Can You Use a Base Model MacBook Pro for Design and Development?
About 8 months ago I switched from the 2017 15" MacBook Pro (MBP) with TouchBar to a base model 2017 13" MBP with no TouchBar. With talking about it on social media outlets and having it posted on my Tools, quite a few folks have asked me how well it works and runs in my line of work of design and development.
Short answer is, it works great. I definitely recommend it if you aren’t able to afford the larger model. In my case, I went for the smaller laptop because of my budget, the size, and not liking the TouchBar on the 15" model.
Although I do recommend it and you’re welcome to stop reading here and go purchase one yourself, I’d like to give a bit more in-depth of a look at the pros and cons I have found with using this MBP almost daily the past few months. Let’s get right into it!
My Setup
First things first, I think it’s important to talk about what apps I use on the 13" MBP to better give an idea of how applicable this is to you.
For Design & Development I use Adobe CC (Photoshop and Illustrator), Astropad, Figma, Sketch, Google Chrome, Atom, Hyper, and Docker.
For Administration and Business I use Notion, Spark Mail, Zoom, and Slack.
For Music and Production I use Ableton 9 Live and Garageband.
For Entertainment I use Steam, Apple Music, and Spotify.
The Good
I always like to hear the good news first so let’s start with that.
The Size
Even as a person with relatively big hands, it’s a good size for typing on without things feeling too cramped together. The trackpad is huge too, even with this smaller model which is great because that’s what I always use for my design and illustration work. The size is nice to have as someone that enjoys working from coffee shops with small tables usually being an issue. I’m able to easily fit coffee and/or food on the table with me even at community tables without taking up too much room. The size also makes the 13" MBP pretty darn light which is helpful taking it on the go and traveling with it.
The Screen
To this day I haven’t been able to find a laptop or monitor with a screen as good as Apple’s. This MBP is no different with a 3.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch. Having the great display not only makes it a delight to work with, but it’s also great for doing design and development work on.
The Specs
I got the very base minimum value when I bought my MBP, with the specs as follows:
- 2.3GHz dual-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
- Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
- 8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
- 128GB SSD storage1
- Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640
- Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
As you can see, not the craziest specs out there. But, the reason I include specs on the good list is because of how well the computer performs with the above specs. I can get my design work done in Sketch, code the design in the browser, and communicate with my team on Zoom, Slack, and Spark Mail all open at the same time. Then after work I can jump into Ableton, hook up my MIDI controller and work on my new EP. Then I can pull up Steam and play my latest game a bit before I head off for the night.
Apple has always been great at pairing their hardware and software and how well the 13" MBP and MacOS work together with no hiccups to report goes to show the work they’ve put into it. This provides for an overall amazing experience no matter what I need to work on at any given time.
The Battery
Along with specs, it’s worth mentioning how great the battery life is on this small machine. I personally love working from coffee shops so battery life is a big deal. On a single charge the night before, I get a full day of work hours from the 13" MBP. I use all the design apps I mentioned above, have video calls, have Slack open, and even run local servers with Docker, still getting around 8–9 hours of constant use.
The Keyboard
Although I’ve heard mixed reviews on the new Apple keyboard, I definitely think the new “butterfly” keys are quite nice. The feedback when pressing is definitely less noticeable than previous keyboards but I found myself used to it within a few weeks of use.
A small feature about this new keyboard I quite like is the elongated ESC key/ It’s a bit longer than the rest of the keys around it, making it easier to find without looking. This is especially useful for design and development work. This is a small but legitimate reason to not go with the TouchBar MBP options that Apple provides. I found the TouchBar more of a hassle to use than useful and lead to a ton of frustrating accidental ESC key clicks.
The Bad
Yep, I only found two things that I would consider “bad”.
The Screen Size
While the screen is gorgeous and the laptop size is great for travel on the 13" MBP, the amount of working space you get isn’t ideal. As a designer and developer, being able to see more of the artboard I’m working on or having two text editor windows open at once would be nice. Instead I find myself spending more time switching between screens than I would like to when working.
When I tried out the 15" MBP the size felt great and gave me a good amount of working real estate on the go. A fix for this is having a monitor you can use at home, but this won’t help you on the go unfortunately.
The Ports
As someone who records audio, uses MIDI controllers, and imports photos onto my laptop, having only 2 USB-C ports is a bummer. All the devices I have only connect using USB 3.0 so a dongle is necessary. Luckily I haven’t come across a time where I have needed more than 2 ports at the same time, but having that flexibility and on both sides would be nice.
This also puts a damper on your monitor use if you choose to use one. That’s already one port that is taken. Not to mention, finding monitors that support USB-C is a task already, best I’ve found is the LG Ultrafine monitors that start ~$700 for the base 21" 4K model.
Overall
Overall the 13" MBP is pretty darn good. Starting at $1299 for a MBP that runs design, development, video, photo editing, music software, and gaming with no hiccups is tough to beat. Besides being a bit too small for my liking, the ease of portability and using a monitor at home should fix what small worries you may have.
I’ve used this laptop pretty much daily for the last 8 months for the variety of use cases I need it for. I’m more than happy with it and am an advocate for using it if you’re on a budget or would just prefer something very portable.
Designers and developers alike should have no issues with this machine in my experience. I think it all just comes down to personal preference at the end of the day and think any model of this past year’s MBP will be just fine. And hey if worse comes to worse, Apple gives you two weeks to try out devices in case you’d like to return it before the time runs out.
I hope this was helpful, and feel free to let me know if you’d like more articles along these lines for different devices I try out.
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