Help me find a laptop that's a good alternative to MacBook Air

[EmmaJ]

I'm presently using MacBook Air with the i3 processor. The laptop is 5 years old. Want to replace it with a faster and cheaper machine. Looking for a laptop with good processing, bigger screen size and more storage. i don't have a hefty budget it's only around $700-800. Can any one suggest me a good laptop that i can use for next 5 years to come?

 

[Madonepro]

I'm presently using MacBook Air with the i3 processor. The laptop is 5 years old. Want to replace it with a faster and cheaper machine. Looking for a laptop with good processing, bigger screen size and more storage. i don't have a hefty budget it's only around $700-800. Can any one suggest me a good laptop that i can use for next 5 years to come?

Hi Emma, You don't say what size your MacBook Air is. The came as 11 and 13 inch, also how much storage do you currently have, and what will you use it for.

 

[maflynn]

Can any one suggest me a good laptop that i can use for next 5 years to come?

Yuo posted in the Alternatives forum, so I'm going to assume you'll want to consider PCs not just Macs.

I'd say on the PC side, ThinkPads are very good choice, the Thinkpad yoga can frequently be purchased within your budget.

 

[SteveJUAE]

I'm presently using MacBook Air with the i3 processor. The laptop is 5 years old. Want to replace it with a faster and cheaper machine. Looking for a laptop with good processing, bigger screen size and more storage. i don't have a hefty budget it's only around $700-800. Can any one suggest me a good laptop that i can use for next 5 years to come?

I just replaced my wife's Macbook 12" 2015 with a Samsung Book S I would of preferred she got the Samsung Flex 13" but she specifically wanted similar weight and footprint, the battery endurance is just bonkers to the Book S and equally as svelte as the MB 12

 

[Erehy Dobon]

As a general purpose ultrathin notebook I find the Acer Swift 3 to be an acceptable MacBook Air replacement at the OP’s budget.

I’d wait for Acer (and their competitors) to start shipping units with the 11th generation Intel CPUs. Get one with a Thunderbolt 3 port and with one cable get power and send 4K @ 60Hz to a compatible monitor.

My Acer Swift 3 is has the 10th generation Intel Core i5-1035G5 4-core CPU and is very comparable to the Air 2020's Intel Core i5-1030NG7 chip.

I have no particular love for the Acer brand, however this is one specific model that I have personally used and can vouch for as a MacBook Air surrogate.

 

[c0ppo]

Yuo posted in the Alternatives forum, so I'm going to assume you'll want to consider PCs not just Macs.

I'd say on the PC side, ThinkPads are very good choice, the Thinkpad yoga can frequently be purchased within your budget.

I agree. Just don't purchase the latest and greatest. On Amazon you can find 6th gen FHD for a great price.
DON'T purchase 4K at any case. Battery will suffer, and while the HDR screen is really great, Windows will be sluggish on 4K, and battery life will really suffer.

FHD is more than enough. X1 Carbon will be great. Thin, light (even less kg/lb than macbook air) and with all possible ports and great keyboard.

 

[DeanBrian]

Hi Emma, Since you posted in alternative to macOS, it's clear you need a Windows device. As far as your budget is concerned, I can recommend Dell Inspiron 15 5000 since I'm using it myself. It's a great laptop and will fall into your budget too. Here are the specs it offers -

Intel Quad-Core i7-8550U
256GB M.2 Solid State Drive
8GB RAM
Intel UHD Graphics 620
15.6” Full HD Display

There are a lot more laptops that you can get for $700 and under the price range. If you can clear your graphics requirement, I'll be able to help you more with your decision.

 

[bhmm]

I just replaced my 2017 13" MBP (bad screen) with a New DELL Inspiron 15 5000 (5505) AMD Ryzen 4700U CPU - ordered it with baseline RAM and storage (8 GB and 256 GB) for less than $725 … I figured if I was going to have to spend money to replace the MPB (vs fix it for a similar price) I wanted a laptop that I could upgrade on my own when I had the additional funds to do so …. Hence, I plan to upgrade it to 32 GB RAM and 1 TB ssd when those 2 items arrive next … which cost me another $243 from BB… and the Crucial website says it can go up to 64 GB RAM (while the official doc says up to 32… either way it should be more than I need if just 32 GB but if it can be expanded to 64 GB, that would be amazing! [So maybe the broken screen on my MBP was a blessing in disguise.. only time will tell I guess!)

The link to the laptop I ordered can be found here: www.dell.com/en-us/member/shop/dell-laptops/sr/laptops/amd-ryzen?appliedRefinements=10352&sortBy=price-ascending---

And it is still less money than a new MBP - plus it's upgradeable without need of an Apple Genius!
(I will be upgrading it myself … like one used to be able to do on the original Mac laptops.)

The only negative is that the display is less than 300 nits … it's 45% NTSC and the software said 270 nits, while the Dell doc notes 220 nits… either way it's useable! Plus it's not all that much different than the 2013 MBA display with the display protector over it that I use. : the spec sheet notes: 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-glare LED Backlight Non-Touch Narrow Border WVA Display -

Also, I believe it can be hooked up to an external monitor as well if you wanted to use a different display.

(Here is the spec page url: topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/inspiron-15-5505-laptop_users-guide_en-us.pdf)

Just sharing since you inquired what others suggest.