# My Mac died - what new Mac should I get? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 15, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440 "2011-02-15T11:01:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/1 "2011-02-15T11:01:06Z")
I mentioned a while ago that my Mac book died . What type of new Mac should I get? I’m not a power user - main things I use it for are word processing; internet surfing; photos; and iTunes. Must be a laptop. (oh, andif it’s not already clear, must be a Mac.) ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/2 "2011-02-15T12:02:13Z")
Any Mac is capable of those tasks. Even the Mini is a perfectly nice little machine for a non-power user. A Macbook should be fine. If you want to splurge a little get one with 4gb of RAM. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/3 "2011-02-15T12:05:54Z")
if the macbook you had suited you, then get another one 🙂 the 13" MBP is a little nicer looking, but only you know if the cost premium is worth it. ETA: and yes, max out the RAM. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/4 "2011-02-16T00:05:55Z")
I’ve been really happy with my 13" Macbook Air. Yeah, there’s no ethernet port or DVD drive, but the size and weight savings are pretty nice. It’s a pleasure to use and to carry. If you want the disc drive and a few other things, then the MBP 13" is also quite nice. I would not get a plastic-body Macbook. I had to replace parts of the case about annually on my old one. Aluminum is much more sturdy. And, of course, max out the RAM. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/5 "2011-02-16T01:11:56Z")
Another vote in favor of the aluminum case over plastic. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/6 "2011-02-16T01:17:11Z")
Another vote for the 13" Air. I got mine a month ago. It’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/7 "2011-02-16T01:18:39Z")
Go for the anti-glare screen, I should have. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/8 "2011-02-16T03:03:09Z")
> **[MacRumors Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy iPhone, Mac, iPad](https://buyersguide.macrumors.com/)** > > This page provides a product summary for each Apple model. The intent is to provide our best recommendations regarding current product cycles, and to provide a summary of currently available rumors for each model. This page is based on rumors and... Based on where we are in the release cycle, Macbook Air. For your use cases, I think the 13" should be ideal. You don’t need lots of storage unless you have a huge music collection or lots of movies; if that’s the case then you want a Macbook Pro. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/9 "2011-02-16T07:15:57Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Must be a laptop. (oh, andif it’s not already clear, must be a Mac.) With the massive profusion of options, it is really difficult to figure out. 😉 Seriously, I am a “power user” (i.e. I run NumPy/SciPy, some post-processing and visualization apps, and burn DVDs) and I think a standard MacBook would have been more than adequate for my uses. I ended up buying the MacBook Pro only because I wanted a 15" screen, the anti-gloss screen, and additional memory that allows me to run calculations on larger datasets without so much time-consuming writing to disk. (Anything really huge I’d run on a cluster, but I haven’t gotten that far yet with mpi4py or Scientific.MPI). I also like the aluminum chassis, which has proved to be durable despite travel and some unintended abuse. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/10 "2011-02-16T17:28:23Z")
I believe the Macbook Air can take any external DVD drive you can throw at it, so I wouldn’t just avoid it for its lack of drive unless you are almost always working on stuff that actually needs a disk. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-mac-died-what-new-mac-should-i-get/571440/11 "2011-02-16T18:14:52Z")
My wild and crazy suggestion is a two-prong approach: get yourself a Mini for at-home use and an iPad for everything else. If your needs are fairly simple, this could be the cheapest, most versatile solution. Plus, iPads are cool! 🙂