Anyone sold on the idea of the new Macbook Air?

[GenXer]

My grey bezel Macbook Air is getting out of date. Mind you it still looks new and very functional but it's not going to last forever.

Has anyone switched over from their old Macbook Air to the new one yet?

I can tell you right of the bat that I'll miss the Magsafe plug, the SD card slot (I currently have a 256GB half length card that fits flush with the unit) and various USB ports that are still being used with most devices.

The new Macbook is smaller and has a better screen but I would have to give up all of those ports in favor of 2 USB-C (one of them which will probably be used to charge the thing)

To me giving up all of those ports seems like going backward. It's not like giving up the seldom used CD drive in the old laptop.

I realize you can get a USB-C magnet power adaptor and USB-C to USB Adaptor. But all of these extra bulk defeats the simplicity and looks of a Macbook.

I'm not too thrilled about the new short stroke butterfly keys either.

So, if you have an old Macbook Air would you be willing to compromise the functionality of your laptop for the new machine?

If they're going to make this unit so minimalist, why not omit the ports altogether and just use an induction charger?

END RANT

[Smgs1992]

What year is your MBA? Personally i’m still using a mid 2012 MBP and don’t plan to upgrade anytime soon honestly. For what i do it atill works just fine and since putting a SSD in it i dont find it any slower than most current laptops i’ve used

[vreihen16]

I still miss my maxed-out 2013 11" Macbook Air, now almost three years since I gifted it to a sibling. The 13" 2017 Macbook Pro that I replaced it with never had the same feel as the old Air, even before the butterfly keyboard went flaky.

My new 16" 2019 Macbook Pro with 8 cores of Intel i9 CPU goodness is certainly a beast, and doesn't have butterfly key mechanisms. It is a step in the wrong direction for carrying on road trips, where nothing can beat the 11" Air.

Anyway, with Apple dumping Intel CPU chips after the current generation in favor of their own ARM-based CPU chips...and given how many years their computers are loved by their users compared with Windows hardware, I am of the thought that picking up an i9 Macbook Pro loaded up to last 5-10 years might be a good plan. I suspect that Apple's ARM plans will have a lot of speed bumps in the first few years, and it could actually cause the used market for Intel-based Macbooks to climb above their original retail prices. When I picked up this 16" MBP back in the spring, I did so thinking that it may be the last notebook computer that I ever own.....

[itsrichierich]

I just bought one for my lady (last week) but I haven't gotten to use or play with it yet.

[GenXer]

Originally Posted by Smgs1992

What year is your MBA? Personally i’m still using a mid 2012 MBP and don’t plan to upgrade anytime soon honestly. For what i do it atill works just fine and since putting a SSD in it i dont find it any slower than most current laptops i’ve used

I bought mine in 2017. They said it was the latest version of that year so I suspect it's 2017 MB.

I still have a 2006 White Macbook that still works but it stopped updating. Plus it gets up to lap burning temperature.

[Smgs1992]

With a 2017 unless there’s something wrong with yours or for some reason it isnt powerful enough. I’d say save your cash as you should be able to get atleast a couple more years out of yours

[GenXer]

Originally Posted by Smgs1992

With a 2017 unless there’s something wrong with yours or for some reason it isnt powerful enough. I’d say save your cash as you should be able to get atleast a couple more years out of yours

It's still pretty fast especially with the factory SSD. I'm just afraid there's not going to be a new model that has all the ports I want or need.

[Vivek.]

I have the latest MBP for work, 2.4 i5, 16GB RAM.

Personal is still my 2014 MBA. It frankly works way better with less issues than the newer one that has 4x the ram and a newer processor. Magsafe is super nice. It's been all over the world with me and has not necessarily been handled perfectly (dropped 3-4 times in the 6 years). Not planning on getting rid of it unless I absolutely have to. The battery with 600+ cycles lasts several times longer than the brand new MBP.

[Vivek.]

Wanted to update this since my "e" key on the MBP startd going out today. Was purchased 5 months ago. I'm not sure if the latest Air has the revamped keyboard (included on the MBP with the physical "Esc" key by the touchbar)--but I wouldn't recommend it if it does not.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by Vivek.

Wanted to update this since my "e" key on the MBP startd going out today.

Meet your new (and free!) best friend while waiting for the warranty fix:

https://unshaky.nestederror.com

I had to tune the delays on several keys more than once as they became increasingly wonky.

Note to self - I *really* need to send my old 13" MBP out to get the keyboard fixed.....

[Vivek.]

I think I hav th opposite problem. It doesn't double-register any keystrokes but it's hard to press and sometimes doesn't register a keystroke on "e" unless I press it harder than any of the other keys. Is a little intermittent as well, sometimes it works better than othr times.

fwiw I'm not fixing the spelling errors above because it's a really accurate representation of the issue lol

[309xi]

My mid-2013 (i7/8GB/256GB) is still running great at like 95% battery life. I have very little interest in the dongle life with the new MBAs.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by Vivek.

It doesn't double-register any keystrokes but it's hard to press and sometimes doesn't register a keystroke on "e" unless I press it harder than any of the other keys. Is a little intermittent as well, sometimes it works better than othr times.

Stand the computer up on edge like a book, and give the keyboard a blast with compressed air. Then turn it on the opposite edge and repeat. That sounds like a crumb under the keys holding up the mechanism.....

[Murf993]

I had a MacBook which I loved, light weight, thin and very usable for me. It crapped out after about 5 years last week. MacBook Air was the only thing that was close, it feels like a brick compared to my old MacBook but I've had it for a week now and so far so good. I'm a fan of Mac, I know they are more expensive than a PC buy I usually get 5 years of trouble free use out of them so it seems like a good deal. Fingers crossed.

[Vivek.]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Stand the computer up on edge like a book, and give the keyboard a blast with compressed air. Then turn it on the opposite edge and repeat. That sounds like a crumb under the keys holding up the mechanism.....

Thanks, you're probably right

Originally Posted by Murf993

I had a MacBook which I loved, light weight, thin and very usable for me. It crapped out after about 5 years last week. MacBook Air was the only thing that was close, it feels like a brick compared to my old MacBook but I've had it for a week now and so far so good. I'm a fan of Mac, I know they are more expensive than a PC buy I usually get 5 years of trouble free use out of them so it seems like a good deal. Fingers crossed.

Which model did you have previously? The current Air is a similar form factor to the previous gen, which was the first (body case) upgrade after the really iffy first gen air...I can't think of any older MacBook that was significantly thinner than the current MBA

[Murf993]

Originally Posted by Vivek.

Thanks, you're probably right


Which model did you have previously? The current Air is a similar form factor to the previous gen, which was the first (body case) upgrade after the really iffy first gen air...I can't think of any older MacBook that was significantly thinner than the current MBA

I had the 12" MacBook, and now the 13" Air. It's been a week now and it's fine but when I first picked it up it seemed huge. I prefer a smaller laptop frankly, I was very disappointed when I discovered I couldn't get an newer model of what I had.

[GenXer]

My old Macbook is 14 years old and still going strong. This was back when you can easily replace the battery which had been changed 4 or 5 times. I will also be sad if my Macbook Air dies and I have to replace it with a new model.

[MJBO]

Other thing worth considering is the new ARM models are on the way. No idea when, but if you’re not desperate it could be worth waiting to see what they’re like.