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Title
Small Mac Notebooks, January 2018 Edition
Description
<h>Use Cases</h>
This evaluation is for a machine that is excellent at the following tasks:
<ul>
Photo editing with Photos
Playing HD movies
Using Word processors like Pages and Word
</ul>
The following tasks are not a priority:
<ul>
Playing high-powered 3D games
Video editing
</ul>
<h>Requirements</h>
<ul>
Must run MacOS<fn>
Must be relatively quiet (fan noise only in extreme usage scenarios)
Long battery life (6+ hours)
Lightweight/portable/easy to store in most bags
Sturdy (doesn't feel plastic-y or cheap)
High-quality touchpad and keyboard
High-resolution screen (i.e. "retina")
At least a solid I5 Kaby chip
At least 8GB of RAM
</ul>
<h>Models</h>
Since portability is a requirement, we're going to take a look at two smaller models, leaving out the 15" MacBook Pro, which is more of a high-end, developer-style machine.
<h level="3">12-inch MacBook Pro</h>
Pros:
<ul>
Runs MacOS
No fan, so it's dead silent
10-hour battery life
Under 1kg and smaller than a sheet of Letter-size paper
12" Retina display with native 2304-by-1440 resolution
Full-size keyboard and large touchpad with Force Touch
1.3GHz i5 (turbo to 3.2GHz) or 1.4GHz i7 (turbo to 3.6GHz) (both Kaby)
Available in Space Gray, Gold, Rose Gold and Silver
</ul>
Cons:
<ul>
Lo-res Webcam (480p)
Only has one port USB-C port for everything---including charging. You have to dongle everything off of that.
USB-C port doesn't double as a Thunderbolt 3 port
At 12", screen space is limited; you can increase resolution, but sacrifice readability. Only 81% of 13.3" MacBook Pro.
Graphics card is weaker than MacBook Pro, but probably more than enough for a non-gamer
</ul>
<h level="3">Macbook Pro</h>
Pros:
<ul>
Runs MacOS
Experience shows the fan comes on rarely, even under medium load
10-hour battery life
Under 1.5kg and just a bit larger than a sheet of Letter-size paper
13.3" Retina display with native 2560-by-1600 resolution
Full-size keyboard and giant touchpad with Force Touch
2.3GHz i5 (turbo to 3.6GHz) or 2.5GHz i7 (turbo to 4.0GHz) (both Kaby)
Available in Space Gray and Silver
Hi-res Webcam (720p)
USB-C ports are also Thunderbolt ports
Has an HDMI out that can drive a 5k display
Speakers are pretty good for a laptop
</ul>
Cons:
<ul>
Lo-res Webcam (480p)
Has two port Thunderbolt/USB-C ports for everything---including charging. You have to dongle everything off of that.
</ul>
<h>General Comments</h>
<ul>
The standard SSD size of 128GB is a joke if you have any movies, photos or songs. Anyone who's been accumulating data for a while is going to need at least 256GB, if not 512GB. Apple's default size is set with a cloud user in mind. Most home users will not need that much space, but 512GB is a good sweet spot for me (I have 82GB of pictures and 112GB of music).
Not a heckuva lot of ports. The MacBook only has one. That said, you can get an adaptor or two for when you're hooked up at home. They each cost about $50.-- to $70.--, though.
The screen size is small for developers, but just fine for everyone else, I think. MacOS accommodates full-screen apps really well, letting you quickly navigate between windows and desktops.
The TouchBar looks interesting and having a fingerprint sensor would be nice, but I just don't see this feature being used that much. I've seen it in stores and it seemed kind of interesting, so it's up to the user.
</ul>
<h>Recommendations</h>
You're going to have to know for yourself, but here are the specs I would recommend for each model:
<h level="3">12" MacBook</h>
<ul>
1.4GHz Processor
512GB Storage
8GB RAM
Multiport adaptor for USB devices/charging
</ul>
<h level="3">13.3" MacBook Pro</h>
<ul>
2.3GHz Processor
512GB Storage
8GB RAM
Multiport adaptor for USB devices/charging
</ul>
<h>Links</h>
The following reviews were helpful:
<ul>
<a href="https://newatlas.com/apple-macbook-pro-vs-12-inch-macbook-2016-comparison/46356/">13-inch MacBook Pro vs. 12-inch MacBook (2016)</a>
<a href="https://eldargezalov.com/news/12-inch-macbook-vs-13-inch-macbook-pro">12-inch MacBook vs 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar</a>
</ul>
<hr>
<ft>There are certain killer features like Time Machine, integration with iPhone, the Photos application, restore-windows-on-restart that are a must for the user in mind.</ft>