The best MacBook for programming will chew through coding tasks. Thanks to the power and efficiency of Apple silicon chips, and the superb displays that let you comfortably work for hours on end, MacBooks offer programmers everything they need.
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With so many models and configuration options available, choosing can be tricky. I've put this guide together to help, based on my experience of testing and reviewing these machines. My top pick is the latest MacBook Pro 14-inch with the M4 chip, but there are plenty more options, even for users with a limited budget.
Don’t forget, you don’t have to use the MacBook by itself – pair it up with one (or more) of the best monitors for programming and you’ll have yourself a dream coding setup. And for more choices outside of Apple's ecosystem, check out our guide to the best laptops for programming that money can buy.
Matt Hanson
As TechRadar's Managing Editor, and before that its Computing Editor, I've seen, used and written about practically every MacBook that Apple has released over the past decade. I specialise in helping users of all types find the right computers for their needs, and here I'm looking at which MacBooks excel specifically for programmers.
The entry-level MacBook Pro 14 offers more than enough power for programmers and a winning balance of portability and premium design without the higher price tag of the 16-inch option. Read more below
With its larger screen and slim, light frame, we think the newest MacBook Air 15 provides the perfect balance of power, price and size for programming – and its base price is cheaper than the M3 version. Read more below
If you prioritise portability for coding in different locations, we recommend the superbly thin and light 13in MacBook Air, which still offers lots of power and a crisp bright Liquid Retina display. Read more below
Programming can be much more comfortable on a larger screen, and the 16-inch MacBook Pro offers that along with plenty of power for much more than programming alone. Read more below
Compact build offers balance between screen size and portability
+
Reasonably priced
Reasons to avoid
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Some programmers will prefer a larger screen
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Starting configuration may lack the power for other types of work
Buy it if:
✅ You want sturdy, well-built reliability: Apple's legendary build quality is here in abundance. ✅ You work with static images: As well as coding, it's perfect for graphic design work and similar tasks. ✅ Productivity matters: It's great for more than just programming.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You need graphics power: Other chips have stronger GPUs. ❌ You're on a budget: There are cheaper alternatives.
The bottom line
🔎 The MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4, 2024) is incredibly well built, the screen is predictably great and it's loaded with a bunch of ease-of-use features for anyone, plus the addition of Apple Intelligence adds an AI-shaped layer to the experience of having one. ★★★★
What you need to know: Apple's MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 2024) is the best MacBook for programming thanks to its combination of portability and power. You get Apple's fantastic M4 chip, which can chew through coding tasks with ease, plus a beautiful 14-inch display that is compact enough for travel. There are other options for more specialist needs -- larger screens and cheaper prices, for example -- but this model offers a superb balance of features for programmers.
Design: Apple is well-known for its design prowess and commitment to rock-solid build quality, and these aspects are found in abundance in the 14-inch MacBook Pro. You get an all-metal chassis, superb display with mini-LED lighting, a comfortable keyboard and high-performance Haptic touchpad, and more. It's no wonder that Apple's laptops last an age -- they're built to last.
Performance: The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 chip performed admirably in our tests, with both Geekbench and Cinebench results topping our charts compared to other laptops. In most programming tasks, the M4 chip will handle whatever you need with ease. That said, the M4 is Apple's entry-level chip, so if you have more heavy-duty needs, such as building enormous apps or any video-rendering work, look to upgrade to the M4 Pro or M4 Max chips.
Battery: Apple silicon chips are so efficient that the company's laptops boast some of the best battery life in the biz. We got almost 23 hours in our video-streaming test, so this is one laptop that will have you coding away long into the night without needing to reach for your charger.
Price: The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 chip starts at $1,599. It's obviously not the cheapest laptop in the world, but it offers a ton of quality for the price.
Impressive power, but the M4 Pro and M4 Max offer more.
★★★★
Battery life
Stunning battery life that goes on and on and on.
★★★★★
Our expert says
Our expert says
Erlingur Einarsson
"The MacBook Pro, as the name suggests, is a premium laptop for people with, well, premium needs. And benchmark testing reveals that in most respects, that the $1,599 starting price is well-earned."
✅ You need power: It's got the latest Apple M4 silicon and starts with 16GB RAM. ✅ Huge battery life is a priority: Working all day and all night? No problem. ✅ You want portability: It's beautifully thin and light.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You're on a budget: The larger display pushes the price up versus the 13-inch MacBook Air – and upgrading storage or RAM pushes it further. ❌ You already own the M3 MacBook Air: The improvements aren't significant enough to warrant an upgrade.
The bottom line
🔎 The MacBook Air 15-inch (M4, 2025) gives up very little to its desktop cousins in terms of performance, and all that extra power without a price increase is great to see. ★★★★½
What you need to know: The latest and greatest of Apple's MacBook Air laptops, this M4 version offers power to spare – not quite at the level of the Pros, but more than enough for programming. It wowed our reviewer with what was quite simply a delightfully smooth laptop experience, and the fact that Apple managed not to jack up the price means that it still represents solid value for programmers.
Design: While the 13-inch version also has a lot to recommend it (and, spoilers, also makes this list), the far superior display of the larger MacBook Air means it's our pick here. Even with the larger screen, this laptop retains the paper-thin and feather-light design that the MacBook Air machines are known for. That means you get the best of both worlds: an expansive 15-inch screen that is perfect for chugging through code, and a lightweight chassis that can easily be popped into a backpack when it's time to travel. You don't get the nano-textured display, however – that's reserved for the MacBook Pro.
Performance: In testing, the MacBook Air M4 put in a solid performance against our CPU benchmarks, especially impressive given that it's passively cooled. It'll certainly chew through any coding tasks you care to give it, with enough power left over for gaming afterwards. In graphical terms, it's not quite as impressive, lagging behind dedicated gaming PCs – though the comparison is a little unfair given that aforementioned passive cooling. Bottom line: it's difficult to imagine a programming scenario where the MacBook Air M4 would fall short.
Battery: MacBook Air models have had excellent battery life for a good few generations now, with Apple regularly claiming that the laptops can manage 18 hours. It didn't quite measure up to this for us, but put in a very impressive performance nonetheless (Apple reports that the M4 chip boasts improved efficiencies that help eke out more power). It'll do a full day's intense coding and then some.
Price: Despite the improvements to its RAM and the new chip, Apple has actually priced this one slightly under the previous M3 version, starting at $1,199 / £1,199. That's for the base model though – if you want to upgrade with extra storage or RAM, the price climbs quite vertiginously (an extra $200 to go up to 512GB storage is, to put it mildly, a bit cheeky).
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Price
Great for the base version, though upgrades cost.
★★★★★
Design
Large yet surprisingly lightweight.
★★★★★
Performance
Great for coding, though the MacBook Pro offers more.
★★★★
Battery life
Fantastic battery life comes as standard.
★★★★★
Our expert says
Our expert says
Ian Evenden
"The combination of Apple’s thin and light laptop and the M4 processor leads to a machine that’s only just behind the low-end MacBook Pro, and which has had a price-drop too."
✅ You want the most portable MacBook: Slimline and lightweight, it's ideal for working on the go. ✅ You don't want to compromise on power: It may be thin and fanless, but it still packs a punch. ✅ You want something affordable: Here's how you spend under a grand on a brand new MacBook.
Don't buy it if:
❌ You want more screen space: The 13-inch display isn't the largest. ❌ You worry about overheating: Apple's chips are very efficient, but this fanless laptop could still struggle in heavy workloads.
The bottom line
🔎 The MacBook Air 13 (M4, 2025) is the go-to option for portable power, as long as a 13-inch display is enough room for you. ★★★★½
What you need to know: This is the little sibling of the 15-inch new MacBook Air featured above. Many of its specs are identical, meaning it delivers pretty similar performance – the key differences are obviously the display size, and the fact that it uses an 8-core GPU rather than the 10-core version in the larger laptop. Just like it's big brother, it's very reasonably priced, with the base model officially starting at $999 – though we've already seen price drops.
Design: With a 13-inch display and the MacBook Air's patented slimline chassis, this is the MacBook to go for if you aim to hit the road and write some code. It's even more feather-light than the 15-inch version – essentially, the question you need to answer is whether a 13-inch display is enough for your programming needs. If you have multiple windows open, it can quickly start to feel cramped. The multiple ports support the addition of an external screen – though of course, that does rather defeat the purpose of a portable laptop. Ultimately though, you know what you're getting – either a 13-inch display is big enough for your programming needs, or it's not.
Performance: Performance-wise, you're getting more or less the same deal as the 15-inch version, so it's excellent at running most applications and will give you more than enough power for coding. Be aware that the GPU isn't as powerful as the 15-inch Air's – an 8-core rather than 10-core. While that shouldn't be an issue for programmers, it could be a factor if you like to game in your off-hours.
Battery: Great. As mentioned, MacBook Air laptops normally promise around 18 hours, and generally deliver something close to that. Your mileage may vary, but once again, you'll easily have enough juice even for the most demanding workday.
Price: The 13-inch MacBook Air M4 starts at $999/£899, for the base model, which is actually even cheaper than what the M3 MacBook Air originally cost ($1,099/£1,099). That is very impressive indeed – and what's more, we've seen discounts on this model taking it down as low as $849. If you see an offer, it's well worth jumping on it.
Larger screen for coding, plus ability to power two external displays
+
Fantastic battery life
+
Potential to configure to massive specs
Reasons to avoid
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Larger size makes it less convenient to carry around
-
More expensive than smaller MacBooks
Buy it if:
✅ You want an expansive workspace. The 16-inch screen is begging to be filled with lines of code. ✅ You need a high power machine: This laptop is perfect for demanding coding work. ✅ Build and aesthetic is important: No flimsy plastic here.
Don't buy it if:
❌ Your budget is limited: All this power doesn't come cheap. ❌ You want a smaller screen: The large display isn't for everyone.
The bottom line
🔎 The MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024)'s portability and excellent battery life make it suitable for creatives on the move, so it should be near the top of your shortlist and could even replace a desktop workstation for many users. ★★★★½
What you need to know: If you need a MacBook that can handle much more than programming and you also want the largest screen you can get on a MacBook, the MacBook Pro 16-inch M4 (2024) could be the best choice for you. It's essentially the same as the 14-inch model currently topping our list, but with more screen real estate, and with a choice of a Pro or Max chip (with corresponding price increase).
Design: This edition of the MacBook Pro has a 16-inch display, which gives you plenty of space for lines of code. That makes it a good choice if the 14-inch MacBook Pro's display just feels to cramped for your work. Elsewhere, there's an all-metal chassis that features a flat-edged design that feels like it will last a lifetime.
Performance: Since it's only available with the Pro or Max chip rather than the base M4, the amount of power provided is overkill for programming alone, but it will be welcomed by anyone who also does video editing or 3D work.
Battery: Apple says that you should get around 14 hours of web browsing from a charge, but we've seen more like 22 hours for basic online work.
Price: The choice of configurations here means that this is the most expensive MacBook by some way. You don't have to pay a fortune for one, but its larger display means its always going to be more costly than the 14-inch MacBook Pro.
"The 2024 MacBook Pro M4 Pro 16" is a powerful laptop for any use case. This particular model strikes the balance of cost vs performance just right, and could even replace a desktop workstation for many users."
Choosing the best MacBook for programming is really a case of defining your priorities. All MacBooks have more than enough power for programming and good screens for working in varying conditions. It therefore comes down to size, price, and whether you want enough power for more demanding tasks.
Overall, we recommend MacBook Airs as the best MacBooks for programming because they're cheaper, lighter and still have more than enough power. We chose the latest 15-inch MacBook Air (M3) as our top pick since we found the larger screen more comfortable to code on in our tests. However, if portability is a major priority for you, you might prefer the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air, or the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro. MacBook Pros do have brighter screens than the Airs, and that can be an advantage if you're working outside in bright light.
How we tested the best MacBooks for programming
We tested all of our picks of the best MacBooks for programming hands on as part of our full reviews of each product (see the link in the description of each product). When we reviewed each laptop, we performed a series of benchmark tests in order to evaluate their performance, display brightness and accuracy and battery life.
Our reviewers also used them over a period of at least two weeks, testing them for a wide range of uses. As well as using them for programming, our reviewers used them from general office programs, browsing, entertainment, photo editing and video editing in order to decide which of our buying guides they might fit. We also took into consideration customer reviews. To choose the best MacBooks for programming, we considered display size and quality, ergonomics, particularly the comfort of the keyboards, battery life (important if you often program from a cafe as well as from your home or office) and also price.
The answer depends on what your needs are: do you want a large screen to see more lines of code? Do you want the most powerful Mac to run through operations faster and more efficiently? Ultimately, you can’t go wrong with the MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 2024), our number one pick. It’s got a brilliant blend of power and portability, making it flexible enough to handle all your projects. But the MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024) is the perfect alternative if you need a larger display.
Is 16GB RAM enough for programming?
In most cases, 16GB of RAM should be plenty for coding workloads. If you’re doing some serious multitasking or building a massive app, you could find yourself needing more, though. Assess your needs and how much strain you’re going to be putting on the MacBook – the heavier your demands, the more memory you’ll need.
Is a 13-inch MacBook too small for coding?
We wouldn’t say it’s too small for coding, but you’ll definitely notice the benefits if you get a MacBook with a larger display, such as the 15-inch MacBook Air or the 16-inch MacBook Pro. It’s still absolutely possible to code on a 13-inch MacBook, you just have to make do with seeing less of your work on-screen.
Is a MacBook good for programming?
We think MacBooks are great laptops for programming. They have bright, crisp retina displays that show type clearly, they're powerful and they have good battery life – important if you're coding on the go. MacBooks now come in a good range of sizes, from the cheaper 13-inch MacBook Pro and Air to the larger and more powerful 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros and now even a 15-inch MacBook Air so there's plenty of choice.
Is a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air best for programming?
It used to be that we would easily recommend a MacBook Pro over a MacBook Air for programming because of the larger screen and retina display, which is great if you have the font for your programming set small.
But in recent years, the differences between the MacBook Pro and Air have become less clear-cut. MacBook Airs now have retina displays and Apple's own silicone (either the M1 or M2 chip), and there's even now a 15-inch MacBook Air for those that prefer a larger screen.
This means that we would only recommend paying more for a MacBook Pro (and even more for a M Pro-chipped model) if you'll be using your MacBook for other, more graphically demanding tasks as well. Programming alone does not require the amount of power delivered by the M Pro chips, but you may want to consider one of these if you're also doing other types of work. A cheaper MacBook Air is also a great idea if you're after a MacBook for college.
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Managing editor, computing and entertainment, TechRadar
Matt has been a technology journalist for over 15 years, writing for publications such as T3, MacFormat and Creative Bloq. He's a managing editor of TechRadar, Creative Bloq's sister site, where he can be found writing about and reviewing laptops, computers, monitors and more. He often writes for Creative Bloq, helping creatives find their perfect laptop or PC.
