I really like this computer, more than I thought I would. It's just the right balance of battery life, power, and portability for me. And, I realize I'm in the minority, but I love the keyboard. I had the last version of the 13" Pro as a work laptop, with the last generation of butterfly keys, and hated it. These are only slightly different, but I actually love them. They feel good under my fingers.
Understand, though: I only need a laptop for relatively light work. I built a desktop rig for video editing, gaming, design, etc. I mostly use my laptops for writing and editing, with some light photoshop/InDesign work thrown in. And I use the usual cloud services for most of my storage, so I don't need a large hard drive. Battery life is really my biggest criteria, and all of the benchmarks I read suggested the 1.4 Ghz Pro had the longest life of the entire Macbook lineup (the tests I saw had the 1.4 getting over 10, with the 2.4 models closer to 8). So far it hasn't disappointed. I've put in a few 4-5 hours sessions without the charger, and it hasn't dipped below 50%. So while I haven't run the battery all the way down, I'm about in line with what the reviews said.
Speed of the 1.4 Ghz is fine, again, as long as you're not throwing anything heavy at it. My basic thought process was it's only got 8gigs of ram, so I'm not going to be asking too much of it anyway. Why sacrifice a couple of hours of battery life for a slightly beefier CPU? And, again, in the benchmark tests I found, the difference between the two was marginal. I haven't throw anything heavier than some photo touchups, a ton of open browser tabs, and a few giant Word docs, but it hasn't stuttered, lagged, or shown any signs of strain. Video playback is great, and I the screen is beautiful.
It's not the perfect machine for everybody, but it's perfect for me, and that's all I'm particularly concerned with :)
Conserves energy compared to similar products.
As certified by
EPEAT
EPEAT
EPEAT addresses the sustainability impacts of electronic products. An EPEAT registered product must meet required criteria and can meet optional criteria. The criteria depend on the type of product and can include energy efficiency, reduction of fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-Gases), and end of life management. Products meeting 50% - 75% optional criteria are “Silver” and those meeting more than 75% are “Gold”.
Certification Level
GOLD
