Apple MacBook Air 13.6" M4 Starlight 2025

The M4 MacBook Air is the best thin-and-light laptop for most people, with killer battery life and a gorgeous screen. The base 256GB storage is its biggest flaw, so try to find a deal or spring for more space. If you can grab it at the low end of its $836-$1450 price range, it's a no-brainer.

The M4 chip is a solid step forward, even if it's not the absolute speed demon its Pro and Max siblings are. CPU performance sits at the 74th percentile, which means it's well above average for everyday tasks and breezes through photo editing and coding. The 8-core GPU hits the 70th percentile, so it's respectable for an integrated chip and can even handle some light gaming, but don't expect miracles. The real story is efficiency. This fanless design stays dead silent and cool to the touch, chewing through work without ever breaking a sweat. Just don't push it with sustained 4K video renders, or it will eventually throttle to manage heat.

Stacked against the Microsoft Surface Laptop, the Air pulls ahead on raw CPU power and that fanless silence, but the Surface offers a more versatile 3:2 touchscreen. The HP OmniBook X Flip is a more direct 2-in-1 competitor if you need a tablet mode, but its Snapdragon chip still has some app compatibility quirks that the M4 simply doesn't worry about. For pure performance, the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 and Lenovo Legion 5i are in a different league for gaming, but they're also heavier, louder, and can't touch the Air's battery life. This MacBook Air isn't trying to be a gaming rig, and it's the best all-rounder for anyone who doesn't need a dedicated GPU.

Pricing is a bit of a rollercoaster right now, with a $614 spread across vendors from $836 to $1450. If you can snag this near the $836 mark, it's an absolute steal and one of the best laptop deals you'll find. At the full $1450, you're creeping into MacBook Pro territory, and that's a much harder sell given the Air's storage and port limitations. Shop around, because the value proposition changes dramatically depending on where you buy.

The M4 MacBook Air is basically Apple doing what they do best: refining an already excellent machine until there's almost nothing left to complain about. It's ridiculously thin and light at 1.24kg, the new 12MP Center Stage camera is a genuine upgrade for video calls, and that 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display still looks fantastic with 500 nits of brightness. This is the laptop most people should buy, and Apple knows it.

But they also know how to upsell you. The base 256GB storage is a real head-scratcher in 2025, and it lands in a disappointing 28th percentile in our database. You'll feel that pinch fast if you keep a lot of photos, videos, or games locally. The good news is 16GB of RAM is now standard, which finally feels like enough for a machine in this price bracket.

If you need serious gaming performance or work with massive files daily, look elsewhere. The 23.8 gaming score is one of the worst we've seen for that use case, and the 256GB base storage will have you juggling external drives constantly. A MacBook Pro or a Windows laptop with a dedicated GPU and more storage is a much better fit.

This is the ultimate default laptop for students, writers, and anyone who lives in a browser and values portability above all else. It's a top-tier machine for compact and business use, scoring 92.8 and 89.8 respectively in our database. If your workflow involves office apps, web browsing, and the occasional creative project, you'll love it. Just be honest with yourself about storage needs and budget for the 512GB upgrade if you can.