**The Ultimate Laptop Showdown: MacBook Air M2 vs Zenbook vs X1 Carbon**

When it comes to laptops, there are many options available in the market, each with its own set of features and performance capabilities. In this article, we'll be comparing three top-notch laptops - the MacBook Air M2, the Sandberg Zenbook, and the X1 Carbon from Intel - to see which one emerges as the winner.

**Performance: The Verdict is Clear**

The performance of these laptops was put to the test, with each device handling a range of tasks, including video editing, 4K playback, and general usage. The MacBook Air M2 took the lead in all aspects, with its M2 chip delivering impressive performance across the board. For instance, the laptop completed a YouTube 4K playback test in under 14 hours, outperforming both the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon.

On the other hand, the Sandberg Zenbook, powered by an AMD Ryzen CPU, showed decent performance but fell short of the MacBook Air M2's capabilities. The Intel X1 Carbon, with its Intel Core i7 processor, also struggled to keep up with the MacBook Air M2's speed and efficiency.

**Efficiency: Apple Steals the Show**

When it comes to efficiency, particularly in light load tasks, the MacBook Air M2 took a clear lead. The device's built-in media encoder proved to be a game-changer, allowing for seamless transcoding of video files. This feature is likely a result of Apple's optimization with their hardware and software, making the laptop an attractive option for those who want a balance between performance and efficiency.

In contrast, both the Zenbook and X1 Carbon struggled with light load tasks, with the Intel X1 Carbon being particularly disappointing. The Ryzen CPU in the Zenbook also failed to impress, taking a hit in performance as the clock speeds dropped to conserve power.

**Battery Life: A Close Call**

Battery life is an essential aspect of any laptop, especially for those who are always on-the-go. In our tests, all three laptops performed relatively well, but the MacBook Air M2 took the crown with its impressive 14-hour battery life. The Sandberg Zenbook followed closely, with a respectable 10-hour battery life, while the X1 Carbon lagged behind, struggling to last even 5 hours.

**Temperature and Noise: Apple's Passive Cooling Advantage**

When it comes to temperature and noise levels, the MacBook Air M2 was the clear winner. With its passive cooling system, the laptop remained cool under pressure, never dipping below a scorching 95 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, both the Zenbook and X1 Carbon featured active cooling systems, which resulted in noticeable heat buildup and fan noise.

The Zenbook's single fan also proved to be less effective than the MacBook Air M2's passive design. While not the coolest laptop by any means, it was still a significant improvement over its competitors. On the other hand, the X1 Carbon's Nova cooling solution failed to deliver, resulting in the hottest surface temperatures of all three devices.

**Surface Temperatures: A Surprising Twist**

In our tests, we were surprised to find that the MacBook Air M2 was actually the coolest device among all three laptops. With a fanless design, the laptop remained cool and composed under pressure, never dipping below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This impressive thermal performance is likely due to Apple's optimized hardware and software combination.

On the other hand, the Zenbook's single fan created hotspots around its center, while the X1 Carbon's Nova cooling solution resulted in surface temperatures soaring to an alarming level of 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

**Conclusion: A Verdict Based on Performance**

In conclusion, based on our comprehensive tests, it's clear that the MacBook Air M2 is the winner when it comes to performance. With its impressive speed and efficiency capabilities, this laptop is undoubtedly the best option for those who want a balance between power and portability.

While the Sandberg Zenbook showed some promise with its Ryzen CPU, it ultimately fell short of the MacBook Air M2's capabilities. The Intel X1 Carbon, on the other hand, was disappointing in both performance and battery life, making it the least desirable option among our three finalists.

**Final Verdict: The Best Laptop for Your Money**

In terms of value for money, the Sandberg Zenbook is an excellent option to consider. With its compact design, bright display, and impressive battery life, this laptop may be worth considering if you're on a budget or prioritize features over raw power.

However, for those who are willing to spend top dollar for performance, efficiency, and features like the built-in media encoder, the MacBook Air M2 is an investment that won't disappoint.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: engood people this is a new Macbook Air with Apple's new M2 processor now you probably watched a ton of videos on this laptop some of its controversies and all the other information tied down to this specific device but I'm not here to talk about that I mean sort of but instead I actually wanted to approach this video from someone who's shopping around for a Thinline laptop and it's looking at options from Intel ryzen and apple silicon to see which one is worth the investment for productivity maybe a little bit of coding and of course maybe a little bit of content creation as well something on a lighter side so I've got three of the best laptops from each platform and we're gonna find out how these perform with respect to each other how good the battery life is and what's it like to use it on an everyday basis so let's get right into it now our first Contender is the new Macbook Air with the new M2 Chip the spec that I have over here comes with an 8 core CPU and a 10 core GPU 16 gigabytes of unified memory a one terabyte SSD and a 13.6 inch 2.5 k IPS display and it costs around 1900 us next up we have the Asus Zenbook s13 OLED it's actually the most popular ryzen base than that laptop and the specs include a ryzen 7 6800u CPU with 8 cores and 16 threads 16 gigabytes of lpdr5 memory a one terabyte SSD and a beautiful 2.8 K 16x10 OLED display its price a little shy of 1500 U.S now our last Contender is the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon which has received the Intel 12 gen Ultra Lake treatment and the specs that we have over here comes with a core i7 1260p with four performance cores and eight efficiency cores for a total of 16 threads 16 gigabytes of lpdr5 memory half a terabyte of storage and a 14 inch 1200p IPS display this guy costs around 1900 as well so it's pretty clear that these are expensive thin light devices but you have to realize that you can actually fine-tune the specs to lower the price for instance the MacBook Air M2 starts at 1200 the Zenbook s13 starts at 1100 and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is starting around thirteen hundred dollars so they're all within the same price range now before you guys start throwing your keyboards at the screen saying why didn't I choose this Windows laptop over that Windows laptop I'm just gonna level with you guys we know that there are a lot of ryzen based and Intel based thinolite devices on the market and it would take us an eternity to Benchmark and compare them to the new Macbook Air in one video but we chose two of the absolute best Windows thin and light laptops that we've tested one with Intel and one with AMD to put up against the air M2 and yes we're pretty sure that these laptops will be cross-shopped against each other all right so let's start off with the design and build quality of these devices the MacBook Air has been completely redesigned from top to bottom by taking some inspiration from the MacBook Pro Series it is boxier with rounder Corners compared to the previous generation and you can pick it up in four colors like silver space gray midnight and this Starlight finish that I have over here now I've been hearing a lot of flack about the midnight version being an absolute fingerprint magnet and it also scratches up easily especially around the USBC ports so if that's something that you're concerned about of avoid that option I've been using the Starlight model for the past couple of weeks and it does a really good job resisting fingerprints I can actually barely spot any of them the aluminum unibody construction feels sturdy this is an Apple laptop after all so build quality as everyone should know is set to the highest standards I also really like the minimalistic design language that's going on over here the hinge is super smooth and you just need one hand to open the lid it's something that the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon struggle with now the Zenbook comes in a few of the colors but I've got the Ponder Blue finish which looks really nice and this whole chassis is made out of magnesium Alloys so it doesn't feel as sturdy as the MacBook but it's actually put together really well I'm surprised for what Asus has done at this price point the display is a little bit wobbly but on the positive side it does a pretty good job at resisting fingerprints the X1 Carbon on the other hand is by far one of the best built Windows laptops that you can buy this whole chassis is made out of carbon fiber and magnesium like to enhance durability and the ThinkPad series goes to a bunch of rigorous tests in order to withstand extreme temperatures mechanical shocks vibrations and it's also water resistant if durability is your priority this should be on the top of your list however I will say that this design language feels a bit outdated and the exterior finish is going to wear over time because it just loves to pick up finger oil and a bunch of other things so you have to make sure to wipe it down every now and then if we examine the Zen height of these laptops the M2 air is the thinnest of them all coming in at just 0.44 inches or 11.1 millimeters versus 0.6 inches on these other two laptops however I will say that the Zenbook is the most compact of them all and that's actually pretty impressive considering how much power Asus is able to cram inside this laptop it's also the lightest among them as well but that's obvious considering a magnesium alloy is a lightweight material compared to aluminum the power adapters included with these laptops are pretty compact but I will have to give this to Apple because it is the most convenient and practical solution that you can ever ask for first up you get this really compact 35 watt dual USBC adapter so you can actually charge other devices simultaneously which is awesome keep in mind that this only comes with the 10 core GPU configuration because the base model comes with a 30 watt adapter that's slightly bigger than this compact solution next up we have magsafe it is an absolute Game Changer guys it snaps onto the laptop and it's pretty strong and there's an LED indicator that showcases status I just absolutely love it not to mention the Braiding on this cable it just makes it super flexible and it also avoids all sorts of kinking that you'll experience with the other ones that come with the Windows laptops speaking of which the one that comes with the Zenbook is also fairly Compact and it charges the laptop via USB type-c the same story applies to the X1 Carbon as well I will say that the power cable that comes with the X1 Carbon is significantly longer compared to the other two and now we're going to quickly transition into today's video sponsor the all-new HS series from Corsair is what your ears have been waiting for the hs55 stereo brings a comfortable super lightweight and awesome sounding headset to your budget gaming station with a fantastic sounding microphone the hs65 surround steps it up a notch with included USB dongle and sound ID technology for Next Level audio while the hs80 RGB USB is probably my new favorite daily driver because of these awesome breathable ear pads and fantastic sounding clear microphone and really powerful high-res drivers check out the full HS series down below alright so moving on to the interior space I like what Apple has done here with the M2 air it's a clean and simple layout that's been taken from the MacBook Pro Series you also get the same Touch ID sensor which also doubles as a power button and it is stupid fast guys it's probably the fastest and most accurate biometric feature that I've ever used alongside the macro Pro that I use here every single day you can also use it to make payments online which is really handy the Keys also exhibit good feedback while maintaining shorter travel and the LED backlighting is bright and very consistent it's also user adjustable through the operating system the Zenbook also comes with a pretty standard layout and a fingerprint sensor which also doubles as a power button it takes a few seconds to authenticate but I'm still glad that they've actually included this feature on a laptop at this price point so that's great the keys in my opinion are slightly better than the MacBook Air there's more travel distance and it sounds more defined unfortunately the LED backlighting is not the brightest and it's not evenly distributed across the keys I think the real winner here is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon because I mean we all know that ThinkPad keyboards have been the gold standard for years because what you get here is a good balance of travel rigidity and feedback and it's just miles better than the MacBook Air and the Zenbook s13 it also comes with a track point right at the center along with its own dedicated primary left right button I'm not sure who would take advantage of it but it's still there if you actually pay close attention to the function keys you'll notice that they've implemented communication commands that can be linked up with Skype and Microsoft teams you see these are tools that are geared towards productivity which is why the X1 Carbon is a popular laptop among corporate users the LED backlighting system is bright and consistent I would say that it's on par with the MacBook Air let's actually go ahead and take a listen to how these keyboards sound all right track pads now you probably saw this coming but I'm gonna have to go on record and say that the MacBook Air is the best option out there guys it's got a larger surface area and it's super smooth to navigate around with I think the most impressive thing about this Hardware is the overall responsiveness you get when navigating around the operating system its Precision is Top Notch and I can confidently use this with every application without relying on Mouse the haptic Motors inside do a really good job replicating the primary and secondary clicks it's simply awesome guys that being said my second pick goes to the X1 Carbon because it is using a glass surface and navigating through Windows is a breeze the integrated left and right buttons are also excellent It's tactile but also has a bit of a mushy feeling but in a good way I have no complaints here whatsoever the Zen book on the other hand I mean it's okay what Mike and I have experienced some cursor skipping issues and it gets unresponsive occasionally it doesn't happen every single time but regardless it'll get the job done the surface does feel a little bit resistant compared to the other two but I do appreciate the larger surface area and it also comes with a built-in numpad which I'm sure will come in clutch for those who work with numbers the primary left hand buttons are nice and tactile as well Port setup on the air M2 is pretty limited you only get two Thunderbolt 4 USBC ports along with a maxi port and a headphone jack on the right hand side unfortunately the air can only support One external display up to 6K at 60hz now that might be a huge deal breaker for those who connect their laptops to multiple displays via a thunderbolt dock so definitely keep that in mind the Zenbook on the other hand comes with three USB 3.2 Gen 2 type c ports with one of them featuring DisplayPort pass-through and power delivery you also get a headphone jack now remember this is a ryzen based system so there is no official support for Thunderbolt the X1 Carbon though is loaded with ports guys on the left hand side you get a few Thunderbolt 4 ports a Taipei USB 3.2 gen1 ports and HDMI 2.0 port and switching over to the right there is a Kensington lock another USB 3.2 gen1 type a port and a headphone jack I do find it really odd for Lenovo to include gen 1 5 gigabits per second ports over Gen 2 10 gigabits per second ports on a 2022 laptop I mean considering the price it's unacceptable this is what the webcam looks like on the new Macbook Air with the M2 Chip now the quality is certainly an improvement compared to the previous generation because Apple has upgraded the sensor from 720p to 1080p so there's a little bit more detailed my skin tones look nice and the microphone also sounds really good guys it's more pronounced there's more detail and that's 2353 microphone three-dimensional microphone system that Apple has implemented now this is what the Zenbook s13 looks like they are using a 720p sensor so the detail is not quite the sharpest also if you notice that it does tend to Auto expose my skin tones quite a lot the Shadows are also a little bit crushed and it's a little bit on the cooler side the microphone sounds okay I'm not going to complain about it it's more than enough to get through your usual meetings finally we have the X1 Carbon and right away you can say that it comes with a slightly wider field of view so there's more subject in the frame and if that's something that you care about this is a pretty good option it is also nicely detailed because it is using a 1080p sensor and the skin tones look really nice the only thing I need to mention mention is that the microphone doesn't sound as pronounced as the MacBook Air M2 so again something to keep note of but on the positive side Lenovo has added a Shield cover to cover the sensors so if you're someone who values privacy this is a pretty cool feature now the speaker setup on the new Macbook Air is really interesting they've actually integrated two tweeters and two woofers between the keyboard and the display and I was really surprised by the output coming out of this tiny device The Trebles have good Fidelity and you can actually hear a little bit of bass which is kind of surprising the speakers on the Zenbook are bottom facing so while it does take away from that directional audio experience it actually still manages to deliver a sharper sound signature with minimal bass response the output is much weaker than the MacBook though the X1 Carbon on the other hand features two tweeters at the front and two woofers at the bottom and it sounds amazing there is a good Fidelity in The Trebles and the bass response is really respectable I think for entertainment purposes I would naturally gravitate towards the MacBook because there's just more depth to the overall sound signature but the X1 Carbon would be my second pick because before I think that laptop in the window space this thing actually surprised me by a long shot shifting gears to the display the MacBook Air comes with a 13.6 inch 2.5 k IPS panel the Zenbook packs a 13.3 inch 2.8k OLED touchscreen and the X1 Carbon features a 14 inch 1200p IPS touchscreen with an anti-glare coating on it needless to say Guys these are all fantastic screens with excellent color reproduction and contrast ratios they all feature 60hz refresh rates the OLED display on the Zenbook though takes it up a notch with those Punchy blacks and vibrant colors because it's all a technology and as you can see it covers 100 srgb 96 Adobe RGB and 100 P3 the air is pretty close but not quite there boasting only 86 Adobe RGB coverage the ThinkPad is all right though it doesn't have the most widest color gamut so if you're planning on editing photos or maybe a little bit of video um I would consider the Zen book or the MacBook Air for those workflows these are all 16 by 10 aspect ratio screens so all of them have that extra screenless state to fill with content the MacBook is a slight exception to that since Apple has basically shifted the menu bar to fill those extra pixels and you also get the notch at the top it is an apple design statement at this point because the iPhones have it the MacBook Pros have it so why can't do MacBook airs right a brightness levels are pretty good on these laptops the MacBook takes the lead here with a sustainable Peak brightness level of around 431 nits followed by the X1 Carbon at 400 nits and then the Zenbook at 362 nits now I kind of expected that since OLED displays generally don't get too bright my pick overall would be the MacBook since it is a safe choice and you don't have to worry about potential OLED burn-in issues even though Asus has implemented some software tricks to prevent that plus I'm just a sucker for brighter displays guys so there's that all right so let's talk about upgradability uh I'm actually gonna save you some time and mention that you're gonna be out of luck doing anything on the M2 air everything is soldered onto the PCB so you only get one shot at configuring this when you're purchasing this from the website or Apple Stores the Zenbook is a pain in the butt to access because you first have to remove the rubber feet in order to access the screws that hold the back plate once that's done you can pop open the rest and as you can see the memory soldered onto the PCB and the only user upgradable component is that nvme SSD the X1 Carbon follows the same path as Zenbook minus all the hassle to get under the hood so memory is started on and the SSD can be swapped out for another one speaking of which the dry speeds on these laptops are really fast but the fastest ones are on the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon since both Intel and AMD have shifted to Gen 4 technology whereas the air is a little bit behind on that now keep note that I used amorphous dismark which is an equivalent test for Crystal this Mark on the PC side Aja basically dumps a 64 gigabyte 5K clip to the drive and it measures its respective read and write performance and I think that's a beautiful transition to talk about performance because this is a part that I was really excited about because we had the best from Apple the best from AMD and the best for mintel in the final laptop cement and we ran a bunch of real world tests to see which one was the fastest and the results might actually surprise you starting with cinebench R23 we ran a 10 minute multi-core stress test and as you can see the Horizon CPU is slightly faster than the MacBook Air but not by all night much the core i7 1260p is a bit behind the other two laptops on the positive side find single performance favors the intelligent next up we have blender where we ran two scenarios and the ryzen CPU on the Zenbook once again really flexes his muscles here whereas the MacBook Air and the X1 Carbon completes those tasks roughly around the same time with the BMW scene that is but if you look at the classroom scene that's a little bit more CPU intensive there's a huge gap between these laptops why well for starters the MacBook Air is passively cooled meaning there are no fans inside whatsoever so that results in a little bit of thermal throttling but it still manages to beat the X1 Carbon with a beefier cooling system and that's really impressive so if you plan to run a lot of CPU intensive workloads the Zenbook is the best option but it's not too far ahead of the MacBook Air now what if you're looking to edit photos or some intense Photoshop work well the MacBook Air with the M2 Chip is a clear winner here guys because adobe's optimization with apple silicon has improved so much in the last year that you don't even have to worry about raw image manipulations or just anything that revolves around creativity the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon are still pretty good but for my testing I noticed that it took a few seconds to load up projects whereas in the M2 it just opens in a snap and that's what matters to me what about video editing or even transcoding well our 30 minute 4K h.264 export with heavy color grading and effects rendered in Premiere Pro loved the M2 air I mean 17 minutes versus half an hour versus 40 minutes on the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon respectively is just mind-blowing on top of that I was really impressed with the timeline performance on the MacBook Air just like I mentioned earlier projects open up super fast scrubbing through the timeline is buttery smooth compared to the jitteriness and the extra time that it takes for assets to load up on the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon I think the secret sauce here for apple is the built-in media encoder on the M2 because it just talks really well with Adobe applications and even DaVinci Resolve Studio AMD and Intel still have to figure that out when it comes to transcoding these laptops completed our tests around on the 10 minute Mark however the ryzen CPU takes a slight Edge over here the last thing that I want to go over is battery life because if you're shopping around for a thin and light laptop you want to make sure you get something that lasts you all day on paper the M2 has the smallest battery up the mall whereas the Zenbook has the biggest but regardless everything comes down to how efficient these CPUs are for light load tasks the Zenbook is the best option out there because of its larger battery but if you plan to consume a lot of content or just mix things up around the M2 air is the way to go I mean getting over 14 hours on our YouTube 4K playback test is just nuts compared to 10 hours on the sandbook and of course the utterly disappointing 5 hours on the X1 Carbon but that's an Intel all delay problem that we all are aware of even for CPU intensive workloads Apple steals a show here because it's optimization with the hardware and software is just so good so overall I've got to give this to the MacBook Air for its efficiency speaking of which I was actually really curious to see how these machines would perform with 60 battery left and the results are just mind-blowing guys check this out the MacBook Air was able to maintain its Peak Performance just as it was plugged in whereas the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon takes a huge hit on performance since the clock speeds take a dip and go into a lower power State you see this is what makes Apple stand out from the competition no matter where you are you can count on getting the best performance from the air M2 does a thermal throttle yes it's been a big issue for a lot of people but you gotta remember this laptop is passively cooled meaning you don't have to worry about fan noise it's completely silent regardless of what you do compared to the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon that are actively cooled and they do get audible quite a bit actually so something to keep in mind what about surface temperatures well believe it or not the MacBook Air M2 is the coolest among these two devices which really surprised me considering its fanless design the Zenbook only features a single fan so it's mostly directed around the center away from the waskies the X1 Carbon though even with Nova's robust cooling solution resulted in the hottest surface temperatures with most of the heat buildup around the top left hand corner so what can we take away from this video well all three of these laptops have their strengths and weaknesses if you're looking for performance efficiency and the best battery life the MacBook Air M2 is undoubtedly the best option to go with and the IC on the cake is that you get a really thin device a bright display and a fantastic trackpad that being said I was really surprised by the performance coming out of these Sandberg s13 Olin it is the smallest laptop among the three and the cheapest as well and if pricing is your concern you won't regret getting this laptop that older display is just so good and the battery life is on par with the air M2 the X1 Carbon well I'm not impressed with this performance guys Intel really needs to step up their efficiency game even with light photo and just a little bit of video editing this thing is painfully slow and battery life is not the greatest especially with your mixed usage scenarios not to mention the price I mean spending almost 2K on this and of course the MacBook Air M2 is a lot to swallow but the M2 actually gives you a lot for that money on that note thank you so much for watching I hope this comparison was fun to watch I mean uh I really wanted to approach this from a platform perspective I want to see what the best of Apple could offer for the best of AMD can and what the best of Intel could and the results really do speak for themselves so let me know which one would you guys pick in the comments I'm evil with hurricane ax thank you so much for watching and I'll talk to you guys in the next one spend responsibly as wellgood people this is a new Macbook Air with Apple's new M2 processor now you probably watched a ton of videos on this laptop some of its controversies and all the other information tied down to this specific device but I'm not here to talk about that I mean sort of but instead I actually wanted to approach this video from someone who's shopping around for a Thinline laptop and it's looking at options from Intel ryzen and apple silicon to see which one is worth the investment for productivity maybe a little bit of coding and of course maybe a little bit of content creation as well something on a lighter side so I've got three of the best laptops from each platform and we're gonna find out how these perform with respect to each other how good the battery life is and what's it like to use it on an everyday basis so let's get right into it now our first Contender is the new Macbook Air with the new M2 Chip the spec that I have over here comes with an 8 core CPU and a 10 core GPU 16 gigabytes of unified memory a one terabyte SSD and a 13.6 inch 2.5 k IPS display and it costs around 1900 us next up we have the Asus Zenbook s13 OLED it's actually the most popular ryzen base than that laptop and the specs include a ryzen 7 6800u CPU with 8 cores and 16 threads 16 gigabytes of lpdr5 memory a one terabyte SSD and a beautiful 2.8 K 16x10 OLED display its price a little shy of 1500 U.S now our last Contender is the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon which has received the Intel 12 gen Ultra Lake treatment and the specs that we have over here comes with a core i7 1260p with four performance cores and eight efficiency cores for a total of 16 threads 16 gigabytes of lpdr5 memory half a terabyte of storage and a 14 inch 1200p IPS display this guy costs around 1900 as well so it's pretty clear that these are expensive thin light devices but you have to realize that you can actually fine-tune the specs to lower the price for instance the MacBook Air M2 starts at 1200 the Zenbook s13 starts at 1100 and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is starting around thirteen hundred dollars so they're all within the same price range now before you guys start throwing your keyboards at the screen saying why didn't I choose this Windows laptop over that Windows laptop I'm just gonna level with you guys we know that there are a lot of ryzen based and Intel based thinolite devices on the market and it would take us an eternity to Benchmark and compare them to the new Macbook Air in one video but we chose two of the absolute best Windows thin and light laptops that we've tested one with Intel and one with AMD to put up against the air M2 and yes we're pretty sure that these laptops will be cross-shopped against each other all right so let's start off with the design and build quality of these devices the MacBook Air has been completely redesigned from top to bottom by taking some inspiration from the MacBook Pro Series it is boxier with rounder Corners compared to the previous generation and you can pick it up in four colors like silver space gray midnight and this Starlight finish that I have over here now I've been hearing a lot of flack about the midnight version being an absolute fingerprint magnet and it also scratches up easily especially around the USBC ports so if that's something that you're concerned about of avoid that option I've been using the Starlight model for the past couple of weeks and it does a really good job resisting fingerprints I can actually barely spot any of them the aluminum unibody construction feels sturdy this is an Apple laptop after all so build quality as everyone should know is set to the highest standards I also really like the minimalistic design language that's going on over here the hinge is super smooth and you just need one hand to open the lid it's something that the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon struggle with now the Zenbook comes in a few of the colors but I've got the Ponder Blue finish which looks really nice and this whole chassis is made out of magnesium Alloys so it doesn't feel as sturdy as the MacBook but it's actually put together really well I'm surprised for what Asus has done at this price point the display is a little bit wobbly but on the positive side it does a pretty good job at resisting fingerprints the X1 Carbon on the other hand is by far one of the best built Windows laptops that you can buy this whole chassis is made out of carbon fiber and magnesium like to enhance durability and the ThinkPad series goes to a bunch of rigorous tests in order to withstand extreme temperatures mechanical shocks vibrations and it's also water resistant if durability is your priority this should be on the top of your list however I will say that this design language feels a bit outdated and the exterior finish is going to wear over time because it just loves to pick up finger oil and a bunch of other things so you have to make sure to wipe it down every now and then if we examine the Zen height of these laptops the M2 air is the thinnest of them all coming in at just 0.44 inches or 11.1 millimeters versus 0.6 inches on these other two laptops however I will say that the Zenbook is the most compact of them all and that's actually pretty impressive considering how much power Asus is able to cram inside this laptop it's also the lightest among them as well but that's obvious considering a magnesium alloy is a lightweight material compared to aluminum the power adapters included with these laptops are pretty compact but I will have to give this to Apple because it is the most convenient and practical solution that you can ever ask for first up you get this really compact 35 watt dual USBC adapter so you can actually charge other devices simultaneously which is awesome keep in mind that this only comes with the 10 core GPU configuration because the base model comes with a 30 watt adapter that's slightly bigger than this compact solution next up we have magsafe it is an absolute Game Changer guys it snaps onto the laptop and it's pretty strong and there's an LED indicator that showcases status I just absolutely love it not to mention the Braiding on this cable it just makes it super flexible and it also avoids all sorts of kinking that you'll experience with the other ones that come with the Windows laptops speaking of which the one that comes with the Zenbook is also fairly Compact and it charges the laptop via USB type-c the same story applies to the X1 Carbon as well I will say that the power cable that comes with the X1 Carbon is significantly longer compared to the other two and now we're going to quickly transition into today's video sponsor the all-new HS series from Corsair is what your ears have been waiting for the hs55 stereo brings a comfortable super lightweight and awesome sounding headset to your budget gaming station with a fantastic sounding microphone the hs65 surround steps it up a notch with included USB dongle and sound ID technology for Next Level audio while the hs80 RGB USB is probably my new favorite daily driver because of these awesome breathable ear pads and fantastic sounding clear microphone and really powerful high-res drivers check out the full HS series down below alright so moving on to the interior space I like what Apple has done here with the M2 air it's a clean and simple layout that's been taken from the MacBook Pro Series you also get the same Touch ID sensor which also doubles as a power button and it is stupid fast guys it's probably the fastest and most accurate biometric feature that I've ever used alongside the macro Pro that I use here every single day you can also use it to make payments online which is really handy the Keys also exhibit good feedback while maintaining shorter travel and the LED backlighting is bright and very consistent it's also user adjustable through the operating system the Zenbook also comes with a pretty standard layout and a fingerprint sensor which also doubles as a power button it takes a few seconds to authenticate but I'm still glad that they've actually included this feature on a laptop at this price point so that's great the keys in my opinion are slightly better than the MacBook Air there's more travel distance and it sounds more defined unfortunately the LED backlighting is not the brightest and it's not evenly distributed across the keys I think the real winner here is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon because I mean we all know that ThinkPad keyboards have been the gold standard for years because what you get here is a good balance of travel rigidity and feedback and it's just miles better than the MacBook Air and the Zenbook s13 it also comes with a track point right at the center along with its own dedicated primary left right button I'm not sure who would take advantage of it but it's still there if you actually pay close attention to the function keys you'll notice that they've implemented communication commands that can be linked up with Skype and Microsoft teams you see these are tools that are geared towards productivity which is why the X1 Carbon is a popular laptop among corporate users the LED backlighting system is bright and consistent I would say that it's on par with the MacBook Air let's actually go ahead and take a listen to how these keyboards sound all right track pads now you probably saw this coming but I'm gonna have to go on record and say that the MacBook Air is the best option out there guys it's got a larger surface area and it's super smooth to navigate around with I think the most impressive thing about this Hardware is the overall responsiveness you get when navigating around the operating system its Precision is Top Notch and I can confidently use this with every application without relying on Mouse the haptic Motors inside do a really good job replicating the primary and secondary clicks it's simply awesome guys that being said my second pick goes to the X1 Carbon because it is using a glass surface and navigating through Windows is a breeze the integrated left and right buttons are also excellent It's tactile but also has a bit of a mushy feeling but in a good way I have no complaints here whatsoever the Zen book on the other hand I mean it's okay what Mike and I have experienced some cursor skipping issues and it gets unresponsive occasionally it doesn't happen every single time but regardless it'll get the job done the surface does feel a little bit resistant compared to the other two but I do appreciate the larger surface area and it also comes with a built-in numpad which I'm sure will come in clutch for those who work with numbers the primary left hand buttons are nice and tactile as well Port setup on the air M2 is pretty limited you only get two Thunderbolt 4 USBC ports along with a maxi port and a headphone jack on the right hand side unfortunately the air can only support One external display up to 6K at 60hz now that might be a huge deal breaker for those who connect their laptops to multiple displays via a thunderbolt dock so definitely keep that in mind the Zenbook on the other hand comes with three USB 3.2 Gen 2 type c ports with one of them featuring DisplayPort pass-through and power delivery you also get a headphone jack now remember this is a ryzen based system so there is no official support for Thunderbolt the X1 Carbon though is loaded with ports guys on the left hand side you get a few Thunderbolt 4 ports a Taipei USB 3.2 gen1 ports and HDMI 2.0 port and switching over to the right there is a Kensington lock another USB 3.2 gen1 type a port and a headphone jack I do find it really odd for Lenovo to include gen 1 5 gigabits per second ports over Gen 2 10 gigabits per second ports on a 2022 laptop I mean considering the price it's unacceptable this is what the webcam looks like on the new Macbook Air with the M2 Chip now the quality is certainly an improvement compared to the previous generation because Apple has upgraded the sensor from 720p to 1080p so there's a little bit more detailed my skin tones look nice and the microphone also sounds really good guys it's more pronounced there's more detail and that's 2353 microphone three-dimensional microphone system that Apple has implemented now this is what the Zenbook s13 looks like they are using a 720p sensor so the detail is not quite the sharpest also if you notice that it does tend to Auto expose my skin tones quite a lot the Shadows are also a little bit crushed and it's a little bit on the cooler side the microphone sounds okay I'm not going to complain about it it's more than enough to get through your usual meetings finally we have the X1 Carbon and right away you can say that it comes with a slightly wider field of view so there's more subject in the frame and if that's something that you care about this is a pretty good option it is also nicely detailed because it is using a 1080p sensor and the skin tones look really nice the only thing I need to mention mention is that the microphone doesn't sound as pronounced as the MacBook Air M2 so again something to keep note of but on the positive side Lenovo has added a Shield cover to cover the sensors so if you're someone who values privacy this is a pretty cool feature now the speaker setup on the new Macbook Air is really interesting they've actually integrated two tweeters and two woofers between the keyboard and the display and I was really surprised by the output coming out of this tiny device The Trebles have good Fidelity and you can actually hear a little bit of bass which is kind of surprising the speakers on the Zenbook are bottom facing so while it does take away from that directional audio experience it actually still manages to deliver a sharper sound signature with minimal bass response the output is much weaker than the MacBook though the X1 Carbon on the other hand features two tweeters at the front and two woofers at the bottom and it sounds amazing there is a good Fidelity in The Trebles and the bass response is really respectable I think for entertainment purposes I would naturally gravitate towards the MacBook because there's just more depth to the overall sound signature but the X1 Carbon would be my second pick because before I think that laptop in the window space this thing actually surprised me by a long shot shifting gears to the display the MacBook Air comes with a 13.6 inch 2.5 k IPS panel the Zenbook packs a 13.3 inch 2.8k OLED touchscreen and the X1 Carbon features a 14 inch 1200p IPS touchscreen with an anti-glare coating on it needless to say Guys these are all fantastic screens with excellent color reproduction and contrast ratios they all feature 60hz refresh rates the OLED display on the Zenbook though takes it up a notch with those Punchy blacks and vibrant colors because it's all a technology and as you can see it covers 100 srgb 96 Adobe RGB and 100 P3 the air is pretty close but not quite there boasting only 86 Adobe RGB coverage the ThinkPad is all right though it doesn't have the most widest color gamut so if you're planning on editing photos or maybe a little bit of video um I would consider the Zen book or the MacBook Air for those workflows these are all 16 by 10 aspect ratio screens so all of them have that extra screenless state to fill with content the MacBook is a slight exception to that since Apple has basically shifted the menu bar to fill those extra pixels and you also get the notch at the top it is an apple design statement at this point because the iPhones have it the MacBook Pros have it so why can't do MacBook airs right a brightness levels are pretty good on these laptops the MacBook takes the lead here with a sustainable Peak brightness level of around 431 nits followed by the X1 Carbon at 400 nits and then the Zenbook at 362 nits now I kind of expected that since OLED displays generally don't get too bright my pick overall would be the MacBook since it is a safe choice and you don't have to worry about potential OLED burn-in issues even though Asus has implemented some software tricks to prevent that plus I'm just a sucker for brighter displays guys so there's that all right so let's talk about upgradability uh I'm actually gonna save you some time and mention that you're gonna be out of luck doing anything on the M2 air everything is soldered onto the PCB so you only get one shot at configuring this when you're purchasing this from the website or Apple Stores the Zenbook is a pain in the butt to access because you first have to remove the rubber feet in order to access the screws that hold the back plate once that's done you can pop open the rest and as you can see the memory soldered onto the PCB and the only user upgradable component is that nvme SSD the X1 Carbon follows the same path as Zenbook minus all the hassle to get under the hood so memory is started on and the SSD can be swapped out for another one speaking of which the dry speeds on these laptops are really fast but the fastest ones are on the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon since both Intel and AMD have shifted to Gen 4 technology whereas the air is a little bit behind on that now keep note that I used amorphous dismark which is an equivalent test for Crystal this Mark on the PC side Aja basically dumps a 64 gigabyte 5K clip to the drive and it measures its respective read and write performance and I think that's a beautiful transition to talk about performance because this is a part that I was really excited about because we had the best from Apple the best from AMD and the best for mintel in the final laptop cement and we ran a bunch of real world tests to see which one was the fastest and the results might actually surprise you starting with cinebench R23 we ran a 10 minute multi-core stress test and as you can see the Horizon CPU is slightly faster than the MacBook Air but not by all night much the core i7 1260p is a bit behind the other two laptops on the positive side find single performance favors the intelligent next up we have blender where we ran two scenarios and the ryzen CPU on the Zenbook once again really flexes his muscles here whereas the MacBook Air and the X1 Carbon completes those tasks roughly around the same time with the BMW scene that is but if you look at the classroom scene that's a little bit more CPU intensive there's a huge gap between these laptops why well for starters the MacBook Air is passively cooled meaning there are no fans inside whatsoever so that results in a little bit of thermal throttling but it still manages to beat the X1 Carbon with a beefier cooling system and that's really impressive so if you plan to run a lot of CPU intensive workloads the Zenbook is the best option but it's not too far ahead of the MacBook Air now what if you're looking to edit photos or some intense Photoshop work well the MacBook Air with the M2 Chip is a clear winner here guys because adobe's optimization with apple silicon has improved so much in the last year that you don't even have to worry about raw image manipulations or just anything that revolves around creativity the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon are still pretty good but for my testing I noticed that it took a few seconds to load up projects whereas in the M2 it just opens in a snap and that's what matters to me what about video editing or even transcoding well our 30 minute 4K h.264 export with heavy color grading and effects rendered in Premiere Pro loved the M2 air I mean 17 minutes versus half an hour versus 40 minutes on the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon respectively is just mind-blowing on top of that I was really impressed with the timeline performance on the MacBook Air just like I mentioned earlier projects open up super fast scrubbing through the timeline is buttery smooth compared to the jitteriness and the extra time that it takes for assets to load up on the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon I think the secret sauce here for apple is the built-in media encoder on the M2 because it just talks really well with Adobe applications and even DaVinci Resolve Studio AMD and Intel still have to figure that out when it comes to transcoding these laptops completed our tests around on the 10 minute Mark however the ryzen CPU takes a slight Edge over here the last thing that I want to go over is battery life because if you're shopping around for a thin and light laptop you want to make sure you get something that lasts you all day on paper the M2 has the smallest battery up the mall whereas the Zenbook has the biggest but regardless everything comes down to how efficient these CPUs are for light load tasks the Zenbook is the best option out there because of its larger battery but if you plan to consume a lot of content or just mix things up around the M2 air is the way to go I mean getting over 14 hours on our YouTube 4K playback test is just nuts compared to 10 hours on the sandbook and of course the utterly disappointing 5 hours on the X1 Carbon but that's an Intel all delay problem that we all are aware of even for CPU intensive workloads Apple steals a show here because it's optimization with the hardware and software is just so good so overall I've got to give this to the MacBook Air for its efficiency speaking of which I was actually really curious to see how these machines would perform with 60 battery left and the results are just mind-blowing guys check this out the MacBook Air was able to maintain its Peak Performance just as it was plugged in whereas the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon takes a huge hit on performance since the clock speeds take a dip and go into a lower power State you see this is what makes Apple stand out from the competition no matter where you are you can count on getting the best performance from the air M2 does a thermal throttle yes it's been a big issue for a lot of people but you gotta remember this laptop is passively cooled meaning you don't have to worry about fan noise it's completely silent regardless of what you do compared to the Zenbook and the X1 Carbon that are actively cooled and they do get audible quite a bit actually so something to keep in mind what about surface temperatures well believe it or not the MacBook Air M2 is the coolest among these two devices which really surprised me considering its fanless design the Zenbook only features a single fan so it's mostly directed around the center away from the waskies the X1 Carbon though even with Nova's robust cooling solution resulted in the hottest surface temperatures with most of the heat buildup around the top left hand corner so what can we take away from this video well all three of these laptops have their strengths and weaknesses if you're looking for performance efficiency and the best battery life the MacBook Air M2 is undoubtedly the best option to go with and the IC on the cake is that you get a really thin device a bright display and a fantastic trackpad that being said I was really surprised by the performance coming out of these Sandberg s13 Olin it is the smallest laptop among the three and the cheapest as well and if pricing is your concern you won't regret getting this laptop that older display is just so good and the battery life is on par with the air M2 the X1 Carbon well I'm not impressed with this performance guys Intel really needs to step up their efficiency game even with light photo and just a little bit of video editing this thing is painfully slow and battery life is not the greatest especially with your mixed usage scenarios not to mention the price I mean spending almost 2K on this and of course the MacBook Air M2 is a lot to swallow but the M2 actually gives you a lot for that money on that note thank you so much for watching I hope this comparison was fun to watch I mean uh I really wanted to approach this from a platform perspective I want to see what the best of Apple could offer for the best of AMD can and what the best of Intel could and the results really do speak for themselves so let me know which one would you guys pick in the comments I'm evil with hurricane ax thank you so much for watching and I'll talk to you guys in the next one spend responsibly as well\n"