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Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (A2289) review

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (A2289)

CHOICE Expert Rating

76%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Excellent keyboard
  • Excellent touchpad
  • Very good screen quality
  • Very good screen luminance
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Webcam quality should be better on a laptop of this level
  • Short power cord
  • No SD card slot

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
macOS

Recommended products

Recommended
Not recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
76%
Performance score
59%
Tablet use score
N/A
Ease of use score
84%
Battery life score
75%
Display score
86%
Audio score
60%
Wi-Fi score
79%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
2344
Storage read-speed (MBps)
2295
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
42
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
5:23
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
1:27
Expert tester comments
The 13-inch variant of the MacBook Pro is easy to handle thanks to its relatively light weight and slim chassis, and its build quality is solid. You get enough grunt for everyday school and office tasks, as well as a screen that will be easy on the eyes and keyboard that will be easy on the fingers. The main downsides are that it can take some time to get familiar with its Touchbar if you've never used it before, its webcam quality should be better, and its power cord should be longer.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
D
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Not collected
Replace/upgrade RAM
Not collected
Slots for additional RAM
Not collected
Replace/upgrade storage
Not collected
Slot for additional storage
Not collected
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Not collected
Country of origin
China

Related products

Availability
Discontinued model

Cost

Price
$2,069.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
13.3
Native screen resolution (pixels)
2560 x 1600
Processor (CPU) type
Intel Core i5-8257U
CPU frequency (GHz)
1.4
RAM (GB)
8
Video graphics type
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645
Storage capacity (GB)
512
Available user space (GB)
469
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
5
Weight of laptop (kg)
1.4
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.3
Size (mm, H x D x W)
16 x 212 x 304

Features

Screen finish
Glossy
Touchscreen
USB-C
USB 2.0 ports
0
USB 3.0 ports
0
USB 4 as USB-C port
0
USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1 or 2, not Thunderbolt 3 or 4) ports
0
Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (as USB-C) ports
2
SD card slot (full-size)
SD card slot (micro)
HDMI port
Gigabit ethernet port
Rear camera
Backlit keyboard levels of brightness
16

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