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.

I thought I had this figured out. I was making a hard-headed decision to buy a refurbed M1 MacBook Air with 16GB RAM for half the price of a new M4 one, for reasons I’ll explain in a moment. But, ironically,

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.