March 2025

So, you want to buy a MacBook? You have no shortage of options. If you go directly through Apple, you can pick between the Air or the Pro, in two different sizes, across a seemingly endless number of configurations. If you’re shopping from a third party retailer, the issue only compounds. There are a lot of MacBooks out there.

Which machine you should purchase is entirely up to you and your unique needs. However, unless you have demanding or specialized work to do, there is one model that makes more sense than most. Before today, I recommended the M2 MacBook Air to most people. Its combination of price, portability, and power made it not just the best MacBook for most people, but the best laptop overall. (Sorry, PCs.) There were and are cheaper options out there, but that M2 MacBook Air was simply, in my opinion, the best overall value on the market.

I no longer think this, because Apple just dropped a new MacBook Air, and it’s my new pick for the best MacBook for most customers. Here’s why.

The price is right

Let’s kick things off with what makes the MacBook Air great: the price. The MacBook Air has been Apple’s entry-level machine for a long time, presenting a very clear trade—you spend $999, you get a solid Mac. You could pay more to acquire additional features and a power boost, but you didn’t have to. A cool grand was all you needed.

Apple changed that deal a bit starting with the launch of the M2 MacBook Air. Rather than offer it as the $999 entry-level model, it kept the previous generation M1 in that spot, and priced the newer model a few hundred dollars higher. Now, the “old” MacBook Air was your entry into the Mac line, and if you wanted the latest MacBook Air, you needed to spend more.

Lucky for consumers, the M1 MacBook Air was great. It’s still pretty great, in fact. Despite Apple continuing to release new Macs with new chips, I argued the M1 MacBook Air was the best MacBook for most people up until early 2024. It was only when Apple replaced the M1 with the now “old” M2 MacBook Air, pricing it at $999, that I proclaimed that to be the best option.

The M4 MacBook Air only continues that tradition, but with a bit of a twist. The M4 is brand new, and yet it’s also the entry-level machine in Apple’s lineup. That $999 doesn’t get you the model from last year, or the year before that: This is the freshest MacBook Air you can buy. It doesn’t feel like any kind of compromise, and that makes it easy to recommend to just about anyone looking for a great MacBook for a reasonable price.

The M4 chip

If the argument was just about money, it wouldn’t hold water. Now that Apple has dropped both the M2 and M3 MacBook Airs from its lineup, those machines are likely going to be on sale from other retailers. If the M2 MacBook Air was the best Mac for most people yesterday for $999, shouldn’t it definitely be the best Mac for most people if they can pick it up for? That’s part of my argument against buying the latest iPad Air after all—it’s a great tablet, but so are the older Airs that are now likely going to be less expensive than ever.

Yes, a discounted M2 MacBook Air is a fantastic value, and I wouldn’t stop anyone from buying it. But I feel that $999 is an even better value for the M4 MacBook Air. For that price, you get Apple’s latest chip—the M4—which represents the highest performing chip in Apple’s laptop lineup. The M4 in the MacBook Air has 10 CPU cores, compared to eight in the M2, and its NPU (the chip responsible for running AI tasks) has a 120GB/s memory bandwidth, versus 100GB/s on the M2. The M2 is still a very capable chip, and you won’t notice as big of a difference between the two as you would between the M1 and M4 (Apple says the M4 Air is up to twice as fast as an M1 Air) but there will be gains, as evidenced by independent benchmarking of other M4 chips. We won’t know exactly how well the M4 Air performs until reviewers put it through its paces, but it will undoubtedly run better than a chip that came out in 2022.

Beyond performance, Apple will almost assuredly support the M4 chip longer than the M2. I have no doubts that M2 still has many years of support ahead of it, but when the time does come for Apple to eventually stop issuing updates for these machines, the M4 will likely receive them for at least an extra year or two—if not longer.

Apple is also continuing the trend of starting each MacBook off with at least 16GB of RAM. Previously, Apple’s base MacBooks included 8GB of RAM, which, while enough for simple tasks, wasn’t always enough for more intensive applications—and didn’t bode well for their longevity. You needed to spend an extra $200 to upgrade to 16GB, which completely erased the value aspect of the MacBook Air. Last year, Apple made the decision to bump all Macs up to 16GB of RAM to start, without raising the price. Maybe $999 for a laptop with 8GB of RAM is a tough pill to swallow, but for one with 16GB? It’s an excellent value.

The perks you expect from a MacBook Air

Apple hasn’t broken the mold with the M4 MacBook Air, and that’s a good thing. This design is functionally identical to both the M2 and M3 MacBook Airs—which is to say, it’s excellent.

The base M4 MacBook Air still comes with a 13.6-inch “Liquid Retina” display, with a resolution of 2560×1664, a P3 wide color gamut, and a maximum brightness of 500 nits. It weighs the same 2.7 pounds, comes with the same great speakers and microphones, and ships with an excellent backlit keyboard with Touch ID. (The days of the butterfly keyboard are long gone.) Like the M3 MacBook Air, this M4 comes with Wi-Fi 6E support (one generation newer than the M2’s Wi-Fi 6 support).

You also get MagSafe charging, which is among the best MacBook features. Why Apple ever rid itself of magnetic chargers, I’ll never understand, but at least it has corrected itself in recent years.

Various smaller advantages

What the company did change from previous MacBooks are minor, but notable. First up, the camera. The M4 sports a 12MP camera, which should improve the quality of video calls. However, the bigger perk with this higher megapixel count is the addition of Center Stage. This feature, introduced on iPad and found on the M4 MacBook Pro, follows your face as you move around the frame during calls. That lets you walk and talk in front of your MacBook Air, while still remaining in focus.

The M4 MacBook Air still comes with two USB-C ports, but they’re different than the two found on previous MacBook Airs. These ports are Thunderbolt 4, not USB-4, which means there are higher minimum speed requirements here. That enables the M4 MacBook Air to extend to up to two 6K external monitors.

The colors have shifted a bit this go around, too. Gone is the iconic Space Gray option that many know and love, which isn’t necessarily a “small advantage.” However, the new Sky Blue color looks great. Ever since Apple revamped the iMac line with fun new colors back in 2021, I’ve wanted them to adopt the same with their laptops. This is the closest we’ve come yet, and I hope they keep it up with future models.

Older MacBooks are still an excellent value (with a caveat)

Apple will let you preorder an M4 MacBook Air today, and the machine will go on sale on Wednesday, March 12. But if you have any interest in an older Mac, I’d recommend waiting to buy it if you can: Once this new MacBook is out, the discounts on older machines should follow.

M3 MacBook Air, 16GB RAM (2024)

$1,099.00
at Amazon

$1,299.00
Save $200.00

$1,099.00
at Amazon

$1,299.00
Save $200.00

M2 MacBook Air, 16GB Ram (2022)

Apple won’t be selling new M2 and M3 MacBook Airs, but outlets like Amazon and Best Buy certainly will. If you’re looking to pick up a new MacBook Air for under $999, that’s the way to do it. I imagine these companies will take $100 or $200 off these models at least, if not more. If Apple is selling new M4s for $999, these stores can’t justify keeping older models at the same price. Apple will likely sell used M2 and M3 models in its refurbished store, too, so keep an eye out there.

Like I said above, the M2 and M3 chips are still excellent, and Apple will likely support them for years. No matter which of these three machines you buy, they’ll feel functionality the same, since the design hasn’t changed, so you’ll snag a modern MacBook experience for a great price.

Check your RAM

My one caveat is to watch out for the RAM: You will likely find deals on MacBooks with 8GB of RAM, which I can’t recommend in 2025. These Macs will generally work well, and may run the tasks you need to run, but you will hit limitations with that amount of memory sooner rather than later. Your Mac won’t work as well as machine with 16GB of RAM, and, in all likelihood, Apple will drop support for it sooner than the models with more memory. These machines aren’t worthless by any means (Apple currently fully supports all M-series Macs with 8GB of RAM) but if you’re looking to buy a new MacBook this year, it’s important to prioritize that 16GB of RAM.

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Apple’s Newest MacBook Air Is the One to Buy

The price is right

The M4 chip

The perks you expect from a MacBook Air

Various smaller advantages

Older MacBooks are still an excellent value (with a caveat)

Check your RAM

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