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Article updated on January 1, 2024 at 10:31 AM PST

10 Best MacBook Pro Alternatives for 2024

The MacBook Pro is an excellent work machine, but it's not for everyone. If that's you, you should look at these Apple laptop alternatives.

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Written by 
Lori Grunin
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Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
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Our Picks

$750 at Walmart
Best budget MacBook 14 alternative
Acer Chromebook Spin 714
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$2,600 at Best Buy
Razer Blade 14
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$1,150 at Samsung
Best 15-inch two-in-one alternative to a MacBook Pro 14 or 16
Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360
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$1,940 at Walmart
Best for Touch Bar nostalgics
Asus ZenBook Duo
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Apple's MacBook Pro is one of the best work machines you can get. While Apple has made some much-needed changes including things, like ditching that annoying Touch Bar and fixing the awful keyboard, the MacBook Pro could still be better. Despite the improvements, it's not for everyone. The best MacBook alternatives deliver nearly everything you could want. 

The fact remains that there are far more designs, feature sets and display choices for Windows laptops and Chromebooks. Moreover, Windows remains the preferred platform for playing games locally. While cloud gaming lets Macs circumvent the gaming problem to a certain extent, only a fraction of the universe of games is playable via the cloud. Thankfully, you're spoiled for choice when it comes to MacBook Pro alternatives. 

This list is a great place to start to get an idea of what's available. If you need advice on whether a particular type of laptop or two-in-one is right for you, jump to our laptop FAQ at the bottom of the list.

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Best 14-inch 2-in-1 alternative

Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7

Lenovo's flagship 14-inch Yoga 9i Gen 7 has an updated look with comfortable, rounded edges and 12th-gen Intel processors that give it a big multicore performance jump. A beautiful OLED display and improved audio make it excellent for work, video conferences and entertainment. Lenovo includes an active pen and a laptop sleeve to complete the premium package. And notably, that's a list of a lot of things you can't even get with a Mac.

But it also lacks discrete graphics, and neither Intel nor AMD's integrated graphics has thus far matched the performance of Apple's M2 iGPU combined with the tight optimization of MacOS.

Lenovo Yoga 9i review.


$790 at Walmart

Best budget MacBook 14 alternative

Acer Chromebook Spin 714

This premium 14-inch two-in-one offers a sturdy design, nice-looking display, strong performance and long battery life. It's not as sleek as a MacBook, but you can't find an entry-level MacBook at this price either. Chromebooks aren't perfect for everyone, but MacBook Pros (and even MacBook Airs) can be overkill or over budget for a lot of people.

Acer Chromebook Spin 714 review

$2,600 at Best Buy

Razer Blade 14

If you're drawn to a MacBook Pro for its featureless-slab aesthetic, Razer's your Windows go-to. If you want one that roughly matches the 14-inch Pro for design, size and weight, the Blade 14 is your option. A smaller version than the 15-inch staple, the 14-inch Razer Blade delivers a lot of gaming power for its size without feeling small -- an important consideration for a gaming laptop, and one that Apple doesn't need to worry about -- but has decent battery life, a nice size for travel and a subtle design (for a gaming laptop) that's buttoned-up enough for sitting in a meeting with the top brass or clients.

Razer Blade 14 (2021) review

$1,150 at Samsung

Best 15-inch two-in-one alternative to a MacBook Pro 14 or 16

Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360

Samsung's big-screen two-in-one doesn't look all too different from its predecessor, but inside is a 12th-gen Intel processor that gives it a sizable multicore performance bump that helps it more closely match the M-series chips' performance. Plus, the other, smaller updates Samsung made to the Pro 360 improve the overall user experience, making it one of the best two-in-ones available. At least until we get a chance to test and review the Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360

Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 review

$1,940 at Walmart

Best for Touch Bar nostalgics

Asus ZenBook Duo

What's better than the Touch Bar? An entire half-screen second display, that's what. The Duo's tilt-up second screen can act as an ancillary display, an extension of the primary display (for viewing those long web pages) or a separate control center from which you can run Asus' custom utilities or as control surfaces for select creative applications. Plus, Asus excels at squeezing every bit of performance out of its high-end laptops, and the 14-inch delivers great battery life, as well. 

It comes in two models, 15-inch and the 2021 14-inch Duo 14 that we reviewed. The Duo 14 has either 11th-gen Core i5 or i7 processors, optional Nvidia MX450 discrete graphics and up to 32GB of memory.

Which is faster, a MacBook or a Windows laptop?

That's an almost impossible question to answer. 

For one thing, it's a moving target. We're starting to see Windows models featuring Intel's newer CPUs, some of which have the same hybrid core architecture as Apple's chips, as well as new mobile GPUs. We haven't yet had a chance to test out many of these next-gen models, but it's safe to assume that some of Apple's processors will be facing some stiff competition. 

And thus far, Apple hasn't even launched a MacBook with a discrete GPU, though its integrated graphics seem to scale up to compete with current low-end Nvidia and AMD graphics up to about the RTX 3070 and Radeon RX 6800M, and definitely improves on previous Intel-based Macs though neither is really surprising. But it means that at the high end, we're still in sort of a MacBook holding pattern when it comes to comparisons with heavier Windows options.

Plus, differences in operating systems complicate things. Mac OS has long been more efficient than Windows and that's only improved now that Apple owns its entire food chain. But it doesn't need to worry about compatibility with partner systems and myriad different components. Then toss in difficulties getting repeatable, comparable, representative and broad-based benchmark results for cross-platform comparisons... well, I don't feel like going down that rabbit hole right now.

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Is a MacBook Pro better for content creation than a Windows laptop?

Once again, a difficult question to answer because there's no sweeping generalizations you can make. If you're basing the concern on Windows' old reputation for being inferior for graphics work, it was accurate at the time but is no longer true. 

Screens on Windows laptops have come a long way, and convertibles (aka two-in-ones) mean you can paint or sketch directly on the laptop screen. With a MacBook you'd need to buy an iPad as well.

Some graphics applications are only available on one platform or the other, so figuring out which ones you need and which you can switch away from is the first thing to decide before you choose between Windows and MacOS. Also consider that MacOS no longer supports 32-bit applications, so if you've got an old favorite that hasn't been updated -- this happens most with small utilities -- but still exists on Windows, that's something to think about.

Some applications may also be better optimized for one platform than the other, or rely on a specific GPU from AMD or Nvidia for their best acceleration. Since you can't really use an Nvidia card with a Mac and none of the M1 MacBooks incorporate any discrete graphics, Windows is probably a better bet, especially for programs that rely on Nvidia's CUDA programming interface. Think about any accessories you need, as well -- the drivers and utilities you need to use them may not be available or be stripped down on one or the other.

MacBooks may run faster than equivalently configured Windows laptops simply because MacOS is a lot more tightly integrated with the hardware than Windows can ever be on its side of the fence. Microsoft simply has to support a much wider variety of hardware than Apple will ever need to, and that adds performance overhead; this can be especially important for activities sensitive to latency, like audio recording. Windows' flexibility is both its strength and its weakness. 

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