Having a hard time justifying getting a Pro

[MacAttackKev]

I currently have a late-2013 13' MBA (i5, 8GB Ram, 256 SSD) that I bought on release day and noticed that I'm getting a Service battery warning, so I'm thinking about upgrading sometime in the future (luckily I haven't hit 1000 cycles yet).

Anyway,
I was really interested in upgrading to the new air, until I read about the thermal issues, which feel would greatly hinder the longevity of it.

I don't do much video editing (here and there during trips to make compilation vids) and no photo editing,
So the majority of my time
is spent web browsing (with tons of tabs), reading multiple research paper PDFs and editing word docs/excel sheets, and listening to music so I probs would go for more ram, but I don't think I'll need the higher processor?

Now enter the pro,
form factor wise, they appear to have similar dimensions/weight at this point and has a better heatsink.
The price is also about the same with the specs I want compared to the air, but it is still over $100 more for a pro with a touch bar that I do not want. (I use an external drive and SD card fairly frequently and would need to buy an adapter regardless).

I'm not sure if the whole heat issues are over-exaggerated at this point, but I'm just looking for other reasons that would sway me to the pro-line? Or wait and hope one day Apple learns how to add a heatsink on the air. 😐

 

[dirteater666]

if you have no sustained computational loads then yes the air is fine. Note that includes high res video.

 

[tothemoonsands]

One thing to consider: Many feel that the touchbar is unnecessary and they don’t want it. However, I urge you and everyone that feels that way to look into customization options that add value to make the touchbar truly special. For example...follow cryptocurrency or stock price movements? Add prices to be updated directly on that bar. Set shortcuts such as screen recording or opening a specific app/website, etc etc.

This can be accomplished with an app called BetterTouchTool. It’s super fun to dive in and set it up exactly how you want. Game changer.

 

[MacAttackKev]

One thing to consider: Many feel that the touchbar is unnecessary and they don’t want it. However, I urge you and everyone that feels that way to look into customization options that add value to make the touchbar truly special. For example...follow cryptocurrency or stock price movements? Add prices to be updated directly on that bar. Set shortcuts such as screen recording or opening a specific app/website, etc etc.

This can be accomplished with an app called BetterTouchTool. It’s super fun to dive in and set it up exactly how you want. Game changer.

Thanks for the reply!
I just checked that out and although it does look interesting, a lot of the shortcuts I'm seeing (via youtube) don't really interest me nor do I really want to pay more for something that I just find a gimmick.
I've only ever used a touch bar a couple of times via a friend's macbook pro and frankly, I just prefer the physical keys and value battery life more, but that's just me.