Worth upgrading from the 2012 MBA to the 2016 MBP base model???

[OceanFrog]

OK, Apple fan here with a history of iPhones, MacBook's, iMac's, iPod's, etc etc etc. I've been following the debate about the new MBP's release, and I too am very disillusioned and disappointed (price, specs, lack of ports, etc etc etc), but let's leave that discussion to all the other threads here.

My situation is that I have a 13" mid-2012 MBA with the following specs;
* 1.8GHz Intel core i5
* RAM 8GB 1600MHz DDR3
* Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB
* 256 SSD
MBA currently has 390 charge cycles with a battery health of around 85%.

I'm looking at the new base 13" MBP with the following specs;
* 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
* 8GB 1866MHz memory
* Intel Iris Graphics 540
* 256GB PCIe-based SSD

These specs look broadly similar to me ... I'm thinking not worth the $1500 price tag (I know the new MBP has a far, far better screen, but I rarely look at the laptop screen as its plugged into an external monitor both at home and at work).

My use case is that I'm a professor in a large University, and I use Word, EndNote, Scrivener, Internet, email, PPT, OneNote, Slack, and a variety of browsers ... nothing too intensive and no coding or photo/video editing. I also have everything set up to work with my current monitors, keyboard/mouse, external backup, and a variety of other peripherals. I own no USB-C devices.

So, is it worth the upgrade for me? I'm tempted to jump, but also tempted to wait another year or two as I don't think I'd see a massive difference in computing power/speed. Am I correct in thinking this? Any other thoughts/opinions are very welcome.

 

[AustinIllini]

I would go for it. The screen will be more than worth it upgrading from a MBA. The chip generations are full of improvements. I wouldn't look at the specs in Mac-land the same way.

 

[bodonnell202]

I think the main differences you'll see are the screen (which is a huge upgrade over the MBA screen, but you also mentioned is not important to you since you use an external monitor) and graphics performance (which based on the applications you use I doubt you would really notice a big difference). Any issues with your current MBA? If it is still working well it doesn't sound like it would be worth it to spend the money on the new MBP plus the dongles you would need to hook into your current setup.