This means that you can drag and drop windows from the main screen of the laptop and use them on the touchpad. One of the things that will jump out at you with the ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED is that the touchpad is also its own small screen. The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED is a feature-rich device, packing the 11th Gen i7 processor, a 4K HDR OLED display (a “world first”), Nvidia GeForce MX450 graphics and a…. Image: Zachariah Kelly/Gizmodo Australia The ASUS Zenbook 14X OLED

Personally, it’s one of my favourite recently released laptops and could be well worth picking up instead of a MacBook Pro or an Air at its cheaper price points. The cheapest model includes 16GB RAM, a 256GB SSD and an i5 processor. This touch-screen laptop has one of the most beautiful chassis I’ve ever seen on a portable computer. Available from $1,761 and up to $3,400, with more powerful specs the higher you go (including an RTX 3050 Ti in the most powerful model), the Surface Laptop Studio offers a premium laptop experience at each price point it’s offered at. I loved the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio so much that I continue to use it instead of my 2021 MacBook Pro. Just so we’re clear, here’s how much you’ll spend on a MacBook directly from Apple, in case you want to directly compare prices with the laptops in this article:

We’re looking specifically at laptops with the power to stand up to both the Pro and the Air, so keep in mind some of these devices (and some customisation options) will be slightly more expensive than the Air, but cheaper than the Pro.

These cheap MacBook alternatives are just as capable as the machines Apple sells, without the software or the walled garden. So, here’s what I reckon you should consider instead of a new MacBook Pro or Air. You may have to get used to a different operating system, but you could also save some money. In fact, after reviewing so many laptops that I’d consider to be “MacBook alternatives”, I’m confident in saying that a cheap (or at least cheaper) laptop would likely satisfy your need/s for a capable portable computer. The tools you get with Apple’s Macbook range (including the Air and the Pro) are not necessarily more advanced than cheap alternatives sporting a Windows operating system, especially if most of what you do involves word processing tools and web browsing. Here’s the thing about Apple’s laptops: they’re expensive.

Cheap laptops apple