Gents,
I have had my MBA nearly six years now, using daily for business and pleasure and it has not missed a beat. It is getting a tad slow now and the battery needs replacing so decided to treat myself in the coming weeks but would welcome some user/owner thoughts as per title.
I purchased my wife a Pro two years ago and this is noticeably quicker than my aged Air so thought this would be the sensible upgrade as 128 memory can be problematic. I had decided against the new macbook because there is a distinct lack of ports but the new Pro shares the same concern. 13" is fine as big enough when mobile and the majority of the time when in the office its connected to a monitor and wireless Apple keyboard and pad, so the smaller size of the MB would not really concern.
So question, any Macbook owners out there or others who have shared the same conundrum ??
Ta
Pitch
Yep. I have an MBA for the portability, having had a 4 year old Pro. It's not like the Pro is exactly a brick but for my usage - basic programmes + Illustrator and Adobe cloud products the latest MBA is just fine. Illustrator still crashes occasionally because it's Illustrator nothing to do with the hardware!
The Air is older tech so will run slower than the pro. What about picking up a used 2013 pro with all the ports. But unless you actually need those extra ports most connections are Bluetooth these days.
If I was in your shoes I’d get the new MacBook (non-pro) it may not be as fast as the pro but it is super lightweight and cheaper - if I did need to plug in a monitor there are cheap alternates to the official Apple ones.
Hope that doesn’t muddy things too much!
martyn
The Pro is a sleek unit, but fairly high density none the less - so is still weighty
Great graphics, features, and build - but a few niggles (to me)
The keyboard is not as good as a Lenovo, and the large touchpad (if you rest your palms on the machine while touch-typing) sometimes moves the cursor and typing to a different part of the document - a bit of a pain (especially if you don't notice)
You seem committed to MAC, so the above is probably of no consequence.
I'd go for the Pro, in as high a spec as you can afford. It should last over 7yrs, and may even be worth something at the end of that time.
Get a 1tb SSD drive.
Al
I just went through this exact exercise. Had my macbook air since 2010 and still works great for personal and business use (spreadsheets, keynote, graphic design etc). I chose the new macbook pro 15" as the 2017 CPU had a few benefits. While the ports might be an issue initially, I'm planning to keep this for a while so eventually USB-C will be the standard in a few years.
I initially thought about the macbook (light, but only one port), 13" macbook pro (get the nonTB version! But only two ports and two cores), before settling for the 15". A lot of people also recommend the 2015 15" pro given it still has legacy ports, a tried and tested design, and only benchmarks 10-15% slower than the current 15" pros.
If you want a discount, check out John Lewis returns - I got 20% off RRP and a 3 year guarantee. That's even better than from the Apple Refurbished store.
Is there a link to the returns site ?Originally Posted by KingKitega
The current 13" Pro is the same ~1.36kg weight as the 13" MBA. They have slimmed down the Pro enormously in the past couple of years. For the OP: Do bear in mind that the touch bar 4 port version, which is really very nice is completely fixed in spec once purchased, neither memory nor storage can be upgraded. The 2 port std model (which is not as nice IMO) does have a removable SSD.
The lack of std USB ports is a bit of pain but there are some very cheap adaptors and dongles on amazon which fix this easily.
Last edited by Padders; 25th October 2017 at 20:36.
No website I'm afraid. You could call your local store, or pop down and ask. They don't usually have much in but I got lucky and my local store had the base 2017 Macbook Pro 15" at £1,879, while they also had a 2015 Pro 15" at £1,519. If buying for your business account, you could effectively get these macs at half the price of RRP! (20% VAT, 20% expense...)
Reasons for the return could be as silly as wrong colour.. but for some reason JL just cut 20% off and try resell them. Mine had a battery cycle count of 4 so fairly new.
Excellent info, thanks a lot.
The current MacBook and MacBook Pro use a new, thinner keyboard with butterfly switches. These have gained a very poor reputation amongst the Apple press with many people having to return the computers multiple times for keyboard replacements after a couple of months of use. The keys cannot be serviced individually. If one fails, it requires the entire keyboard to be replaced.
This is the most recent mainstream article on the subject:
https://theoutline.com/post/2402/the...uining-my-life
Here are some more articles on the subject:
https://512pixels.net/2017/10/theres-no-i-in-keyboard/
http://uk.businessinsider.com/apple-...7-10?r=US&IR=T
http://bgr.com/2017/10/19/macbook-pr...d-not-working/
If I were buying a MacBook Pro at the moment, I would make sure to get a 2015 model with the older keyboard.
I went from a Mid-2009 MacBook Pro to a late 2016 MacBook Air in the summer and find it all I need in a computer. The Pro just didn't interest me, it's too expensive for a mid-range spec (upping the SSD, as a minimum) and Touch Bar again brings a lot more expense.
The Air is a top model configured spec (i7 2.2GHz, 500Gb SSD & 8Gb RAM) and it offered so much more. I was going to buy direct and managed to get a brand new and sealed one from eBay (with AppleCare) for £980, so I was even happier with that!
It depends how much you need the added horsepower of the Pro; for me the battery life and thinner form (the lighter, thinner MacBook didn't interest me; again, too expensive once configured) was more than worth the trade-off.
Despite being an Apple user for a long time, I am getting bored with their pricing structure, they are certainly not so different to the other manufacturers now and their kit looks outdated and expensive. I hope my Air lasts me a long time, like my old Pro.
Some very useful views and considerations gents, thank you.
My wife's 13" MBP is super quick in comparison to my MBA and the route to consider a two year old one is certainly now on the cards.
Many thanks again chaps.
Pitch
Some slightly worrying revelations in this thread (since I bought the top of the range MacBook with 16gb ram and 1tb ssd - at around £3k).
The keyboard isn't too touch-type friendly, but adequate. Hopefully it will outlast the Lenovo it replaces.
As has been said - the lack of std USB ports is a pain as is the lack of a magnetic power socket. That was a stroke of genius on previous models (someone will produce an adaptor, I'm sure)
Big bonus is that with "duet" I can add my iPad Pro as a 2nd monitor - that's a great feature.
Talking about IPads - the Apple Smart Keyboard for the iPad is -very touch-type friendly.
Otherwise. - I use a cheap Bluetooth "caseflex" keyboard - which is surprisingly good.
Al
We provide most of our mac users at work with the MBP. Dont worry about the lack of ports as long as you dont mind taking adapters with you if you need connectivity away from your desk.
At your desk invest in the Belkin usb c dock - it'll do almost anything you need it to do with a minimum of fuss and just one connection.
I thought one of the differences was that the MBP had a retina screen but the MBA doesn't
.
Went through this recently
MBP 13 seemed to make the most sense, its great
Simon
Our 17 inch 2009 MacBook Pro was finally showing signs of impending death recently. It was running very slowly, would randomly shut itself down and despite a recent new battery it’s battery life was poor. We ended up buying a late 2016 13 inch MacBook Pro with touch bar. I know it’s not upgradeable but as long as it lasts 5 years then that’s OK. It’s a great laptop, so fast. As an aside after buying the new machine I read about resetting the SMC and RAM on a MacBook Pro. I did this to the old machine and it now runs perfectly again! Never mind, we needed a second laptop anyway.
If I was going to buy a new Mac now, I would get the MacBook. I tried it in a shop and it is very light and easy to carry around.
Currently have a Retina MacBook Pro
I have the same model, it is still a powerhouse and runs really well, just too big to lug around. The new mbp is much more portable in comparison
Well after a lot of backwards and forwards I went for the MacBook. Portability and the sheer sleekness did it in the end.
As a work tool it will be used with a monitor, Apple wireless keyboard and pad as I have done for years with the MBA and the power is more than enough for what I need, it’s a massive step up from the MBA.
At home for wafting on the sofa and around the size and weight is an absolute dream, in fact wifeys MBP looks a massive block on her lap.
Many thanks again chaps for all the assistance
Pitch
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