If you look around at your favorite coffee shop or one of the many college campuses around the world, you are pretty likely to see one piece of technology all over the place: an Apple Macbook. Apple’s brand name and focus on quality products have made their Macbook the go-to option for creatives, students, and people in business alike.
A MacBook is very user-friendly but like many other products that Apple puts out, they give their consumer options and that leaves you lost if you don’t research what you want before going in.
Luckily, we’re here to help and with our list of The Best Apple Laptops in 2019, you’ll know what to look for before heading out to buy one. In fact, let’s start there shall we?
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What to look for when buying an Apple Macbook
Performance
While a dual-core processor is pretty standard for basic uses like surfing the internet, if you do video editing or coding that can put some pressure on your laptop’s processor, buying a MacBook that comes with a four or six-core processor is needed. Every MacBook released by Apple comes with at least 8GB of RAM and is enough again for basic, everyday tasks. If you’re using your MacBook as part of your design career, aim for something in the 16 GB or 32GB range.
Display
MacBooks are equipped with their proprietary retina displays making everything look sharp and color accurate. These screens can display almost 100 percent of the sRGB color gamut. While some offerings will support the much larger DCI-PS color gamut, this just means that the amount of color shades that it can display is more than sRGB. While for your average consumer, it is not a necessary feature, it can be a nice one to have.
Ports
Just about every laptop that Apple releases now uses one of two port options. USB-C or Thunderbolt 3. These are used exclusively for anything from data, to charging the laptop or even video. While many other laptop offerings may come with more ports, when it comes to the MacBook, you will want one with at least two ports. This is so you can charge the laptop while you have a peripheral plugged into the other port.
Weight and size
For some, a big reason they don’t like carrying around a laptop is the size and the weigh make it more of an annoyance than anything. Fortunately, Apple laptops are designed with these people in mind. Designed to be quite thin and lightweight compared to other laptops, they are easily carried around easily in laptop bags without becoming a nuisance.
Battery Life
Like many other laptops, the battery on a laptop from Apple should be able to get you through an eight-hour day of normal use. This can obviously be affected by doing work that uses a lot of battery life such as editing videos or using processor heavy programs like the apps from Adobe Creative Cloud.
Price
If you’re looking for a laptop within the $200 to $500 range, you’re not going to want to buy a MacBook, while they do cost a lot of money, the quality of the product that is offered by Apple makes the money worth it. The best judge to determine whether or not to buy on a MacBook is one that offers you a balance between performance, storage, and price. This way you get your money’s worth. You should think of a MacBook as not just a purchase but as an investment.
The Best Apple Macbooks for Creatives in 2019
If you’re considering an Apple MacBook, you should know that from the moment you get it home or back to your office, you’re getting one of the best designed, user-friendly laptops on the planet. Apple takes a lot of pride in the quality of their products and their cheerleaders will tout their products all day.
But if you’ve never owned a MacBook, you will learn pretty quickly that there can be many different options out there, so we wanted to build a list so you could see each one on its own.
If you click each link, you can get more information on each laptop or you can continue reading for an overview of each one.
- MacBook Pro with Touch Bar 15″ – $2,499
- MacBook Pro without Touch Bar 13″ – $1,299
- MacBook 12″ – $1,495
- MacBook Air 13″ – $1,099
- MacBook Air 13″ with an i7 processor – $1,549
Prices are approximate. Live prices are shown below.
Apple Macbooks Compared
The Best Apple Laptops for Creatives in 2019
If you’re a ‘90’s kid, then you remember the old Apple commercials with a Mac and a PC, represented by actors, comparing the benefits of each, which always ended in Apple’s favor. It was their commercial after all. What these commercials did though was establish Apple as a high-quality brand with the best technology and without many of the problems that traditional laptops would have.
That point of view hasn’t changed in the years since those commercials. Apple is still a company known for high-quality, easy-to-use products and its no different with their line of MacBooks. Each one on our list is a superb laptop and worthy of anybody’s home.
Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
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Apple MacBook Pro w/Touch Bar 15″
The best Macbook Pro & the best Apple Laptop for graphic design
Like we said before, laptops from Apple are not for the budget-conscious. The MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is the company’s best available laptop on the market today and that moniker comes with a high price tag. With an included Touch Bar and Touch ID gives you innovative ways to be more productive and secure while the four Thunderbolt 3 ports provide you more than enough room for a lot of your gear.
The word Pro has a certain connotation and this laptop lives up to the name with an available Core i9 processor and 256GB of storage space for those who need it. With an added DisplayPort, Bluetooth 5.0 and Dual-band Wi-Fi, there is a lot of power under the hood. While the graphics are powered by a Radeon Pro X, the display is the real star. The-inch retina display makes anything shown on it look amazing with True Tone tech and a resolution of 2,880×1,800, Apple has really made a powerful statement with their Pro Series.
- Brilliant Retina display with True Tone technology
- Touch Bar and Touch ID
- Radeon Pro 555X or 560X graphics with 4GB of video memory
- Ultrafast SSD
- Intel UHD Graphics 630
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Apple MacBook Pro without Touch Bar 13″
The best value Macbook Pro
While the previous MacBook Pro was Apple’s latest and greatest offering, the previous year’s model is no slouch itself and because it’s a year old, the price isn’t as high either. A 13-inch screen uses the same Retina display that its younger brother does and get power from its 7th gen 2.3GHZ dual-core i5 processor and comes with 8GB of RAM inside it.
Two Thunderbolt 3 ports are included on the laptop as well as Bluetooth 4.2. A backlit keyboard makes using the laptop in the dark much easier and can still offer up to 10 hours of battery life even though it doesn’t have the Touch Bar or Touch ID options the newest model does. While it may not be as technically advanced as the newest option, it is still a high-quality machine for any graphic designer.
- Dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
- Brilliant Retina Display
- Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
- Ultrafast SSD
- Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports
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Apple MacBook 12″
The best mid range Macbook from Apple
While it is weird to think of an Apple MacBook as a middle of the road offering, compared to the other options the company offers, this is exactly what the MacBook is and it is likely going to be the one you see used the most by people out in public. While it’s a little bit older than the others, it is still a very good laptop with a 1.3GHz dual-core chip that can be boosted to 3.2GHz as well as 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM.
The design may make it look a little heftier than its cousins, but it is actually lighter than the MacBook Air, only weighing 2.03 pounds. A major negative with this laptop is the inclusion of just one USB-C port. Even though it is a few years old, the same Retina display is here as well with colors that are sharp and vibrant. The battery life isn’t affected by the display and can easily give you up to 10 hours on a single charge. While it may not be the new kid on the block, the MacBook still has plenty of tricks up its sleeve.
- 1.3GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5
- Intel HD Graphics 615
- Fast SSD storage
- 8GB memory
- USB-C port
Apple MacBook Air 13″
The most affordable Macbook Air
Let’s face it, no matter which laptop one you pick, an Apple MacBook is an expensive purchase and can cause a lot of sticker shock. Apple surely realized this as well and crafted the MacBook Air to make it more accessible to someone who may just be starting out fresh out of college or starting a new career.
The newest version of the Air gets a screen upgrade to a 13.3-inch Retina Display that comes with a resolution of 2,560×1,600 compared to 1,440×900 on its previous iteration. It gives you a much sharper image which can make all the difference especially if you are editing or drawing pictures or video. While it only has 8GB of Ram and uses an Intel UHD 617 chip, it’s not going to be the best option for gaming if you’re into that, but it’s a strong little machine.
The battery life of 12 hours makes it one of the longer lasting offerings from Apple while the addition of the Touch ID and larger Force Touch Trackpad will give you a sense of getting a great machine at an affordable price.
- Stunning 13. 3-Inch Retina Display
- Touch ID
- Dual-core 8th-Generation Intel Core i5 Processor
- Intel UHD Graphics 617
- Fast SSD Storage
Apple MacBook Air 13″ with i7 processor
The lightest & most powerful Apple Macbook
When the redesigned MacBook Air was announced, many new and longtime fans of Apple products were big fans but wanted a faster processor to help make it a laptop that not only looks good but can get things done as well.
A processor using a dual-core i7 is clocked at 2.2GHz while the Air contains the standard 8GB of RAM while storage is directed to a 512GB SSD, which is large enough for most average users. While the display only has a resolution of 1,400×900 and an IntelHD 6000 chip powers the graphics are the best available, the connectivity options make up for it with a Thunderbolt 2 port, 2 USB 3 ports, an SDXC port, and a MagSafe 2 port.
Built to be an excellent portable laptop that’s built to be reliable, the MacBook Air may have some shortcomings but is an excellent choice for just about anyone.
- 2.2GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
- 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory. Weight is 2.96 pounds
- 512GB SSD storage
- Intel HD Graphics 6000
- Backlit keyboard
Choosing the Best Apple MacBook for Your Needs
Apple has a long tradition of offering quality products that are built to last and even have great resale value. While in our opinion, the best MacBook available is the Pro with Touch Bar included, it can be a bit too pricey for some.
Any of the options featured on our list of the Best Apple MacBooks For Creatives in 2019 are worth a look and a consideration for your hard-earned money.
Apple Macbooks Compared
Do you have an Apple MacBook? Tell why you love it in the comments below!!
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