“Apple made some interesting choices when it designed the new 12″ MacBook, which is the thinnest, lightest Retina Display Mac notebook ever. But its US$1,299 price is higher than the new 13″ MacBook Air, 13″ MacBook Pro, and new 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display,” Dan Knight writes for Low End Mac. “Where’s the best value?”
“If weight matters, the 12″ MacBook wins. If screen resolution matters, it’s also the winner. If battery life matters, it’s probably going to win in that category as well. And if the keyboard matters, it’s new keyboard technology should put it ahead of anything else Apple has today,” Knight writes. “But if legacy ports matter to you, skip the 12″ MacBook. The 13″ MacBook Pro has the widest selection of legacy ports, and it’s the one I would find most tempting with FireWire 800, USB 3, and Thunderbolt. It also lets you upgrade RAM, uses a traditional hard drive or SSD, and has a built-in SuperDrive.”
Knight writes, “In the end, you have to weigh your priorities: size, weight, processing power, compatibility with older version of OS X, screen resolution, battery life, and expansion options, both via external ports and internally.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: So true and this is why Apple offers a range of portable Macs. Everyone has different needs and priorities.
Before the MacBook Air, we were outfitted with 17-inch MacBook Pros. One Mac for everything. On the desktop, it wasn’t optimal – wired everywhere, powering monitors, external drives, speakers, etc. On the road, it was a nightmare of weight and size – it wouldn’t fit on tray tables – and it sucked power that we didn’t need it to have while mobile.
What we have today is much better for our needs: 27-inch iMacs alongside 27-inch external monitors on our desks and 11-inch MacBook Airs in our backpacks. Perfect. Until now. We never use any of our MacBook Airs ports except for recharging, so those can go. We long for Retina displays on the road. The new 12-inch MacBook is a third of a pound lighter than our 11-inch MacBook Air units. The MB offers a 2304×1440 pixel retina display vs. the MBA’s 1366×768 pixel display. The MB offers a Force Touch trackpad and a better keyboard, plus we can even get them in a range of colors.
Can you guess what our next mobile Macs are going to be? It’s like Apple made the new MacBook specifically for us!
Obviously, for anyone doing the “one Mac for everything” thing, their choices are going to be completely different.