The Mac was Apple's original superstar (though it's gone by many names since it's inception). It's led the way in consumer-friendly computing and has always held the highest design standard of any home computer. With a full line of Macs, ranging from the lightest laptop to the most powerful desktop, there were some fantastic updates in 2018, but there was also a clear winner.
The perfect Mac for most people.
○ Runners up:
○ MacBook Pro
○ MacBook
Why we picked the MacBook Air (2018) as the Best Mac of 2018
Apple's light, basic laptop was upgraded in 2018 with the latest Intel processor, larger storage capacity, Thunderbolt 3 ports, and a few more under-the-hood specs that brings the MacBook Air into the future. That's not why we picked the 2018 model, though.
It's all about that Touch ID. When Apple upgraded the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID, the one thing we raved the most about was that biometric security protection. It's safe, secure, and much easier to use than trying to remember a complex password. It works so fast, you're practically unlocking your MacBook Air before you're even done opening it.
Another nice update to the MacBook Air in 2018 is the Force Touch trackpad, which is significantly larger than its predecessor trackpad and allows for some serious gesture-based activity.
The Force Touch trackpad, Touch ID, and all the internal upgrades to the MacBook Air make it our pick for the best Mac of 2018.
Superior graphics for mobile computing.
○ Runners up:
○ Luna Display
○ Twelve South Journal case
Why we picked the Blackmagic eGPU as the Best Mac accessory in 2018
Macs have not traditionally been thought of as ideal computing devices for virtual reality, or graphics-heaving gaming for that matter. Apple recently added support for eGPUs, however, giving any Mac with Thunderbolt 3 ports a significant graphics boost.
Though nothing is official, and it's mostly speculative, it seems that Apple is digging into the potentials that augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can provide, which means that eGPUs are solidly position to set our Macs into the future.
Blackmagic's behemoth eGPU is specifically designed to work seamlessly with Mac computers with Thunderbolt 3 ports (which is currently Apple's entire new lineup of Macs), adding Radeon Pro 580 graphics processor with 8GB of GDDR5 memory, and that's why it's our pick for the best accessory for Mac in 2018.
Why we picked Tweetbot as the Best Mac app in 2018
Tweetbot is the Twitter client for people that really use Twitter. It's got a fantastic interface, lots of useful features for power users, and makes tweeting a pleasant experience.
You can filter timelines for media, retweets, links, and more. You can also mute certain keywords and hashtags, customize lists, organize certain tweet topics into a single thread, and switch between multiple accounts with just a click. In 2018, Tweetbot was updated with dark mode, video support, and more, truly improving the Twitter experience.
Earlier this year, Twitter announced it would no longer support certain features in its API. Tapbots, the makers of Tweetbot, immediately took to action and made sure that their latest version of the app didn't lose it's most important features and transitioned seamlessly to the new requirements, so its users still felt like they could keep their tweets flowing. This is the reason Tweetbot 3 gets a tip-of-the hat from iMore as best Mac app in 2018.
