Nothing beats a MacBook Air if you’re not chasing raw performance.

I ended up with two machines:

- MacBook Air (16GB)

- MINISFORUM UM870 with 48GB RAM

The Air is unbeatable for portability and battery life. The MinisForum is still “portable enough” and gives me real horsepower when I need it.

I flew SF -> NY -> SF with the MinisForum and a portable monitor as carry-on. Everything fit in a Trader Joe’s tote bag. I even presented a conference talk using that setup.

For ~$2k total, you can buy:

- a MacBook Air

- a small PC + one or two portable monitors

- and still have money left

IMO the era of $2-3–4k “do-everything” laptops is over. I don't see how and why they're competitive.