Laptop mostly for Internet Use

[ginhb]

At home I use an iMac for nearly everything. When traveling I used to take my iPad (original iPad Air). At this point I'd like to purchase one of the MacBooks for that purpose, but I've never owned a Mac laptop before.

It won't need to run any big applications, just the included Mac apps, email and web browsing. But at the same time I don't want a laptop that feels sluggish to use. I plan to buy new, or refurbished from Apple. Suggestions for a good starting model? Thanks

 

[TopherMan12]

At home I use an iMac for nearly everything. When traveling I used to take my iPad (original iPad Air). At this point I'd like to purchase one of the MacBooks for that purpose, but I've never owned a Mac laptop before.

It won't need to run any big applications, just the included Mac apps, email and web browsing. But at the same time I don't want a laptop that feels sluggish to use. I plan to buy new, or refurbished from Apple. Suggestions for a good starting model? Thanks

Sounds like the cheapest current model would meet your needs. The low end Macbook Air can be bought right now for $650 on Amazon in the US.

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MacBoo...+air&qid=1575038017&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&sr=8-3

 

[ginhb]

Thanks TopherMan, that looks like a good starting point. Some deals going on right now......

 

[sracer]

At home I use an iMac for nearly everything. When traveling I used to take my iPad (original iPad Air). At this point I'd like to purchase one of the MacBooks for that purpose, but I've never owned a Mac laptop before.

It won't need to run any big applications, just the included Mac apps, email and web browsing. But at the same time I don't want a laptop that feels sluggish to use. I plan to buy new, or refurbished from Apple. Suggestions for a good starting model? Thanks

Given what your needs are, I suggest considering a chromebook. Although I have an iMac in my home office, and a Macbook Air, I sometimes use a chromebook when out and about. I will go to icloud.com and use the web version of Apple's apps with great success... and for those times when I need to do something on my iMac, I use Jump Desktop to remote into my iMac from my chromebook.

There are plenty of inexpensive (under $300) chromebooks that would be capable of this kind of usage that you can kick the tires on to see if that is something that would work for you. If not, Costco is selling new 2017 13" MBA w/i7 for $699 which is the only Apple notebook that I would recommend (and the one that I currently use).

 

[revmacian]

At home I use an iMac for nearly everything. When traveling I used to take my iPad (original iPad Air). At this point I'd like to purchase one of the MacBooks for that purpose, but I've never owned a Mac laptop before.

It won't need to run any big applications, just the included Mac apps, email and web browsing. But at the same time I don't want a laptop that feels sluggish to use. I plan to buy new, or refurbished from Apple. Suggestions for a good starting model? Thanks

I bought the MacBook Air (2019 base model) earlier this month. I use it for web browsing (Safari), email, calendar, maps, messages, Notes.app, Reminders.app, photos, Numbers.app, Pages.app, GIMP (image creation & editing) - mostly Apple stock apps.

I have not noticed any lag, beach-balling, excessive heat, crashes, loss of data or other major issues. This machine actually impressed me, I expected it to be bottom-of-the-barrel but it runs like a champ. Best computer I've ever purchased.

I highly recommend the 2019 MacBook Air. Being that it's an Apple product it should integrate well with your iMac.