Best Apple MacBook Pro Alternatives in 2021 – TechEngage

Any thin & light lover knows that in certain key areas, Apple is unmatched when it comes to their thin and light powerhouse, the MacBook Pro. When it comes to the build quality, premium materials, and the “Apple Magic,” the MacBook Pro is one of the best laptop computers around.

But, there are many reasons you might not want to splurge out for a MacBook Pro. Whilst its integration with iOS is remarkable, and its proprietary creative apps like Final Cut Pro X and Logic X are unmatched on the Windows side, there are very valid reasons to prefer Windows over macOS. For example, if you’re using productivity apps or gaming, Windows is your best shot. Also, MacBooks don’t have touchscreens and have a poor selection of IO.

But what if you still want the premium MacBook experience? No worries! We at TechEngage have compiled this list to round up the best alternatives to the MacBook Pro in the Windows world available on Amazon.

Pros:

• Really well built
• Powerful
• Beautiful 16:10 4K Display

Cons:

Our first pick is one of the best Windows laptops around, the stunning Dell XPS 13 9310. The all-new XPS 13 laptop is meticulously constructed with machined aluminum and a carbon fiber palm rest and features their beautiful 16:10 4K virtually bezel-less display.

Take full advantage of HDR content’s superior dynamic range with Dolby Vision, which can deliver colors never before seen on SDR PC displays. Dolby Vision content can deliver highlights that are up to 40 times brighter and blacks that are up to 10 times darker. Plus, the stunning VESA certified DisplayHDR 400 display on the 4K+ panel enables over 16 million colors that have more depth and dimension than ever before.

Equipped with 100% sRGB and 90% DCI P3 color coverage, your screen delivers saturated but accurate colors. At the same time, a 1500:1 contrast ratio allows you to see the brightest brights and darkest darks, making this laptop perfect for anyone looking to edit photos, graphics, or light video editing. The display’s 500-nit brightness provides more clarity in bright light like outdoors, while a 0.65% anti-reflective coating cuts the glare of a glossy screen.

Elements like the display, keys, and touchpad are all larger for an easier, more optimized user experience. The XPS features a 6.8% larger 16:10 display, 17% larger touchpad, and an edge-to-edge backlit keyboard with larger keycaps. The XPS 13 webcam isn’t just smaller (only 2.25 mm)—it’s also better. A 4-element lens uses more elements than a typical webcam to deliver sharp video in all areas of the frame. In contrast, temporal noise reduction uses advanced noise reduction, significantly improving video quality, especially in dim lighting conditions.

Equipped with Intel’s latest 11^th Core i7-1185G7 Evo with Intel’s superior Xe integrated graphics. Whilst it doesn’t compare to a dedicated GPU, you can expect to enjoy improved graphics performance over the 10^th Gen Intel chips in the Intel MacBook Pros. Though, Xe graphics don’t compare to the integrated GPU in the Apple M1 SoC.

Priced at $1,599.99, this laptop isn’t by any means cheap. But, if you’re looking for the very best 13-inch Windows laptop, you can’t get any better than the Dell XPS 13 9310.

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Pros:

• Lightweight
• Great keyboard and trackpad

Cons:

Billed by Microsoft as the perfect balance of style and speed, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 fuels your ideas and reflects your style with a thin, light design, choice of colors, 2 keyboard finishes, and two processor types.

This laptop boasts a clean and elegant design, and starting at just 2.79 pounds, Surface Laptop 3 is ridiculously easy to carry. Make a powerful statement with the new Surface Laptop 3. Sleek and light, it delivers improved speed, performance, and battery life. Powered by the Intel 10^th Gen i5 or i7 processors, you can expect some impressive performance.

At its highest spec, the Surface Laptop 3 can come with an AMD Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics Microsoft Surface Edition, whilst the really comfortable keyboard makes working on this device easy and enjoyable.

If you were a fan of Apple’s MagSafe chargers from yesteryear, you’d love the charging port of the Surface Laptop 3, which uses the magnetic expansion slot on the right-hand side of the machine to charge the laptop.

With an average rating of 4.6 stars out of 5 on Amazon, it’s safe to say that Amazon reviewers love the Surface Laptop! One five-star review states:

“Love this product. I got it in Matte Black, and I was expecting much worse for the finger print issue. This is very light and doesn’t bother me.

My screen does change brightness automatically from low to high without change in room, which is annoying but will get fixed soon hopefully.

Overall, very stylish and capable, the keyboard and trackpad feels nice and I love the format of the screen (higher than your regular 13”). Also love being able to charge it with USB C! Tripled my battery life buying a 26000mah, 30W USB C charger. Many options available, got mine for 60$ with RAV.”

Starting at $850.00, if you’re looking for a solid thin, and light laptop, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 a solid option.

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Pros:

• Powerful with Dedicated GPU
• Great build quality
• 144Hz Display

Cons:

• Less than average battery life

If you’re looking for the most powerful thin & light you can get your hands on; the latest Razer Blade 15 isn’t far off. Crafted from temper 6 aluminum, the CNC unibody allows for a more rigid & durable frame. The color is electrochemically bonded to strengthen the finish and to prevent minor scratches while on the go.

The Razer Blade 15 Base Model features NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics and the new 10th Gen Intel Core i7 6 core processor to deliver amazing power and portability. The 15.6″ smooth 144Hz Full HD display provides an immersive and insanely fast visual experience for gaming and beyond.

Also read: Best Graphics Cards (GPUs) for gaming in 2021

With the 144Hz Full HD, 1920 x 1080 display, on-screen action is incredibly smooth and fluid. Game or create with the colorful and accurate visuals of the thin bezel, factory calibrated 15.6” display, with support for up to 100% sRGB color.

This laptop is a through and through gaming machine, with a desktop GPU and desktop CPU. If you’re an RGB hothead, you’ll love the Chroma keyboard with a customizable RGB backlight. Whilst the MacBook Pro and, by extension, most thin-and-light Windows laptops are notorious for their lack of upgradability. This isn’t the case on the Razer Blade 15. You can easily add more storage with an open M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot for an easy SSD upgrade.

If you’re looking for more power, you can pick a higher spec machine to improve your productivity and, most importantly, gaming performance. You can kit this laptop out with an RTX 2080 Max-Q, or if you’re a photo or video editor, you may enjoy the beautiful 4K OLED 60Hz panel.

With an average rating of 4.6 stars out of 5 on Amazon, happy Razer customers love the performance and style of this product! One reviewer writes:

“I could immediately tell from the packaging that Razer is not messing around. Everything was professionally packaged and upon opening, everything is high quality and created with love of gaming in mind.

This computer runs great, plays all my games on max settings and doesn’t get too loud. The screen, keyboard, speakers, trackpad, RGB, everything is top notch as I expected it to be. I bought a Bluetooth Razer mouse to go along with it and I now have the ultimate laptop gaming setup.”

With a starting price of $1,299.00, the Razer Blade 15 is one of the most powerful thin & light laptops around, and if you’re into gaming, it’s well worth checking out.

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Pros:

• Excellent keyboard
• Great for business
• Good battery life

Cons:

With the Latest 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10510U Processor, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8 is faster than ever, no matter the task. The ultimate in lightweight productivity, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 8) combines a best-in-class keyboard with a stunning screen and strong endurance.

Built for business but great for anyone who wants to get work done, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon has long been one of the best ultrabooks you can buy. With always-on responsiveness, you can wake the X1 Carbon Gen 8 from sleep in less than a second—and be able to browse the web a second later. And with WiFi 6, you get fast and reliable connections, even on networks with lots of devices attached.

With the Dolby Atmos Speaker System, the X1 Carbon Gen 8 includes two upward-firing tweeters and two downward-firing woofers to create an immersive sound experience. For 360-degree microphones, cancel unwanted noise when you’re on calls and pick up your voice from across the room — so you can use voice activation to wake your system, play music, and more.

Customers love this product. A happy reviewer on Amazon writes in their five-star review:

“Before buying this laptop, I did a ton of research. It came down to the Lenovo X1 Carbon, the Dell XPS, and the Surface Laptop. This Lenovo is lighter than the other two yet solidly built, sleek, has a great keyboard, a responsive trackpad and, of course, the signature red pointer. The screen is not top of the line 4K, but it’s plenty bright and sharp. This model doesn’t come with a touch screen, but I don’t use it that much anyway. I’ve owned both the Dell and Microsoft models before. But this Lenovo is the perfect combination of what I needed.”

Starting at $2,149.00, this premium business laptop is surprisingly affordable and yet still so well-performing. A Thinkpad keyboard is the best keyboard I’ve ever tried, and I’m sure you’d love it too. The brand new Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 8 is well worth your attention if you’re in the market for a thin & light laptop to rival the MacBook Pro.

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