Reviewed by Marcus Knapman, BSc (Hons) Computing ·
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<p>Every few years, a laptop comes along that makes you wonder why anyone would spend more. The Apple 2025 MacBook Air 13-inch with the M4 chip is the sort of machine that, in my view, sits firmly in that camp. It's not the flashiest laptop Apple makes, it's not the most powerful, and it certainly won't win any prizes for ports. But for a huge number of people, it's the one that makes the most sense.</p><p>At £899, this isn't a cheap laptop. Let's get that out of the way. But it's also the cheapest way into the M4 generation of Apple silicon, and that matters more than you'd think. The chip is the headline here, with Apple claiming up to 18 hours of battery life, a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, a 12MP Center Stage camera and Touch ID, all in a body designed to disappear into a rucksack.</p><p>I haven't had this on my desk for a month, so I won't pretend otherwise. What I have done is go through the spec sheet carefully and weigh up what the M4 Air offers against what it costs. The bottom line: if you want a laptop that does the everyday things quickly and quietly, with battery life to spare, this is very hard to fault. If you're hoping to do serious video editing or fill a hard drive with 4K footage, you'll want to read the next few sections before you click buy.</p>
Apple's marketing leans on phrases like "speed of lightness", which made me roll my eyes a bit. Strip it back, though, and the pitch is simple: the M4 chip is built to handle multiple apps, video editing and even graphically demanding games without making a fuss. For the majority of people, that means a browser with an embarrassing number of tabs, a spreadsheet, a video call and some music running at the same time without the machine stuttering.
One detail I rate is that Apple says the Air delivers the same performance whether it's on battery or plugged in. Plenty of Windows laptops quietly throttle themselves when they're away from the mains, so you get a nice fast machine at your desk and a sluggish one on the train. That's not the case here, according to the spec sheet, and it's a practical advantage that rarely shows up in a headline benchmark.
Apple quotes up to 18 hours of battery life. Treat that as a best-case figure, as you would any manufacturer claim. Real-world use with a bright screen, video calls and a pile of browser tabs will bring it down. Even so, the Air's efficient chip gives it a head start over most thin-and-light rivals, and the practical upshot is a laptop you can leave the charger at home for. A full working day away from a plug is a realistic expectation rather than a hopeful one.
When you do need to top up, there's a MagSafe charging port, which I think is a smart bit of design. It leaves both Thunderbolt 4 ports free, and it means a clumsy tug on the cable pulls the connector out rather than dragging the laptop off the kitchen counter.
The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display supports 1 billion colours, and photos and text are sharp and punchy. For writing, browsing, streaming and light photo editing, it's a pleasure to look at. This is one of the places where Apple justifies some of the price premium over cheaper rivals.
It's worth being clear on what it doesn't claim to be, though. This isn't a pro-grade display with a fancy refresh rate, so if you're hoping for the buttery smoothness of the pricier MacBook Pro screens, look elsewhere. For a machine at this price, I don't think that's a deal-breaker, but I'd rather you knew before you bought.
Here's where I start to wince. You get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charger and a headphone jack. That's it. No HDMI, no SD card slot, no USB-A. If you're the sort of person who plugs in a mouse, a memory stick and a monitor at your desk, you'll need a dongle or a hub, which feels like a tax on top of an already premium price.
On the plus side, the Air supports up to two external displays, which is handy if you want a proper desk setup. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 are on board too, so wireless connectivity is up to date. The port count is a deliberate trade-off for the thin, light body, and I understand the logic. It's still the most obvious annoyance for anyone with a drawer full of older peripherals.
This is the one I'd flag loudest. The model on offer has 16GB of unified memory, which is a sensible amount and makes the machine feel more future-proof than the older 8GB base models. Storage, though, is just 256GB. That's tight in 2025. Between macOS itself, your apps and a photo library, you can burn through it quicker than you'd expect, and Apple's upgrade prices for more storage are famously steep.
If you live in the cloud and keep most files on iCloud, Dropbox or Google Drive, 256GB will do the job. If you shoot video or keep large local libraries, you'll either want to budget for an external SSD or think about a higher-spec configuration. I'd rather be upfront about that than pretend the entry model suits everyone.
The 12MP Center Stage camera keeps you framed as you move about during video calls, which is a small thing that feels oddly polished once you've used it. Three microphones and four speakers with Spatial Audio round out a setup that should be perfectly good for calls and casual listening, though I'd still reach for headphones for anything serious.
The machine is also built for Apple Intelligence, Apple's suite of writing and productivity tools, with privacy protections that Apple says keep your data away from everyone, itself included. How much you'll use these features is a personal call. I'd see them as a pleasant bonus rather than a reason to buy, and they shouldn't be the thing that tips your decision.
Apple doesn't do bargains, and £899 is a real chunk of money. Against a Windows laptop with similar specs you can often spend less. But you're paying for the chip, the battery life, the build, the screen and the long software support Apple is known for. For a laptop you'll likely keep for years, I think that's a fair deal, as long as the 256GB of storage and the sparse ports don't clash with how you work.
The Apple 2025 MacBook Air 13-inch with M4 is the sensible choice for students, remote workers and anyone who wants a quick, light laptop with excellent battery life. Think twice if you need lots of local storage, plenty of ports or heavy-duty video editing, as you'll feel the limits of this base model quickly.
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