Chromebooks and Mac Airs are still better for actual travel use just due to size and power draw (airplane sockets are typically only good for about 180W before

Chromebooks and Mac Airs are still better for actual travel use just due to size and power draw (airplane sockets are typically only good for about 180W before they trip. Varies by plane a bit, only one I've seen meaningfully higher was an A380 for Emirates that seemed good to about 250W). Outside of the big names, I've had a lot of luck with FreeBSD and recent Linux on the MSI G-70x "gamer" laptops, getting the nvidia cards to work in the GPU-switching mode with the lower power Intel ones is finicky but if you don't need to run games or CAD or whatever on it that's not a concern most of the time. Typically 50-75% of a similar Mac and available with NVME ssds and 32GB or more of memory. Atheros/Killer network adapters are not amazing but works and most have a RJ45 gig or 2.5g ethernet port if you need it.