Head-to-head · Best Thin and Light Laptops

Apple MacBook Air M4 vs ASUS Zenbook S14 (UX5406)

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

The short answer

Apple MacBook Air M4 comes out ahead by a narrow margin (4.7 vs 4.4). The gap is mostly about Students, writers and everyday users who want the longest battery life and a silent, premium ultraportable, and who are comfortable in the Apple ecosystem. — read the strengths below before deciding.

Higher ratedRanked #1 in Best Thin and Light Laptops

Apple MacBook Air M4

4.7

$999as of Jun 7

The MacBook Air M4 is the best lightweight laptop for most people, pairing silent, efficient M4 performance with 15-plus hours of battery life and a premium 2.7 lb build. Reviewed gave it a perfect 5/5 and Notebookcheck scored it 90%, both calling it best-in-class. The catches are limited ports, GPU throttling under load, and that it runs macOS.

Strengths

— Outstanding real-world battery life of 15+ hours in testing
— Silent, fanless design with strong everyday M4 performance
— Light 2.7 lb aluminum chassis with a premium build

Watch-outs

— Fanless design throttles under sustained GPU loads and gaming
— Only two Thunderbolt ports plus a headphone jack
— macOS, not Windows, which won't suit everyone

$999 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

Ranked #4 in Best Thin and Light Laptops

ASUS Zenbook S14 (UX5406)

4.4

$1,499as of Jun 7

The ASUS Zenbook S14 (UX5406) is the value OLED ultraportable, pairing a stunning 3K 120Hz OLED with a 2.6 lb Ceraluminum body and nearly 14 hours of battery for less than the ThinkPad. Notebookcheck scored it 88.1% and Laptop Mag called it near-perfect. Weak multi-core performance, a mediocre webcam and soldered components are the trade-offs.

Strengths

— Gorgeous 14-inch 3K (2880x1800) OLED at 120Hz
— Very light and thin at about 2.6 lbs in a premium Ceraluminum chassis
— Strong real-world battery life of nearly 14 hours

Watch-outs

— Multi-core CPU performance lags AMD Zen 5 and Snapdragon rivals
— Display brightness (around 380 nits SDR) trails some competitors
— Lackluster webcam and a so-so keyboard

$1,499 · Buy at shop.asus.com Full review →

How they stack up

Apple MacBook Air M4

The battery-life and value leader of this group, lighter on the wallet than the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 and Dell XPS 14, but with far fewer ports than the ThinkPad and, unlike the Windows ASUS Zenbook S14, it runs macOS.

ASUS Zenbook S14 (UX5406)

The value OLED pick: it matches the OLED panel and roughly the weight of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 for less money, but its keyboard and webcam trail the ThinkPad, and it lacks the discrete-graphics option of the Dell XPS 14; battery life sits between the MacBook Air M4 and the XPS 14.

Specs side-by-side

Spec	Apple MacBook Air M4	ASUS Zenbook S14 (UX5406)
CPU	Apple M4 (10-core)	Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (Lunar Lake)
RAM	16GB unified (up to 32GB)	16-32GB LPDDR5X
Storage	256GB SSD (up to 2TB)	512GB-1TB SSD
Display	13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560x1664	14-inch 3K OLED, 120Hz
Weight	2.7 lbs (1.24 kg)	2.6 lbs (1.18 kg)
Battery	15+ hours real-world	~14 hours real-world
Ports	2x Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe, headphone	—
Camera	12MP Center Stage	—
Chassis	—	Ceraluminum
Wireless	—	Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

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