Best MacBook 2021: Which of Apple's laptops is best for you?

Best MacBook iMore 2021

• Best overall: MacBook Air with M1
• Best for portable power: 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1
• Best for pros: 16-inch MacBook Pro
• Best for versatility: 13-inch MacBook Pro (four Thunderbolt 3 ports)

Best overall: MacBook Air with M1

The MacBook Air with M1, which is not only our favorite Mac laptop, but also our favorite overall Mac, features Apple's M1 system-on-a-chip (SoC), which has the CPU, GPU, RAM, and T2 combined into a single processor chip. The base model MacBook Air features an 8-core M1 chip with four performance cores and four efficiency cores.

However, the base model starts with a 7-core GPU, while the higher-end version has an 8-core GPU. The M1 MacBook Air has outstanding battery life over its predecessors, with Apple promising at least 15 hours of web usage and 18 hours of video playback. Of course, your mileage will vary, but it's a big improvement over previous Intel-based MacBook Airs.

Speaking of performance, the new MacBook Air with M1 can actually outperform a 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2019. The M1 chip is nothing to sneeze at, that's for sure. And because it's so much more power-efficient, the MacBook Air doesn't even need fans — there are zero fans inside the machine, so it's going to be super quiet while being able to handle anything you throw at it. However, if things are too resource-intensive, the MacBook Air will begin to throttle since there are no fans to prevent overheating.

The base model MacBook Air features an 8-core M1 chip with four performance cores and four efficiency cores.

And even though the MacBook Air is the cheapest MacBook, you aren't missing out on any features. The MacBook Air with M1 still has a Retina display at 2560x1600 resolution at 227 pixels per inch (PPI), Touch ID (for unlocking your computer and using Apple Pay online), the much-improved scissor-switch keyboard, and it's still thin enough to fit inside a manila envelope.

Though you don't get the much-loved MagSafe (RIP) charging port, you do get two USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports instead, along with the 3.5mm headphone jack. That means 40Gbps high-speed data transfer so you can move photos, videos, and huge documents between hard drives or other computers lickety-split. The base model of the MacBook Air now starts with a 256GB SSD, and you can configure it up to 2TB. The RAM on the M1 SoC starts at 8GB, but you can bump it up to 16GB if needed. Unfortunately, the M1 can not go beyond 16GB at this time, and you won't be able to add your own RAM later since the RAM is now on the M1 SoC.

Best for portable power: 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1

The 13-inch MacBook Pro also received a major upgrade, alongside the MacBook Air. It now features Apple's M1 SoC as well, and it starts with the 8-core M1 chip, which means four cores are for performance, and the rest are for power efficiency.

And unlike the MacBook Air with M1, it starts with an 8-core GPU. With the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1, just like the 13-inch MacBook Air, you get 2560x1600 resolution Retina display and up to 16GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage.

The only real big difference between the 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air is that the Pro has the Touch Bar with Touch ID, and battery life is around 20 hours (versus 18 hours with the Air). If you don't necessarily care for the Touch Bar or think that two hours of battery life makes that much of a difference, you can honestly save some money and get a MacBook Air with M1 instead. Keep in mind that the Pro also has fans to prevent overheating (the Air is fanless), which is helpful if you plan to do resource-intensive work.

Best for pros: 16-inch MacBook Pro

For the pro on the go, there's the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which packs in a bigger screen with fewer bezels in the familiar chassis of the previous 15-inch. This laptop workhorse can support up to 8-cores of Intel's latest Coffee Lake refresh processor chip with turbo boosts of up to 4.8GHz and SSD read speeds of up to 3.2Gbps. It has four Thunderbolt 3 ports (the most in the entire Mac laptop line) and can be spec'd out to as much as 64GB of memory and an 8TB SSD hard drive with Radeon Pro 5300M or 5500M graphics with up to 8GB of GDDR6 memory. It's fast. It's powerful. It'll sing for you while it renders your videos (not literally).

Just keep in mind that the 16-inch MacBook Pro is a little dated at this point since it does not have Apple's M1 SoC inside, which has been proven to outclass Intel processors. But you still get the biggest screen on a MacBook, compatibility with software that doesn't run on M1 Macs, and the most Thunderbolt 3 ports.

However, if you can wait just a little longer, we expect a refresh on the 16-inch MacBook Pro with an updated M1X chip at the 'Unleashed' event on Oct. 18, 2021.

Best for versatility: 13-inch MacBook Pro (4 Thunderbolt 3 ports)

The four Thunderbolt 3 port 13-inch MacBook Pro starts about $500 higher than the base M1 model with two ports, but those extra ports may be the most important thing you'll need. It has the highest-quality Retina display with 3DPI wide-color gamut, four high-speed Thunderbolt 3 ports for 40Gbps data transfer, and an ultra-fast processor chip with Intel's 10th-generation i5 with quad cores.

It starts with a 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAM and configurable up to 4TB SSD of storage and 32GB of RAM. And you also get the updated backlit Magic Keyboard that uses the scissor-switch mechanism instead of the butterfly, so you won't find a better typing experience.

If you're going to be plugging in more than two peripherals that need Thunderbolt 3's fast data transfer capabilities, you're going to want to spend the extra money on those extra ports on the higher-end 13-inch MacBook Pro. Just be aware that these models do not have an M1 variant and are only available with Intel processors.

The best for most is the MacBook Air with M1

The MacBook Air with M1 is the best overall MacBook for most people. Thanks to Apple's M1 SoC, you are getting the blazing fast performance of Apple silicon, which can even outperform the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro. And since the eight cores in the M1 chip are optimized for performance and efficiency, Apple even took out the fan, so you're getting nothing but pure silence with the MacBook Air.

Add in the fact that you get 18 hours of battery life and a sharp Retina display with Touch ID, the new MacBook Air can certainly go a very long way, and it's the most affordable MacBook right now. It's also incredibly thin (so it can fit pretty much any of the best cases or great sleeves out there, making it the perfect travel companion!

Just keep in mind that a limitation of Apple's new M1 chips means that you won't be able to upgrade beyond 16GB of memory right now. And Apple MacBooks haven't been self-upgradeable for years, so there is no way to get past that 16GB RAM limitation. The MacBook Air also doesn't have a Touch Bar, so if you're itching for that, then you should consider the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 instead.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide