12" Macbook with i7 and 16gb ram

I have a 2016 12" MacBook with the m5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 512GB SSD. It does not run hot. I use GarageBand and Poser Pro 2014 quite a bit on my MacBook sitting on my lap. It gets warm, but never hot.

The 12" MacBooks and their CPUs are designed to run within thermal limits without needing a fan. To achieve this, they are clocked lower than the i5 and i7 CPUs in the (faster) MacBook Pros. Also, the 12" MacBooks will throttle the CPUs slower to avoid overheating. No fan is necessary due to the slower clock rates and (probably) more aggressive thermal throttling.

The 2017 12" MacBooks have those great upgrade options that you mentioned: 16GB RAM (not available on the 2016 models) and the i7. I selected the m5 on mine due to it running faster under load than the m7 (again due to thermal management.)

So, heat isn't an issue, but other factors may swing you to the MacBook Pro lineup. The MacBook Pros are faster, more easily expanded via more/faster ports, and higher resolution screens. The 12" MacBook shines with being briskly responsive (even for a slower CPU), quiet at all times since it doesn't have a fan, and very light weight.

When shopping for my MacBook last year, I went to the following website, notebookcheck.net, to check out the differences between the 2016 m3, m5, and m7 CPUs. They have recently done performance testing on the 2017 12" MacBook (on the m3 version so far, but you may find the information useful.)

Here's the website for the 2017 review:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-12-2017-Laptop-Review.230656.0.html

I hope you find this useful and no matter which flavor of MacBook you end up with, it will be great!

Hi,

With the lower power processor, no fan, CPU/GPU intensive tasks, it's going to run hot. I would definitely go for the 13" MBP which can also be configured with 16 GBs of RAM and is more powerful and not much larger. Get the 15" for a lot more power, although the obvious size difference.

Hi Jerr_k_730:

The 12" MacBook comes with a 1.4 GHz i7 which is an upgrade.

The 13" MacBook Pro i7 is 2.5 GHz and is also an upgrade.

If you compare the i5 to the i7 on the MacBook, I don't think you will notice much difference in speed.

But you will notice a big difference when you compare it to the 2.5 GHz i7 or the 2.3 GHz i5 on the MacBook Pro,

So as far as processors, I think the MacBook Pro wins out.

For size, the 12" MacBook is 11.04" wide and 2.03 lbs. The 13" MacBook Pro is 11.97" wide and 3.02 lbs.

If you are concerned about less than 1" and 1 lbs, I guess that 12" MacBook would win out. But I think you should look at both before making a decision. Pricewise the 12" MacBook with i7 and 16 GB RAM compared to the 13" MacBook Pro with i7 and 16 GB of RAM is only $310 Canadian less.

You may also want to look at the 15" MacBook Pro with no touch bar. It is actually a 2015 model without USB C, but it comes with 2.2 GHz quad core i7 and 16 GB of Ram and is priced at $2449 Canadian, which is $130 less than the 13" MacBook Pro and is much more powerful due to the quad core i7. It is a little bigger though.

Just my thoughts,

Kim

Hi,

Try to touch both at Apple Store.