If you’re shopping for a new MacBook for your home office, all the different options out there can be quite confusing. But don’t worry, in this article, I’m going to walk you through all the best MacBooks available today and help you figure out which one best suits your needs.
Table of Contents
What To Look For In A Macbook
When choosing a MacBook for your home office, the main aspects you’ll want to consider are, CPU, RAM, Storage, and Price.
All modern MacBooks are pretty similar to each other apart from these four things. So these will be the crucial aspects that help you decide which one is best for you.
CPU – The CPU or “processor” is the chip in all computers that do all the work, you’ll want to make sure you choose a MacBook with a CPU that’s powerful enough to do all the things you need.
With MacBooks, even the cheapest one will be powerful enough to handle most day to day tasks. But if your work requires you to do things that are more demanding on your computer. You’ll need to go with a higher-end model.
RAM – The RAM is where a computer stores everything that’s currently open. Having things like browser tabs and other apps open will use up the RAM on your MacBook. This means the more RAM your MacBook has, the more stuff you can have open.
For most people, 8GB will be enough RAM. It’s not a huge amount but it will allow you to have plenty of things all open at the same time. But if you’re a heavy computer user, you’ll probably want to go with 16GB. Apple even offers MacBooks with 32GB and 64GB of RAM which is great for power users but it’s probably overkill for most people.
Storage – The storage is where all the files and apps on your MacBook will be stored. These days, due to the rising popularity of cloud storage services like iCloud and Dropbox, storage is less important as you can easily store your files on the cloud.
But it’s still handy to be able to store all your files on your computer, and even if you use cloud storage, you’ll still want plenty of space for all your apps.
If you want to store all of your files on your Mac, you will probably want to get one with 512GB or 1TB (1000GB). But if you’re happy to store most of your files in the cloud, or you don’t have a lot of files, you should be fine with the 256GB that comes in Apple’s cheapest MacBook.
Price – It’s quite a commonly known fact that MacBooks are rather expensive. If you want to keep costs down and don’t need an extremely powerful computer, you can probably go with Apple’s cheapest (and quite reasonably priced) MacBook Air. But if you feel you need a more powerful device, it is going to get quite expensive.
Best Macbooks For Home Office
Image | Name | CPU (Processor) | RAM | Storage | Buy On Amazon |
 | MacBook Air Best MacBook On A Budget | 10th Gen Intel Core i3 or i5 | 8 GB or 16GB | 256 GB or 512 GB | |
 | MacBook Pro 13 - inch | 10th Gen | 16 GB or 32 GB | 512 GB or 1 TB | |
 | MacBook Pro 16 - inch Most Powerful Macbook | 9th Gen Intel Core i7 or i9 | 16 GB, | 512 GB 1 TB |
The Good
- Cheapest MacBook Available
- Good Enough Performance For Most People
- Physical Buttons Instead Of Touch Bar
The Bad
- Can Get A Bit Hot When Overworked
The MacBook Air is the most affordable MacBook available. It’s not going to be as powerful as the MacBook Pro, so if you need to be able to do more intense things like video editing, this probably isn’t the one for you.
But it will be more than enough for most people to do average day to day tasks.
The cheapest variation comes with a 10th Gen Intel Core i3 CPU and 8GB of RAM, this is fairly decent and should have no trouble handling basic day to day tasks like email, web browsing, and documents.
But if you feel you need some more processing power and RAM to have more apps open at once and have a generally faster experience, I would recommend this one with the Apple M1 processor and 16GB of RAM.
For storage, you can choose between 265GB and 512GB. The 256GB variant will be fine for most people, but there is a chance you will need to store some of your files either on the cloud or on an external storage device.
If you want to store all your files on the computer, you should probably go with the 512GB option as you will have a lot more space to work with.
The backlit keyboard provides a very nice typing experience that is significantly better than previous MacBook keyboards. For the past few years, MacBook keyboards had “butterfly” keys which were less enjoyable to type on and would more easily malfunction.
But now, Apple has fixed the problem by replacing the keys of every 2020 MacBook with the more normal “scissor” style keys which are more enjoyable to type on and will be more reliable.
There is one thing to note about the MacBook air that could either be positive or negative. That is the lack of a touch bar, the touch bar is a small touchscreen bar that has been on the keyboard of the MacBook pro for years.
It provides a few little handy features, but as it takes the place of the top row of the keyboard it can make simple things like changing the volume a like bit more difficult. The MacBook Air does not have a touch bar, which for a lot of people is good, but if you like the touch bar, it’s not so good.
So overall, the MacBook Air is a great, reasonably priced Apple laptop. And unless you need a seriously powerful computer, it’s probably the one for you.
Want to Buy The MacBook Air?
The Good
- More Powerful CPU and More Ram
- More Storage
- Won't Get As Hot
The Bad
- Quite A Bit More Expensive Than The MacBook Air
The 13 inch MacBook Pro is quite a step up in price from the MacBook Air. It is a bit more powerful than the Air, but you’ll have to decide if the extra power is worth the price.
It comes in several different variations with different CPUs, and different amounts of RAM and storage.
Option 1 – The cheapest variation gives you a nice and fast 10th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s quite similar to the best MacBook Air.
It has more storage and it’s got more physical space inside it so it can do some more intensive work without getting as hot. But really, this variation is quite similar to the MacBook Air but with a higher price tag.
Option 2 – The second variation is a great option if you’re after better performance. It comes with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU which is significantly better than the Core i5 the previous two have. And it also has a nice big 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
Option 3 – This option is for the power users. It has the Intel Core i7 processor and boasts 1TB (1000GB) of storage space. But it has a gigantic 32GB of RAM. With this much RAM, you could have as many apps and browser tabs as you want open at once and never run out of space.
Aside from having faster CPUs and more storage and RAM, the 13 inch MacBook Pro is also a bit thicker than the MacBook Air.
This is a good thing because while the difference is so insignificant you’ll barely notice, it means the laptop will not get as hot and it will actually be able to work harder for longer periods of time because of this.
The other notable difference between the two is the touch bar. As I said above, the touch bar is a bit of a give and take. The positive is that it can do some cool things like easily switch between tabs in Safari, get word suggestions when typing as though you’re using an iPhone, and much more.
The downside of the touch bar is that it takes the place of all the function keys that you would normally find on a keyboard. Making things like adjusting the volume and screen brightness slightly more difficult. All those options are still available on the touch bar but they’re just a little bit harder to access.
So overall, the 13 Inch Macbook Pro is a great middle of the range laptop from Apple. It’s more expensive and more powerful than the MacBook Air, but it’s also smaller, less expensive, and less powerful than the 16 Inch MacBook Pro.
This would be a perfect laptop for anyone looking for a decently powerful MacBook.
Want to Buy The 13 Inch Macbook Pro?
The Good
- Faster CPU
- More RAM
- Nice Big Screen
- Dedicated Graphics Card Which Helps For Things Like Video Editing
The Bad
- Very Expensive
The 16 inch MacBook Pro is the biggest and most powerful laptop Apple makes.
It’s definitely not cheap, but if you want an extremely powerful MacBook to do some very demanding tasks like editing 4K video, this is the one for you.
From the name, you’d think the only difference between this and the 13 inch MacBook pro is the size. But the 16 inch MacBook Pro is actually quite a bit more powerful as well.
Like the 13 inch version, the 16-inch model also comes in several different variations:
Option 1 – The cheapest variation has a powerful Apple M1 Pro or M1 Max chip, a nice large 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. It also has an AMD Radeon Pro 5300M Graphics card which will make it able to do things like high-resolution photo and video editing much more quickly and easily.
Option 2 – The next step up has an even more powerful 9th Gen Intel Core i9 CPU, the same 16GB of RAM as option 1, and 1TB (1000GB) of storage. It also has a more powerful AMD Radeon Pro 5500M Graphics card for even better performance when doing graphical tasks.
Option 3 – The third option is very similar to option 2, with the same 9th Gen Intel Core i9 CPU, the same 1TB (1000GB) of storage, and the same AMD Radeon Pro 5500M Graphics card. But this one has a massive 32GB of RAM which is incredibly large and will allow you to have as much as you want open simultaneously.
Option 4 – The fourth and final option is pretty much the same again, except this one has an even bigger 64GB of RAM! If you want the best MacBook ever made, this is it!
Unless you know you need a lot of RAM for something specific, I would recommend going with option 2 to get the better processor and graphics without the higher price of options 3 and 4.
Aside from the performance, the only real difference between the 13 and 16 inch MacBook pros is the physical size. The 16 inch MacBook Pro obviously has a bigger 16-inch screen (measured diagonally), bigger trackpad, bigger battery, and is just bigger overall.
So if you want a nice big MacBook Pro, with next-level performance for some more intense tasks and don’t mind the hefty price tag, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is the one for you.
Want to Buy The 16 inch MacBook Pro?
So there you have it, all of Apple’s different MacBooks. It’s hard to really say what the best one is as they all have their different merits for different use cases. But for most people, I’d recommend the MacBook Air.
It gives you everything you need to do day to day tasks while still maintaining a more reasonable price tag.
If you want a bit more power than the Air has to offer you, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is probably your best bet.
And lastly, if you need a seriously powerful device, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is the one for you.
Once you’ve chosen your new MacBook, seeing as all MacBooks use USB – C ports, you’ll probably want to pick out a USB – C hub. And if you prefer to use a full-size mouse instead of a trackpad, check out my article on the best wireless mouse for your home office.
If you want to find out how to create the best computer setup for your home office, click here to read my full guide on creating the best work from home computer setup.
