Help me choose the most appropriate Mac

[antomac]

Hello fellows!
I am new to Mac and recently decided to buy a second-hand machine.
For my budget I have to choose between the following machines:
1. Macbook Air 2017 i5 1.8 GHz / 13.3" / 8GB RAM / Intel HD Graphics 6000 / 128 SSD (A1466)
2. Macbook Pro Mid 2014 i5 2.6 Ghz / 13" / 8GB RAM / Intel Iris 1536 MB / 128 SSD (A1502)
3. Macbook Pro Early 2015 i5 2.7 Ghz / 13" / 8GB RAM / Intel Iris 1536 MB / 128 SSD
4. Macbook 12 Early 2016 M5 / 12" / 8GB RAM / 512 SSD (A1534)

All of them are at the same condition.
My plans are to work with it on the move, so battery capacity will be important for me.
At home I have big external screen, so HDMI adaptor will resolve the problem.
I look for the most robust device, with Retina display and backlight keyboard.

Please share your opinion.
Thx!

 

[leifp]

You have chosen three machines (the two MBPros are nearly identical) that have no overlap in usability beyond being laptops. As an added bonus, none of your choices qualify for the next version of macOS, meaning they will begin to become more and more vulnerable for malware etc starting with that release, when about two years of “security updates” will be your only aid, and it usually arrives later than it does on the most recent macOS.

My recommendation is to not waste your money on any of those machines. This is not a general recommendation: as you state that you are new to the Mac you are unlikely to be aware of your actual needs and whether such a laptop would be a pleasure or a pain to you.

If you’re just playing around to get an inexpensive taste for Apple laptops, I could only recommend one of the MBPros: the (non-retina) screen on that Air is terrible; the 12” MB was a wonder! But it was too weak, and the camera got lots of grief (reasonably so at 480p, unlike the present whiners wishing their 1080p cameras were MILC quality). Even so, those MBPros were not powerful even when new…

 

[prisoner54]

Ouch, @leifp - it's harsh advice, but somewhat fair. The thing in common with all those machines, apart from the 2017 Air, is that they're all on the verge of not being supported by the next operating system which arrives quite soon, September 2022. This means two things:

i) for two years from September there will be security updates only, so no big feature updates, and it will impact on your Apple ID account so you can't download the latest programs and

ii) after that, you'll have to either be comfortable doing some hacks to get an unsupported OS on your machine, or else install another OS instead. Windows 10 is possible, as are any flavor of Linux. Linux distributions that look a bit like macOS will generally be faster and more compatible with older hardware. But if you have to go the Linux route, you may as well get a cheaper Windows machine.

The 2017 Air you will probably have another year of support. But as @leifp says, it's a non-retina screen. You might be comfortable with that, it's bright enough, but as an ex-Air owner I was really happy to go get a laptop with retina screen (MacBook Pro, in my case) and will not go back to 1080p or 1440. If your laptop is plugged into an external monitor much of the time, this won't matter too much perhaps.

Both Microsoft and Apple are going through a weird phase of dumping support for a whole slew of machines in their latest operating systems, in the interests of 'security' (MS) or, well, greed (Apple). So equivalent Windows laptops at your price range may not make it to Win 11 either, although there are workarounds. See this great story: 'Some Macs are getting fewer updates than they used to. Here’s why it’s a problem'

If you're on a tight budget then I'd stay away from Apple, honestly. I'm not on a tight budget, but am waiting for things in the Apple world to settle down a bit.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Of the choices you posted, the 2015 MacBook Pro would be the best.
They are robust laptops, even though 7 years old.
The SSD is small, but I believe these are upgradeable without too much trouble (IMPORTANT: be sure you get the right adapter and SSD -- some 3rd-party upgrades will not allow OS/firmware upgrades!).

The 2015 can run Mojave OS, one of the best Apple OS releases.

More advice:
DO NOT buy ANY MacBook Pro that has the butterfly keyboard.
These are destined for early failure.

 

[Feek]

Please share your opinion.

Save some more money and buy an M1 MacBook Air.