When someone asks what laptop to buy, my default answer is the MacBook Air. And the latest model is even cheaper and better than before. The new M4 MacBook Air has a faster chip, updated webcam and double the RAM—and it costs $100 less.

The big narrative that all reviewers enjoyed was that Apple kept the base price of the MacBook Air M4 reasonable. It starts at the same price as the MacBook Air M3, which is $999 for the 13-inch model and $1,199 for the 15-inch model.

Apple's M4 MacBook Air is shaping up to be an affordable powerhouse. In newly released benchmarks, it performs almost as well as the M4 MacBook Pro, all for $600 less.