The Apple MacBook Air (2020) is a great choice for those who prioritize portability, battery life, and a high-quality display with excellent color accuracy, making it ideal for general use and light engineering tasks. Its fanless design ensures silent operation, which is a plus for noise-sensitive environments. However, it may struggle with demanding tasks like intensive gaming or advanced machine learning due to its integrated GPU.
On the other hand, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) is a powerhouse designed for high-performance tasks, including gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning, thanks to its top-tier CPU and discrete GPU. It offers a larger, high-refresh-rate display that's suitable for fast-motion content and has a wide color gamut for accurate color representation in engineering and creative work. The Legion Pro 7i also provides more connectivity options and upgradeability, but it's heavier, has a shorter battery life, and is less portable, which could be a drawback for those who need to carry their laptop around frequently.
In summary, if you need a lightweight, silent, and long-lasting laptop for everyday tasks and some light professional work, the MacBook Air is the way to go. However, if you're looking for raw power for gaming, intensive engineering tasks, or machine learning applications and don't mind a bulkier, less portable device, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i would be the better option. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air (2020)
Best in class overall build quality
Very good portability
Excellent battery life
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024)
Very good for general use
Excellent for engineering and design
Excellent for gaming and AI
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Key differences
Gaming and AI
6.2/10
9.1/10
3.9/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.8/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
No
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
10.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) is excellent for gaming and AI, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
7.3/10
9.0/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
3.9/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
9.8/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) is excellent for engineering and design, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Content Creation
7.8/10
8.3/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) is very good for content creation, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Screen Quality
7.5/10
8.7/10
13.3in
SIZE
16.0in
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
395.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
469.0 nits
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i has a better screen than the Apple MacBook Air for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, content creation, and software development.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
15.0 Hours
5.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Air has 15 hours of battery life. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i has 5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Very Good
Fair
13.3in
SIZE
16.0in
2.8 lbs
WEIGHT
5.7 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has very good portability, while the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
10.0/10
8.5/10
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has best in class build quality, while the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) has very good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,000
$2,000
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has a price of $1,000 and the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) costs $2,000.
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) to be very good for general use, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Software Development
7.7/10
7.9/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.9/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1600
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) and Apple MacBook Air (2020) are both good for software development.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Give feedback
We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Apple MacBook Air (2020) and the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024) compare to other laptops
"The Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry is a very good, but too expensive daily MacBook. The new MacBook Air M2 is undoubtedly once again a very good mobile companion, but we are still a little bit disappointed on a very high level, which is definitely connected with the increased price point. The new chassis is extremely slim and the front edge is no problem during typing, but the bezels are pretty wide for a modern device and in addition with the vertical space required for the notch, the new Air has larger footprint than some Windows rivals."
"Passionate gamers who want to play demanding modern titles with maximum details and don't mind spending the moolah will find the Lenovo Legion 7 Pro to be the right choice. The bright, sharp, and color-accurate 16:10 QHD 240 Hz display makes for an immersive viewing experience. The hardware is housed in a stylish chassis that feels premium and scores well in terms of workmanship and stability. Other aspects such as sound quality, input devices, and connectivity also seem to be near-perfect."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Air (2020) or the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (2024)
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
About Lenovo
Lenovo is a Chinese technology company, and one of the largest personal computer vendor. They are well known for a variety of technology products, including laptops. Their consumer series include their entry level IdeaPad and LOQ series and mid-to-high-end Yoga and Legion series. On the business-oriented side, their series include their entry-level ThinkBook series and mid-to-high-end ThinkPad series. Lenovo laptops offer strong performance for reasonable prices, and are often on sale.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Jason is a staff expert and software engineer that has been making laptop recommendations for 7 years and moderates one of the largest laptop subreddits.
Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.