Apple MacBook Air 13.6" M4 Midnight 2025

Apple's M4 MacBook Air is a silent, featherweight creative monster with all-day battery, but the garbage 35W charger and stingy port selection keep it from perfection. If you edit photos on the go, buy it yesterday; if you game, run away fast.

The MacBook Air M4 is the laptop Apple should have made two years ago. It's stupid fast for everyday work, completely silent, and weighs just 1.24kg, which makes it feel like you're carrying a magazine. The big story here is that the M4 chip finally gives the Air enough muscle to chew through Photoshop and Lightroom without ever spinning up a fan, because there isn't one. If you're a student, writer, or photo editor who just wants a machine that gets out of your way, this is basically perfect. The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display is gorgeous, the keyboard is still the best in the business, and battery life is all-day real. But the 2TB model we're reviewing is a financial commitment, and the 35W charger in the box feels like a cruel prank. We'll get into that.

The M4 chip sits at the 72nd percentile in our CPU database, which sounds middle-of-the-road on paper, but in an ultrabook this thin it's a genuine surprise. Our benchmarks show it's well above average for the category, and the 10-core GPU, while only ranking at the 18th percentile overall, handles photo and light video editing without a hiccup. What shocked us isn't raw speed, it's the consistency. You can run a 45-minute 4K export or stack 50 layers in Photoshop and the chassis stays ice-cold. If you're a gamer, though, the GPU falls on its face, this thing lands in the bottom fifth of all laptops we've tested for gaming. But for creative work, the 16GB unified RAM and ridiculously fast 2TB SSD mean everything from app launches to large file transfers feels instant.

Price tags range from $1799 to $2445 across retailers, which is a wild $646 spread. If you can snag the 2TB version at the low end, it's a solid deal for a creative pro who absolutely needs all that onboard storage. But at $2445, you're in MacBook Pro territory, and you'd get more ports, a better screen, and a faster charger. The base 256GB model is a trap, spend the extra on at least 512GB unless you enjoy living in the cloud. Shop around and don't pay retail. The best price we saw was $1799, and that's where this config makes sense.

The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro is the nearest Windows rival, with a stunning OLED panel and a higher 120Hz refresh rate, but its Intel chip can't match the M4's efficiency or sustained performance under creative loads. The MSI Prestige 13 Evo is even lighter, but the keyboard and trackpad feel cheap next to the Air, and battery life is a joke by comparison. If you're locked into Windows, the Galaxy Book5 Pro is the one to beat, but for photographers and video editors who just want their tools to work without fiddling with drivers, the MacBook Air M4 is the smarter buy. It's not even close on build quality or resale value.

If you're a gamer, this machine is not for you. The integrated GPU is one of the worst we've seen for gaming, landing in the 18th percentile across all laptops. You'll be stuck with low settings and choppy framerates in anything modern. Go grab an ASUS ROG Flow or a Lenovo Legion Pro instead, they'll actually handle real games without making you want to cry.

The MacBook Air M4 is the best ultrabook for most people, especially creatives who don't need a dedicated GPU. It's light, fast, and the battery refuses to die. But this 2TB model only makes sense if you live in Photoshop and Lightroom and absolutely cannot carry an external SSD. For everyone else, get the 512GB version, throw the 35W adapter in a drawer, and buy a 67W charger. If you're a gamer, just stop reading and go buy an ASUS ROG Flow. Otherwise, this is the laptop we'd recommend to our own friends.