The Complete Guide To… Ultra-Portable Laptops

The unveiling of Apple’s groundbreaking M1 chip is resculpting the laptop landscape. We’re on the verge of another revolution in the world of portables. Let us bear witness

- Michelle Rae Uy

Apple certainly ended its 2020 with a bang. In true Steve Jobs fashion, it released newer MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13-inch models that are more powerful than ever at its ‘One More Thing’ event.

That in and of itself is nothing new, as the Cupertino-based company has recently been giving its ultra-portable laptops an update every year. What does make this new round of updates notably different, however, is the fresh-from-the-oven M1 chip that is now powering both svelte laptops. And its timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

That isn’t to say that Intel and its host of ultrabooks have been letting things slide. Intel’s new Evo platform, the evolution of Project Athena, has also ushered in a new class of impressive laptops that are highly portable and blow-you-away powerful thanks to those new 11th generation Tiger Lake chips.

This new line-up, which includes the HP Spectre x360 13-inch, Dell XPS 13-inch, Lenovo Yoga 9i and Acer Swift 5 14-inch, also delivers features that Apple’s MacBooks only dream about – like a 2-in-1 form factor, touchscreen functionality, IR login, or the ability to upgrade to a 4K display. Such things are a boon for work-from-home pros. That 2-in-1 form factor eliminates the need for a separate tablet, saving you money, while a touchscreen or a 4K display should deliver a more seamless creative workflow.

Still, the revered M1 chip has already proven to be a gamechanger, giving the MacBook Air a whole lot of power to rival such popular contenders as the Dell XPS 13 and the HP Spectre 13.