Slimmer, lighter and sporting thinner bezels than ever before, the new MacBook Air is the best overall Apple laptop. All those dollars get you a sharper Retina display, louder speakers and a Touch ID. There's an Apple Mac for everyone but the choice can be confusing. Here we look at every Apple desktop and laptop computer to help you decide which Mac to buy and when is best to buy a new Mac.
Apple's laptop lineup is now a lot more streamlined. The 12-inch MacBook and original 13-inch MacBook Air are gone. Now, there is only the new 13-inch MacBook Air, the 13-inch MacBook Pro (two versions) and a powerful 15-inch MacBook Pro. So what should you buy?
Based on our testing, our top pick for most shoppers is the $1,299 13-inch MacBook Pro. Yes, it's pricier than the $1,099 MacBook Air, but you get a faster processor and longer battery life. But there's still reasons to opt for the Air, as well as the much more powerful 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Looking to the future, Apple is expected to release a new 16-inch MacBook Pro this year with a revamped keyboard. Here are the best Apple laptops for your money now. Our MacBook vs MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro face-off will help you decide which system is right for you, and our Apple Warranty Check instructions can help you discover the remaining days on your AppleCare+ plan.
Most Affordable: MacBook Air with Retina Display (2019)
Slimmer, lighter and sporting thinner bezels than ever before, the new MacBook Air is a very good Apple laptop for those who don't want to spend too much. You get a sharp Retina display (which was recently updated with True Tone support), loud speakers and Touch ID. This helps you log in, use Apple Pay and unlock third-party apps with your fingerprint. While the Air's Y-series Core i5 CPU isn't as fast as we'd like, its SSD speeds are super-fast. We just wish Apple included 256GB of storage standard instead of 128GB. To find out which of Apple's 13-inch laptops is best, check out our MacBook Pro vs Air (2019) face-off.
Quick Specs:CPU: 8th Gen Y-Series Core i5| RAM: 8GB, 16GB | Display: 13.3 inches (2560 x 1600 pixels) | SSD: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Ports: Two Thunderbolt 3, headphone | Weight: 2.75 pounds
Best Apple Laptop for Most: 13-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
The entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro is now our favorite Apple laptop for most shoppers. It packs a fast 8th-gen Core i5 processor and more than 10 hours of battery life in a fairly light 3-pound design. You also get a Touch ID sensor for unlocking your Mac with ease, a bright and sharp display and powerful speakers. Yes, we'd like to see more Thunderbolt ports than just two, but you'll need to step up to the $1,799 configuration for that perk.
Quick Specs:CPU: 1.4-GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 8th gen | RAM: 8GB, 16GB | Display: 13 inches (2560 x 1600 pixels) | SSD: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Ports: Two Thunderbolt 3 | Weight: 3.02 pounds
More Speed to Go: 13-inch MacBook Pro with 4 Thunderbolt Ports
This higher-end version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro gives you more power and more ports. It starts with a faster 2.4-GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, more powerful Iris 655 graphics and 256GB of storage, and Apple throws in four Thunderbolt 3 ports, so you can connect more peripherals at once. In our testing, this version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro lasted 8 hours and 51 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test. That's above average but behind the cheaper entry-level 13-inch Pro. So you have to decide if more oomph or more endurance is worth it.
Quick Specs:CPU: 2.4-GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 | RAM: 8GB, 16GB | Display: 13 inches (2560 x 1600 pixels) | SSD: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Ports: Four Thunderbolt 3 | Weight: 3.02 pounds
For Serious Pros: 15-inch MacBook Pro (2019)
Whether you're a video editor, a programmer, a photo editor or some other pro with a demanding workload, the new 15-inch MacBook Pro should be able to handle it with ease. You can opt for up to a 6-core Core i9 processor that plowed through our benchmarks, including our demanding 4K video editing test. Starting at $2,399 15-inch MacBook Pro also packs a graphics punch, with up to a AMD Radeon 560X GPU. Last but not least, the 15-inch Pro can last nearly all day on a charge, as the system turned in a great battery life test result of 10 hours and 20 minutes.
Quick Specs:CPU: 2.2-GHz six-core Intel Core i7 | RAM: 16GB | Display: 15 inches (2880 x 1800 pixels) | SSD: 256GB | Ports: Four Thunderbolt 3 | Weight: 4.02 pounds