The Best Laptop

It's pretty clear that the 13-inch Macbook Air is the best overall laptop for most people, in the minds of many reviewers.

I'm not going to BS you, though. Other Windows-only laptops are running hardware with better specs, in some cases.

(*Do you want a laptop designed to run Windows exclusively?  I've got a recommendation for you below. )

Unlike when it first debuted, the Macbook Air does not come close to having the best specs in every regard, according to Mark Spoonauer of Laptop Magazine, who is one of my favorite laptop reviewers out there. But his experience'his publication tests nearly 130 laptops a year, from the cheap to the expensive'finds that there are lighter, faster, better sounding, cheaper and higher resolution ultra books out there. More on those specifics later. What is most telling is that, ultimately, he still chooses the Air as his favorite ultrabook over all comers.

(What's an ultra book? It's basically a term for a Macbook Air clone, and there are nearly 100 of them from that also have thin designs and just enough oomph to get most computing done. There are big powerful notebooks, budget notebooks and all around notebooks, but ultra books are the slim yet still fairly powerful kind that I think work for most people.)

His reason for choosing the Air over these other laptops is that, in general, many of these machines give up too much in order to be class leading in other regards.

The Macbook Air is balanced. It has a lack of outstanding flaws, an unbeatable keyboard and trackpad, great performance and battery life and as of this month, the latest chips and ports. It has that amazingly solid unibody aluminum body. Chances are, you'll be ok with this one. And not only because of the machine itself.

I also recommend the Macbook Air because I know people will be satisfied with the computer's operating system, which comes bloat free and is prone to being unshakably stable. And, when it's needed, Apple's legendary service is there, with retail stores all over the place that double as repair centers. JD Powers backs up my claim: Apple computer owners are satisfied. (Some might say smug, but that's another issue.) The Macbook Air benefits from the legacy of a company that has decided to be thorough and mindful.

If you have the last generation Air, you don't need to even think about upgrading to the new one. The new Air, released in June 2012, received Intel's new Ivy Bridge chips, which run a little bit faster and more efficiently than the older chips but aren't hugely different. The processors available are a 1.7Ghz Core i5 chip all the way up to a 2.0Ghz Core i7 chip that can go "turbo" to 3.2Ghz. It has a new maximum amount of RAM equal to 8GB (up from 4GB) and between 64GB and 512GB of solid state storage. It can be configured with an 11 or 13 inch screen, with an acceptable 1366×768 or 1440×900 pixel display. It also has 10x faster USB 3.0 connections, Bluetooth 4.0 and the Thunderbolt connection, which is still fairly unique to Macs. The Thunderbolt connection can be used, with adapters, for various things like video out and the not included Ethernet and Firewire ports. This is more than enough power for all duties that don't involve the words "Video" "Photo" used in conjunction with the word "Editor". It's also $100 less than the last generation Macbook Air.

Enough talk about specs'you can look up the rest if you want.

Here's what the pro reviewers, who look at nearly all the new notebooks, are saying about the Macbook Airs.

Engadget's Dana Wollman says, " the Air remains the ultraportable to beat."

CNet's Scott Stein says the bottom line is, "'lowered prices continue to make it the go-to mainstream recommendation for any MacBook owner-to-be." He added, "Want a MacBook that's truly portable? This is it. Want a back-to-school MacBook? This is the one."

I asked Mark Spoonauer, why the Macbook Air is still his top pick. He said, "The MacBook Air remains our favorite ultraportable laptop because it provides the best combination of high-quality industrial design, easy to use software, performance, and endurance. The touchpad on the Air is especially great because it's smooth and seamless. You just don't have to think about it. With some Ultrabooks their clickpads are too sensitive, stiff, wonky or all of the above."

One of his editors, Michael Prospero, who reviewed the new Air, said, "The 13-inch MacBook Air remains our favorite ultraportable notebook. In addition to best-in-class ergonomics, loud speakers and a svelte profile, you now get faster performance and much longer battery life than the Ultrabook competition for $100 less than before'Nevertheless, the MacBook Air is still the one to beat." They gave it an editor's choice.

The Macbook Air is not perfect'other notebooks beat it in some departments.

PC Mag's Joel Santo Domingo likes the Air, giving it 4 out of 5 stars. But it isn't his top choice.

On hardware alone, Domingo prefers the HP Folio 13 for its extra battery life, keyboard quality and price. CNet's Scott Stein also gave it an editor's choice award. And Laptop Magazine also likes the Folio 13. But the Folio 13 is not Laptop Magazine's favorite'they prefer the newer, lighter $1500 Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A which has Ivy Bridge chips. (CNet and PC Magazine have not reviewed yet, but Laptop has seen the Folio, so it's safe to assume the Asus is the clear winner here.)

At 1920 pixels wide, the Zenbook's screen is denser than anything else on the market

Laptop Magazine's Avram Piltch explained his choice of the Zenbook to me further and said, "The Zenbook Prime has a gorgeous, full HD screen which eclipses any display we've seen on a 13-inch notebook." While most notebooks run at 1440 or 1600 pixels wide, the Zenbook runs one of the brightest screens around at 1920 pixels wide, giving it more real estate than any other 13 inch laptop around. It's SSD drive is a little slow compared to the Air. But battery life and performance is on par with the Air.

Anandtech, another amazingly authoritative site that I have been a fan of for at least a decade, looked at the 11-inch sibling of the UX31A and said of the last generation of ultra books, that Asus, "'came the closest to perfection with the Zenbook."

The rest of the competition is pretty easy to dismiss:

'The Dell XPS 13 is as small as a 12 inch laptop, but has short battery life, a low res screen and no SD card port. It has also yet to be tested/updated with Ivy Bridge chips.

'Sony's got an entry level T13 ultrabook that is pretty fast, but it uses a hybrid hard drive instead of pure SSD, which has the effect of giving it more storage for the buck, but also makes it a little heavier than comparable notebooks. It also lacks a keyboard backlight.

'Lenovo has two Ivy Bridge machines that have been reviewed lately, the mainstream (five pounds, with a 14 inch LCD) Y480 that is fast but with a low res screen. And the X230, which is also kind of chunky. There haven't been any in depth, comparative reviews of the U310 by Lenovo, either.

'Reviews of Samsung's series 9 machines have proved it to be a neat 15 inch notebook with the guts of a thin notebook, making it a bit expensive. (The Samsung stuff has been looking really strong lately, so I'll update this post when the new reviews come out for 13-inch models.)

'Laptop Magazine has a whole list of machines that beat the Air in one way or another (but again, not overall.)

If the Macbook Air has a flaw, besides that its display does not keep up with the Zenbook Prime and some other notebooks, it's that its memory and storage are not easy to swap out, according to iFixit. Again, the Air wins by software and service, not by being the fastest or most high res around.

Anyhow, that's the low down on a laptop these days. Get an Air unless you need more power, and in that case, consider the Macbook Pro with Retina Display. I like the 13-inch step up model that comes with 256GB of SSD storage, upgraded to 8GB of RAM for $1600 but the lower model will do you right, too'I just recommend 8GB of RAM if you tend to have a lot of windows open at once (10 programs or more than 20 tabs in a browser.) If you're considering going for the SSD upgrade to 512GB, think twice. It's very expensive and will add $500 to your check out price, which is dangerously close to the cost of a 15-inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display.

If you really hate Macs, the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A is the Windows only ultra book to consider, for now.

But my philosophy is that the right computer for you is the one that you won't wince at because of either high price or low performance, and for me, the Macbook Air 13 is the one.

Last Year's Model: Since last year's favorite laptop was the Macbook Air, which started $100 more, for older hardware, I wouldn't bother looking back.