MacBooks have always carried a premium price tag that puts them out of reach for many people who’d love to experience macOS and Apple’s ecosystem. The reality is that most decent Windows laptops hover around the $800 to $1,300 range, and Apple’s machines typically start well above that threshold.
But right now, something unusual is happening: Amazon has dropped the 2025 MacBook Air 13-inch with the M4 chip and 256GB SSD to $849, down from its usual $999 price. That’s less than the average mid-range Windows laptop which is almost unheard of for a current-generation MacBook. This isn’t a refurbished model or an older version: This is Apple’s latest MacBook Air with their newest M4 processor.
The M4 chip is Apple’s ongoing revolution in processor design and it is designed specifically to power Apple Intelligence features that bring AI capability into the macOS. Apps open in an instant, multitasking comes naturally and the machine remains cool and silent even when it’s loaded because Apple’s silicon design is radically power-efficient. You can have dozens of tabs open in your browser, edit 4K video clips, or run several heavy apps simultaneously without ever once hearing a fan spin, because the MacBook Air is totally fanless.
Display and Memory Setup That Counts
The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina screen is amongst the best laptop screen you will get for this price. Its resolution of 2560 x 1664 pixels makes text as clear-cut as you can get and images appear rich with natural colors of real life. The screen has support for the P3 wide color gamut, which translates to images and films having more saturated, more natural colors compared to usual sRGB panels found in most Windows laptops. It boasts a 500 nit top brightness and it is as functional outside or in very bright office spaces as many laptop screens annoyingly become too dim and unreadable.
This model comes with 16GB of unified memory, from the 8GB Apple previously offered as standard. Unified memory on Apple Silicon does not function like standard RAM: The CPU, GPU, and all the rest are able to share access to that shared pool of memory, meaning faster access to information and smoother performance. That 16GB provides you with lots of room for pro work, whether you’re post-processing photos in Adobe Lightroom, virtual machines or just having your whole workflow open.
The 256GB SSD is where you’ll store your operating system, programs, and documents: Apple’s SSDs are some of the fastest you’ll find in consumer laptops with read and write speeds that make the whole system feel fast. Files open immediately, programs install in a matter of seconds, and copying large video files or photography libraries in seconds instead of minutes.
The 12MP Center Stage camera is a useful feature for work-from-home and video calls. Center Stage employs machine learning to keep you in the center of view automatically when walking around, and it can even zoom out to bring other people into the view. It is more natural and professional for video conferencing, especially compared to the grainy, fixed-position webcams still found on many Windows laptops.
Battery life on the M4 MacBook Air is decent for about 15 to 18 hours of normal work depending upon what you’re doing. That’s a day’s work, trip home, and have some juice to spare without scrambling around finding a plug. The MagSafe port has a charging port in it that charges through a magnet so cable fumble won’t send your laptop flying off a table.
At $849, the MacBook Air is cheaper than Dell, HP, or Lenovo’s Windows ultrabooks but provides superior performance: This all-time lowest price eliminates the usual cost hurdle that makes Apple devices unattainable.
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