Best Laptops For College Portable Entry Point

The entry-level configuration of the 13-inch MacBook Pro offers 8th Generation Intel processors in either Core i5 or Core i7 variants, while the upgraded 1,799 model can be equipped with the latest 10th Generation Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs.

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A tweaked keyboard and the option for a 10th Generation Intel Ice Lake CPU bring typing comfort and better performance to Apples already-excellent 13-inch MacBook Pro.

If youre a macOS fan who primarily uses a laptop to write and browse the web, the 2020 Apple MacBook Airs redesigned keyboard and lower price make it easy to recommend.

With similar specs and exterior styling across both the Air and the Pro, deciding which one is best for you largely comes down to which size screen you need and how much processing power your typical computing tasks require.

Getting down to the nitty gritty within each family is trickier, though.

Well walk you through all of your MacBook options to help you make sense of all the different CPU, memory, storage, and other component options that Apple offers.

See also our more focused blow-by-blow comparing the 13-inch models alone.) The MacBook Air: The More Portable Pick Apples smallest laptop is the MacBook Air.

Its a slim, sleek machine that measures 0.63 inch at its thickest point and weighs just 2.8 pounds.

The MacBook Air is also Apples cheapest laptop, starting at 899 for students and teachers or 999 for the general public.

Best Laptops For College Portable Entry Point

The cheapest and most portable entry point into the macOS ecosystem obviously has enormous appeal.

A low price doesnt mean the MacBook Airs screen is low quality, though.

Despite the fact that its not the highest-resolution 13-inch display you can buy, the LED-backlit panel impresses with its brightness and clarity.

However, it doesnt provide the wide P3 color gamut that youll get from the MacBook Pro screens, so its not the top choice if videophoto color correction or color matching are important to what you do.

It offers a far more comfortable typing experience than previous MacBook Air and MacBook Pro keyboard designs, which suffered from extraordinarily shallow key presses.

To fit everything into the small enclosure, Apple made a few sacrifices in terms of the MacBook Airs connectivity and power.

You may well need to buy a third-party expansion dock with additional ports if you choose the MacBook Air.

Inside the laptop, theres a choice of Intel Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 processors from the chip giants latest 10th generation.

These cutting-edge chips are lower-powered versions of the ones in larger laptops, including the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Theyre fine for tasks like watching web videos and editing text documents, but could struggle with multitasking, and will certainly balk at demanding requests like transcoding video files or applying filters in Adobe Photoshop.

In addition to the three processor choices, you can also spend some extra money to increase the memory (up to 16GB) and storage capacities (up to a 2TB SSD).

But since youll spend at least 1,000 on it, youll want to make sure to look at the other, larger Apple portables that offer more connectivity and a lot more power.

The MacBook Air vs.

MacBook Pro The closest Apple alternative to the MacBook Air is the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, which tips the scales at 3.1 pounds.

In return for a slightly higher starting price (1,299) and a bit of extra weight, the entry-level MacBook Pro offers a more powerful Core i5 processor.

In fact, every processor available on the 13-inch version of the MacBook Pro is more powerful than the equivalent CPU on the MacBook Air, in part because the MacBook Airs CPUs consume a maximum of 10 watts of power in order to generate less heat and help the battery last longer.

Best Mac Laptops For College