A price drop and a performance boost reaffirm Apple’s MacBook Air 13-incher as one of the best buys among mainstream ultraportables.

Apple rarely offers you more for less, especially in its most popular products with the broadest appeal. It has perfected the measured, iterative year-over-year product cycle. But for the 13- and 15-inch M4 MacBook Airs, Apple has put new chips in its established design while shoring up the device’s biggest flaws and dropping the price by $100.

For almost half a decade, the MacBook Air hasn't just sold well; it's been the best-selling single laptop model on the planet. Remember its debut in the late 2000s? Pure Steve Jobs theatre, unveiling a sliver of tech that instantly became the poster child for ultra-thin,