MacBook Air: the alternatives compared
Compare MacBook Air with 2 alternatives — price, trust and what each is best for. An evidence-backed second opinion before you buy.
The MacBook Air M5 is widely considered the best laptop for most users in 2026, offering an outstanding balance of performance, portability, and battery life. While it is an incremental update over the M4, the new base configuration of 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage makes it excellent value. It is highly recommended for anyone upgrading from an older Intel or M1 machine, though current M4 owners likely do not need to upgrade.
A significantly cheaper entry-level option if you do not need the extra performance, premium keyboard, or base storage of the Air.
A strong, cheaper Windows alternative with a similar form factor.
Alternatives are suggestions from public sources; prices are approximate. How we score →