2015 MacBooks Air 13

[Photogdave]

Just wondering thoughts on performance.
I currently have a 2013ish Windows 8 Lenovo Idea Pad with i5 and I use a lot of GoPro for dirt bike racing.
It’s a nightmare to put those clips together on the PC, so I’ve just been doing it on my XS Max in iMovie.
All I’m doing is shortening clips and stitching together.
Basically cutting down 6-7 10min clips into say 1 movie of maybe 4-5min of good action.
No color correcting or anything.
I was wanting to try a Mac. I’ve never owned one.
I’m an apple guy, but I use a PC for work. Our program won’t run on Mac.
I have an opportunity to purchase a 2015 MacBook Air 128GB, not sure on ram and was wondering if I would see a big jump in my rendering time over this Lenovo.
My thoughts were anything max of equal year or newer would be light years ahead of a pc, especially the PC being 2yrs older.
All I had on the Lenovo was Windows movie maker and it’s terrible.
I was thinking the MacBook would help me because I’d have a larger screen than my phone, it would have iMovie and just be easier.
And it’s a pain in the ass to sync iTunes 30gb of video to get it in my phone to edit.
Then once I’m done, re-sync just to remove it since apple wont damn let you just delete those clips from your phone.
Also I never do 4K video from the GoPro.
99% is 1080p at 24fps

 

[Macdctr]

If you're looking to get an AIR then I suggest you get one that has a 2.2GHz i7 processor with 8GB RAM. Then you can upgrade to NVMe M.2 storage for faster read/write performance. If you settle for an i5 processor with 4GB RAM I'm sure you will be disappointed with the performance of that MBA....

 

[Photogdave]

I see.
I know nothing about Macs
I’ve been trying to get up to speed on them.
But remember, my current laptop is a 2012 windows 8 Lenovo
I’m sure even the i5 with 4GB will smoke it even still
But I would like some upgradability.
How can I tell what year model these computers are and what about OS
I see there’s many versions.
What should I be looking for

 

[Macdctr]

On my 13inch MBA it started out life as a 2013 13inch i5/4GB. I changed out the uppercase assembly because the keyboard had liquid spill damage and swapped out the logic board assembly. Since I was swapping out the logic board assembly I sourced an early 2015 2.2GHz i7/8GB logic board assembly and rebuilt my 13inch MBA. I did this back in May and the computer has been running perfectly. I recently upgraded my MBA to NVMe M.2 storage and couldn't be happier with the results.

Regarding upgradability, there's not much you can do other than upgrade storage depending on what year MBA you're using. The RAM can not be upgraded because it is soldered onto the logic board and you need specialized equipment and good eyes to do this type of work. If you're looking for more RAM and a faster processor then the only way to do this is to do a logic board swap like what I did to my 13inch MBA. You're pretty limited in what you can do but what I really love about my 13inch MBA is that it is as light as a feather compared to my, much heavier, 2.9GHz i7 13inch MBP.

If you're set on getting a MBA then I suggest getting one that is at least a 2013 model. This way if you choose to swap out the logic board assembly for the 2.2GHz i7/8GB version then it will be a simple swap. ifixit has good DIY tutorials on how to do the logic board swap. I would also suggest getting tools from ifixit as they will have everything you will need to do the job. Hope all this helps!

 

[Photogdave]

Thank you for the info.
I’m not really set on MBA or MBP.
I’ve never had one and really will do pretty simple video edits from GoPro. I like iMovie and I see it’s a little more in depth on an actual Mac vs Mobile device.
Perhaps I could see use of Final Cut later.
Really the only video I fool with is GoPro 1080 24fps, sometimes 60fps if I’m gonna slow it down later.
But usually just taking several clips from the day and taking chunks of action out and compiling it in to one clip around 4-8min long.
I saw a YouTube video of a 2015 MBA on cinebench scoring a 250.
My Lenovo also scored a 250 but I started the test at same time as the MBA and the Mac stomped my Lenovo in finishing the test 5 min quicker.
But scored the same as Lenovo so who knows ‍♂️.
Even if it’s the same, I can’t use iMovie on Lenovo and we also have a house full of apple products. So I figure it’ll play nicer together on backups etc...