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Head-to-head · Best Thin and Light Laptops

Apple MacBook Air M4 vs Dell XPS 14 (9440)

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.

Apple MacBook Air M4
Higher ratedRanked #1 in Best Thin and Light Laptops
Apple MacBook Air M4
$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 AmazonFull review →
Dell XPS 14 (9440)
Ranked #3 in Best Thin and Light Laptops
Dell XPS 14 (9440)
$2,049as of Jun 7

The Dell XPS 14 (9440) is the most powerful and feature-rich pick here, offering an optional OLED panel, RTX graphics and a striking aluminum design. TechRadar called it a stunning real MacBook competitor and Windows Central praised its display and quad speakers (Ausdroid 88%, 91mobiles 85%). Battery life and weight are the trade-offs for that extra power.

Strengths
  • — Stunning optional OLED display with excellent quad speakers
  • — Discrete NVIDIA RTX graphics option for light gaming and content creation
  • — Premium minimalist machined-aluminum design
Watch-outs
  • — Battery life is the weakest of this group at around 6-9 hours
  • — Heavier at about 3.7 lbs than the ThinkPad and MacBook Air
  • — Polarizing capacitive function row and seamless haptic touchpad
$2,049 · Check Price on AmazonFull 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.

Dell XPS 14 (9440)

The performance and creator pick: it offers discrete RTX graphics the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13, MacBook Air M4 and ASUS Zenbook S14 lack, but it's the heaviest here and its battery life trails all three.

Specs side-by-side

SpecApple MacBook Air M4Dell XPS 14 (9440)
CPUApple M4 (10-core)Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
RAM16GB unified (up to 32GB)16-32GB LPDDR5X
Storage256GB SSD (up to 2TB)512GB-1TB SSD
Display13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560x166414.5-inch FHD+ or 3.2K OLED
Weight2.7 lbs (1.24 kg)3.7 lbs (1.68 kg)
Battery15+ hours real-world6-9 hours real-world
Ports2x Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe, headphone3x Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C)
Camera12MP Center Stage—
Graphics—Intel Arc or NVIDIA RTX option
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