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| The Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 is currently the best-selling laptop on Amazon. |
It’s been exactly one month since Apple unveiled its refreshed MacBook Air 13 and MacBook Air 15 with the all-new Apple M5 chip, alongside the shockingly affordable MacBook Neo. In that short time, these laptops have done more than just grab attention – they’ve completely taken over Amazon’s best-seller charts.
Let that sink in. As of April 11, 2026, the MacBook Air 13 M5 is the number one best-selling laptop on Amazon US. Right behind it? The brand-new MacBook Neo. And in third place? The MacBook Air 15 M5. That’s a clean Apple sweep of the top three spots.
The only non-Apple device in the top four is the ultra-budget HP 14, which sells for around $193 – and frankly, at that price, it’s a no-brainer for anyone who just needs a basic browsing machine. But beyond that? Apple holds seven of the top ten positions on Amazon’s laptop best-sellers list. Let’s take a moment to appreciate how rare that is.
Why the MacBook Air M5 is untouchable right now
Nobody who follows the laptop market is truly surprised by the MacBook Air’s success. The M5 chip – which Apple introduced on March 11 – delivers a level of performance-per-watt that Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are still struggling to match in the ultraportable space.
Yes, there are excellent Windows laptops out there. The latest Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake machines from Intel, the new Ryzen AI chips from AMD, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite series all offer competitive raw performance. But here’s the catch: finding a Windows notebook that combines the same build quality, display, trackpad, battery life, and price as the MacBook Air M5 is nearly impossible.
The MacBook Air 13 starts at $1,099, and the 15-inch model at $1,299. For that money, you get all-day battery life (often exceeding 15 hours of real-world use), a gorgeous Liquid Retina display, silent fanless operation, and that legendary Apple build quality. Windows OEMs have tried – and failed – to match that holistic package at the same price point.
The MacBook Neo: Apple’s $599 game-changer that nobody saw coming
But the real story here isn’t the MacBook Air. It’s the MacBook Neo.
When Apple announced the Neo alongside the M5 Airs, many in the tech media dismissed it as a modest attempt to capture the low-end education market. A $599 laptop from Apple? Surely there would be compromises, right?
Then the specs dropped: an aluminum unibody chassis, a 500-nit IPS display (brighter than many Windows laptops costing twice as much), solid performance from a custom Apple chip (slightly scaled down from the M5 but still plenty snappy), and the same excellent keyboard and trackpad Apple is known for.
Tech media immediately changed its tune. Headlines called it a “Windows nightmare” and a “budget laptop killer.” And as we noted in our full review of the MacBook Neo, the device “will be very successful, and to be honest, Windows does not really offer an alternative.”
That prediction has aged like fine wine. According to supply chain sources, the MacBook Neo is selling so fast that Apple is struggling to keep up with demand. The company reportedly underestimated just how many people would jump at a $599 MacBook, and now they’re scrambling to source enough components – especially displays and memory modules – to fulfill orders.
In fact, the Neo is selling so well that it has created a genuine dilemma for Apple: do they divert production capacity from the higher-margin MacBook Air to satisfy Neo demand, or do they let shortages persist and risk frustrating new customers? It’s a good problem to have, but it’s still a problem.
Where the MacBook Neo falls short (and what Apple should fix next)
Let’s be honest – the MacBook Neo isn’t perfect. We’d be doing you a disservice if we pretended otherwise.
First, the port situation is frustrating. You get just two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, and that’s it. No MagSafe, no HDMI, no SD card slot. If you want to charge while using an external drive and a monitor, you’ll need a dongle. For a $599 laptop, that’s somewhat acceptable, but it’s still an annoyance.
Second, battery life is merely “good” instead of “great.” The MacBook Neo delivers around 8–9 hours of mixed use, compared to the MacBook Air M5’s 15+ hours. That’s still better than many Windows budget laptops (which often struggle to hit 6 hours), but it’s not the all-day endurance Apple fans have come to expect.
We’d love to see Apple address both issues in a future revision. Give us three ports or bring back MagSafe. Find room for a slightly larger battery. If they do that at the same $599 price point? Game over.
But even with these shortcomings, the MacBook Neo practically remains without competition. There is no Windows laptop at $599 that offers an aluminum build, a 500-nit display, solid performance, and a premium trackpad. You either get plastic chassis, dim screens, or sluggish processors – sometimes all three.
The Windows laptop crisis: where are all the modern chips?
Here’s the most telling detail from Amazon’s best-seller list: there are no Windows laptops with modern Intel Lunar Lake, Arrow Lake, Panther Lake, or current-gen AMD/Qualcomm chips in the top 20.
Think about that for a second. We’re talking about processors that launched in late 2025 and early 2026 – the very best that Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm have to offer. And not a single laptop featuring those chips has cracked Amazon’s top 20 best-sellers.
What you do see in the lower ranks are older, discounted Windows machines – mostly from HP, Lenovo, and Dell – that are being cleared out at fire-sale prices. That’s not a healthy market dynamic. That’s a sign that consumers are voting with their wallets, and they’re overwhelmingly choosing Apple.
Windows OEMs have a serious problem on their hands. The MacBook Air M5 is beating them at the premium end, and the MacBook Neo is crushing them at the budget-to-midrange tier. Unless Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm can deliver a chip that enables a truly competitive $599–$1,099 Windows laptop with comparable build quality and battery life, we expect Apple’s dominance to continue through 2026 and beyond.
Should you buy one? Our honest take
If you’re in the market for a new laptop right now, here’s the bottom line:
- Get the MacBook Air 13 M5 if you want the best all-around ultraportable with insane battery life and silent performance. Buy it on Amazon here.
- Get the MacBook Air 15 M5 if you need a larger screen but don’t want to sacrifice portability. Check current price on Amazon.
- Get the MacBook Neo if your budget is $600–$700 and you refuse to compromise on display quality or build materials. Grab the Neo on Amazon.
And if you absolutely must have Windows? The HP 14 at $193 is a fine emergency option, but don’t expect it to last more than a couple of years. See the HP 14 deal here.
For everyone else, Apple has delivered a one-two punch that Windows simply cannot answer right now. The M5 MacBook Airs are the new kings of the premium ultraportable segment, and the MacBook Neo has rewritten the rules of what a $599 laptop can be.
Bottom line: If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to buy a MacBook, that moment is now – while Amazon still has stock.
Sources: Amazon Best Sellers (April 11, 2026), LaptopsCheck review of MacBook Neo. Teaser image credits: Andreas Osthoff, Christopher Konrad on Pixabay (edited).
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| Current Amazon best-sellers list. |