Why You Should Buy a MacBook with a Retina Display

How good is the Retina display in MacBooks

Should I buy a MacBook with a Retina Display?

The MacBook Pro received the Retina display in 2012, and the Air in 2018. So if you’re buying a refurbished MacBook Pro from any recent year, you can be sure that it will have this higher-quality display. But if you’re trying to buy a used MacBook Air, you may not be sure if you should go for a newer Retina model or if you can just save some money and get one that’s a little older. Keep reading to get our take.

Is it Worth Getting a MacBook with a Retina Display?

There is a world of difference between using a MacBook with a Retina display and one with a lower-resolution display. Especially if you’re getting the 13.3 inch model, trust me that you will notice the difference. If you’re getting the computer for note-taking and occasional use, I would say that it would be OK to get a model without the Retina display, but if you plan to really get a lot of use out of your refurbished MacBook Air, there really is no reason not to get a model that doesn’t have a Retina display. It isn't hard to notice that the Retina display MacBooks have significantly sharper screens than their older generations.

But maybe you found a good deal on a 2017 MacBook Air (the year before Retina displays were introduced to this line) with really nice specs and a great price, then what? Well, like any tech-savvy American, I find it hard to resist a great deal on a MacBook, but I would say that you should know what to expect from the laptop. If you plan on plugging up the laptop to a modern monitor and mostly using it in this kind of configuration, maybe the lower-quality screen won’t bug you so much.

It also depends what kind of work you do on your MacBook--if you're mostly writing articles, then those extra pixels in the Retina display may not be as important to you, but if you work with a lot of Excel spreadsheets with large data sets, that extra resolution may really come in handy if you're working on an already small laptop screen.

Want a laptop that's an interesting fusion of small size and a Retina display? This laptop has been discontinued from production and removed from Apple's lineup, but it's still a favorite among many Back Market customers. The laptop we're referring to... drumroll please... is the MacBook Retina! (Sometimes also just called the MacBook)

Back Market

Written by Back Market,  The leading marketplace for refurbished tech.

Our mission is to make renewed tech mainstream. Turning old into "new new", so to speak.

Did you find this article useful ?

Related articles