The 13.6-inch 2025 MacBook Air with Apple’s M4 processor is selling for $849 this weekend, a full $150 below its $999 regular price at a leading retailer. And for people who have been waiting for a thin, light notebook with serious speed in the middle price range that delivers all-day battery life, this is that rare deal that actually strikes an ideal balance.
The offered configuration features the M4, 16GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD in midnight. That’s an attractive daily driver for students, commuters and remote workers with a need for swift performance who aren’t quite willing to graduate to Pro pricing or bulk.
Why this weekend’s MacBook Air M4 deal stands out
Good discounts on the latest generation MacBook Airs come slowly, and they almost never include more memory. The 16GB is the real story here. It also ensures that Safari tabs, Slack, Zoom, Office and even more demanding tools like Lightroom Classic or Affinity Photo remain responsive under multitasking, which is just where 8GB systems can start to swim up against the current.
At this price, you are basically spending entry-level money for a setup that will likely stay satisfying for years. Consumer Reports has long praised the MacBook Air line for strong reliability and battery life, qualities that the M4 generation continued to enjoy with better performance and cooler operation without fans.
What to expect from Apple’s M4-powered Air today
M4 is based on Apple’s newest 3-nanometer fabrication and has new architecture for CPU, GPU, and the Neural Engine. While Apple has focused on the double-digit figure performance and efficiency improvements compared with its previous chips, early technical analysis from outlets like AnandTech point to real single-core and multi-core gains alongside a more powerful media engine.
The on-chip Neural Engine — Apple rates it up to 38 TOPS this generation — delivers performance for AI tasks like on-device transcription, image upscaling and background noise reduction in video calls. In day-to-day terms, that means snappier photo searching, faster machine learning-driven selections and for live effects without draining your battery.
Crucially, the Air’s fanless design continues to manage light to medium creative workloads with grace. Anything that involves more work than a single swipe and tap as part of an optimized power user workflow: 4K timeline trims, batch photo adjustments, large codebases, web stacks with plenty of containers. If you’re doing long exports, heavy 3D rendering or working with very large datasets, you’d still be better served by a larger capacity SSD and active cooling.
Everyday features that genuinely matter to users
Battery life lasts as long as 18 hours, which in practice means a day’s worth and then some of work and streaming without a charger for most people. The 12MP camera with Center Stage ensures that you stay framed in calls, and offers a visible clarity bump over older 1080p webcams — great for remote classes or hybrid work.
Connectivity includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and Bluetooth for peripherals. The M4 Air supports up to two external displays — a helpful improvement for desktop use over previous generations of the Air, which maxed out at one. The midnight model is the lead but silver, gold and sky blue finishes are available too for a tad more up front (though recently some retailers have jacked that price up and sell it for about $50 more than my configuration depending on stock).
Storage limits and practical use-case guidance
The biggest trade-off here is the 256GB SSD. It’s good for a collection of documents, apps and a curated photo library, but if you handle large video projects or multi-terabyte raw archives — that thing will fill up fast. Plugging in a fast external Thunderbolt SSD or relying on the cloud are a sensible way to maintain an uncluttered internal drive and retain the Air’s portability.
For students, frequent fliers and office-first creatives, the value proposition is straightforward: premium build, long battery life and bleeding-edge silicon at a midrange price. If you are editing long-form 4K video or 3D scenes daily, step up to more storage or a Pro system with active cooling.
Price context and current availability details
At $849, you’re getting a discount of $150 or 15% off the list price of $999 — rare for a current-generation Air with upgraded memory. Industry observers point out that premium ultraportables tend to trade at or near MSRP for months following their launch, so this weekend’s discount is notable for shoppers budgeting holiday spend.
As always, prices and availability can change overnight due to weekend sales. If this setup suits your needs, particularly with the 16GB of memory, it’s a fine window to buy before the next seasonal demand push crimps supply.
Bottom line: is this MacBook Air M4 deal worth it?
A MacBook Air with M4 chip, 16GB of memory and a long life under the hood starts at $849. For most day-to-day work, it offers the speed, silence and stamina of Apple’s ultra-premium tax — and that’s exactly why this weekend’s price is so compelling.