It’s also worth considering an Apple certified refurbished 2018 MBP with Touch Bar, which doesn't cost much more than the Air (especially at equal storage), has T2 and Touch ID, and a far, far more powerful processor.
in terms of peerformance [sic] or the form factor, it may be Apple’s best ever.
Excellent advice which I have followed: I've been fortunate enough to order a refurbished 2018 13" MacBook Pro with i7 quad-core with a price and configuration just a little bit more than I had budgeted for the i5 with a smaller SSD. I had been deliberating between it and the MacBook Air; I've decided this machine will be with me for a while and I do like to do video, photo and audio editing in addition to typing up and reading documents.
Like all of Apple's best Macs, the 2017 escape won't be around for much longer get one while you can!
Without the keyboard barrier I wouldn't touch any of the 2017 MBPs for fear of KB failure, not even with the up to $1000 discounts being touted elsewhere on AI today.
However, other aspects of screen quality other than "brightness" mentioned in the article make the MBP's screen notably superior to the MBA.
And I find it anemic CPU wise, plus I'm still not a "butterfly" fan, reliable KB or no....
...But I need a reasonably mobile computer.
Can someone confirm that you can use EITHER of these in "clamshell mode," i.e., hooked up to an external monitor and KB? I have two prime locations I move between and have external monitors at both, so I COULD use a KB of my choice if this is true.....
Your kidding right? For the last six or seven years the MBA has been the most common student laptop. I think I’ve seen one kid with an rMB. In our schools it’s all BYOD. It’s MBA and then daylight to old Dell pavilions, HPG2 (there was a huge discount a year ago), XPS, Spectres, the occasional MBP, and then a bunch of also rans. Heck Heavy gaming laptops in the school bag are more common than an rMB. But at these prices and restricted choice in ports MBA leadership in schools may not, it won’t, stay that way.
Students will love the new MBA even more, because it is their familiar companion now in a smaller footprint and with a better display. Some of those MBAs you mention were 11” ones and the 12” Macbook now perfectly replaces them. Also MBA was common because it was the only model at that range until the release of 12” Macbook in 2015. Integration is the way Apple goes regarding ports, there is no restriction of port choices. Thunderbolt 3 means PCIe, USB, Ethernet, DisplayPort on a single port. I understand the dongle issue but I believe an integrated port may appeal more to students than a multitude of ports of seldom use. There is nothing in the new MBA that will alienate students, but there are enhancements that will appeal to them. With a PS4 or Xbox at home, with even some desktop PC, an iPhone in their pocket and MBA in their backpack, students are not newcomers to technology.
13" MBA needs no less than 3 ports(two on left, one or two on right) and more processor power. By doing so, Apple can get away by not offering function keys 13" Macbook Pro upgrades in future. Many who like MBP but don't see much of usefulness for touchbar and feel pain of paying extra for. If Apple ever offers upgraded 13" function keys MBP, than that will sell lot more than equivalent touchbar 13" MBP. Gauranteed.
Two things kept me away (I was willing to risk that I could adapt to the KB) - the lack of a beefier CPU to power all of that welcome RAM, and the inexplicably stupid decision NOT to offer a 1TB SSD at their overly priced but in my range budget - while at the same time offering a horribly pricey 1.5TB option that simply doesn't seem well suited to the target buyer given the unsuitability for heavy duty work with large files.
What am I missing in that last decision especially??
It certainly is a dilemma. My daughters’ MBAs are getting on, and maybe new machines would make good Christmas presents. If the MBP had a third gen keyboard (thus theoretically more reliable for life in a school bag) and a current gen processor it would not be a debate.
They would miss the light up logo regardless.
Heavens.
I am also sorely tempted to make the leap to windows for a spectre. Built like a Mac even though it is win10 and has a crappy trackpad in comparison to a Mac. But it’s selling points are it isn’t compromised when it comes to price, ports and CPU power.
Yeah instead it just runs a crappy OS and has crappier features. Just as good as a Mac...
How does using standard, non-proprietary USB-C ports now make the MBP “compromised?” It used to be the case that haters and pundits criticized Macs for using proprietary ports, how times have changed.
The price isnt compromised, either. As a working professional I pay for premium tools. The TCO is lower as numerous corporate white papers and my own experience has shown. Crappy commodity PCs give what you pay for...
Except for the MacBook Ait is not a professional laptop, and students are not working professionals. MacBook Air needs to start at $999 and the hugest-end model with a 512 GB drive and 16 GB SSD should be $1399. That would make it appealing to non-professionals. Otherwise, it’s an overpriced low-end laptop.
It clearly isn’t state-of-te-art, but compromised not to pale MBP and MB. For that price, that’s a rip-off.
Comments
However, other aspects of screen quality other than "brightness" mentioned in the article make the MBP's screen notably superior to the MBA.
And I find it anemic CPU wise, plus I'm still not a "butterfly" fan, reliable KB or no....
...But I need a reasonably mobile computer.
Can someone confirm that you can use EITHER of these in "clamshell mode," i.e., hooked up to an external monitor and KB? I have two prime locations I move between and have external monitors at both, so I COULD use a KB of my choice if this is true.....
What am I missing in that last decision especially??
$200 cheaper
Better keyboard
Upgradeable SSD
Magsafe Power
USB-3 ports as well a (one) Thundebolt2
SD card reader
But, the 2018 does have a nice Retina display.