Head-To-Head: Apple MacBook Air Vs. Lenovo Yoga 720

Lightweight Laptops

While Apple hasn't been paying as much attention to the MacBook Air as its other Macs, the trailblazing lightweight laptop is still getting updates. The latest came in June. Meanwhile, Lenovo is continuing its blitz of highly portable laptops in the Yoga series. Among the most recent offerings in the 2-in-1 series is the Yoga 720. Which of the two lightweight laptops is the best fit for you? In the following slides, the CRN Test Center compares Lenovo's Yoga 720 vs. the Apple MacBook Air on specs and price.

First Things First

There was a time when Apple offered two different sizes for the MacBook Air, 11 inches and 13 inches, but no more. Currently, the company is only producing the larger model. Meanwhile, Lenovo offers two sizes for the Yoga 720, a 13-inch and 15-inch model. But for the purposes of our comparison, we'll just be looking at the 13-inch model, since the 15-inch model is not nearly as comparable to the MacBook Air.

Display

One area where the Yoga 720 comes out clearly ahead is on display resolution, which starts at FHD (1,920 x 1,080) but has an option for 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160). The MacBook Air, by contrast, has the far lower resolution of 1,440 by 900. The Air also doesn't leverage Apple's Retina display technology, like other Mac laptops, instead using a standard LCD display. Meanwhile, as a 2-in-1, the Yoga 720 display is a touch screen with a hinge that lets it fold part or all of the way back.

Thickness & Weight

While the MacBook Air may have started out a pioneer in terms of laptop portability, keeping up with competitors in this area hasn't been a focus in recent years. As a result, the MacBook Air isn't that impressive in terms of thinness any longer. The Air measures 0.68 of an inch thick, while Lenovo's Yoga 720 measure 0.56 of an inch thick. That's a 17 percent difference, and certainly enough to be noticeable.

The laptops are harder to tell apart in weight, though the Yoga 720 still comes out ahead here with a weight of 2.9 pounds. The MacBook Air weighs 2.98 pounds.

Processor

The latest update to the MacBook Air, which Apple announced in June, gave the laptop a speed boost with better processor options. However, those options are still in Intel's fifth-generation processor line. Most leading laptops have been using the latest, seventh-generation Intel chips for many months now. For the Yoga 720, Lenovo offers a choice between seventh-gen Core i5 (clock speed of 2.5 GHz) or Core i7 (2.7 GHz) processors. Those have the potential to offer significantly higher performance than the CPU options for the MacBook Air. The laptop starts at the base level with a fifth-gen Core i5 processor (1.8 GHz) and can be configured up to fifth-gen Core i7, with a clock speed of 2.2 GHz.

Battery Life

Along with portability, the MacBook Air was historically also known for its strong battery life. That's one element that's held up pretty well for the Air over time. The laptop promises 12 hours of battery life on a charge, which is well above the Yoga 720. Lenovo promises just seven hours of battery life for the UHD model of the Yoga 720, and eight hours for the FHD model.

Memory & Storage

Both the Yoga 720 and MacBook Air come with 8GB of RAM as the standard. However, the Yoga 720 can be configured with up 16GB of RAM, while the MacBook Air doesn't have this as an option.

For storage, both laptops use PCIe solid-state technology. They vary on storage amounts, with the Yoga 720 starting with 256GB but with configuration options of 512GB or 1TB. The MacBook Air also has three choices for storage amounts, but the options start at 128GB and can go up to only 256GB or 512GB.

Ports

Unlike the other Mac laptops on the market, the MacBook Air has not gone the way of adopting USB-C. Instead, the Air has two USB-A ports, along with an SDXC card slot and a Thunderbolt 2 port. The Yoga 720 has a bit more versatility in terms of ports, with two USB-C ports (which can serve various other connector needs with a converter), as well as one USB-A port and a DisplayPort.

Price

While the Lenovo Yoga 720 has a number of advantages over the MacBook Air -- including on display, speed and portability -- the laptop actually has a lower price as well. The Yoga 720 starts at $730 for a model with 256GB of storage and a seventh-gen Core i5 processor. The MacBook Air, by contrast, has a starting price of $999. And that's for less storage (128GB) and a Core i5 processor that is two generations older. To get a MacBook Air with a comparable amount of storage to the base level of the Yoga 720, you'll actually have to go up to $1,199. And you still won't have an FHD display, a convertible touchscreen or a current-generation Intel processor.