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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →The $749 M4 MacBook Air price was a genuine U.S. deal in late 2025, but it is not a price readers should assume is still available. It applied to a new 13-inch model with 16GB of memory and a 256GB SSD, discounted $250 from its $999 reference price. Apple has since introduced the M5 MacBook Air, and current search results show a refurbished M4 at $749—not confirmation of a new one at that price.
What the $749 deal included
The original offer appeared on November 5, 2025. It covered the base 13-inch MacBook Air with Apple’s M4 chip, 16GB unified memory and 256GB SSD. The reported U.S. price was $749, or $250 below the $999 reference price—about 25% off before sales tax. The original deal report is at OS X Daily.
The discount was also reported on higher-capacity and 15-inch configurations during the November–December 2025 sales period. These are historical prices, not confirmed current offers:
| Configuration | Reported sale price | Reference price | Reported saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13-inch M4, 16GB/256GB | $749 | $999 | $250 |
| 13-inch M4, 16GB/512GB | $949 | $1,199 | $250 |
| 13-inch M4, 24GB/512GB | $1,149 | $1,399 | $250 |
| 15-inch M4, 16GB/256GB | $949 | $1,199 | $250 |
| 15-inch M4, 16GB/512GB | $1,149 | $1,399 | $250 |
| 15-inch M4, 24GB/512GB | $1,349 | $1,599 | $250 |
Deal coverage reported the $749 price again during Black Friday and later holiday promotions at Amazon and Best Buy. For example, 9to5Mac’s November report and its December report described the offer and its configurations.
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- BUILT FOR COLLEGE. AND BEYOND — MacBook Air with the M5 chip packs blazing speed and powerful AI capabilities into an incredibly portable design. And with up to 18 hours of battery life,* this thin and light powerhouse is ready to take on almost any major, just about anywhere.
- TEAR THROUGH TOUGH ASSIGNMENTS — With its faster CPU and unified memory, the M5 chip delivers even more performance and fluidity across apps, making multitasking and creative workflows smooth and responsive. A powerful Neural Engine and next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerators give you a powerful platform for AI.
- MAKE QUICK WORK OF YOUR TO-DO LIST — Apple Intelligence helps you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly — whether it’s for school or everyday life. With groundbreaking privacy protections, it gives you peace of mind that no one else can access your data — not even Apple.*
- UP TO 18 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE — MacBook Air delivers incredible battery life with amazing performance, so you can power through a full day of classes without worrying about plugging in.
- A BRILLIANT 13.6-INCH DISPLAY* — The gorgeous Liquid Retina display on MacBook Air supports 1 billion colors, making photos and videos pop with rich contrast and sharp detail, and text appears supercrisp. So everything — from class presentations to movies to games — looks truly stunning.
Was $749 really an all-time low?
For a new base 13-inch M4 Air in the U.S., $749 was described by deal publications as a record or lowest-tracked price during the late-2025 promotions. That supports calling it a low reported by those trackers at that time; it does not establish a universal all-time low across every seller, condition or price-history service. Macworld’s holiday deal coverage also reported the low-price context.
The date and condition matter. Apple announced the M5 MacBook Air in March 2026, so the M4 is now a previous-generation model. As of August 18, 2026, available search results show a refurbished M4 listing at Best Buy for $749, but do not verify a new M4 at that price. A refurbished listing is not equivalent to the late-2025 new-product offer. Check the Best Buy sale search for the listing’s current condition and terms.
What the M4 Air gives you—and what 256GB means
The base M4 model is a 13.6-inch laptop with a 2560 × 1664 Liquid Retina display rated at up to 500 nits, MagSafe 3 charging, two Thunderbolt 4/USB4 ports, a headphone jack and Touch ID. It has a fanless design and supports external displays. Apple rates its battery life at up to 18 hours; that is an Apple-tested maximum, not a guarantee of everyday runtime. See Apple’s MacBook Air model and technical reference for M4 model details.
Rank #2
- BUILT FOR COLLEGE. AND BEYOND — MacBook Air with the M5 chip packs blazing speed and powerful AI capabilities into an incredibly portable design. And with up to 18 hours of battery life,* this thin and light powerhouse is ready to take on almost any major, just about anywhere.
- TEAR THROUGH TOUGH ASSIGNMENTS — With its faster CPU and unified memory, the M5 chip delivers even more performance and fluidity across apps, making multitasking and creative workflows smooth and responsive. A powerful Neural Engine and next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerators give you a powerful platform for AI.
- MAKE QUICK WORK OF YOUR TO-DO LIST — Apple Intelligence helps you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly — whether it’s for school or everyday life. With groundbreaking privacy protections, it gives you peace of mind that no one else can access your data — not even Apple.*
- UP TO 18 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE — MacBook Air delivers incredible battery life with amazing performance, so you can power through a full day of classes without worrying about plugging in.
- A BRILLIANT 13.6-INCH DISPLAY* — The gorgeous Liquid Retina display on MacBook Air supports 1 billion colors, making photos and videos pop with rich contrast and sharp detail, and text appears supercrisp. So everything — from class presentations to movies to games — looks truly stunning.
Who can make 256GB work?
For browser-based work, documents, streaming and a modest photo library, 256GB may be sufficient, particularly if you already use cloud storage or an external drive. The 16GB of unified memory is a more comfortable starting point for multitasking than an 8GB configuration.
When to choose more storage
256GB can become constraining if you keep large photo or video libraries locally, install several large games, use virtual machines or development toolchains, or store local AI models. External storage can help with files and project media, but it does not replace internal space for applications and workloads that need fast local access. If you plan to keep the Mac for several years and can afford it, the historical 512GB configuration was $200 more than the base model during the same sale.
M4 or M5: how to judge the price gap
Apple introduced the M5 MacBook Air in March 2026. Apple lists a 12MP Center Stage camera, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, support for up to two external displays and up to 18 hours of battery life. Apple also claims up to 1.5× faster 3D rendering than the M4 Air in Blender under its stated test conditions; that is a manufacturer comparison for a selected workload, not a promise that every task is 1.5× faster. Details are in Apple’s M5 announcement.
Rank #3
- BUILT FOR COLLEGE. AND BEYOND — MacBook Air with the M5 chip packs blazing speed and powerful AI capabilities into an incredibly portable design. And with up to 18 hours of battery life,* this thin and light powerhouse is ready to take on almost any major, just about anywhere.
- TEAR THROUGH TOUGH ASSIGNMENTS — With its faster CPU and unified memory, the M5 chip delivers even more performance and fluidity across apps, making multitasking and creative workflows smooth and responsive. A powerful Neural Engine and next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerators give you a powerful platform for AI.
- MAKE QUICK WORK OF YOUR TO-DO LIST — Apple Intelligence helps you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly — whether it’s for school or everyday life. With groundbreaking privacy protections, it gives you peace of mind that no one else can access your data — not even Apple.*
- UP TO 18 HOURS OF BATTERY LIFE — MacBook Air delivers incredible battery life with amazing performance, so you can power through a full day of classes without worrying about plugging in.
- A BRILLIANT 13.6-INCH DISPLAY* — The gorgeous Liquid Retina display on MacBook Air supports 1 billion colors, making photos and videos pop with rich contrast and sharp detail, and text appears supercrisp. So everything — from class presentations to movies to games — looks truly stunning.
For school, office work, web use and ordinary personal computing, the deciding factors are usually the final price, storage, condition and warranty—not a headline performance multiplier. If a new M5 costs only about $100–$150 more than a comparable M4, or offers 512GB at a similar price, the newer machine is often the more sensible buy for its camera and newer generation. That is a decision rule, not a verified August 2026 price comparison: live same-day M4 and M5 prices are not established here.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Check condition, seller and coverage before checkout
At this point in the product cycle, a low price needs scrutiny. Retail listings can remain indexed after a promotion ends, and a $749 price may be for refurbished or open-box stock rather than a sealed new unit. Before buying, check the actual product page and checkout details:
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- Condition: Confirm whether the listing says new, refurbished or open-box. Do not treat those categories as interchangeable.
- Seller and fulfillment: On a marketplace, inspect who sells the laptop and who ships it. Late-2025 deal coverage specifically advised choosing Amazon as the seller rather than assuming every result was sold by Amazon; see MacPrices’ holiday-sale report.
- Warranty and returns: Read the stated warranty provider, coverage period and return window. These can differ by seller and condition.
- Real cost: Compare the checkout total, including shipping and sales tax. Treat a gift card as store credit, not as an instant cash reduction.
- Exact configuration: Verify screen size, memory and SSD capacity; “from $749” does not mean every M4 Air configuration costs that amount.
For retailer comparisons, the Amazon M4 Air search and Best Buy M4 Air search are starting points, not proof of a particular price or condition. Apple’s MacBook Air store shows the current-generation buying options, while Apple Certified Refurbished MacBook Air listings vary by available configuration and stock.
Who should buy the M4—and who should pass?
The M4 at $749 makes sense if…
- You find a new 13-inch, 16GB/256GB unit at $749 with a sound return policy and full applicable warranty.
- You need an affordable Mac for school, office productivity, browsing or general use and can work within 256GB.
- You are replacing an older Intel Mac or an older entry-level machine and do not need the newest generation.
Look elsewhere if…
- The $749 listing is refurbished and a comparable new M5 is only modestly more expensive.
- You need 512GB or more internally, or expect to keep substantial media, development environments or other large workloads on the laptop.
- Your work involves sustained heavy processing, or you need more ports, active cooling or higher-end display features; compare a MacBook Pro rather than assuming an Air is the right class of machine.
- The seller is unfamiliar, coverage is unclear, or the discount is mostly a gift card rather than a lower checkout price.
For a refurbished M4, the discount should be large enough to compensate for condition uncertainty and any reduced warranty. Apple’s refurbished inventory and retailer-certified products can offer a more controlled route than an unknown marketplace listing, but configuration, coverage and availability must be checked on the specific product page.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
