MacBook buying guide: The right M1 laptop for each use case

Enlarge / Two 2021 MacBook Pro models side-by-side. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Over the past two years, Apple has completed an overhaul of its entire laptop lineup. That means it’s as good a time as any for people who have been holding out on upgrading an older MacBook to dive in.

But which MacBook is the best one to pick up? That depends a lot on your specific use case, and that’s what we’ll explore here today.

Typically, buying guides pick the diamonds out of the rough—the “rough” being hundreds of subpar products. But when recommending a MacBook, it’s a simpler affair. There aren’t that many of them to pick from. But because they typically cannot be upgraded, there are some consequential choices you’ll need to make before buying.