Macworld

Apple sells several MacBook models across different sizes, prices, and performance levels, so choosing the right one depends on your budget, the type of work you do, and how much power you actually need.

In this in-depth guide, we explain which MacBook is best for different users, compare the latest MacBook Air, MacBook Neo and the MacBook Pro models (with and without touchscreen), and help you decide how much RAM and how much storage you really need.

Choosing a MacBook Pro now involves two decisions: how much processing power you need, and which display you want. The entry-level 14-inch model uses the M6 chip, while more demanding users can choose M5 Pro or M5 Max configurations with either a non-touch Liquid Retina XDR display or a PROLED XDR OLED touchscreen.

For most people, the MacBook Air remains our recommended starting point. If you need a Pro, choose the chip, memory and storage around your workload, then consider whether the touchscreen model’s OLED display and lighter design justify the extra cost. In this article, we’ll help you decide whether a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Neo is the best fit for your needs.

Which MacBook is right for you?

In 2026, Apple’s laptop lineup spans five main choices: the budget-friendly MacBook Neo, the mainstream MacBook Air, the M6 MacBook Pro, the high-performance M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro and the touchscreen versions of those MacBook Pro models.

  • Best for basic use and tight budgets: MacBook Neo is ideal for students, casual browsing, streaming, and light productivity at the lowest entry price.
  • Best for most people: MacBook Air (M5)
 offers the best mix of portability, battery life, silent operation, and everyday performance.
  • Best for those who want a superior display and extra ports: The MacBook Pro (M6) offers professional-grade features without the extreme power of the M5 Pro or M5 Max chips.
  • Best for professionals and power users: MacBook Pro (M5 Pro/Max) is best for demanding workflows such as 4K video editing, 3D work, heavy multitasking, and software development.
  • Best for high-end creative professionals: Suited to those who work extensively on their laptop’s built-in display and need direct touch interaction.

Use the table below to quickly find the MacBook that best suit your needs, or read on for more detailed guide to help you choose the best MacBook for your specific needs.

ModelBest ForScreen sizesStarting PriceBuyMacBook NeoStudents, casual users, and first-time buyers.13-inch$699 Amazon / AppleMacBook Air (M5)Most people: everyday performance and portability.13.6-inch or 15.3-inch$1,299 / $1,499Amazon / AppleMacBook Pro (M6)A better display, more ports, and sustained performance.14.2-inch$1,999Amazon / AppleMacBook Pro (M5 Pro/Max)Demanding creative work, development, and heavier workloads.14.2-inch or 16.2-inch$2,499 / $4,099 Amazon / AppleTouchscreen MacBook Pro (M5 Pro/Max)High-end creative professionals who need OLED and touch interaction.14.2-inch or 16.3-inch$2,899 / $4,499 Amazon / Apple The best Mac for various use cases.

If you’re also wondering whether it’s the right time to buy, read our guide: Should you buy the MacBook Air now or wait?

Which MacBook is best in 2026

Below we recommend the best MacBooks for various users, from students and every day users, to professionals, creatives and content creators. We also compare MacBook Air or MacBook Pro for those wondering which model to buy. Below this section you can find general advice about choosing the best specs, including screen size, when purchasing a new Mac.

Apple 13-inch/15-inch MacBook Air (M5, 2026) – Best MacBook for most people Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

The MacBook Air (M5) is the best MacBook for most buyers because it offers the strongest balance of price, portability, battery life, and performance.

The 13-inch MacBook Air is light, quiet, fast enough for everyday work, and easier to recommend than any other Mac laptop. The latest version, updated in March 2026, keeps the same winning formula while improving storage and connectivity. There is also a 15-inch version for anyone who wants a larger screen.

What’s new
The latest MacBook Air features the M5 chip, base storage is 512GB, and it supports newer wireless standards including Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

Why we recommend the MacBook Air

  • Excellent balance of performance and portability
  • Silent fanless design
  • Long battery life
  • Strong everyday performance for work, school, and travel
  • Now ships with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage as standard

Sizes
The MacBook Air comes in two sizes:

  • 13-inch MacBook Air, 13.6-inch screen: Best for portability
  • 15-inch MacBook Air, 15.3-inch screen: Better for multitasking and split-screen work

Display
As you can see from the above measurements, the display, when measured diagonally is a little larger than the standard naming would suggest. As a result the 13-inch MacBook Air display is actually larger than that on the 13-inch MacBook Neo, discussed below. The MacBook Air uses a bright Liquid Retina display, but it still lacks the 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate and HDR capabilities found on MacBook Pro models.

Performance
The M5 chip in the MacBook Air is fast enough for office work, school tasks, web apps, multitasking, and light creative work. Because the Air has no fan, though, performance can dip during long video exports or other sustained heavy workloads so that the temperature remains optimal.

Battery life
Battery life is excellent, making the Air a great choice for anyone who works away from a desk. It offers more battery life than the budget-friendly MacBook Neo, but falls short of the 14-inch MacBook Pro.

Other specs
You get MagSafe 3 for charging and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. The MacBook Air also supports up to two external displays. (Older M1 and M2 models were limited to one external monitor).

  • 16GB RAM to 32GB RAM
  • From 512GB to 4TB SSD

Price

Apple put MacBook Air prices up by $200 in June 2026.

  • 13-inch MacBook Air: Now starts at $1,299/£1,299
  • 15-inch MacBook Air: Now starts at $1,499/£1,499

What to know before buying
The Air’s biggest limitation is sustained performance. It is quick for most tasks, but it is not the right machine for users who regularly push their system for long periods. The MacBook Air is likely to soon adopt the M6 chip as used in the entry-level MacBook Pro, Mac mini and iMac.

Read our full Apple 13-inch MacBook Air (M5, 2026) review

Apple MacBook Neo – Best budget MacBook Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

The MacBook Neo is the cheapest way to buy a Mac laptop in 2026. Now starting at $699 (which is unfortunately $100 more than it was when Apple launched it in March), it is aimed at students, first-time Mac buyers, and casual users who mainly browse the web, stream video, join video calls, and work in basic apps.

Despite its lower price, it still looks and feels like a MacBook, with an all-aluminum design and a lightweight chassis.

Who is MacBook Neo for?
The MacBook Neo is best for people whose computing needs are simple: web browsing, email, documents, streaming, and schoolwork.

Why we recommend MacBook Neo

  • Lowest price in the lineup
  • Light and portable
  • Quiet fanless design
  • Good battery life
  • Fast enough for basic everyday use

Sizes
The MacBook Neo comes in just one size:

  • 13-inch MacBook Neo, 13-inch screen

Display
Like the MacBook Air the MacBook Neo offers a Liquid Retina display with max 500 nits brightness, but that’s where the similarities end. The display is slightly smaller than the display on the 13-inch MacBook Air, offering 2,408 by 1,506 pixels compared to 2,560 by 1,664 pixels. It also lacks the wide color P3 and True Tone technology of the other MacBooks, offering only sRGB color.

Performance
The MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro chip – the same processor first introduced with the iPhone 16 Pro. While it is a mobile-class chip, its performance is optimized for a laptop environment, offering a highly responsive experience for everyday productivity. In our tests it proved faster than the M3 in single-core, while equal to the M1 when it came to multi-core performance and graphics.

Battery life
The MacBook Neo should comfortably last a working day of general productivity. In our video-loop battery test, with screen brightness set to 150 nits, it lasted 13 hours and 15 minutes. Apple advertises up to 16 hours of video streaming or 11 hours of wireless web browsing. More demanding tasks will drain the battery faster.

Other specs
You get two USB-C ports, but these are not identical in capability, one being USB 3 and the other USB 2. See MacBook Neo ports explained. The MacBook Neo only supports one external display with a resolution of up to 4K at 60Hz.

  • 8GB RAM
  • 256GB or 512GB SSD

Price

  • Starts at $699/£699
  • Education pricing is now $649/£649

What to know before buying
The Neo makes several trade-offs to achieve its low price, including the absence of a backlit keyboard, a limited selection of ports, and no Touch ID on the base model. It also features a lower-quality display compared to the Air and Pro, offers less memory with a maximum of 8GB RAM, and delivers lower sustained performance than M-series MacBooks. For many buyers, the 512GB, $799 model represents better value, as it includes Touch ID and additional storage.

Alternatives
The MacBook Neo is the best budget MacBook, but it is best suited to light workloads. If you can spend more, the MacBook Air remains the better long-term buy for most people.

Another option, if a low price is your top priority, is a refurbished MacBook. Look out for clearance deals on older Apple silicon MacBooks, but avoid the older Intel-based models. See: MacBook Pro deals and MacBook Air deals.

Read our full Apple MacBook Neo review

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6, 2026) – Best step up from the MacBook Air Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

The 14-inch M6 MacBook Pro is worth considering if you want more features than the MacBook Air offers without paying for an M5 Pro or M5 Max. Its active cooling suits longer workloads, while its HDR display and additional ports are useful for creative work.

Why we recommend the M6 MacBook Pro

  • Active cooling for sustained workloads
  • ProMotion and HDR display
  • HDMI and an SDXC card slot
  • Lower starting price than the Pro and Max models

Sizes

The M6 model comes in one size: a 14.2-inch screen.

Display

The non-touch Liquid Retina XDR display uses mini-LED technology, with up to 1,600 nits peak HDR brightness and adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz.

Performance

The M6 has a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU. Choose it for everyday work and creative projects; consider M5 Pro or M5 Max configurations when you need greater graphics or memory capacity.

Battery life

Apple rates it for up to 24 hours of video streaming or 16 hours of wireless web browsing. Actual endurance depends on your workload.

Other specs

  • 16GB, 24GB or 32GB unified memory
  • 1TB, 2TB or 4TB SSD
  • Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SDXC, MagSafe and headphone jack
  • Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6

Price

Starts at $1,999/£1,999.

What to know before buying

Compare an Air with matching memory and storage before buying. Choose the Pro if its display, connections and cooling justify the premium. For OLED and touch, you’ll need a PROLED XDR model.

Apple 14-inch/16-inch MacBook Pro (M5 Pro/M5 Max, non-touchscreen, 2026) – Best for professional performance Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide

If you regularly edit high-resolution video, compile large code projects or run demanding professional software, the MacBook Pro with M5 Pro or M5 Max offers more performance and memory capacity than the MacBook Air.

These non-touchscreen models are particularly worth considering if processing power matters more than OLED or touchscreen input. They offer the same chip options as the PROLED XDR versions at a lower starting price.

Why we recommend the non-touchscreen MacBook Pro

  • Active cooling for demanding sustained workloads
  • Powerful CPU and GPU configurations
  • Bright mini-LED display with ProMotion and HDR
  • Thunderbolt 5, HDMI and an SDXC card slot
  • Lower price than equivalent touchscreen models

Sizes

There are two sizes to choose from:

  • 14-inch MacBook Pro, 14.2-inch screen: Easier to carry between locations.
  • 16-inch MacBook Pro, 16.2-inch screen: More room for timelines, tool palettes and side-by-side apps.

Display

Both sizes feature a non-touch Liquid Retina XDR display. The mini-LED panel offers up to 1,000 nits sustained full-screen XDR brightness, 1,600 nits peak HDR brightness, P3 wide color and ProMotion adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz.

Performance

There are two chip families to choose from:

  • M5 Pro: The sensible starting point for demanding photo editing, software development, video editing and heavier multitasking.
  • M5 Max: Worth considering for complex 3D work, high-end video production and workloads requiring more GPU power or memory.

M5 Pro configurations offer up to an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU. M5 Max has an 18-core CPU and a choice of 32-core or 40-core GPU.

Battery life

Apple’s video-streaming ratings vary by size and chip:

  • 14-inch M5 Pro: Up to 22 hours.
  • 14-inch M5 Max: Up to 20 hours.
  • 16-inch M5 Pro: Up to 24 hours.
  • 16-inch M5 Max: Up to 22 hours.

These are Apple’s ratings; demanding professional workloads will reduce battery life.

Other specs

  • M5 Pro: From 24GB to 64GB unified memory, depending on configuration; 1TB to 4TB SSD.
  • M5 Max: From 36GB to 128GB unified memory, depending on configuration; 2TB to 8TB SSD.
  • Three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, SDXC, MagSafe and a headphone jack.
  • Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

Price

Starting prices are:

  • 14-inch M5 Pro: $2,499/£2,499.
  • 16-inch M5 Pro: $2,999/£2,999.
  • 14-inch M5 Max: $4,099/£4,099.
  • 16-inch M5 Max: $4,399/£4,399.

What to know before buying

These models are a strong choice if you want Pro or Max performance while keeping costs down, especially if you mainly use an external monitor. Compare retailer discounts with the touchscreen versions: the difference may exceed their $400/£400 starting-price premium.

Choose memory carefully because it cannot be upgraded later. The maximum memory capacity also depends on the chip configuration.

Apple 14-inch/16-inch MacBook Pro PROLED XDR (M5 Pro/M5 Max, touchscreen 2026) – Best for OLED and touch Best Prices Today: