“Regular readers will know that I still have a 17-inch MacBook Pro as my main computer,” Ben Lovejoy writes for 9to5Mac. “It’s almost five years old now, which is a relatively long time in Mac terms, and an absolute age for someone who usually does poorly when it comes to resisting shiny new tech.”
“Two years ago, I still hadn’t entirely given up hope on Apple reintroducing a 17-incher,” Lovejoy writes. “Two years on, that hope has pretty much dwindled away. Given that Apple managed to create a 5K 27-inch iMac at a relatively affordable price, it’s clear that making a 17-inch Retina display wouldn’t be a problem – but Apple still hasn’t launched one.”
“One thing is now certain: I’m never again going to be able to buy a MacBook with the same degree of upgradability as my classic MacBook Pro,” Lovejoy writes. “Whatever RAM I opt for when I buy it, that’s all the RAM it will ever have.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A long time ago, we used to have 17-inch MacBook Pros that we lugged around and also docked into larger monitors, drive arrays, keyboards, mice, etc. at our desks. It was the worst of both worlds. Back-breaking “portability” and underpowered desktops.
Our way of looking at it today: You buy a portable Mac for – ahem – portability and you spec your desktop Mac for as much performance as possible. As always, max out the RAM in both if your budget allows. That’s why we have 27-inch iMacs (dual displays) on our desks and 11-inch MacBook Airs (still waiting to see what Apple releases in portable Macs this year before upgrading – likely to 12-inch MacBooks). With macOS’s Continuity features, pretty much everything is in sync between both machines, so they act as one.
