The Apple MacBook Air (2020) offers a silent, fanless experience with exceptional battery life, making it an excellent choice for general use and portability. It has a high-quality display with accurate color reproduction, suitable for everyday tasks and light photo editing. However, its performance is not optimized for intensive gaming or advanced engineering tasks.
On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 provides a versatile 2-in-1 design with a high-refresh-rate OLED display, delivering vibrant colors and deep blacks, which is great for media consumption and general use. It also offers better performance for 3D rendering and machine learning tasks, thanks to its more powerful GPU and additional RAM. The Galaxy Book is also suitable for light gaming and has a touchscreen, which the MacBook Air lacks.
If you prioritize a compact, silent, and long-lasting device for everyday tasks, the MacBook Air is the way to go. However, if you need a more powerful machine with a superior display and touchscreen capabilities for creative work or light gaming, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 would be a better fit, despite being less portable and having a shorter battery life. 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
Excellent battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16
Very good for general use
Very good for engineering and design
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Key differences
General Use
7.6/10
8.3/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1800
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
395.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
400.0 nits
15.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
10.0 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.5/10
8.9/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
8.6/10
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 is 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.
Engineering and Design
7.3/10
8.2/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.8/10
3.9/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
3.8/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 is very good 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
8.5/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.8/10
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1800
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 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
2880 x 1800
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
OLED
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
395.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
400.0 nits
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 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
10.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Air has 15 hours of battery life. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 has 10 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.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.6/10
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has best in class build quality, while the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,000
$1,350
$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) has a price of $1,000 and the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 costs $1,350.
The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 and Apple MacBook Air (2020) are both only fair for gaming and AI.
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.
Software Development
7.7/10
8.1/10
6.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.8/10
8.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
2560 x 1600
RESOLUTION
2880 x 1800
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.5/10
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 to be very good for software development, while the Apple MacBook Air (2020) is good.
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.
Portability
Very Good
Very Good
13.3in
SIZE
16.0in
2.8 lbs
WEIGHT
3.4 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
0.4in
The Apple MacBook Air (2020) and Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 both have very good portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Give feedback
We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Apple MacBook Air (2020) and the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16 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."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Air (2020) or the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge 16
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 Samsung
Samsung Electronics is one of the largest technology corporation by revenue. Based in South Korea, they are very well known for their wide range of phones, tablets, TVs and appliances. Their main line of laptops is the Galaxy Book series, launched in 2017. This range includes 2-in-1 convertible devices and standard notebooks, with a focus on portability and value for money.
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.
By the numbers
380
Laptops evaluated
48,640
Laptops stats compiled
13
Proprietary Laptops ratings developed
103,695
Recommendations made
22,468
Consumer hours saved
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.