This is an absurdly frustrating time to buy a MacBook

Shopping for a MacBook used to be really simple. Want the thin one? Get an Air. Doing a lot of work? Get the Pro.

But Apple has made things tricky since the good ol' days. To buy a MacBook at the tail end of 2016 is to accept some significant compromise. While the computers may "just work," comparison-shopping between the three core models is unbelievably frustrating, a process that's littered with aesthetic and functional tradeoffs that simply shouldn't be. 

Here's what prospective MacBook buyers are faced with today on the base level, before internal upgrades are added in: The $999 MacBook Air, which is thin; the $1,299 MacBook, which is small in a different way; and the new $1,499 MacBook Pro, which is heftier but considerably more powerful. Read more...