Which MacBook Pro / Air

[michelg1970]

This question has probably been asked 10 million times already but as I saw - each time from a different perspective.

My case:

I have a 13" MacBook Pro (2010) 2.4 GHz with 8 GB memory and 128 GB SSD. I use it for work (virtualized my office Windows in Parallels - standard issue - cannot differ) in the corporate network, for at home (browsing, work, etc.) and for movies when I travel (quite a bit).

I love the size and weight and bought it at that time in order to be able to upgrade which I did (HD to SSD, 4 GB to 8 GB).

All other computer heavy tasks (downloading, rar unpacking, iPhoto, iMovie, MKV to MP4) I do with my living room based Mac Mini server 2011 - now with one SSD and 8 GB, soon with twin SSD and 16 GB men.

My iMac of 2009 is more or less obsolete.

What I want is a powerful laptop to replace the macbook pro and the iMac for day-to-day use as given above.

My initial preference would be a MBA 2012 (2.0 i7,8 GB, 256 GB flash) and extend it at home with a T-bolt Diplay but I would like to receive your considerations: MBA 13" or MBP 13" or MBP 15" - current models or last years' models. Retina MBP is off the scale so to speak.

Thanks in advance and sorry if I asked the obvious question AGAIN....

Thanks,
Michel

 

[michelg1970]

No one?

 

[michelg1970]

Sometimes it is just fun to read what you wrote yourself over 10 years ago... Reading the above, at the time I ended up with a 13 inch MB Pro, replaced two years later by the Retina version.

And no one answered! 🤣

If only I knew then what I know now! And still am asking similar questions when Apple brings out a new machine. More recently the M1 Air, M1 MB Pro 14 inch and last week the Mac Mini.

Great that this forum exists!

 

[jmoore5196]

I'm glad you found your own pondering entertaining some years later, and flatly surprised that no one weighed in to offer thoughts or an opinion.

 

[Chancha]

In hindsight the obvious superior choice would have been the first 15" retina, if not the 13" (which launched later than your post?). The leap was akin to what we got in the M1 Pro 14" 16" generation.

Though with what you did get, I assume is a 2012 unibody 13" MBP, then at least it has a few critical upgrades from your 2010: the Core2Duo became i5/i7 (duo core quad thread even), the miniDP became Thunderbolt, and USB2 became USB3 ports, all made huge differences. I myself kept using my 2011 13", held until 2016 before upgrading to a 2015 15" with dGPU. That 13" underwent RAM upgrade, 2 times SSD upgrade, optical bay swapping for a 2nd HDD etc. That unibody generation was a great era of MBP anyway, and with perhaps the non-retina screen being its weakest link down the road.

 

[maflynn]

If only I knew then what I know now!

Sage words indeed, not just limited to computer buying