performance that Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 offer.

Overall, the performance of the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) is superb for the price, and if you’re coming from an Intel-based MacBook, or even a traditional Windows 11 laptop, then you’re going to be very impressed with what the new MacBook Air offers.

However, if you already have an M2 or M3 MacBook Air, I don’t think there’s enough of a performance leap to justify upgrading just yet – and I’d recommend holding out for the (almost) inevitable M5-powered MacBook Air which could land sometime next year.

• Performance: 4 / 5

Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) review: Battery life

• Apple promises 18 hours
• We found it lasted over 15 hours
• Slightly longer battery life than the 13-inch model

Ever since Apple switched from Intel hardware to its own Arm-based M-series chips, I’ve been incredibly impressed with the power efficiency of the MacBook Air. Even when performing complex tasks, the performance of the new MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) didn’t drop when on battery power (some laptops will throttle performance to prolong battery life), and in our battery life benchmark tests, it easily cleared 15 hours of continuous use.

This means you can confidently use the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) for several work days without worrying about plugging it in – something I did myself while testing.

Because of the bigger body, Apple has added a larger battery to the 15-inch MacBook Air compared to the 13-inch model, and this resulted in a slightly longer battery life for the 15-inch MacBook Air, though the extra energy needed to power the larger screen means there’s not a huge amount in it.

• Battery: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4)? Buy it if...

You want a 15-inch laptop
Apple has done it again, and the new MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) is the best 15-inch laptop you can buy.

You want a laptop that lasts several work days
The battery life of this laptop is excellent, and you should be able to use it over several work days on a single charge.

You have an Intel-based MacBook
If you have an old Intel-based MacBook, then the new M4 MacBook Air will offer a tremendous upgrade.

Don't buy it if... 

You have an M2 or M3 MacBook
While the M4 chip is a great performer, you don't need to upgrade if you have an M2 or M3 MacBook, as the leap isn't quite worth it.

You prefer Windows 11
As you'd expect, the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) runs macOS, Apple's own operating system. If you want to stick with Windows 11, look elsewhere.

Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4): Also consider

Mac mini (M4)
Like the sound of the M4 chip, but want something cheaper? The Mac mini from late 2024 is a great, affordable choice that comes with the same M4 hardware that the 15-inch MacBook Air has. It's a desktop PC, however, so it's not as portable.

Read our full Mac mini (M4) review

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4)
The 13-inch MacBook Air has also got an M4 makeover, and offers very similar performance but in a smaller form factor, making it a great choice if you want a more easily portable laptop to travel with.

Read our full MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) review

How I tested the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4)

• I used the new MacBook Air for around a week
• I ran multiple benchmarks
• I used it as my daily work laptop

I've used the MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) over the past week as my main work laptop, writing most of this review on it, as well as browsing the web, attending meetings via video call and running our suite of benchmarks. I also played around with video and photo editing during my time with the laptop. I've been reviewing MacBooks for TechRadar for well over a decade, and have extensively used and tested all models of Apple's M-series chips.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed: March 2025

• Bolt Graphics unveils Zeus GPU, targeting rendering, HPC, and gaming
• Claims include 10x faster rendering, 6x FP64, 300x simulation gains
• Zeus supports up to 2.25TB memory, 6x 800GbE, 8x PCIe Gen5

Bolt Graphics has announced what it says is the fastest graphics processor ever, which is quite the claim.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, the semiconductor startup says Zeus has a “completely new GPU design for high-performance workloads including rendering, HPC, and gaming” and that it “addresses performance, efficiency, and functionality limitations with legacy GPUs.”

Bolt Graphics adds Zeus offers up to 10 times faster rendering, 6 times higher FP64 HPC performance, and up to 300 times faster electromagnetic wave simulation speeds compared to legacy GPUs.

Stunning path tracing performance

It supports expanded memory through Bolt’s architecture, allowing up to 384GB per PCIe card and up to 2.25TB per Zeus unit in a 2U server, with rack configurations reaching 180TB. Zeus also integrates 400 GbE and 800 GbE Ethernet interfaces directly into the GPU, reduces energy use despite the higher performance, and will be available in PCIe, server, and cloud form factors.

"Zeus increases performance while simultaneously reducing power consumption," said Darwesh Singh, Founder and CEO of Bolt Graphics. "I'm proud of the Bolt team's dedicated effort to create a solution that addresses key customer pain points, enabling them to be more productive and bring their ideas to life."

Slides published by ServeTheHome show Zeus is based on a RISC-V RVA23 out-of-order scalar core and there are a number of different architectures.

The Zeus 1c26-032 is a single-chiplet design and supports DisplayPort 2.1a and HDMI 2.1b, along with an RJ45 BMC port - typically seen on DPUs, servers, and other infrastructure components. There’s also a QSFP-DD port for 400GbE and two PCIe Gen5 x16 slots. The 1c26-032 includes 32GB of LPDDR5X and up to 128GB of DDR5.

The Zeus 2c26-064/128 is a two-chiplet module, while the 4c26-256 is a four-chiplet configuration. In the case of the latter, which has 500W of chip power, each chiplet is paired with 64GB of LPDDR5X and up to 512GB of DDR5, bringing the total memory capacity to 256GB of LPDDR5X and up to 2TB of DDR5. Combined, the GPU supports up to 2.25TB of total memory.

It also includes six 800GbE (OSFP) ports, which ServeTheHome notes is “a lot of connectivity coming out of a GPU. Putting that into perspective, that is ~12x PCIe Gen5 x16 lanes worth of bandwidth.”

The slides show the Zeus 2c26-064/128 outperforms the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 in path tracing workloads by roughly 9x and 4.8x, delivering 154 Gigarays compared to 17 Gigarays (RTX 4090) and 32 Gigarays (RTX 5090). In FP64 compute performance, Zeus achieves 10 TFLOPS, significantly ahead of 1.4 TFLOPS (RTX 4090) and 1.6 TFLOPS (RTX 5090) - roughly 7.1x and 6.25x higher, respectively.

Comparing the Bolt Zeus 4c26-256 against Nvidia’s consumer GPUs, path tracing performance is approximately 18x higher than the RTX 4090 and nearly 10x higher than the RTX 5090, while FP64 compute throughput is over 12x greater.

All of this should be taken with a pinch of salt of course. As ServeTheHome observes, “This feels like an announcement where we really want to see product. The fact that we are still a few months away from early developer kits makes this feel a bit early. On the other hand, if Bolt Graphics has Zeus competing with a combination of NIC and consumer GPU, while offering more memory, then it could be a really neat combination. I am always a bit skeptical of products until we see them live.”

You might also like

• Check out our list of the best graphics cards for video editing you can buy
• This external Geforce RTX 4090M GPU is the most powerful right now
• Want a PC with 8 (yes, 8) AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPUs? Here’s one

Diego Simeone's men look to overturn a one-goal deficit against Los Blancos.

The former Philippine president is the first former leader from Asia to face charges at the International Criminal Court. Human rights groups say his violent crackdowns left up to 30,000 dead.

(Image credit: Aaron Favila)

Find out when the women's NCAA bracket will be revealed and which streaming service you need for the tournament.

It's completely normal to feel anxious or overwhelmed. But how do you know when it's the beginning of an anxiety disorder?

With AI taking over our phones, some companies are making it more appealing than others.

• New AI tools are coming to Google Workspace
• Automatic translation is coming to Google Chat
• Your image and voice will be sharper with Studio lighting and sound

Google Workspace is adding new AI powered tools to both Google Meet and Google Chat, without the need to buy a separate Gemini add-on. These come in the form of Generated Background Images and Studio Look, Studio Lighting, and Studio Sound for Google Meet, as well as Translate for me, coming to Google Chat.

This follows Google’s recent infusion of Gemini AI across services, most recently with its introduction into Google Calendar - so that users no longer have to manually add diary entries, or schedule meetings.

Translate for me, the AI injection into Google Chat, is an in-chat automatic detection and translation tool which can identify over 120 languages, and translate messages whilst keeping the original available for review.

Google Meet gets studio tools

For Google Meet, AI is coming with new Generated Background Images, which can help users create unique and bespoke meeting backgrounds, and can obscure your surroundings during a meeting, just in case your home office isn’t as presentable as you’d like.

Also coming to Meet is Studio Look, which uses machine learning to “detect and enhance” image quality with noise reduction and image sharpening, making sure you’re always in focus.

It won’t just be your image that’s sharper though, as Studio Lighting and Studio Sound will be introduced to simulate studio-quality lighting, with automatic light position and brightness adjustments - but only for devices that meet specific browser and processor requirements.

Your voice will sound more balanced and crisp, with Studio Sound making sure even the low quality headset users are still understood perfectly.

If you want to get a bit more creative, Google Drawings is also bringing in Gemini’s image background removal function, to help reduce time spent on fiddly tasks and give you more time to perfect your drawings.

You might also like

• Take a look at our picks for the best AI tools around
• Keep costs low with the best productivity tool options around
• Google Workspace opens up Gemini for all - but you'll have to pay more

On this special episode of Uncanny Valley, we unpack Elon Musk's desire for a government shutdown that could become permanent. Plus: An update on measles misinformation in the US.

Niantic's pivot to spatial mapping has been underway for years. What it means for Pokemon Go's future is unclear, but a deeper blend of AR, AI and your future maps of the world are going to be what comes next.