Whether you pick the little 13-inch model or the more comfortable yet compact 15-inch Air, you'll be getting an undeniably versatile MacBook.

As for the Intel and AMD comparisons, both companies' best high-end desktop CPUs like the Ryzen 9 9950X and Core Ultra 285K are often competitive with the M4 Max's multi-core performance, but are dramatically less power-efficient at their default settings.

The Apple MacBook Air 13 M4 model now earns a perfect score, as the best 13-inch (or 14-inch) laptop you can buy today. And its base model is better than ever.