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The best Mac laptop for most people is the 13-inch MacBook Air with Apple’s M2 processor.
The 13-inch Air is fantastic for web browsing, working on documents, coding, and light photo and video editing. And for those seeking a large screen, better speakers, and slightly better thermal performance, we recommend the new 15-inch MacBook Air with the M2 processor as our upgrade pick.
We still recommend the M1 MacBook Air as a budget MacBook pick. It’s a fast, reliable laptop and has already been seen on sale for $200 off its list price since the new, 15-inch M2 MacBook was announced.
Our pick
The 2022 M2 MacBook Air has an updated design, a brighter screen, and a better webcam, and it restores the fan-favorite MagSafe port.
Recommended configuration
| Processor: | Eight-core Apple M2 CPU | Storage: | 256 GB SSD |
| Graphics: | Eight-core Apple M2 GPU | Screen: | 2560×1664 IPS |
| Memory: | 8 GB | Tested battery life: | 15.5 hours |
The M2 MacBook Air has a few great updates over the slightly older M1 model that we think make the device feel better to use. The 2022 M2 MacBook Air has a brighter display that lets you see the screen more clearly outside on a sunny day. And it has a higher-resolution webcam that makes you look a little bit more clear on video calls. Apple also added a MagSafe port, which allows a magnetic charging cable to securely stick to the MacBook Air and harmlessly detach if a passerby’s foot catches it in a coffee shop.
However, this laptop isn’t ideal for people who edit photos, videos, or otherwise process large media files. Our tests found the laptop would get hot to the touch even after a minute of exporting video or batch editing photos, to levels that would make the laptop uncomfortable to use. But for everyday work tasks, browsing the web, watching movies, and even playing App Store games, the M2 MacBook Air offers a bunch of great upgrades over the previous generation.
Budget pick
The M1 MacBook Air has a comfortable keyboard, good performance, and a reasonable amount of storage—things that haven’t always been true of previous MacBook Airs.
Recommended configuration
| Processor: | Eight-core Apple M1 CPU | Storage: | 256 GB SSD |
| Graphics: | Seven-core Apple M1 GPU | Screen: | 2560×1600 IPS |
| Memory: | 8 GB | Tested battery life: | 14.4 hours |
We recommend the basic $1,000 version of the MacBook Air, which has enough speed, memory, and storage for most day-to-day computer tasks. Apple’s new M1 processor is much faster than the low-power Intel processors in previous MacBook Airs, and its battery life is so good that you should almost never need to charge it during the day if you don’t want to. And unlike previous MacBook Air models, the M1 version doesn’t require a cooling fan, which keeps it dead silent even when you’re maxing out the processor by exporting a video or playing a game.
The Air includes only two USB-C ports (which support Thunderbolt 3) plus a headphone jack—but Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs and adapters are common enough and inexpensive enough that this isn’t as big of a problem as it used to be.
Upgrade pick
The 15-inch MacBook Air has a larger screen and improved speakers, and it runs just a little cooler than the 13-inch version.
Recommended configuration
| Processor: | Eight-core Apple M2 CPU | Storage: | 256 GB SSD |
| Graphics: | Ten-core Apple M2 GPU | Screen: | 2880×1864 IPS |
| Memory: | 8 GB |
The 15-inch M2 MacBook Air is an upgrade over the 13-inch model, with a significantly larger screen and better speakers. The bigger display feels less cramped than the 13-inch model when you switch between multiple windows or work with two documents side by side. The 15-inch M2 MacBook Air’s upgraded speaker system has a noticeably fuller sound.
We also think this laptop is better for editing audio or video than the 13-inch version. In addition to its upgraded screen, its larger size helps the laptop run slightly cooler during processor-intensive tasks like exporting large files.
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