Without knowing more, I would expect you to be fine whether you choose the MBA or MBP. Your mention of several apps open at once certainly suggests getting 16 GB memory no matter which model you choose.
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New 13-Inch MacBook Pro Announced With Magic Keyboard, 10th-Gen Processors, Up to 32GB RAM and 4TB SSD, and More
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Happy to supply more information if that helps form an opinion. Just super torn between both models. I would definitely get 16gb memory to upgrade the 8 I currently have. Would also get at least 512gb storage.
Perhaps overlooked in all of these spec-focused threads is the question of which model feels more comfortable to you. When your local Apple store reopens, maybe think about going there and playing with each back-to-back. Sustained intense processing (particularly video) would suggest going with a MacBook Pro but how many people have that kind of use case? If that's not your case, you might easily figure out which is better for you based on the in-person demo.
Yes, fair enough.
Both SanDisk and Toshiba (Kioxia) make it annoyingly hard to find the parts Apple use, so not sure.
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Right. I get why Dell wouldn't fit a full SD slot in there. I just don't really get the point of putting the slot there at all.
For full-size SD, at least you can argue that it's faster for extremely-high-end cards.
(During the brief period when MBPs had an SD card slot, there was also the funny hack of adding an SD card as additional semi-persistent storage that would be flush with the case. Really don't think that was a very common thing to do either, though.)
I wonder what the numbers are on how many people actually ever use that microSD slot in their Android phone. I've seen it, but that was in a fairly nerdy circle.
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I rarely hear of SSDs failing any more.
I used to swap the RAM on my older MacBooks; the 2002 iBook shipped with 128 MB and was upgraded to 384 and eventually 640 MB. The 2006 MacBook Pro shipped with 1 GB and was upgraded to 2. The 2010 shipped with 4(?) and was upgraded to 8.
I do miss that on my 2014. It came with 16 and will always have 16.
But I don't miss it enough that I would want the bulkier, heavier, more wear-prone old internals back.
Yeah, I think my iBook would've been able to accept an AirPort card.
I really think it's "make the device thinner, lighter, simpler, less wear-prone" first, "oh, and we make some extra cash on the BTO upgrades" second.
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Right now, the MBA is an excellent buy, especially at its middle CPU option. At $100, it's a no-brainer. Then, the only questions are how much SSD and RAM you need. You probably want no less than 512 GB, though you can always go with external storage if you want to save money (Apple is not cheap on storage prices). You also probably want 16 GB RAM at this point. 8 GB is OK, but, y'know, for a fresh purchase, you probably shouldn't go with merely "OK".
The low-end MBP (8th-gen CPU) is not a good buy right now, I think.
The $1799-and-up MBP (8th-gen CPU) is, though! If that's within your budget, its CPU simply has nicer thermal headroom, so if you exhaust the machine a lot, it will sustain its speeds better.
If you want to spend $1500 or less, get an Air and configure the hell out of it. Do go with the $100 mid-range CPU option. If you're OK with spending $1799 or more, take a look at the 13-inch Pro with 10th-gen CPU.
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And yet another lame upgrade by Apple!
More than lame is beyond pathetic
How can they dare to call this a “Pro” machine is beyond understanding?
How can they call it "Pro" with only 2 USB ports. Really?
It would actually be only one port if you think one is being used for A/C
- Same old 8th Gen processor, 4 core CPU.
- In order to get 4 ports you need to pay $1800! The only "Pro" thing is the price"
- 256 SSD for a Pro machine still a joke, even for an entry level.
- Same old thick bezel
- 720 Camera still?
Basically, the new keyboard and double the storage for the same prices.
Tim Crook is trying to charge you again just to buy the same computer and to fixed a failed keyboard!
Apple computer spec upgrades (especially the MBP) have sadly become a joke.
More than lame is beyond pathetic
How can they dare to call this a “Pro” machine is beyond understanding?
How can they call it "Pro" with only 2 USB ports. Really?
It would actually be only one port if you think one is being used for A/C
- Same old 8th Gen processor, 4 core CPU.
- In order to get 4 ports you need to pay $1800! The only "Pro" thing is the price"
- 256 SSD for a Pro machine still a joke, even for an entry level.
- Same old thick bezel
- 720 Camera still?
Basically, the new keyboard and double the storage for the same prices.
Tim Crook is trying to charge you again just to buy the same computer and to fixed a failed keyboard!
Apple computer spec upgrades (especially the MBP) have sadly become a joke.
no kidding. In that case, even the current lineup has too slim bezels and should be looking into purchasing the older pre-2012 designs for larger bezels and maximum palm resting space lol
Yikes.. that's disappointing. Those base specs are ****.
You are a bit wrong, there’s more than just the increase of a power limit, under the hood changes occur too. Furthermore, it is suggested that Tigerlake H-Series (8 cores) will be released this year which should be in time for the MacBook Pro 16 inch.
I think it’s great - I use a micro sd plus adaptor combo for my rMBP (late 2013) to fit excess media on. It’s right there when I need it - just pop it in. Keeps the 256gb ssd drive nice and clean, free from over clutter etc. It’s a fantastic option and cheap way to expand storage when you don’t need the storage actively. I can also swap it into my iMac or business PC with ease. I find it extremely handy personally.
with respect to Android, I can’t comment on how people generally use it. But I can anecdotally share - I had a Galaxy s7, s9 and briefly s10. I found it useful for storing media files or transferring videos. The s7 had 32gb of storage and I had a cheap 32gb card that filled up with high def videos
My sister is an s10 user, she runs a business with a large team and they share a lot of videos. Her phone has a 128gb microsd on top of her 128gb storage. Way, way more storage than I’d ever use on my iPhone but for her it’s a nice amount. She’s not the type to buy a phone every 1-2 years like I am. She keeps them for a long time, and when she runs out of additional space she will just get a bigger card.
I think a lot of causal users myself included simply use them as cheap storage options. Obviously not a replacement for a native ssd but for offloading files that you want easy access to they are awesome.
Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Keyboard
The Magic Keyboard is similar to its predecessor but it has a lower profile. Apple reengineered the scissor mechanism to increase key stability by 33 percent and reduce key travel.
(...)
Apple also refers to the keyboard in the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro and 2020 MacBook Air and Pro as the Magic Keyboard, which uses an identical scissor-mechanism with slightly shallower keys.[3]
What under-the-hood changes are present in the 10 th gen 45 Watt CPUs compared to 9th gen?
The $1799 MacBook Pro (with 4 Thunderbolt ports) is “better” than any model MacBook Air except that it is more expensive ($150 more than the top-of-the-line Air), is 0.3 lbs heavier, lacks the wedge design (which some find more ergonomic), and has a slightly shorter battery life. It also has the Touch Bar, which some people like and others don’t. It has a better screen (wider color gamut), indisputably faster processor, and faster SSD.
For the Air, the i5 seems to be the sweet spot, and would be $1499 with 16GB/512GB.
Processors are confusing, but the bottom line is that if you do anything that requires extensive processing over an extended period of time, such as video encoding, the Pro will be better. If not, then the Air will be just fine and is cheaper.
Of course, as a teacher, you do get the education discount, so the i5 Air would be $1379 with 16/512 and the higher-end Pro would be $1699.
Didn’t see a single rumour for 64GB RAM, the CPUs in this series don’t even support it. The upgrade was always going to be to 32GB, especially since Apple are here to upsell you
Reduced key travel... Another non-improvement.
Key stability? When has key stability been a concern for anybody (other than with the faulty butterfly design)?
It's all about slimmer, slimmer, slimmer, lighter, lighter, lighter.
If they want to make it thinner and lighter at least innovate a little and make a touchscreen Mac with a slim sealed keyboard-cover like the iPad Pro.
This is honestly the worst of both worlds.
After ~2013-14 it's only been regressions...
Don't get me wrong, the MBA is a beautiful entry-level machine.
But the pro is... not so Pro.
How will this model (the higher-tier 10th-gen configs) fare with a 4K external display connected? Lots of lag expected, or should these new and improved iGPUs handle that smoothly?
hopefully it'll be a bit better than my 2020 i7 MBA. It'll have the same GPU, but have more power to play with. In regular UI and regular websites it's ok in chrome and in safari, but news+ is laggy as heck. Plugging in an eGPU with RX580 takes away the lag so it's not the CPU that's holding it back...
My MBP 16 is laggy also with iGPU but if I force the AMD GPU on it's smooth in News+ also...
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While I think this is a fine laptop, I'll be happy to see what an AMD Ryzen 4800U Linux laptop can do... Hopefully soon.
There is nothing that I have seen to suggest that Apple is using a special variant of the 1068G7. As you say, the specs are an identical match. 28 Watt TPD CPU with base 2.3 and boost 4.1.
However, it is clear that they must be using an as yet unreleased i5 variant for the 2.0Ghz model. 1038G7 or 1038NG7 makes sense here. It can't just be a i5-1035G7 with TDP increased to 25W, because that CPU would still be limited to max 3.7Ghz turbo:
Ice Lake (microprocessor) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Yes the "NG" version of ICL-Y SKUs in Macbook Air is the "TDP-up" version and the 1038NG7 in the $1799 MBP 13" is a totally new SKU (which I believe Intel calls "single customer" SKUs).
Check out this link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1565...lake-mobile-cpus-are-these-in-the-macbook-air
Anandtech Quote below:
So looks like the differences in those MBA "NG" SKUs are Base Freq and listed TDP (which correlates with each other) but more importantly, it is using an off menu "T5" packaging which is even smaller than Type 4 packaging.
It's very possible that the 1068NG7 in the BTO model is identical to the standard 1068G7 with this smaller T5 packaging for Apple.
This is not unprecedented as the base spec 2020 MBA with 1000NG4 is identical spec wise to 1000G4 except with the smaller T5 packaging.
I was ready to buy a 14” MBP to upgrade from my 2014 13” MBP. My MBP is working fine but I’d love an upgrade just for the sake of it. I’ll wait another year and just save my money, thanks Apple!
It’s really not though, I watched a video today comparing the 4900HS versus the 10875H, Intel was superior in every test but one. These were proper tests, not benchmarks.
Wrong, Even 4800H is faster than 10875H by 9% on avg & 4900HS IS 2-3% better than 4800H. I mean come on 4900HS is beating 10875 even at 94W let alone 45W while being a 35W chip itself.
I really had to try calling your bluff on the older machines ... and you're correct.
PowerBook G4 12" (867mhz) with NVIDIA GeForce4 420 Go (4X AGP) graphics with 32 MB of DDR SDRAM Jan.2003
PowerBook G4 867 12" (Al) Specs (12-Inch, M8760LL/A, PowerBook6,1, A1010, 1931): EveryMac.com
Technical specifications for the PowerBook G4 867 12" (Al). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.
everymac.com
PowerBook G4 12" (1.5Ghz) with NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 (4X AGP) graphics with 64 MB of DDR SDRAM Jan 2005
PowerBook G4 1.5 12" (Al) Specs (12-Inch 1.5 GHz, M9690LL/A*, PowerBook6,8, A1104, 2030): EveryMac.com
Technical specifications for the PowerBook G4 1.5 12" (Al). Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.
everymac.com
Well it may only be a matter of months before we get the 14". We'll see. Apple is updating at near unprecedented frequency lately.