Until now I would have been hesitant to recommend the 13-inch MacBook Pro in a gift guide: To get the best features (a Touch ID sensor), you’d have to pay an eye-watering $1,799. Meanwhile, the $1,099 MacBook Air already had Touch ID, albeit with less-powerful silicon under the hood. This year, though, Apple updated the entry-level $1,299 MacBook Pro so that it combines everything we liked about the Air and higher-end Pro, with an asking price that is in the same ballpark as its lower-powered cousin. Now that the price is right (and the features too), the base MacBook Pro is our go-to recommendation for Apple fans in search of a new laptop. It’s faster than the entry-level MBP used to be, there’s the Touch ID sensor we’re so fond of, improved speakers and an already-great Retina with the addition of Apple’s True Tone technology. The main drawback is the keyboard, though Apple has tweaked the design (again) to make it more responsive. — Dana Wollman, Editor-in-Chief