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The best Apple MacBook for every type of user in 2024
Apple
If you’re a fan of all things Apple and looking to add a laptop to your gear, you’ll need to choose a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. These range in price from $999 for an entry-level MacBook Air, up to $7,199 for a MacBook Pro configured with every available upgrade.
Keep in mind, all current MacBook laptops run the same version of the MacOS Sonoma operating system and come with the same collection of more than 30 preinstalled apps. These apps are designed to handle the most common computing tasks right out of the box. All MacBook laptops also work seamlessly with Apple iCloud and all of Apple’s other services.
For most students or average computer users, a MacBook Air is a more affordable option that’ll easily meet your needs.
If you’re a graphic designer, content creator, programmer, photo editing, video editor, musician, producer, serious gamer, a MacBook Pro is definitely the better choice.
Which MacBook is the best?
This 2024 MacBook buyer’s guide, compiled by our in-house team of tech experts, will help you figure out which MacBook model and hardware configuration best meets your needs, without exceeding your budget.
Best MacBook for everyday use: 2023 14″ MacBook Pro (M3 Pro processor)
Apple
Plenty of computer users can easily get away with a 2024 13″ MacBook Air. But anyone who wants a bit more processing power and a better display should really consider the mid-priced 2023 Apple MacBook Pro with a M3 Pro processor.
The laptop’s 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display is absolutely gorgeous. This means that anytime you’re streaming video, gaming, editing video, working with photos, what you’ll see will be extremely detailed — with plenty of contrast and vibrancy. The display offers a maximum brightness of 1,000 nits.
We’re big fans of this laptop’s up-to-18-hour battery life. You also get plenty of connectivity options and ports, plus faster processing power than what a MacBook Air can do. Choose between 512GB or 1TB of internal storage and a space gray or silver housing.
While all of the MacBook Pro laptops are more powerful than any of the MacBook Air models, this particular 14-inch MacBook Pro falls in the middle when it comes to hardware configuration and cost. It’ll easily handle just about any task and could potentially replace your desktop computer, too.
Best budget MacBook: 2024 13″ MacBook Air (M3 processor)
Apple
This 13-inch MacBook Air, with its M3 processor, is an entry-level MacBook. It has a $999 starting price and is configured with 8GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD for storage. You can choose between four housing colors.
We like this MacBook because it gives you all of the core benefits of a Mac, bundled into a laptop that’s lightweight, portable and relatively affordable. The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina Display can showcase more than one billion colors, while the integrated speaker system supports spatial audio with Dolby Atmos sound.
Battery life is up to 18 hours. This MacBook Air will easily handle all of your everyday computing needs; preinstalled apps handle common tasks like web surfing, email, contacts, scheduling, photo editing and more. Plus, you can use the free Apple iWork apps (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) to handle word processing, spreadsheets and slide presentations.
The MacBook Air is versatile, customizable and the perfect starter MacBook for someone who’s switching from a Windows laptop, or anyone who needs a reliable computer on the move.
Best MacBook for students: 2024 15″ MacBook Air (M3 processor)
Apple
One of the core needs of any middle school or high school student is multitasking — surfing the web and word processing at the same time; taking an online class while managing a spreadsheet; or researching a project while taking a video call.
The 15-inch MacBook Air gives students a bit of extra on-screen real estate, which is great for multitasking. For a college student, we’d recommend one of the MacBook Pro laptops, but for younger students, the MacBook Air is a more affordable option that’ll easily fit in a backpack and continue running throughout the school day and into an evening’s homework session.
The MacBook Air is also a wonderful entertainment and communications tool — whether the user is streaming music or video, gaming, reading an e-book or participating in a group chat with family or friends. This is a laptop that’ll adapt to a student’s needs and provide an intuitive and reliable experience.
Best MacBook for creatives: 2023 16″ MacBook Pro (M3 Max Processor)
Apple
If you’re a programmer, graphic artist, musician/music producer, video editor, content creator, or anyone who regularly works with massive files and need the most powerful and fastest processing power Apple has to offer, this is the MacBook you want at your disposal.
Battery life is up to 22 hours. The Liquid Retina XDR display’s maximum brightness is 1,000 nits and the computer comes bundled with the widest selection of ports that a MacBook can offer. This gives users the ability to add multiple monitors, along with an external keyboard and mouse, so the computer can be used as a primary desktop — offering all of the power of an advanced workstation or production studio.
This MacBook Pro is equipped with a six speaker sound system, an advanced microphone array, a 1080p resolution (full HD) webcam, a backlit keyboard and a TouchID sensor that’s used to unlock the computer and approve online purchases. It’s the most powerful laptop that Apple currently has to offer.
Best MacBook for families: 2023 14″ MacBook Pro (M3 processor)
Apple
This computer is fast, plenty powerful, versatile, customizabler and portable. Choose between a space gray or silver housing color.
One of the biggest reasons for a family to choose this MacBook Pro: It has a longer battery life (up to 22 hours) and a more advanced Liquid Retina XDR display. This allows it to showcase sharper and more vibrant graphics. You also get more built-in ports.
And when you’re streaming music or a movie without using wireless headphones or earbuds, you’ll appreciate the six-speaker sound system that offers spatial audio with Dolby Atmos support.
Whether a parent is working from home, a student is doing homework, or a child is playing online games, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 processor will provide the computing power needed to handle a wide range of tasks. This computer easily handles multitasking, too. It includes a wide range of security, privacy and parental control tools.
Who should get a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro laptop?
Apple
If you’re already an Apple fan, the answer is a no-brainer. But there are other big reasons to make an Apple laptop your next computer buy — including battery life, safety and more.
All MacBook laptops integrate seamlessly with Apple iCloud, as do other Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and iMac desktop computers. As a result, your data, documents, files, photos and content can be set up to automatically backup to the cloud and sync with your other Apple gear. So, if you snap a photo using your iPhone, within seconds, it will be accessible from your MacBook laptop, as long as both are connected to the internet. The entire Apple ecosystem — including hardware and software (apps) work extremely well together.
All of the MacBook models are also extremely portable, versatile and have a long battery life (compared with most Windows laptops or Chromebooks). Each comes preinstalled with more than 30 apps, so you can handle contact management, scheduling, email, web surfing, photo editing, video calling and other popular tasks as soon as you unbox the laptop and initially set it up.
We also love that MacBooks are far less susceptible to viruses and malware than Windows laptops. And we’re huge fans of the design of both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops. They’re thin, light and have gorgeous displays. Plus, the MacOS operating system is highly intuitive, making these laptops easy to operate. You also get a wide range of privacy and security tools integrated into the hardware and MacOS operating system.
If you experience a problem with your MacBook laptop, AppleCare is readily available by phone, or you can visit any Apple Store to receive personalized support. To fully benefit from the support Apple offers, we highly recommend purchasing Apple Care+ for your MacBook at the time of purchase. This is sold either as annual coverage which auto-renews each year until it’s cancelled (the option we recommend), or you can pre-purchase a three year coverage plan that’s not renewable.
For more help choosing a laptop, be sure to check out our coverage of the five best laptops for 2024, the best laptops for high school grads in 2024, the six best gaming laptops for 2024, the five best laptops for college in 2024, the six best laptops under $500, and the five best budget laptops for 2024. Whether you need to know about the very best laptop computers or any other types of tech, we’re constantly expanding and updating our coverage to offer the most informative, timely and accurate information.
An American climber was rescued after she and another alpinist from the U.K. were stranded for two days at more than 20,000 feet in the Himalayan mountains.
Michelle Dvorak, 31, and Fay Manners, 37, went missing on Thursday after their equipment and food tumbled down a ravine while trekking up India’s Chaukhamba mountain, CBS News partner BBC reported.
The pair sent an emergency message but search and rescue teams were unable to find them.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
Manners told the BBC they were “terrified” as they tried to make part of the descent down the treacherous mountains without supplies.
“I watched the bag tumble down the mountain and I immediately knew the consequence of what was to come,” she said. “We had none of our safety equipment left. No tent. No stove to melt snow for water. No warm clothes for the evening.”
The terrifying ordeal intensified when it started to snow. They took cover on a ledge while waiting for rescuers.
“I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm,” Manners said.
The rescue was made difficult because of the conditions, including bad weather, fog and high altitude.
“The helicopter flew passed again, couldn’t see us. We were destroyed,” Manners told the BBC.
INDIAN AIR FORCE/Handout via REUTERS
On the second day, the pair began to cautiously abseil down the mountain. They spotted a team of French climbers coming toward them. Manners said they shared their equipment and food and contacted the helicopter company with an exact location.
“I cried with relief knowing we might survive,” she said.
The Indian Air Force said in a post on the X social media platform that their helicopter airlifted the climbers from 17,400 feet after “battling two days of bad weather.”
Chaukhamba is a mountain massif in the Garhwal Himalaya in northern India.
President Biden approved the mobilization of another 500 active-duty troops to North Carolina to assist in the recovery efforts after the deadly and devastating Hurricane Helene.
“With a total of 1,500 troops now supplementing a robust on-the-ground effort – including more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and more than 7,000 Federal personnel – the Biden-Harris Administration is mobilizing all relevant resources to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding,” the White House said in a statement Sunday.
Mr. Biden previously announced that the federal government would cover “100%” of costs for debris removal and emergency protective measures in North Carolina for six months. The Biden administration has also released more than $137 million in federal funds – including $100 million in transportation funds for North Carolina to begin rebuilding damaged roads and bridges.
Mike Stewart / AP
More than 800 people unable to return home are staying in lodging provided through FEMA, and 22 shelters are still housing nearly 1,000 people as mobile feeding operations continue to help survivors.
“My Administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding,” Biden said. “We will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders – regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”
Earlier Sunday, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tills called for more resources to bolster the relief effort and likened the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s mark on Louisiana in 2005.
“The scope of this storm is more like Katrina,” he told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan”. “It may look like a flood to the outside observer, but again, this is a landmass roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts, with damage distributed throughout. We have to get maximum resources on the ground immediately to finish rescue operations.”
Mr. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have all traveled to some of the impacted regions.
Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains and killed more than 225 people across multiple states. That number includes 114 killed in North Carolina alone.
The White House said Mr. Biden has also been briefed on Hurricane Milton, which is forecast to make landfall in Florida’s Tampa Bay area as a major storm on Wednesday.
U.S. disaster relief chief blasts false claims about Helene response
Deanne Criswell, who leads the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on Sunday that the recent false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to the storm are “demoralizing” aid workers.
“It’s frankly ridiculous, and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people,” she said. “It’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people, and that’s what we’re here to do. We have had the complete support of the state,” she said, referring to North Carolina.
Joe Raedle/ Getty Images
Republicans, led by Trump, have helped foster a frenzy of misinformation over the past week among the communities most devastated by Helene, promoting a number of false claims, including that Washington is intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas.
Trump accused FEMA of spending all its money to help immigrants who are in the United States illegally, while other critics assert that the government spends too much on Israel, Ukraine and other foreign countries.
Tillis, a Republican, on Sunday rejected that claim, telling “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that resources being used on immigration is “not yet … affecting the flow of resources to western North Carolina.”
Tillis said the stream of misinformation about relief efforts in North Carolina is a “distraction.”
“I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground,” Tillis said. “It’s at the expense of hard-working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their lives.”
Mr. Biden said in a statement Sunday that his administration “will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders –- regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”
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American and U.K. climbers rescued after 2 days stranded on Himalayan mountains in India
Biden sends more troops to North Carolina for continued Hurricane Helene response
Scene along Twin Cities Marathon: Bananas, Alan Page, pickle juice
American and U.K. climbers rescued after 2 days stranded on Himalayan mountains in India
Biden sends more troops to North Carolina for continued Hurricane Helene response