IT IS THERE any better feeling than firing up a new Macbook for the first time? Whether you’re retiring an older Macbook that’s starting to show its age or hopping on the Apple bandwagon, the latest Macbooks never fail to impress. Every year the chips get faster, the displays get sharper, and the batteries last longer (just like Apple’s iPhone 14, Apple Watch Ultra, and Apple Watch 8).
As good as the latest generation of Apple computers is, most users still feel their Macbooks need a few crucial accessories to suit their day-to-day use. We’ll wager you fall into that category yourself, so whether you’re shopping for keyboards for the home office or protective cases for travel, we’ve rounded up our favorite Macbook accessories of the year to help point you in the right direction.
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How to Choose the Right Accessories For Your Macbook
Macbook Pro or Macbook Air? M1 Pro or M1 Max? Are you keeping it light with a 13″ display or going all in on that shiny 16″ Pro with all the bells and whistles?
These are all great options in their own right, but different models excel in different areas. The specific model you choose will likely decide which accessories you’ll need, so here are a few things to consider before loading up that shopping cart.
The Model Matters: Consider Your Ports
There’s no denying Apple’s line of Macbook Pro and Air laptops are all impressive performers. With that being said, you’ll want to consider some of the subtle differences between the models when deciding on which accessories to buy.
Take the current line of MacBook Pro laptops, for instance. If you’ve got the current 13” version, your ports are limited to two Thunderbolt/USB C ports and a single 3.5mm headphone jack. The latest 16” model, on the other hand, adds a third Thunderbolt port into the mix, as well as a MagSafe charging port, an SDXC memory card slot, and a standard HDMI outlet.
Both MacBooks will benefit from an added USB hub, but the hub you buy for a bare-bones 13″ build needs a lot more variety than the new 14″ or 16″ models will. The same goes for the latest MacBook Air, which is limited to two Thunderbolt ports and a MagSafe charger. All four of these options have the potential to make capable and reliable workhorses, but depending on your line of work, you’ll need to find the right accessory for the job.
What’s Your Mac Lacking From the Factory?
As much as we all benefit from Apple products in our daily lives, they all share a glaring flaw: The price of adding premium “factory” options like more memory, storage, or battery life adds up very fast.
We’ll wager that if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re looking for MacBook accessories as a more cost-effective way to fill some of those gaps from the factory. For the casual user who is mainly surfing the web, sending emails, and watching videos while traveling, that might mean something as simple as adding a power bank to keep your battery charged through a full day of travel. On the other end of the spectrum, creative professionals who are constantly uploading massive media files will likely want to add an external hard drive to free up their internal memory from that bottomless pit of data.
In addition to performance accessories like these, you’ll likely also want to add some “creature comforts” for the home office. We know most Macbooks spend about half their lives on the road and the other half hooked up to an external monitor, so you’ll also find our favorite picks for “desktop mode” like the right wireless mouse and keyboard for your Mac of choice in the article below as well.
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