There are 4 key reasons why you should get Apple's cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro instead of the new MacBook Air

13-inch 2017 macbook pro

Apple's new 2018 MacBook Air is a great laptop, but it's only $100 less than the cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro.
For an extra $100, the cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro gives you a little extra over the 2018 MacBook Air.

Apple's latest 2018 MacBook Air is a welcome update over the original and severly aging MacBook Air — but you might be better off getting the cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro instead.

It's not because the 2018 MacBook Air is a bad laptop. Rather, it's because it'll only cost you an extra $100 to buy the base model of the 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro. Indeed, the 2018 MacBook Air costs $1,200 and the cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro costs $1,300.

For $100 extra, you get a slightly better laptop overall in the cheapest MacBook Pro than the 2018 MacBook Air. The 2018 MacBook Air would have been a no-brainer for a lot of people had it cost $1,000 like the original, but that's not the case.

Here's why you should consider the cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro over the 2018 MacBook Air:

The 2018 MacBook Air isn't that much lighter than the cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro.

One of the main reasons to buy a MacBook Air over pretty much any other laptop is because of its incredibly light weight. But the difference between the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro isn't that stark.

The MacBook Air weighs 2.75 pounds and the MacBook Pro weighs 3 pounds. It's a quarter-pound difference, which is noticeable but not too significant. It's not that the new MacBook Air is heavy, but rather that the recent 13-inch MacBook Pros are already so light to begin with.

The 2018 MacBook Air is also thicker at its thickest point than the MacBook Pro.

Another reason many would buy the MacBook Air over any other laptop is because of its incredible thinness.

Yet, you might be surprised to know that the 13-inch MacBook Pro is actually thinner than the 2018 MacBook Air at its thickest point. It's a mere 0.02-inch difference, but it's still a counterintuitive stat for a laptop that's marketed as a thin and light device.

With that said, the 2018 MacBook Air does taper down to an incredibly thin 0.16-inch thickness at its thinnest point, while the MacBook Pro has a consistent 0.59-inch thickness. So, overall, the MacBook Air does take up less space than the MacBook Pro, but not that much less.

You won't really notice it that much, but the cheapest 13-inch MacBook Pro still has a slightly better screen.

The new MacBook Air has the same 2560 x 1600 Retina resolution as the MacBook Pro. The main area where the two displays differ is in colors and brightness.

Overall, the new MacBook Air's display isn't quite as good as the MacBook Pro's, which comes with better "wide p3" color gamut, according to the specs. The MacBook Pro's display can also get brighter at 500 nits, compared to the MacBook Air's 300 nits.

At the end of the day, only professionals are likely to notice the MacBook Pro's additional color depth. The MacBook Air's display will surely be fine for most people.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider