Macbooks: Good morning my Hedgehog family. I wanted to get you guys and gals opinion on Macbooks. I have a very old Macbook Pro that I have literally replaced just about every...

A. T.

Good morning my Hedgehog family. I wanted to get you guys and gals opinion on Macbooks. I have a very old Macbook Pro that I have literally replaced just about every component on it; however, last night the screen started doing some really crazy stuff. Splitting down the center, constantly rebooting and jumping around all over the place so I need to get it looked at. My question is which Macbook would be a good replacement? I do all of my editing on a big desktop Mac so all I would be doing is surfing the net and maybe watching a movie when we traveled.

SteveG Loc: Norh Carolina

You could add an external monitor? Just an inexpensive option

kvanhook Loc: Oriental, NC

I also rely on my iMac for serious work. But, when I travel in our Airstream, I use my MacBook Air. Thin, lightweight, and perfectly fine for travel. The problem I find with the "new" ones is the lack of ports. You may need an adapter to use a network cable, card reader, or USB ports. It depends on the model.

bkwaters

A. T. wrote:

Good morning my Hedgehog family. I wanted to get ... (show quote)

Why not an iPad? I have a MacBook Air and love it, but for surfacing the net and watching a movie the iPad or iPad Pro are probably better choices.

Hsch39 Loc: Northbrook, Illinois

I also have an iMac desktop, but for casual surfing the net and traveling I have a 2015 12"MacBook. Just the right size for my backpack. After 5 years of usage, it still runs great.

rustfarmer

I love my MacBook Air. Just the right size for me and got it with the max memory at the time (2012). Bought the separate disc drive and several adapters and later a 1TB backup drive. Almost never has any problems and not crazy stuff like ALL my windows PCs.

Brian S. Loc: Oak Park, MI

A. T. wrote:

I have a very old Macbook Pro that I have literally replaced just about every component on it; however, last night the screen started doing some really crazy stuff. My question is which Macbook would be a good replacement? I do all of my editing on a big desktop Mac so all I would be doing is surfing the net and maybe watching a movie when we traveled.

All of the current MacBooks and MacBook Pro models will do what you want. Pick the 15"/16" model that fits your budget and go from there. Keep in mind that None of them have a built in DVD player for watching movies. But you can get a small size external DVD/Blu-Ray player at Other World Computing (macsales.com) that will play all the movies you want. My wife and I do this for evening entertainment when we travel cross country on Amtrak.

Good luck

A. T.

kvanhook wrote:

I also rely on my iMac for serious work. But, when I travel in our Airstream, I use my MacBook Air. Thin, lightweight, and perfectly fine for travel. The problem I find with the "new" ones is the lack of ports. You may need an adapter to use a network cable, card reader, or USB ports. It depends on the model.

Okay, thanks a bunch. I'll need to start my research. What price ranges will I be looking at?

buckbrush Loc: Texas then Southwest Oregon

I too have an older (2013) MB Pro and love the use of the touch pad to do all of the cursor movements.
My wife has an I Pad pro but the use of the finger movements on the touch pad is not the same as on my Mac. I therefore suggest the MacBook Air is the closest to what you're using in regards to similar touch screen actions.
If you have an apple store near you I would go and test drive each of the Macs and then decide. Each of the newer units are so much more powerful than what you have now it should then be an easy transition.
The Mac Air is also the cheapest of the newer models.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I have both a Mac Book and an Apple Laptop. I find I don't use the MacBook as the laptop is so much more useable. And not that much bigger. It fits in my photo pack and I process my pictures with it as I travel around, as flying or in a hotel. I also back up all my pictures on an external drive and the Apple.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

A. T. wrote:

Good morning my Hedgehog family. I wanted to get ... (show quote)

If surfing and watching movies is all you need it for, the MacBook Air is a good fit ($1000). Just take your headphones... the speakers are crappy!

If you need a little more power, the 13" 2020 model of the MacBook Pro is a good fit ($1300).

If you want something that you can use to edit photos, the $1800 version of the 13" 2020 model of the MacBook Pro is a good fit. It uses a newer, faster processor, and doubles the RAM and SSD storage of the $1300 model. It also has two fans instead of one, so it runs cooler, longer, in turboboost mode.

https://youtu.be/eC8qy0xdtx8 and https://youtu.be/jK3AOK8uDJo are videos worth watching before you plunk down that much cash.

DO NOT waste your money on earlier versions of the 13" MacBook Pro. Only the 2020 model has the improved keyboard. (The 2019 models are being dumped at low prices, but the keyboard isn't worth the hassle! For the three prior years, Apple used a thinner keyboard that could be killed by a speck of dust. They had all sorts of recalls on it. The new keyboard is like the one in your older model (i.e.; it feels better and it's reliable!).

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

bkwaters wrote:

Why not an iPad? I have a MacBook Air and love it, but for surfacing the net and watching a movie the iPad or iPad Pro are probably better choices.

A. T.

buckbrush wrote:

I too have an older (2013) MB Pro and love the use... (show quote)

Okay, thanks, will do.

A. T.

burkphoto wrote:

If surfing and watching movies is all you need it ... (show quote)

Okay, thanks a bunch, that's good information to know.

A. T.

Brian S. wrote:

All of the current MacBooks and MacBook Pro models will do what you want. Pick the 15"/16" model that fits your budget and go from there. Keep in mind that None of them have a built in DVD player for watching movies. But you can get a small size external DVD/Blu-Ray player at Other World Computing (macsales.com) that will play all the movies you want. My wife and I do this for evening entertainment when we travel cross country on Amtrak.

Good luck

Okay, thanks a bunch.