Best budget laptop
MacBook Air
Apple’s excellent but less expensive notebook
Connectivity options are limited, so get yourself a Twelve South StayGo USB–C Hub.
Image credits: Apple Inc, Twelve South LLC.
THERE ARE THREE MacBook Air models currently on sale. The $999 entry–level option is based on an Apple silicon M1 system– on–a–chip (SoC), with an 8–core CPU and a 7–core GPU. It has a 13.3–inch Retina display, up to 16GB unified memory and 256GB of solid–state drive storage.
If you want the more modern M2 chip, for $1,099, you can get an 8–core CPU and an 8–core GPU, 8GB of unified memory, a 256GB SSD and a 13.6–inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone. Paying an extra $300 nets you a 10–core GPU, plus 512GB of solid–state storage.
At the top of the range is the brand–new 15–inch MacBook Air. There are two models on offer, both of which have an 8–core CPU and 10–core GPU, 8GB of unified memory and a 15.3–inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone. The only difference between the lower–cost 15–inch model ($1,299) and the higher–specced one ($1,499) is that the cheaper MacBook Air has a 256GB SSD, while the more expensive one gets 512GB.