What will be my new Macbook Pro? 

I have since August 2011, a Macbook Air mid-2011 boosted to the maximum of the time: Core i7, 4 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD. A machine that has given me full satisfaction but I think renew since the beginning of the year 2016. He must have felt it because this is the moment he chose to die from the keyboard. Indeed all the first line of the keyboard from a to O only works very randomly, and rather not. An evil apparently recure on this generation of Macbook Air.

Since March 2016 and the keynote during which we all expected new laptops from Apple, I made the choice to take an iPad Pro. Which serves me from the main machine. I love it and I could not do without it even for the taking of notes in a meeting. The addition of the Smart Keyboard also made it possible to bring a real more in terms of productivity. I really like this keyboard/cover which yet has its lot of detractor.But here, despite all its qualities, and the fact that it covers 90% of my needs, IOS is not MacOS, and the remaining 10% are still more and more frustrating in the long run. If only able to send documents on a USB stick, manage its contact groups, download documents, display a source code, ...
To complete it, I should have ideally turned to an iMac not to make "duplicate" on the mobility plane. But the only iMac that seems interesting to me are the 27th which are a little off budget for a nice setup. And most importantly, after almost 20 years of having a laptop in the main machine, I do not see myself being forced to isolate myself in an office to be able to work on my computer.

In short, I was waiting for real new laptops in the Apple range that left me doubtfully between a MacBook Air exceeded, and an aging MacBook Pro and a little too heavy for my liking.And so came out the Macbook Pro cuvée 2016.

The Macbook Pro 2016

Okay, they're expensive, the connection is debatable and not crazy performance compared to version 2015, but these Macbook "pro" are a real break that goes in the direction of the future and treat me to fan boy if you want but less I like these new mo Faithful.

First, they are beautiful, extremely well built, and they are fine (cuckoo Johnny Ive). This may sound caricatural this stubbornness for the finesse of Apple's chief designer but for me it is a net advantage from a Macbook Air that these new models automatically send to the shelves of antiques.

Its many contributions, especially at the levels of the retina display to the expanded gamut P3, the new butterfly Keyboard "V2", and Thunderbolt 3. This marks a rupture in terms of connection but also promises dizzying transfer rates and unrivalled versatility. Mean (yes, on this side) that we can make everything go through these ports: data, video, electricity, ...

Ok, they are expensive ... see too expensive, and it would be wise as 90% of specialized sites expect a second version next year. Only, I remind you that I have no more Mac worthy of this name since February/March 2016, and that I come from a MacBook Air mid-2011. So I need a Mac now and anyway, I'll take a kick at the C ... performance level.

A dilemma choice

In view of my "tight" budget for this new computer, and my need to keep this machine, as I have done for others, several years, the need to make the right choice is necessary.And this is the beginning of the twisting of neurons and reflections monomaniques to find the right model that fits my needs and my budget. Choose between the choice of heart and the choice of reason. React as a geek or accountant. Or succeed in doing a bit of both.

Because on this point Apple does not facilitate the task.
The first of the choices to make is yet simple and quickly taken: that of the screen size. For years I am on 13 inches, and this suits me quite. I seem to be more portable than laptops. and financially, the choice and also the easy: the 15 ' are in any way inaccessible to my purse.

So it'll be a 13 inch.

But the hard part is still far from being done because there are two 13-inch models in this 2016 range. One with the main novelty of this Cuvée 2016: the Touch bar (and Touch ID), and the other without touch bar, that many present as the true successor of the MacBook Air.

Besides the Touch Bar, which appears as having potential but is now underexploited, which has a real attractive power but that if one reflects 2 minutes (and this is what I was repeating all along the keynote) is very redundant with the keyboard shortcuts and What can already be done with the trackpad; The MacBook Pro TB (TB for touch bar, it will go faster) has some small improvements to its credit compared to the model without touch bar:
The processor is a bit faster (2.9 GHz vs. 2.0 GHz) but the turbo boost is almost identical (3.3 vs. 3.1).
The memory is 8 GB base on both models but it is faster on TB (2133 MHz vs. 1866 MHz).

TB has 4 USB-C/Thunderbolt 3-to-2 ports for TB-free. But on the 4 Ports 2 are "bridled" and are not exploited at their full power. The explanation hereWiFi is a bit faster: 1.3 GB/S vs. 867 Mbps. But not that it really shows up on a daily basis.
In short, the geek would take the MacBook Pro TB which has all the latest refinements and seems more forward-looking.
Only, when one pushes a little further thinking, and the accounting side takes a bit of the head of the operation, the MacBook Pro 2016 "Basic" is not devoid of inheads either.
Indeed, it starts at €1699 when it is necessary to pay at least €1999 for the model with Touch Bar.

Plus, he's the real successor to the MacBook Air, and it's a good thing it's a MacBook air that I want to replace and that was enough for me in terms of performance over the 5 years of its use.

The other advantage, if we can say, of its tariff positioning compared to TB, is that for almost the same price (€1939), I can have a model with 16 GB of RAM that seems more able to ensure a certain durability to the machine.

Another advantage of the "small" MacBook Pro is its superior autonomy of about 2 H to the Touch Bar team model.

There is also the question of the SSD disk. It is irretrievably welded on the model with Touch Bar, but is removable on the model without TB. Even if the connectors are proprietary, it still suggests more fléxibilté either to replace it in the event of a breakdown, or why not to upgrade thereafter either through Apple or a third party builder as Crucial or another.

Well, there are only two TB3 ports, but they are fully exploited and, on my MacBook Air, I have never or almost never had two devices connected simultaneously.
When to performance, even if the i5 2.0 may heat up a little more because it will have, perhaps, more recourse to its turbo boost, the power difference between the model with and without Touch Bar seems to be only about 5%.

The choice of reason?

In the end, the model that seems to match me more (although it frustrates a bit my greedy side of new technologies) is the entry-level MacBook Pro 13. It is devoid of touch Bar and touch ID but the uses still seem minor even if the developers seem to want to catch it quickly. It will only be fully mature in a few years.

For an equivalent price, I can have access to a model with 16 GB of RAM on the model without Touch Bar that will allow it to face the future without too much cold sweat. And the gap in terms of power will be anything more than significant by report to my current Macbook Air.

Even if I become bi-pôlaire to hesitate between these two models for days, I think it is the choice of the reason that will prevail. Ok, I hear you already tell me that the real choice of reason would be a Macbook Pro 2015, but do not overdo it either! The 2016 model with their sidereal gray delivered are too beautiful for me to resist.