In 2018 I bought what has to be the most disappointing Mac I ever owned, a 2017 base model 13-in MacBook Pro. It was to replace a used 2014 ex-Apple executive 11-in MacBook Air that suffered water damage.
The Air had a 1.7 GHz i7 processor with 8 GB RAM and 512 GB storage. The only reason I didn’t buy another Air was it lacked a Retina screen.
What made the MBP disappointing was the horrible keyboard and the fact that accidental damage necessitated the replacement of the two Thunderbolt ports plus the entire top case (which included battery, keyboard and trackpad. Also the battery was due for replacement anyway. Repairs came to over ⅓ the cost of a new Mac of the same specification. This was March 2020, before the arrival or announcement of the M1 series of Macs.
But now both of the Thunderbolt ports have failed making the thing unusable as it can’t he charged.
My computing needs are modest and would be completely covered by a “binned GPU” M1 MacBook Air (7-core GPU/8-core CPU). An Apple Refurbished Mac of those specs is around 10% less than the cost of a new one with the same warranty & new battery. The only real difference is it comes in a plain white box. I shall probably buy one next week.
Written By peemee
2021-11-15T18:50:00Z