Thread: 13” MacBook Pro Q’s

Originally Posted by W&KO

Looking to purchase a 13” MacBook Pro for our 2 year lap of AUS. We have limited space for the trip hence deciding on the 13”.

Managing photos, video, socials and wife art works


Questions,
Memory 8GB is standard or 16GB upgrade @ 300$ (I’m thinking 8GB although 16GB is probably reasonable value)

Storage 512Gb SSD is standard or 1TB @ 300$ or 2TB @ 900$ upgrades available. (I’m thinking external hard drives will be better value for money, maybe upgrade to the 1T

I read for both the above they are not user accessible....I assume this means not easy for user to upgrade later??

Thoughts....?

*****Before all the Apple haters, I know you’ll be dying to comment.....upgrading from a Mac Mini and have two iPhones and an iPad.

I've run 13" Macbook airs and pros for work for the last few years and found the standard memory and HDD adequate for most of the tasks that I do on the road. I think I'm leaning toward a Pro this time around for the slightly better battery life.
Most of what I do is internet based though and I run the Mac as a platform that could be reimaged at any time without me caring about content. Everything is now Thunderbolt 3 so be prepared to buy some new cables to charge and tether phones if that's what you do.
Yes, unlike the older pros they are not user serviceable and the storage and memory is soldered on the board.

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by W&KO

Looking to purchase a 13” MacBook Pro for our 2 year lap of AUS. We have limited space for the trip hence deciding on the 13”.

Managing photos, video, socials and wife art works


Questions,
Memory 8GB is standard or 16GB upgrade @ 300$ (I’m thinking 8GB although 16GB is probably reasonable value)

Storage 512Gb SSD is standard or 1TB @ 300$ or 2TB @ 900$ upgrades available. (I’m thinking external hard drives will be better value for money, maybe upgrade to the 1T

I read for both the above they are not user accessible....I assume this means not easy for user to upgrade later??

Thoughts....?

*****Before all the Apple haters, I know you’ll be dying to comment.....upgrading from a Mac Mini and have two iPhones and an iPad.

Unless you are VERY good at micro soldering the RAM and SSHD are NOT upgradeable. Get as much RAM as you can afford. The M1 chip seems to mean 8G of memory is enough, but I would get 16. You ARE getting the M1 chip, right?????

My plan would be to get the 1T drive and have a couple of external SSHDs for storage, backup and redundancy. Put 'em in an easily accessible place in case of unexpected disaster. You'll want to be able to grab 'em quickly.

There are two USBC /Thunderbolt 4 ports, so consider getting a hub to run the drives and still be able to charge the Mac and your other devices at the same time.

Have you looked at the MacBook Air? Similar specs, still incredible battery life, but cheaper. No TouchBar, but that isn't a deal breaker IMO.

As for the  haters.... we'll leave 'em in our dust

Originally Posted by Tote

I've run 13" Macbook airs and pros for work for the last few years and found the standard memory and HDD adequate for most of the tasks that I do on the road. I think I'm leaning toward a Pro this time around for the slightly better battery life.
Most of what I do is internet based though and I run the Mac as a platform that could be reimaged at any time without me caring about content. Everything is now Thunderbolt 3 so be prepared to buy some new cables to charge and tether phones if that's what you do.
Yes, unlike the older pros they are not user serviceable and the storage and memory is soldered on the board.

Regards,
Tote

Cheers....yes I see I’ll need to buy some extra bits and pieces to transfer data from phones, SD cards etc.

Hopefully 2 Thunderbolt ports will be enough....one for charging and one for other stuff.

Originally Posted by Tote

I think I'm leaning toward a Pro this time around for the slightly better battery life.

Slightly? The new M1 chip MacBooks are amazing on battery life.

Originally Posted by Tins

Unless you are VERY good at micro soldering the RAM and SSHD are NOT upgradeable. Get as much RAM as you can afford. The M1 chip seems to mean 8G of memory is enough, but I would get 16. You ARE getting the M1 chip, right?????

My plan would be to get the 1T drive and have a couple of external SSHDs for storage, backup and redundancy. Put 'em in an easily accessible place in case of unexpected disaster. You'll want to be able to grab 'em quickly.

There are two USBC /Thunderbolt 4 ports, so consider getting a hub to run the drives and still be able to charge the Mac and your other devices at the same time.

Have you looked at the MacBook Air? Similar specs, still incredible battery life, but cheaper. No TouchBar, but that isn't a deal breaker IMO.

As for the  haters.... we'll leave 'em in our dust

Thanks....

Yes getting the M1 chip

I believe the slight benefits in the pro is it has cooling fans (no a/c for us), longer battery life (might be handy as we will be charger from inverter, unsure what benefit the Touch Bar will be, better display? (I need to confirm this)

I was originally going to get the Air as the kids seem to get by on them for school. Once you spec an air with the same storage as the pro there isn’t much different in price.

Q I forgot to ask re: charging, is there a 12v solution or will I have to have the inverter running??

Originally Posted by W&KO

Cheers....yes I see I’ll need to buy some extra bits and pieces to transfer data from phones, SD cards etc.

Hopefully 2 Thunderbolt ports will be enough....one for charging and one for other stuff.

That's all I've ever needed although I confess I have anxiety when they are both used It depends a bit on your use case, do you want to tether a phone, charge the mac and use external storage at the same time. There is always the option of buying a hub as well I guess.

Regards,
Tote

dicksmith.com.au

That should charge it OK, although you never know when Apple will put something in to stop it (having been burnt with apple watch docks in the past)

Regards,
Tote