MacBook Air M4 with 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD now below €1,100

The latest MacBook Air with an M4 chip occupies a very specific space: an ultraportable laptop barely heavier than a magazine, yet equipped for video editing, AI features and long days at university without access to a plug socket. What makes this particularly noteworthy is the 16 GB version, whose price has fallen considerably: rather than hovering around the €1,100 mark, it is now comfortably below it.

What the deal includes

The offer centres on the 13.6-inch MacBook Air with Apple’s M4 chip, 16 GB of unified memory and a 256 GB SSD. While this model would usually sit above €1,000, it is currently available for €949 – around 14 per cent below the usual €1,099 recommended retail price, according to the manufacturer.

The MacBook Air with M4, 16 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD now enters a price bracket previously occupied mainly by basic office laptops as a mobile work machine.

This makes a specification that many buyers would otherwise avoid for cost reasons far more appealing: 16 GB of memory. This is particularly important for comfortably running multiple apps, browser tabs and demanding programs at the same time.

Technical specifications at a glance

The machine follows the familiar Air formula: exceptionally slim and light, while being substantially more capable than earlier generations.

• Apple M4 with 10-core CPU (4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores)
• 8-core or 10-core GPU with hardware ray tracing support
• 16 GB unified memory (RAM, 120 GB/s bandwidth)
• 256 GB SSD
• 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display (2,560 x 1,664 pixels, 500 nits, P3 wide colour gamut, True Tone)
• Weight: 1.24 kg; chassis thickness: 1.13 cm
• Up to 18 hours of video playback battery life, according to Apple
• MagSafe 3 charging port
• Two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports (up to 40 Gbit/s, with DisplayPort support)
• Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3
• Four-speaker system with spatial audio support
• 12-megapixel camera with Centre Stage, plus a three-microphone array

How much performance does the M4 MacBook Air offer?

Apple’s M4 chip represents the current generation of the company’s in-house processors. It pairs high-speed performance cores for computationally intensive work with power-efficient cores for everyday activities such as browsing and email.

Its integrated graphics processor, with up to ten cores, supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing. This matters particularly for 3D software and certain effects in video and graphics workloads. Also relevant to the growing use of AI features is the 16-core Neural Engine, which handles demanding machine-learning tasks and Apple’s own AI capabilities.

The combination of the M4 chip and 16 GB of unified memory means the Air no longer feels like merely a student laptop, and can easily handle tasks more commonly expected of a MacBook Pro.

Unified memory means the CPU, GPU and Neural Engine all draw from the same memory pool. This cuts delays when accessing data and offers a noticeable benefit for projects involving numerous open windows, large media files or complex calculations.

Who is this MacBook Air offer suited to?

Students and mobile professionals

Anyone who regularly works away from a desk needs three things: low weight, long battery life and dependable performance. At 1.24 kg, with up to 18 hours of video playback and a very thin chassis, the MacBook Air fits easily into a backpack or messenger bag without feeling like a brick.

Typical use cases include:

• A full day of lectures with notes, PDFs, browser tabs and video calls, without needing a plug socket
• Business trips involving presentations, office software and occasional photo editing
• Home-working sessions with multiple monitors and video meetings

Creative professionals and content creators

For writing, image work and video production, the M4 and 16 GB memory combination plays to its strengths. The manufacturer specifically identifies work such as 4K video editing and processing large graphics files, where the Air is intended to remain responsive.

Those editing YouTube clips while travelling, mixing podcasts or preparing social media content with many layers and filters benefit from its fast response times. Developers using several virtual environments at once or compiling code can also work with this setup without immediately reaching its limits.

Ports, display and audio: everyday essentials

Despite its slim chassis, the Air includes several features that make a meaningful difference in daily use:

Area	Features	Everyday benefit
Power and charging	MagSafe 3, USB-C power adapter (up to 70 W, depending on model)	Secure magnetic connection, fast charging available, ports remain free
Ports	2x Thunderbolt/USB 4	High-bandwidth support for external SSDs, monitors and docking stations
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3	Fast connections on modern home networks and stable wireless links
Display	13.6 inches, 500 nits, P3, True Tone	Bright image, strong colour reproduction and adjusted colour temperature
Audio	Four speakers, spatial audio, three microphones	Clear speech during calls and respectable sound for series and music
External displays	Up to two displays at up to 6K and 60 Hz	Can be expanded into a fully fledged desktop workstation

For many users, support for two high-resolution external displays is a key advantage. It allows a mobile setup to become a capable desk-based workstation in moments.

Where are the limits of the 256 GB SSD?

The clearest weakness of this configuration is the SSD capacity. In 2026, 256 GB is not generous; it is closer to the minimum. Anyone working extensively with 4K video files, RAW photographs or large game libraries will quickly encounter storage limits.

With a little planning, this can be managed:

• Move large project folders to external SSDs
• Use cloud services for archived material
• Regularly clear downloads and temporary data

For people primarily using office software, browsers, messaging apps, some photo editing and lighter video projects, the capacity will generally be sufficient, provided they do not need to keep huge collections of data stored locally.

Value for money in the current market

Among Windows ultraportables with similar weight and comparable battery life, this offer sits in a genuinely competitive price range. Many machines with 16 GB RAM, a strong display and a premium chassis also cost close to, or more than, €1,000.

Those already within the Apple ecosystem – with an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch – also gain from seamless integration through features such as AirDrop, Handoff, iCloud synchronisation and Universal Clipboard. In day-to-day use, this can often matter more than benchmark figures alone.

What prospective buyers should consider

Before reaching for a credit card, it is worth considering your own usage habits. Three questions can help assess the purchase:

• Will the 256 GB SSD be enough for the next three to five years?
• Will I genuinely use the extra performance of the M4 and 16 GB RAM, or would a less expensive machine be sufficient?
• Do I need plenty of ports directly on the laptop, or do I work with a docking station and hub anyway?

For users who mainly browse, stream, write and occasionally edit photos, this deal will probably remain a good fit for a long time. More ambitious video creators and gamers, however, should consider whether a larger SSD or a different setup would suit them better.

One further point: the fast charger rated at up to 70 W is not automatically included with every configuration. Anyone frequently on the move who needs to recharge quickly should ideally factor in the cost of a suitable USB-C power adapter.

Terms such as “Neural Engine” and “ray tracing” may initially sound like marketing, but they represent practical functions. The Neural Engine accelerates language models, image analysis and AI-assisted editing effects directly on the device, without constantly sending data to the cloud. Ray tracing helps produce more realistic lighting effects in 3D scenes and certain rendering tasks.

Anyone buying a laptop intended to last several years benefits from this additional headroom. Many software providers are moving features towards these specialised components. A device that already includes this technology will therefore remain current for longer – even if its CPU performance has not yet been fully utilised.