It’s Tough to Choose the Best Apple Laptop to Buy Right Now

It’s Tough to Choose the Best Apple Laptop to Buy Right Now
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It’s Tough to Choose the Best Apple Laptop to Buy Right Now

It’s Tough to Choose the Best Apple Laptop to Buy Right Now

Apple killed off the standard MacBook and entry-level MacBook Pro this week, theoretically simplifying its line of laptops to just two models, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.
But if you’re in the market for a new Apple laptop—perhaps you’re gearing up to go back to college, or your old one finally gave out—you have a tough decision ahead of you. There’s no clear choice as to which laptop is best, but here’s a quick rundown on the options available right now, and what might be best for you:

The MacBook Air

Pros: Light
Cons: Not so powerful
Starts at: $1,099
If your primary concern is weight, then the Air might be the Mac laptop for you. But even then, it’s only about 0.25 pounds lighter than a 13-inch MacBookPro (although about 1.3 pounds lighter than a 15-inch Pro).
Really, the current MacBook Air is the Apple laptop to get if you’ve had Macs for years and you want a no-hassle upgrade. If you’re after something that’ll let you answer emails, browse the web, watch movies, do some office work, and perhaps edit a photo or two, this is the machine for you.
You can customize the Air to have a sizable 1 TB hard drive, and 16 GB of memory, but you’re stuck with a pretty standard 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, and an underwhelming graphics card. This maxed-out version of the MacBook Air will run you $1,899, however.

The MacBook Pro

Pros: 15-inch screen option, more customization options
Cons: Heavier, more expensive
Starts at: $1,299
If you can find another $200 to spend on a MacBook and are looking for more power, you should go for the 13-inch MacBook Pro. You’ll get a slightly better graphics card and 1.4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, the Touch Bar screen (which for some is not necessarily a bonus), and a somewhat brighter, more colorful display.
The MacBook Pro also has far more customization options that can turn the laptop into a powerful productivity machine. On the 13-inch model, you can have up to 16 GB of memory, 2 TB of storage, and a 1.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor. On the larger 15-inch model, you get two extra USB-C ports, the option to choose proper graphics cards, 32 GB of memory, and 4 TB of storage. (The jam-packed version of the 15-inch Pro will set you back $5,149.)
A MacBook Pro shouldn’t have any problem handling whatever you’re going to throw at it, and if you have the cash and desire to customize your machine, this is the Apple laptop to get right now.

The iPad Pro

Pros: Extremely light, touchscreen, cheaper
Cons: It’s… not entirely a computer
Starts at: $799 (or $978 with the keyboard case)
A more abstract way of answering the Mac question right now is to just ignore it and buy an iPad Pro. It’s what I personally did a few months ago, and I love it. There’s a bit of a learning curve and you need to download a few apps to make it feel more like a computer (and proper mouse support would be nice), but if you’re on the move a lot, it’s a joy to carry around with you.
The 11-inch model starts at $799, comes with 64 GB of storage, and weighs a hair above 1 pound. Apple’s own Smart Keyboard Folio case is comfortable to type on, and with the advancements coming to the iPad’s software in the fall, there’s not too much separating it from its beefier Mac cousins, if you’re just interested in doing the same sorts of things you might use a MacBook Air for.
But then again, the iPad is far more fiddly to use than a regular laptop, so this won’t be the option for everyone.

Just wait

If you don’t need a new computer right this moment, my advice would be to wait. Apple traditionally holds events in September (and occasionally October) to show off new products. It’s part of the reason it runs a back-to-school promotion on its laptops in the summer—this year, students can save $100 off the price of a new MacBook, and will get a pair of Beats headphones thrown in as well—as the company is trying to shift old inventory before the new products come in. There have already been rumors that Apple is planning to refresh or redesign its MacBooks in the near future, potentially doing away with the keyboard design that has given users nothing but problems since it was first introduced in 2015. And that’s another reason to potentially stay away from the current crop of MacBooks: They all still seem to be plagued by the faulty key design, which can lead to keys getting stuck, not working, or repeating letters. Which isn’t particularly helpful if you’re trying to turn a paper in on a deadline.

(Quartz)
(Tribune Media)



US Supreme Court Tosses Case Involving Securities Fraud Suit against Facebook

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
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US Supreme Court Tosses Case Involving Securities Fraud Suit against Facebook

A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)
A 3D-printed Facebook logo is seen in front of a displayed stock graph. (Reuters)

The US Supreme Court sidestepped on Friday a decision on whether to allow shareholders to proceed with a securities fraud lawsuit accusing Meta's Facebook of misleading investors about the misuse of the social media platform's user data.
The justices, who heard arguments in the case on Nov. 6, dismissed Facebook's appeal of a lower court's ruling that had allowed a 2018 class action led by Amalgamated Bank to proceed. The Supreme Court opted not resolve the underlying legal dispute, determining that the case should not have been taken up. Its action leaves the lower court's decision in place, Reuters reported. 
The court's dismissal came in a one-line order that provided no explanation. The Facebook dispute was one of two cases to come before the Supreme Court this month involving the right of private litigants to hold companies to account for alleged securities fraud. The other one, involving the artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, was argued on Nov. 13. The Supreme Court has not ruled yet in the Nvidia case.
The plaintiffs in the Facebook case claimed the company unlawfully withheld information from investors about a 2015 data breach involving British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica that affected more than 30 million Facebook users. They accused Facebook of misleading investors in violation of the Securities Exchange Act, a 1934 federal law that requires publicly traded companies to disclose their business risks. Facebook's stock fell following 2018 media reports that Cambridge Analytica had used improperly harvested Facebook user data in connection with Donald Trump's successful US presidential campaign in 2016. The investors have sought unspecified monetary damages in part to recoup the lost value of the Facebook stock they held.
At issue was whether Facebook broke the law when it failed to detail the prior data breach in subsequent business-risk disclosures, and instead portrayed the risk of such incidents as purely hypothetical.
Facebook argued that it was not required to reveal that its warned-of risk had already materialized because "a reasonable investor" would understand risk disclosures to be forward-looking statements. President Joe Biden's administration supported the shareholders in the case.
US District Judge Edward Davila dismissed the lawsuit but the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals revived it.
The Cambridge Analytica data breach prompted US government investigations into Facebook's privacy practices, various lawsuits and a US congressional hearing. The US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2019 brought an enforcement action against Facebook over the matter, which the company settled for $100 million. Facebook paid a separate $5 billion penalty to the US Federal Trade Commission over the issue.
The Supreme Court in prior rulings has limited the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency that polices securities fraud.