With the MacBook Air getting a brand-new 15-inch model, Apple's MacBook family has grown to serve Apple fans in an all-new segment. With similar specs and exterior styling across both the Air and the Pro models, deciding which one is best for you largely comes down to which size screen you need and how much processing power your typical computing tasks require.
The $999 MacBook Air uses Apple's original M1 processor, which still promises speedy performance on everyday tasks in 2023. Meanwhile, the most current 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops come with your choice of M2 Pro or M2 Max chips for serious content-creation needs. Then you have the latest 13-inch MacBook Air, the current 13-inch MacBook Pro (2022), and now the 15-inch Air—all of which come with the base-level M2 processor (with some upticked GPU configurations available).
Below are our choices for the best MacBooks in 2023 for key user classes, from the generalist to the power-hungry creative professional. Each laptop has gone through the full PCMag testing process, and following our picks is a detailed buyer's guide that answers common questions.
The MacBook Airs
Apple's smallest laptop is the 13-inch version of the MacBook Air, last redesigned for 2022. It's a slim, sleek machine that measures just 0.44 inch across and weighs just 2.7 pounds. The latest MacBook Air heavily adopts the newest MacBook Pro design, with uniform thinness, an improved Magic Keyboard, a larger 16:10 screen (thanks to the display notch), MagSafe charging, and more.
The MacBook Air line is also Apple's cheapest, starting with the 2020 model (M1 processor) at $899 for students and teachers or $999 for the general public. The lowest-cost and most portable entry point into the macOS ecosystem obviously has enormous appeal. Read our fully-tested MacBook Air (M1, 2020) review for more information.
Apple's 2022 MacBook Air takes every advancement in the 2020 model that much further—for an additional $100 to start at checkout. (With the introduction of the MacBook Air 15-Inch, Apple at the same time dropped the starting price of its M2-based MacBook Air 13-Inch to $1,099.) That extra $100 gets you the latest Apple silicon for computers, the M2 processor, which measurably improves performance over the M1 model while maintaining its storied, long battery life. It also brings with it many of the features found in the latest MacBook Pro design revision, including the aforementioned 16:10 display, the improved keyboard, MagSafe charging, and an improved FaceTime webcam.
The MacBook Air is an ideal travel companion, and, given its sleek styling and Apple's cachet, a bit of a status symbol to boot. It's the Mac laptop we recommend for most people. But since you'll spend at least $999 on it, you'll want to make sure to look at the other, larger Apple portables that offer more connectivity and—in some cases—more computing power.
Bigger than the 13-incher is the latest 15-inch MacBook Air (released in June 2023), which uses the same M2 processor, though with more two GPU cores to start (10 total) than the 13-inch options. This model starts at $1,299, which nets you a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display, 8GB of Unified Memory, and a 256GB SSD. The port arrangement does not change here, unfortunately, but the sharp 1080p FaceTime webcam carries over. Each component upgrade from there (SSD, memory) generally costs another $200 per step upward, save for the largest storage options. For more about how the two models compare, read our article detailing the 15-inch MacBook Air vs. the 13-inch MacBook Air.
The 13-Inch M2 MacBook Air vs. the 13-Inch M2 MacBook Pro
The closest Apple alternative to the MacBook Air 13-Inch in size is the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, which is just as light as the MacBook Air. In return for a slightly higher starting price ($1,299), the entry-level MacBook Pro has a slightly more powerful version of the M2 chip in the 2022 MacBook Air at the start. You can get the same grade of M2 processor in the Air for another $100, however, which makes this comparison complicated.
The performance advantage is small, though, as the main difference is an additional two graphics cores, for a total of 10—along with two more hours of battery life. So, most MacBook buyers will probably be better off with the $1,099 M2 MacBook Air (or even the $1,299 15-inch model) than the $1,299 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with an active cooling fan, which is something the MacBook Air lacks. The 13-inch MacBook Air instead uses passive cooling, which works just fine for basic tasks, like browsing the web, but might hamper the performance of more intensive tasks like video encoding. The memory and storage options of the 13-inch MacBook Pro are the same as those of the MacBook Air.
We don't recommend the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro for most people at this point, since consumers will be better off with either MacBook Air option, and professionals can take advantage of the computing power in the larger Pro models mentioned below.
But the 13-inch MacBook Pro does deliver extreme battery life. Although all Mac laptops last for a long time away from an outlet, the 13-inch Pro lasted for nearly 22 hours in our video rundown test. That qualifies it as the longest-lasting MacBook Pro, though the 2020 MacBook Air has it beat at 29 hours.
14-Inch and 16-Inch MacBook Pro: For Pros in the Know
If you are a video editor, photographer, or software developer who might benefit from more computing power, you should skip the 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, and instead consider either the 14-inch or the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The factors to consider here are more than just the extra screen inches and additional weight. You also need to decide whether you need the extra horsepower that the M2 Pro and M2 Max processors can provide over the M2. You'll see a big performance gulf between the M2 and the M2 Pro, and most pros who are doing any type of CPU- or GPU-intensive task will be able to take advantage of the latter chip.
That's not necessarily the case for the M2 Max, as the difference between it and the already-formidable M2 Pro is limited to specialized workflows such as rendering video and 3D graphics. Each chip has two varieties, and all four are available in both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. The M2 Pro comes with 10 CPU cores—consisting of six high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. You also get 16 graphics cores for image output and GPU-accelerated tasks. The chip can be paired with as much as 96GB of memory and up to 8TB of SSD space.
The upgraded M2 Pro configuration adds two more high-performance CPU cores and three additional graphics cores (for a total of 19). This is what we recommend for most people. Meanwhile, the only noteworthy differences between the top-end M2 Max and the top-end M2 Pro are a heap of extra graphics cores (a maximum of 38) and a doubling of the memory bandwidth to 400GBps.
The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Po models lack any form of touch input, following Apple’s decision on current models to discontinue the thin, touch-enabled screen forward of the keyboard known as the Touch Bar. The 13-inch model still comes with a Touch Bar, however.
While the Touch Bar can be useful in special cases like scrubbing through a video timeline, or switching tool selections, it’s not a substitute for touch support on the device’s main display. An Apple iPad or a Windows laptop is your best alternative for using a digital stylus or other tasks best suited to touch screens. Fortunately, the trackpads on all Apple laptops are excellent, with oversize glass surfaces and virtual “haptic” feedback instead of a physical click mechanism.
The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops are also obvious choices for professionals who plan to connect peripherals like external monitors or transfer data using SD cards. Both include a full-size HDMI port and an SD card reader, setting them apart from the USB-C/Thunderbolt-only MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple frequently releases new Mac laptop models and updates old ones. We've already seen three new MacBook models in 2023, so if you're fine waiting for the latest and greatest, it might be worth delaying your purchase until the typically scheduled announcements happen. And if you're not sure if a MacBook Air or Pro is your thing, also take a look at our roundup of the best laptops overall—Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS alike.
