User level: Level 1 (4 points)I have a 2020 MacBook Air 250g
have been offered an early 2013 MacBook Pro 750g
Posted on Oct 22, 2026 11:06 PM
User level: Level 7 (20,243 points)Oct 24, 2026 8:45 PM in response to penn177
I have 2013 and 2019 laptops, and it's no contest, the 2013 one has had to have its battery and SSD replaced, both failed in 2020. The 2019 laptop battery has been at 85% capacity for over 1 year so it probably has a several more years of use with that battery and its SSD lifespan is at 99%. I don't care if geek bench is slightly better for the 2013 laptop versus the 2020 laptop the OP mentioned, it's no contest, go with the newer laptop.
penn177 wrote:
Depends if the 2020 Macbook Air is Intel or not. If it is, then the 2013 Macbook Pro wouldn’t be too far off from performance. They are very good machines with Retina displays and lots of ports.
No -- that's misleading. Two of those 2013 MacBook Pro ports are Thunderbolt 2, and Thunderbolt 2 devices are no longer on the market. (There are Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adaptors but when used they do not enable the external device to run off laptop power from those ports.) That leaves the 2013 MacBook Pro with 2 USB ports that support up to 5 Gbps, while the 2020 Macbook Air has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, still usable with modern external drives and devices, and those TB3 ports support up to 40 Gbps.
The 2020 MBA is far superior to the 2013 MBP. From every perspective.
I have a 2015 iMac and a 2013 Macbook Air. These older Macs suffer from hardware wearing out (both have had their internal drives replaced due to failure and the 2013 laptop needed a new battery in 2020. They are stuck on older operating systems and the 2013 computers can't even install or run anything close to current MS-Office or MS-365 apps. Safari can't open a number of web sites when run from the 2015 and 2013 computers, their version of Safari is too old, this includes some online stores and banks. So far Firefox can be used instead, but the 2013 laptop labors under Firefox and Firefox can't be synced through iCloud like Safari can.
Getting the 2013 instead of 2020 laptop would be a mistake.
User level: Level 7 (27,833 points)Oct 23, 2026 7:07 AM in response to pelduck
Decline it. It's 13 years old and the latest version of macOS it can run is Big Sur which itself is 5 years obsolete.
If you need more storage, it's better to get a good external SSD to use with your 2020 MBAir.
User level: Level 9 (55,707 points)Oct 23, 2026 9:29 PM in response to pelduck
pelduck wrote:
I have a 2020 MacBook Air 250g
have been offered an early 2013 MacBook Pro 750g
Unless you want it as an extra machine, to run old software, turn it down. You certainly do not want to give up the 2020 MacBook Air for it.
The Early 2013 MacBook Pros are not compatible with anything later than macOS 10.15.* (Catalina). Because they can run versions of macOS as old as Mac OS X 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion), they might be useful for running old 32-bit games that will not work under Catalina and later. (The 15" Early 2013 MBP has a discrete GPU that the 13" model lacks and so would be a better choice if you were running games that were demanding for that era.)
If the 2020 MacBook Air has an Intel processor, you can upgrade it all the way to macOS 15.* (Sequoia), which will be one of the "most recent three" for another year. If the 2020 MacBook Air has a M1 (Apple Silicon) processor, it can run anything up to the current version of macOS, macOS 27 (Golden Gate).
User level: Level 9 (78,350 points)Oct 23, 2026 1:49 PM in response to pelduck
People here think you mean an actual 2013 Retina model, but I suspect you may actually mean a MBPro 13" (mid-2012) Unibody model that was available from Apple between 2012-2016 which many people will call 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 models, but officially are only designated as a Mid-2012 model. If it such a system and it has a 750GB Hard Drive, then the performance of that Hard Drive would be abysmal even if it is still healthy.
If you have an M1 MBAir, then that is a good model and you should not be going backwards. If you have the Intel model, then you should be considering your upgrade path because that model is going to let you down at some point. As others have mentioned the correct upgrade path is with an Apple Silicon M-series Mac unless you have special undisclosed circumstances requiring an older Intel model.
User level: Level 10 (162,806 points)Oct 23, 2026 4:54 AM in response to pelduck
Decline the offer for a thirteen year old MacBook Pro. Keep the MacBook Air.
User level: Level 10 (148,617 points)Oct 23, 2026 9:45 AM in response to pelduck
High quality replacement Batteries (in addition to all other parts) are no longer available for that older MacBook Pro. Batteries are an ordinary wear item, and really DO need to be replaced every few years.
It can not possibly be a candidate to replace your current Mac.
User level: Level 10 (87,747 points)Oct 23, 2026 9:15 AM in response to pelduck
Such an old obsolete/vintage computer will not receive security updates thereby putting your data at risk. Decline it.
User level: Level 10 (87,747 points)Oct 23, 2026 8:27 AM in response to pelduck
Decline it!
User level: Level 2 (215 points)Oct 23, 2026 9:12 AM in response to pelduck
If you have the 2020 Macbook Air with the i3 and the Macbook Pro you are getting has an i7, the i7 actually outperforms the i3 in Geekbench despite being 7 years older. Some people need to do their research on older Macbooks as they are amazing
User level: Level 9 (55,707 points)Oct 23, 2026 9:32 PM in response to MartinR
MartinR wrote:
Decline it. It's 13 years old and the latest version of macOS it can run is Big Sur which itself is 5 years obsolete.
The latest version an Early 2013 MBP can run is Catalina. You are probably thinking of the Late 2013 models, which are compatible with Big Sur.
If you need more storage, it's better to get a good external SSD to use with your 2020 MBAir.
User level: Level 2 (215 points)Oct 23, 2026 5:01 AM in response to pelduck
Depends if the 2020 Macbook Air is Intel or not. If it is, then the 2013 Macbook Pro wouldn’t be too far off from performance. They are very good machines with Retina displays and lots of ports.
User level: Level 10 (208,430 points)Oct 23, 2026 9:41 AM in response to pelduck
pelduck wrote:
I have a 2020 MacBook Air 250g
have been offered an early 2013 MacBook Pro 750g
?
Makes no sense...
see Vintage and Obsolete:
Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support
User level: Level 10 (201,695 points)Oct 23, 2026 10:08 AM in response to penn177
penn177 wrote:
If you have the 2020 Macbook Air with the i3 and the Macbook Pro you are getting has an i7, the i7 actually outperforms the i3 in Geekbench despite being 7 years older. Some people need to do their research on older Macbooks as they are amazing
That is merely one element. Some people should do their research into additional considerations that should influence this decision.
User level: Level 7 (27,833 points)Oct 24, 2026 7:01 AM in response to Servant of Cats
Servant of Cats wrote
The latest version an Early 2013 MBP can run is Catalina. You are probably thinking of the Late 2013 models, which are compatible with Big Sur.
Well, that would be even more reason to decline the offer.
User level: Level 9 (55,707 points)Oct 25, 2026 4:41 AM in response to steve626
steve626 wrote:
No -- that's misleading. Two of those 2013 MacBook Pro ports are Thunderbolt 2, and Thunderbolt 2 devices are no longer on the market. (There are Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adaptors but when used they do not enable the external device to run off laptop power from those ports.) That leaves the 2013 MacBook Pro with 2 USB ports that support up to 5 Gbps, while the 2020 Macbook Air has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, still usable with modern external drives and devices, and those TB3 ports support up to 40 Gbps.
The Thunderbolt 1 ports on those Early 2013 MacBook Pros can double as Mini DisplayPorts. You can attach a single DisplayPort display with a resolution of up to 2560x1600 pixels.
That's basically about all those ports are good for.
Nobody makes Thunderbolt 1 and 2 devices any more. You might be able to connect a powered Thunderbolt 3 dock to one of those MBPs with the aid of Apple's bidirectional $50 Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter. This would not be cost-effective, as you would still be constrained by Thunderbolt 1's speed limitation ("up to 10 Gbps") and by the old MBP's limitations on external display resolution. You also would be unable to connect Thunderbolt 4 or 5 devices of any sort. According to OWC, Thunderbolt 4 and 5 backwards compatibility is only with USB-C-based versions of Thunderbolt.
The 2020 MBA is far superior to the 2013 MBP. From every perspective.
…
Getting the 2013 instead of 2020 laptop would be a mistake.
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256381332