Windows laptops have had a great year so far. Not only did we get the launch of Snapdragon X chips as part of the Copilot+ PC line to compete with the MacBook Air, but the recent AMD Ryzen 300 AI chips are also impressive, with powerful laptops like the Zenbook S 16 taking on the MacBook Pro.
More and more, Windows laptops aren’t just looking like sufficient alternatives to MacBooks — they have some serious staying power as some of the best laptops you can buy.
But there’s one MacBook that’s still evading the purview of this new breed of Windows laptops. It’s not actually anything new — it’s the M2 MacBook Air.
This two-year-old laptop, which Apple still sells, remains an extremely attractive little device. The 13-inch model officially starts at a price of $999, and considering it only comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, that might not sound too impressive. In fact, the Surface Laptop 7th Edition starts at $999, but comes with twice the memory.
But here’s the thing — you can currently buy that same configuration of the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air for as low as $799. Buy at Amazon . That $200 off is significant, and it’s actually equivalent to what Apple charges to double your RAM. But all laptops in the Copilot+ PC line require 16GB of RAM, meaning there’s nothing under $999 to choose from.
That $200 difference might not sound like a huge deal, but margins are very tight at this price point.
Of course, you’re getting an older laptop with the M2 MacBook Air, but it’s identical in terms of chassis and features to the M3 model that was released earlier this year. You get better GPU performance with the M3, but so long as you’re not trying to play games, you likely won’t notice the difference too much.
You can take things even further if you want and opt for the M1 MacBook Air, which now sells for $649. If you’re shopping for a MacBook, I’d recommend the M2 model though, as you get a better display, webcam, speakers, and port selection. It’s more than worth an extra $150.
The affordability of the M2 MacBook Air even makes Chromebooks harder to recommend these days.
I’d love to see Copilot+ PCs drop in price over time, and Qualcomm has hinted at cheaper Snapdragon X PCs coming next year. But for now, Apple owns a little part of the laptop market that Windows laptops have a hard time keeping up with, even if they’ve made some serious progress when you look over $1,000.
But for now, you won’t find a better laptop for under $1,000 than the M2 MacBook Air.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.