The screen is a strong medium-size 14-inch panel, which means this system is a portable lightweight laptop that you can take pretty much anywhere – and it's designed to be bumped around a bit, too, with a solid build quality. As such, if the amount you're spending is important, then it might be worth putting the IdeaPad 3i on your shortlist. What really stands out here, and why the 3i ranks so high in our best lightweight laptops list, is the price: this laptop comes in cheaper than almost every other system in this buying guide. The Lenovo IdeaPad 3i isn't going to win any benchmarking races and shouldn't be used for intensive tasks like video editing or gaming, but as light computing Windows laptops go, it is a great all-round choice. To learn even more about this fantastic lightweight laptop check out T3's full MacBook Air (M1, 2020) review. The MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is a game-changer and an absolutely superb lightweight laptop. The camera is improved over the previous version – it has better dynamic range, noise reduction and face detection thanks to a new image processor – but it’s still an annoying flaw in what’s otherwise a near-perfect lightweight laptop package. When you consider the camera technology that Apple puts in every iPhone, the inclusion of a mere 720p FaceTime camera seems like an odd corner to cut.

There is still one little problem, mind you, and that’s the webcam. In fact, it’s the number one choice in our best laptops guide. That addresses the only major issue we’ve had with the MacBook Air in the past: the Intel-powered ones weren't always brilliant performers, but this Apple-powered one really is. The speed of the new M1-powered Macs is truly extraordinary, and in benchmark tests, we’ve seen the new MacBook Air absolutely destroy laptops that cost many times more. That delivers very significant speed increases, and it means that the MacBook Air doesn't require you to compromise between portability and power. Apple has moved to its own processors, and they combine system and graphics memory together: in other laptops the system memory and graphics memory are separate. The new MacBook Air may look identical to the previous model, but there's a revolution going on inside. If you can afford it, you won’t be disappointed. That said, Apple's new M1 processor makes it exceptional value for money and an even better buy than the Intel-powered MacBook Air it replaces. The only reason the new M1 MacBook Air isn’t topping our chart is that it’s a little more expensive than the Windows equivalents.

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