Do you know which macbook should i buy?

[Mata14]

I dont which macbook is the best value now but it shouldn't dost more than 1000usd.

[Avocheeseado]

the cheapest mac is 1000usd??

[Darkseth]

First of all: Wait for 15th, Apple Event. According to a Leaker a 14" Pro with ARM will be announced.

 

Source: 

Even if this won't be true, first ARM Macbooks WILL launch this Year, according to Apple. So i would wait for them, and then see if they're a good choice. If not, the Intel models could become cheaper.

 

Second: What do you want to do with it?

Best value also means, it has to be fast enough for YOUR needs.

[The Sloth]

Does it have to be a mac? i would wait for ARM macs or get a Ryzen flex 14. 

[DarkEnergy]

Did you actually visit the apple website or just assume macbooks are cheap somehow? The cheapest macbook is exactly $1000 (13 inch macbook air) and I personally wouldn't even think about getting it. Especially considering I could buy a used laptop locally that's 3 times faster for ~$300-400.

[Mata14]

1 minute ago, Darkseth said:

First of all: Wait for 15th, Apple Event. According to a Leaker a 14" Pro with ARM will be announced.

 

Source: 

Even if this won't be true, first ARM Macbooks WILL launch this Year, according to Apple. So i would wait for them, and then see if they're a good choice. If not, the Intel models could become cheaper.

 

Second: What do you want to do with it?

Best value also means, it has to be fast enough for YOUR needs.

Just work and school so nothing demanding

[marmour]

6 minutes ago, Mata14 said:

I dont which macbook is the best value now but it shouldn't dost more than 1000usd.

For $1000 all you'll get is a dual core- which in 2020 is unacceptable. 

Im not saying macs are bad, but you need to spend a bit more to at least get a quad core, even for light productivity.

 

For something cheaper windows based, look at the suggestions i left on your last post

[Jayraven]

Wait for the ARM macs to come out.

[pythonmegapixel]

6 minutes ago, Mata14 said:

Just work and school so nothing demanding

Why must it be a Macbook? I have a quad-core Ryzen laptop which I bought a year ago for half the price of a dual-core Macbook. Unless you NEEEEEEEED MacOS, Windows is going to be better value for your use case.

[Darkseth]

I would also ask, if it has to be Mac.
But the argumentations here don't make sense.

 

A Notebook is more than just Price and CPU.

Speakers, feel, trackpad, build quality, OS itself, etc.

 

For pure webbrowsing, simple Office etc, the Dual Core macbook Air does feel more smooth than a 15w i5 8th Gen (last Year's Thinpad T series for example).

So it's not possible to just break it down to CPU + Price and nothing else.

[Roswell]

If you say you're in school or taking courses (they don't check anyway), you can get the Air for $899. Better yet, the upgraded quad core/16GB Air is $1179. If you want better cooling and a much faster processor you can get the 13 inch MacBook Pro for $1199 or $1379 with 16GB of RAM.

[Darkseth]

13 minutes ago, Vitamanic said:

Better yet, the upgraded quad core/16GB Air is $1179.

Well, not worth it. 899 for base is a MUCH better deal. Or the Base Pro.

 

Both CPUs are not fast enough to benefit enough from 16gb Ram over 8gb.

And the i5 Quad Core has the same everyday performance as the i3 Dual Core. But it gets hotter and throttles not just earlier, but also much deeper down.

When you open stuff, browse, navigate, you won't notice any difference.

 

The base Macbook Air has the best Value over every higher Air configuration.

[Donut417]

3 hours ago, Mata14 said:

but it shouldn't dost more than 1000usd.

......... Not sure what to say. You do know your asking for an Apple product? You do know that Apple products are not cheap? Hell my MacBook Pro set me back over $2K. For the record $1200 of that was given to me by the government as a "Stimulus" Check. 

[Roswell]

2 hours ago, Darkseth said:

Well, not worth it. 899 for base is a MUCH better deal. Or the Base Pro.

 

Both CPUs are not fast enough to benefit enough from 16gb Ram over 8gb.

And the i5 Quad Core has the same everyday performance as the i3 Dual Core. But it gets hotter and throttles not just earlier, but also much deeper down.

When you open stuff, browse, navigate, you won't notice any difference.

 

The base Macbook Air has the best Value over every higher Air configuration.

Processor speeds have nothing to with whether or not a system can utilize a given amount of memory. Saying a 10% increase in cost for literally double the processing power is a poor value is also illogical. 

[SeraphicWings]

12 hours ago, Mata14 said:

Just work and school so nothing demanding

Base Macbook Air 2020 if you have to get it now

Or wait til Sept 15 to see if Apple decided to drop ARM Mac

[Commodus]

21 hours ago, Mata14 said:

I dont which macbook is the best value now but it shouldn't dost more than 1000usd.

You can get a refurbished current-generation MacBook Pro for $1,099, or if it absolutely has to be under $1,000, get either a 2020 base MacBook Air through the education or refurbished sections. I'd spend extra for the Pro just for the processing power.

[Commodus]

21 hours ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Why must it be a Macbook? I have a quad-core Ryzen laptop which I bought a year ago for half the price of a dual-core Macbook. Unless you NEEEEEEEED MacOS, Windows is going to be better value for your use case.

If someone says they're looking for a Mac, please suggest a Mac. Keep in mind that it's not just about specs; some people simply prefer macOS and MacBooks, and for good reasons.

 

To be clear: I'm the same way with the people who always suggest Apple products when someone's looking for a phone or tablet and the criteria clearly points to Android or Windows. We need to recommend what would make sense for a given buyer, not what we'd buy for ourselves.

[pythonmegapixel]

15 minutes ago, Commodus said:

If someone says they're looking for a Mac, please suggest a Mac. Keep in mind that it's not just about specs; some people simply prefer macOS and MacBooks, and for good reasons.

That's absolutely fine, and is why I posed a question to OP, rather than just subscribing to the "apple bad" mentality.

 

Given that they seemed unsure of the pricing of Apple products, I thought they might be unaware of the size of the possible savings from buying a Windows computer instead, considering that $999 is a pretty significant sum to spend.

[Darkseth]

23 hours ago, Vitamanic said:

Processor speeds have nothing to with whether or not a system can utilize a given amount of memory. Saying a 10% increase in cost for literally double the processing power is a poor value is also illogical. 

Well, more multitasking does requite more Processing power.

 

Except, it's NOT double the processing power, because the 4-Cores throttle much more under full Load, than the 2 Cores do. Check MaxTech on Youtube, they did benchmark-like tests. The i5 will sit below 1 Ghz under full Load. Daul Core like.. 1.5+- ghz if i'm not mistaken.

The performance IS higher under full Load (Multicore Benchmarks), but not double, thanks to the Cooling System.

 

However, for anything that does require full Load, the Macbook Air is the wrong device.

And for stuff that doesn't, there will be mostly zero difference between a Dual Core and a Quad Core. Like i mentioned, opening Apps, typing documents, browsing the web etc.

With the i5 Quad Core, you won't type double as fast. Apps won't open double as fast. Youtube won't play twice as fast.

 

If you really need more performance, you should get the Pro.

[Roswell]

1 hour ago, Darkseth said:

Well, more multitasking does requite more Processing power.

 

Except, it's NOT double the processing power, because the 4-Cores throttle much more under full Load, than the 2 Cores do. Check MaxTech on Youtube, they did benchmark-like tests. The i5 will sit below 1 Ghz under full Load. Daul Core like.. 1.5+- ghz if i'm not mistaken.

The performance IS higher under full Load (Multicore Benchmarks), but not double, thanks to the Cooling System.

 

However, for anything that does require full Load, the Macbook Air is the wrong device.

And for stuff that doesn't, there will be mostly zero difference between a Dual Core and a Quad Core. Like i mentioned, opening Apps, typing documents, browsing the web etc.

With the i5 Quad Core, you won't type double as fast. Apps won't open double as fast. Youtube won't play twice as fast.

 

If you really need more performance, you should get the Pro.

I watched this MaxTech dude on YouTube and then looked at literally every other review out there that contradicts him. He's either manipulating, lying or has a defective unit. They're not throttling into sub 1Ghz, lol. Of the reviews I looked at they sit around base clock at worst under stuff like cinebench. 

 

I also don't think you understand how general computing works. It's not some linear increase in processor utilization depending on your use case. If you fire up a program it's going to slam your processor's threads as hard as it can until it's finished loading. It's not like it magically holds back because it's something like Word or Outlook. Same goes for general use... If you actually pay attention to thread utilization, you'll regularly see them get maxed doing the most basic of things like scrolling a website or jumping around a big spreadsheet. 

 

Therefore, unless you're using apps that are so poorly coded as to not use more than 2 threads, you will see an improvement from the jump to a quad core, especially while multitasking.

[Darkseth]

Well:

 

Mostly no difference in basic Tasks. That's just how it is. For whatever reason.

 

Edit: i'm not saying, there is NEVER a difference. There will be for example video editing. But basic Tasks... not really.

[Roswell]

6 hours ago, Darkseth said:

Well:

 

Mostly no difference in basic Tasks. That's just how it is. For whatever reason.

 

Edit: i'm not saying, there is NEVER a difference. There will be for example video editing. But basic Tasks... not really.

Uh... he just sat there and opened Safari and Pages which were cached in memory. I don’t think he realizes that quitting in MacOS doesn’t flush the app out of memory.

 

Then when he FINALLY loads something not cached (Minecraft), it loads twice as fast on the i5. He also shows Spotify opening and rendering the homepage twice as fast but seemingly isn’t paying attention and says they’re both the same speed.

 

That video is pretty silly.