Given their price, many see a new MacBook laptop as a significant investment. Yet in the current economic climate, everyone is looking for a good deal when buying new Apple hardware. You might be tempted by the many deals for the MacBook Pro that are popping up, but buyer beware… Apple has something much better to consider than the current discounts suggest.
This past week has seen several significant discounts on MacBook stock, with the 13-inch MacBook Pro coming in for some serious discounts of up to ten per cent in certain stores; these are third-party stores, don’t expect to see these in the Apple Store, although its refurbished units are offered with a nice reduction and the support of a full one-year Apple warranty.
Apple’s 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops are powerhouses in every sense of the word, with the M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets offering some of the highest levels of performance in any macOS machine while balancing it out with long battery life and cooler operating temperatures, backed up by up to 96 GB of RAM and 8 TB of storage. You pay handsomely for this, with the base model starting at $1999, but in essence, you are buying a portable professional workstation.
Meanwhile, the MacBook Air starts at $999, and thanks to Apple’s work with its ARM-based silicon it offers more than enough capability for consumers who need to do any media production or development that requires a bit of “oomph” in their laptop.
Stuck in the middle of these two sensible points in the portfolio is the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Its M2 chipset somehow lags the M2 Pro and M2 Max. Those looking for a balance of price against performance will find the 13-inch MacBook Air is a far better solution for consumers.
It’s difficult to recommend this laptop, but Apple has now released an M1 and an M2 variant, so there must be some corroborating data that makes it worthwhile, even if it is just the power of having the words ‘MacBook Pro’ on your overclocked MacBook Air.
Even if you are still tempted by the idea of an entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, remember that this model was launched in the first half of 2023 with the M2 Apple Silicon chipset. It is widely expected to be updated as one of the first MacBooks with the M3 chipset, and many analysts are pointing to October for a potential release.
While Tim Cook and his team seem committed in continuing with their awkwardly pitched MacBook Pro, they are continuing with this Pro. Who knows what updates and tweaks to the hardware will join the M3 upgrade? There’s a chance that Apple may offer something that justifies this laptop. There’s a chance that the laptop may be little more than a performance gain over the existing model.
Just one more reason why it would be foolish to consider the current 13-inch MacBook Pro.
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