MacBook Air, MacBook Pro buyer’s guide

Apple’s update to the MacBook Air line has changed part of the entire MacBook lineup, and what consumers should buy. Here’s which model you should buy for any budget, in early 2025.

Apple’s ecosystem is constructed in a way that makes it extremely easy to find a product that fits your particular budget. Be it the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Air or a fully-loaded 16-inch MacBook Pro, it can cater to a wide array of price points and computing needs.

With Apple’s introduction of new MacBook Air models in early 2025, this has made a considerable change to the value end of the scale. Consumers are being provided more performance than ever before for Apple’s budget-friendly options.

Following Apple’s pricing and specifications shake-up, this is what AppleInsider believes are the best modes and configurations, depending on what you have available to spend.

Best MacBook – The overall price range

The MacBook product catalog offers quite a few price point levels to consider, with jumps of $100 between each one, for the most part. The range starts with the $999 13-inch MacBook Air with the M4 chip, as the entry-level option.

The other end of the scale is the ultra-premium 16-inch MacBook Pro with the maximum specification options, which can be bought for $7,199. That is a price difference of over $6,000 between the cheapest and the most expensive.

For $6000, you could provide entry-level MacBook Air models to an entire family.

The overall price range of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models as of March 2025

While the range is pretty close to the last time we looked at MacBook pricing, Apple has made a distinct change this time around. The previous MacBook Air lineup included the M2 as an entry level option alongside the M3 versions.

For early 2025, Apple did away with the previous-gen option, and instead brought the price of the M4 MacBook Air models down by $100.

While Apple’s MacBook Air refresh does alter the specifications of what’s on offer, it doesn’t usually make many changes to the actual price structure at all. Apple tends to keep its prices pretty static between years, and while changes can apply to one tier of MacBook, the pricing of the other doesn’t usually change unless a similar update occurs to it.

For the purposes of this comparison, we will be splitting the range into three segments: Pricing for models below $2,000, configurations beyond $3,000, and the options between $2,000 and $3,000.

Best MacBook – Storage and configuration thoughts

The way Apple sets up its pricing for its models may seem complex when looked at as a whole. But, if you think about each individual element, it is relatively straightforward to understand.

That said, it’s also extremely easy to make changes to bump up the pricing to nosebleed levels.

The first thing to consider is the size of the Mac. Apple has its MacBook Air in 13-inch and 15-inch configurations, while the MacBook Pro are in 14-inch and 16-inch varieties.

The displays in each tier are considerably different, with the MacBook Air usually being lower in resolution and less bright. This latter point is due to the backlighting system, with the MacBook Air using the older LED version while Liquid Retina XDR screens in the Pro models use MiniLED.

Size is much easier to explain, as the more inches there are, the more pixels in use, and the larger workspace you can use. However, this leads into having a larger and heavier MacBook to carry around, which can be a problem in its own right.

The MacBook Pro models also have an option for Nano-texture display. This is a $150 add-on that treats the front glass of the screen with an etching, designed to minimize glare and reflections from local light sources, in turn making the display clearer.

Then there’s the CPU to consider, as not all M4 models are the same. The M4 is the entry-level version, while the M4 Pro is more powerful, and the M4 Max is more powerful again.

The amount of Unified Memory can also change depending on the tier of chip, with upper versions able to handle much higher quantities to go with their performance increases.

The cost associated with memory upgrades also goes up, and can be extremely costly at the upper tiers. Seriously consider whether you really need many tens of gigabytes of memory in your MacBook Pro before you purchase.

However, also be aware that you cannot upgrade the memory post-sale. You may want to pay more for memory at the start instead of regretting it later.

Storage pricing tiers for the MacBook range, as of March 2025

Lastly, there’s storage, which can be a very costly thing to consider. Mac storage starts from 256GB with it rising upward to 2TB on the MacBook Air, up to 8TB on the MacBook Pro.

These storage upgrades can be quite expensive, especially at the higher levels. For example, the cost of jumping from 1TB to 2TB in capacity can be $400, or from 4TB to 8TB, that jump can be $1,200.

While like memory, you cannot upgrade the storage after purchase, you can do something about it. Take advantage of the USB 4 and Thunderbolt ports to add some external storage drives to the portable Mac.

The cost of external drives is cheap when compared to Apple’s internal storage upgrade pricing, making them a more cost-effective storage add-on. That is, if you are fine with having to carry around an extra drive with your MacBook.

The general purchasing advice from AppleInsider is to consider more modest storage capacities and take advantage of external storage instead of paying for higher levels. Memory and the CPU are not upgradable post-purchase, so you’re better off paying more for them than for storage.

Also, seriously consider your computing needs. Unless you’re doing a lot of high-processing work, such as video editing or other creative fields, you may not necessarily need to get an M4 Max MacBook Pro.

If your day-to-day computing needs are more modest, there’s nothing wrong in getting a MacBook Air.

Best MacBook – Under $,2000

The base model you can get is the $999 M4 13-inch MacBook Air, equipped with a 10-core CPU, an 8-core GPU, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of storage. This is ok for everyday computing, but you do get the option to upgrade to the 10-core GPU for $100 more.

At $1,199, the choices start to become interesting, as you could go for an upgrade to 24GB of memory or 256GB of storage on the base-chip 13-inch MacBook Air, with a feree chip upgrade. However, you could also get the base specifications in the larger 15-inch MacBook Air, if screen size is more important.

Apple MacBook Air and MacBook Pro price ranges under $2,000, as of March 2025

$1,299 will get you the $1,199 13-inch MacBook Air upgrades with the better M4 chip too, but no change on the 15-inch side.

At $1,399, you can get a 24GB memory or 512GB storage upgrade on the 15-inch. You could get both on the 13-inch on the lower chip choice, or you could max out to 32GB of memory or have 1TB of storage instead.

When we get to $1,599, the 13-inch MacBook Air’s choices bring in one more upgrade choice for 32GB of memory or 1TB of storage, while the 15-inch gives you the 24GB memory and 512GB storage upgrade or either the 32GB memory or 1TB storage changes.

A third option appears in the form of the 14-inch MacBook Pro, with its base 16GB memory and 512GB storage configuration. Given the relatively similar performance across the board due to using the M4 chip, you’re probably better off sticking with the MacBook Air at this point.

At $1,799, the choices on the MacBook Air add one more upgrade option to either 24GB and 2TB or 32TB and 2TB configurations on the 13-inch model. The 15-inch does similar, with 24GB and 1TB or 32GB and 512GB options on the table.

Likewise, you get your first upgrade over on the M4 14-inch MacBook Pro, to 24GB of memory or 1TB of storage. Again, unless you desperately need the Pro branding, the Air should be enough to work with.

Rounding out the price range, the $1,999 options consist of the 13-inch MacBook Air with 24GB of memory and 2TB of storage, the 15-inch MacBook Air with 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage, and a 14-inch MacBook Pro with either 32GB of memory and 512GB of storage or 24GB of memory and 512GB of storage.

However, $1,999 is also the first real chip upgrade, with the 14-inch MacBook Pro equipped with the 12-core M4 Pro, 24GB of memory, and 512GB of storage becomes an option.

If performance is a must, this is the one to get. Otherwise, you may be better catered for with a MacBook Air with more memory and storage capacity.

Best MacBook – $2,000 to $3,000

Reaching beyond the $2,000 barrier, the first real upgrade opportunity is at $2,199, which can get you a fully-laden 13-inch MacBook Air with 32GB of memory and 2TB of storage. You’re also one upgrade down and $200 up with the 15-inch MacBook Air here, and the M4 14-inch MacBook Pro can be configured with 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro could have a chip upgrade to the 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU here, or a bump to 1TB of storage. Again, unless performance is absolutely required, go for the MacBook Air here.

Apple MacBook Air and MacBook Pro price ranges between $2,000 and $3,000, as of March 2025

At $2,399, the 15-inch MacBook Air is at its highest configuration with 32GB of memory and 2TB of storage. It’s just out of the price range of a memory or SSD storage upgrade on the M4 MacBook Pro, but you could do the chip upgrade and 1TB of storage on the M4 Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro.

When we hit $2,499, the 16-inch MacBook Pro becomes an option, complete with its M4 Pro chip, 24GB of memory, and 512GB of storage. The M4 14-inch MacBook Pro is maxed out at $2,599, which could be a better option than a screen upgrade for some.

So far we have been avoiding the Nano-texture upgrade for the MacBook Pro models, simply because memory and storage upgrades are better for the average user. But if you’ve reached this point in the budget, the memory and storage upgrades can get quite expensive, and adding Nano-texture becomes a lot more feasible.

The full-fat 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 bows out with 2TB of storage, 32GB of memory, and Nano-texture at $2,749. For $50 more, the M4 Pro 14-inch model with the 14-core CPU is there, with 48GB of memory and 1TB of storage, or the 16-inch version with 24GB of memory for $50 less. Either M4 Pro is good here.

Until the end of the range, you’re going to be choosing between the 14-inch and 16-inch M4 Pro models, with the latter being roughly one upgrade behind. That upgrade could easily be Nano-texture, making it quite flexible for massaging the price.

Best MacBook – $3,000 or more

While the $3,000-plus period starts with the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro, that doesn’t last for long. The 14-inch M4 Max MacBook Pro slips in with its superior performance, 14-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 36GB of memory, and a 1TB drive for $3,199.

Unless you need the extra memory or storage in the 14-inch M4 Pro version, or the larger screen of the 16-inch, go for the 14-inch M4 Max model.

When it turns to $3,499 the last major configuration option appears in the form of the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 Max. At this point, you could have a 14-inch Pro model with 4TB of storage, 24GB of memory, and the upper-tier chip for $100 less, or the 16-inch M4 Pro with 2TB of storage and 48GB of memory.

Apple MacBook Pro price ranges over $3,000, as of March 2025

Since the M4 Max models all start with 36GB of memory and 1TB of storage, the configurations are manageable at the low-end. This makes them the better option from here on out, beyond the top-spec exits for the M4 Pro models.

Going upward, each price point will give you the choice of fairly similar configurations of the 14-inch M4 Max and 16-inch M4 Max configurations as the best possible options.

With that in mind, the only real difference to consider is whether you would prefer the 16-inch model or the 14-inch with one more upgrade.

In the earlier stages, these upgrades will be for important elements while they’re still reasonably cheap. Think the lower levels of memory and storage, and even the chip upgrade.

Later on, as the memory capacities grow, the upgrade costs grow too. At that point, it could easily be for M4 Max models with the same configuration, except you’re choosing between the 14-inch model with Nano-texture versus the 16-inch without.

As we have previously said, the storage is also something that you should upgrade to a reasonable level. At the top end of the scale, we’re basically looking at MacBooks that have the maximum configurations for everything bar storage.

That last $1,200 jump from 4TB to 8TB of storage is a considerable one. But so is the $800 between 64GB and 128GB of memory.

At this level, seriously consider whether you need either of these upgrades. You could have a good reason for either, but for the storage at least, saving money with an external drive is always an option.

Where to buy a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro at a discount

Apple MacBooks are on sale now in our Mac Price Guide. The last-gen M3 MacBook Air models are expected to be discounted further to make way for new M4 inventory, and current MacBook Pros are up to $370 off using the price comparison guides, with prices starting at $1,399.

You can also check out our roundup of the best MacBook Air deals and MacBook Pro deals as new discounts launch.