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Discussion on: Which 2018 Mac is best for web development?

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Stephen Belovarich • Edited

After reviewing the product line some more I’m really feeling more inclined to consider the 2018 MacBook Air. I’m not really that concerned about loosing the processing power when I can still configure an Air with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. I mean if 2013 MacBook Pro or earlier still function as a web development computer, then why shouldn’t the latest Air? eGPU are actually somewhat affordable. If I ever want to expand the graphics processing power I can pop a video card into an external enclosure that’s even more powerful or matches current MBP. I’m wondering if anyone else in the community is really happy with their 2018 MacBook Air? I’m thinking it will be way better on flights, just more portable all around (but maybe not huge difference from 13” MBP) and still handle all the web development tasks I throw at it. Yes, even Docker, running VM and the occasional Photoshop and Sketch session.

FWIW that’s why I posted in the first place. It’s hard to decide nowadays. Five years ago I would have never considered anything but a MBP, but the landscape is different now.

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Jacob Paris

I'm running an Early 2011 MBP with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM and I love it! Had to replace the battery but still best computer I've ever used.

Unfortunately it's hit EOL for Apple Support and no longer receives OS updates unless I use a third party patch. Stuck on High Sierra at the moment.

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Prasanth Varikallu

I have a 2018 MacBook Air 16 GB and 256 GB space. I like it but I felt I should’ve gone for Pro since it’s at least twice as powerful and would cost only 300 bucks or so more. Go for the Pro

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Matt Crowder

My wife has a MacBook Air, 256gb 8gb ram. She’s just a masters student studying education, and she loves it. I just got the 2018 512/16/2.6 i7 2018mbp and I love it.

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Phil

I've got the 2018 MBA, and also have a 2018 MBP at work. I surprisingly miss the Touch Bar on the Air, but the smaller charger and lower weight of the Air is nice to have.

Also worth noting that the Pro without the Touch Bar loses TouchID, whereas the Air has it.

Definitely don't struggle performance-wise with either of them - the Air can cope just fine with running VMs etc.

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Stephen Belovarich

Thank you so much for confirming the Air can handle running a VM. It’s easy to be skeptical considering the previous gen were definitely very lackluster in terms of performance. MacBook Air still have Power Boost, will ramp up for performance unlike MacBook which cripple themselves in terms of performance. +1 for the MacBook Air then.

I used a 2016 MBP at work for a little over a year and I don’t miss the touch bar at all on my personal 2015 MBP. I would always hunt for the escape key on that damn Touch Bar. It’s annoyingly set in a little bit and not flush with the other keys.