Depends on what model. I think the 2017 MacBook and MacBook Pro's are overpriced, but I'd say the MacBook Air post-2012 is still possibly the best laptop on the

Depends on what model. I think the 2017 MacBook and MacBook Pro's are overpriced, but I'd say the MacBook Air post-2012 is still possibly the best laptop on the market for many people. For $999 you now get 8 gigs of RAM, SSD that is faster than most competitors, a trackpad that is better than any competitors', and by quite some distance, the best battery life on any laptop. I get something like 20 hours when I'm reading PDFs or using emacs indoors, and about 12 hours of web browsing. There's less QA issues than most newer laptops with the Air since Apple has been making it for years, and it's still one of the lightest laptops in the field without compromising on too much. The resale value is also higher compared to equivalent laptops because of the 'Apple' brand, so that offsets the buying price to an extent. Coming to the OS, while it's far from perfect, it's not a privacy nightmare like Windows nor a battery drain like Linux. Linux on a desktop is something I like, but on laptops they still suck a lot of battery life compared to MacOS. TL;DR: If your idea of a laptop is a portable device that runs smoothly, handles low to medium level workload and lasts(literally) all day, the Air is a solid pick.