Best MacBook 2025: The best performing Apple silicon laptops tested and ranked

The MacBook Air reached entirely new heights when Apple debuted its first M-series chipset, but now with the M4 processor in tow, it feels as though Apple’s most accessible laptop has just reached the next stage in its evolution.

The M4 chip is nothing short of a marvel, with terrific performance across the board to the point where, not only is it perfectly acceptable to start editing 4K videos on the MacBook Air and expect solid results in return, you can also dive into a bit of gaming without feeling as if you’re pushing the hardware beyond its limits.

Part of the reason for why the MacBook Air M4 now feels like more of a powerhouse than before is the decision to do away with the 8GB RAM variant of older models, and instead have 16GB RAM as the baseline for the cheapest option, moving all the way up to 32GB for those with cash to splash.

Because of the improved performance, the MacBook AIr M4 also goes even further where battery life is concerned, which is impressive given that the M-series MacBooks are already known for having some of the best longevity around. In our tests, we were able to get through an Intensive work day and still have 30% battery left in the tank, so you won’t have to worry about immediately staking out a spot that has access to charging ports.

The LCD panel, paired with its 60Hz refresh rate, just feels outdated particularly given that you’re still paying close to £1000/$1000, and the limited array of ports means that you almost always need to carry a dongle with you to bring accessories into the mix.

Still, so long as you’re not bothered by these issues, the MacBook Air M4 is bound to impress anyone who lays their hands on it.

Because it uses the exact same chipset found in the Mac Mini M4 and the iPad Pro M4, the MacBook Pro M4 sits in a strange place where processing power is concerned. While incredibly efficient, the M4 isn’t going to hit quite the same peaks as M4 (or even M3) Max and Ultra chipsets, which is why we currently recommend the MacBook Pro M3 Max for content creators. However, it’s only a niche group that requires power at that level, and there’s a much higher price tag to contend with too, while the MacBook Pro M4’s lower starting rate of £1599/$1599 makes it the best overall MacBook right now.

As mentioned, when it comes to most everyday tasks, the M4 chip can handle them without breaking a sweat. On the lower-end model, that chipset is paired with a 10-core GPU, 10-core CPU, 16-core neural engine for AI tasks. In our tests, the M4 sailed past most of the competition in both Geekbench 6 and Cinebench R23 single core results. You can even anticipate respectable gaming chops on this machine, which bodes well as more triple-A games continue to come to the App Store.

There’s now an option to get the MacBook Pro M4 with a nano-texture display, which is the model we had in for testing, and it provides some serious gains when it comes to working outside or in environments with bright and distracting lights. It achieves this by reducing glare that one might usually expect to see, and in turn gives you more freedom to work in places you might normally avoid. It costs an extra £150/$150 to have the feature but from the benefits we saw, it’s worth the upgrade.

Because this is a MacBook Pro, you’re absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to ports. You’ve got three USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe dock for charging, HDMI and an SD card slot. Having these available just opens up the MacBook Pro to a far more versatile set-up than what’s achievable on the MacBook Air. Think multiple monitors, connected peripherals and a way of extracting photos from your camera without the need for a dongle.

All of this adds up to an impressive device that’s hard to beat, making it the go-to option for those who just want a great overall MacBook that won’t leave them wanting where performance, ports and the display are concerned.

The MacBook Pro 16-inch with the M3 Max chip is designed specifically for those who need additional graphics power for complex tasks such as high-end video editing and even animation.

Our benchmark tests show it’s one of the most powerful laptops you can buy, making it overkill for the average office worker, especially considering the high price.

This isn’t a huge upgrade on the previous versions of the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, especially the M2 versions which remain excellent, but the M3 Max chips represent modest improvements. These machines aren’t really for those who upgraded to the last model, but for those who want a massive boost on an older Intel machine.

Two sizes are available, and whether you go for the 14-inch or the 16-inch the Mini LED screen is very impressive. Compared to your standard LED or LCDs, the Mini LED panel here has a more vivid and vibrant image than almost any other laptop we’ve tested including the cheaper MacBook Air.

While we’ve tested plenty of other laptops that are great for content creation, such as the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, they don’t offer the same high quality for both performance and design as the MacBook Pro.

The Apple MacBook Air M3 13-inch isn’t the latest Air mode, but it’s still a very good buy. It offers a terrific balance of the brand’s latest CPU, portable power and long battery life. And, it all comes in for a reasonable price given the value you get.

The big difference between this machine and the previous iteration is the upgrade from M3 to M2. The difference isn’t huge but it’s enough of a performance jump that, if you like the latest and greatest so it’ll serve you for as long as possible, it might be worth that extra bit of cash if you have it. The power on offer can comfortably take down productivity tasking as well as doing a good bit of 4K video editing as well. That’s all done without the need for a fan too.

The display is the same LCD offering. Despite not having swanky ProMotion or a Mini LED screen, like the MacBook Pro, it still looks great and gets impressively bright. Despite the wondrously bright display and slim chassis, you can still squeeze plenty of battery out of this laptop, coming in at around 15 hours in our testing. The thin design also manages to come with a handy MagSafe charging port and a couple of Thunderbolt ones.

What you get is whisper-quiet power in a chassis that can tackle serious productivity with ease along with plenty of light to middleweight editing workloads. It’s a package that is a delight to use with a bright LCD display, top-notch keyboard along with a big and responsive trackpad. Now, with MagSafe added, you get that and a handy set of Thunderbolt ports as well. Oh, and don’t forget the useful 3.5mm headphone jack.

If you fancied picking up the extremely dark Midnight colour option, Apple has attempted to fix its fingerprint magnet status from the M2 model, with a new coating this time out.