MacBook Air is now discounted to 20.5 thousand! It has amazing battery life, premium build, and decent performance

Apple this year introduced the affordable MacBook Neo for 16,990 CZK, but paradoxically, this increased the attractiveness of the older model, which is better in almost every way. The MacBook Air M2 with 16 GB RAM and a Czech keyboard is available on Alza for 20,489 CZK with AlzaPlus+, plus a trade-in bonus of 2,500 CZK for your old laptop. For three and a half thousand more than the basic Neo, you get a backlit keyboard, a better display with a wider color gamut, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe charging, and a significantly larger battery.

Quick summary:
✅ Makes sense if you are looking for a reliable laptop for office work, studying, photo editing, and occasional video editing, and have a budget of around 20 thousand crowns.
⚠️ Consider if you plan to use the laptop for 5 years or more — for an extra approximately 2,000 CZK, you can get the newer MacBook Air M4 from 22,690 CZK, which offers better performance, two external displays, and longer software support.
💡 For 20,489 CZK, you get an Apple M2 chip, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, a 13.6″ Liquid Retina display, a backlit keyboard, MagSafe charging, and up to 18 hours of battery life.

Why M2 still makes sense in 2026

The Apple M2 chip is already three years old, but in practice, you won’t notice it. The octa-core CPU and octa-core GPU can handle dozens of open browser tabs, Zoom calls, photo editing in Lightroom, and video export in Final Cut Pro. 16 GB RAM — which is standard in this configuration, not an extra — ensures that multitasking won’t be an issue even with twenty applications open at once. One user on Alza summarized it succinctly: “Even though it’s a 2022 model, the M2 chip is incredibly efficient and powerful.”

Absolute silence is another bonus — the MacBook Air M2 has no fan, so you won’t hear any noise even under load. Passive cooling comes with a slight throttling penalty during prolonged heavy use, but for everyday work and occasional creative tasks, this is not an issue. The display with a resolution of 2,560 × 1,664 pixels and a wide P3 color gamut with True Tone technology is excellent for photo editing and content consumption. A weight of 1.24 kg and MagSafe charging make the laptop an ideal companion for a cafe or travel.

Neo vs. M2 vs. M4: where your money goes

This year’s MacBook Neo for 16,990 CZK (with Touch ID and 512 GB for 19,990 CZK) is tempting with its price, but the compromises are noticeable. It lacks a backlit keyboard, the display only covers the sRGB gamut without True Tone, instead of two Thunderbolt 4 ports, you only get two USB-C (only one of which is USB 3), and MagSafe charging is missing. The battery has a capacity of 36.5 Wh compared to 52.6 Wh in the M2 Air — that’s almost a third less. The Neo is fine as a first laptop or a machine for school, but if you work with a computer every day, the Air M2 will offer a significantly more pleasant experience for a relatively small extra cost.

At the other end is the MacBook Air M4 from 22,690 CZK — for an extra less than 2,200 CZK compared to the M2, you get a newer chip with better performance under load (4K video export is approximately 20% faster), support for two external displays with the lid open, an improved 12Mpx camera, and longer software support. Apple typically updates macOS for 7 or more years from release — so the M2 from 2022 has support until approximately 2029, and the M4 from 2025 until at least 2032. If you plan to use the laptop long-term, those two thousand extra are worth it.

What to watch out for

The dark ink color (Midnight) is elegant, but several users on Alza point out that fingerprints are highly visible on it. If this bothers you, consider a different color variant. The 256 GB SSD storage in the base configuration might be too small for some — if you plan to store a lot of photos, videos, or applications, factor in an external drive or cloud storage. Unfortunately, expanding the internal memory in MacBooks is not possible.

The rating on Alza is 4.9 out of 5 from 38 customers — users most often praise the battery life, silence, speed, and overall price-to-performance ratio. Battery life of up to 18 hours during video playback means you can safely leave your charger at home; it’s enough for a full workday with power to spare. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports allow you to connect an external display, a docking station, or fast external storage.

Verdict

The MacBook Air M2 for 20,489 CZK is still an excellent buy in 2026 — especially if you have a fixed budget of around twenty thousand and don’t want to compromise on the display, keyboard, or battery life. Compared to the MacBook Neo at a similar price, it offers better features in almost every aspect, and compared to the M4 Air, you save two thousand at the cost of a slightly older chip and shorter future support. However, if your budget allows for the 22,690 CZK for the M4, it’s an investment that will pay off over five years — better performance, a newer chip, and longer updates for a minimal extra cost.

Would you go for the cheaper M2, or would you add two thousand for the newer M4?