Right now, I have a late 2013 rMBP, 15-inch, 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 16 GB Ram, Intel Iris Pro 1536 that I purchase late October/early November 2013. It's running Catalina.
It runs pretty well for a nearly 7 year old laptop; however, it is definitely starting to show its age. The battery has been replaced once already. The "e" key functions about 60-70% of the time. It takes longer to restart/boot than it used to. It takes new tabs in Safari a good 7-10 seconds to open even when there is virtually nothing else running.
My main uses are:
Safari (usually anywhere from 2-15 tabs open)
Messages
Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote
Remote desktop access for my company through Cirrus (I am using that every day right now with COVID, but when things get back to "normal" I'll use it less for this, but still reasonably frequently).
Very light photo editing (haven't done any in probably 8-12 months, so not a huge need)
I have a work provided Microsoft Surface that I can use when I travel, though I wouldn't mind traveling with the MBA since I have to log in through Cirrus to do work on either machine, and I don't really use the Surface in tablet mode. I prefer to stick with Apple since my entire family and 90% of my friends are on iPhones so it's nice to be able to use Messages on the computer.
My concerns with switching are:
1) Loss of screen size (the current MBP is my everywhere computer, so is essentially a "desktop" at home). The flip with that is the increased portability compared to when I want to carry the MBP, which at this point is pretty much any time I travel, or otherwise need a laptop, for non-business (for business, as noted, I currently care the Surface Pro provided by my company).
It's already a downgrade from the two monitors I have at my office, so I'm not sure that the smaller screen at home would be the end of the world.
2) Whether the newer chip, etc. in the MBA will result in a loss of performance compared to the current MBP for my uses.
#2 might be a bigger concern for me, since some things get bogged down more than in the past. My assumption is that with the updated chips and internals, even with the lower GHz processor, things may be as quick and efficient, if not more so, given that this is a 6.5 year old machine, but I'm in no way certain of that.
Anyone have thoughts?
It runs pretty well for a nearly 7 year old laptop; however, it is definitely starting to show its age. The battery has been replaced once already. The "e" key functions about 60-70% of the time. It takes longer to restart/boot than it used to. It takes new tabs in Safari a good 7-10 seconds to open even when there is virtually nothing else running.
My main uses are:
Safari (usually anywhere from 2-15 tabs open)
Messages
Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote
Remote desktop access for my company through Cirrus (I am using that every day right now with COVID, but when things get back to "normal" I'll use it less for this, but still reasonably frequently).
Very light photo editing (haven't done any in probably 8-12 months, so not a huge need)
I have a work provided Microsoft Surface that I can use when I travel, though I wouldn't mind traveling with the MBA since I have to log in through Cirrus to do work on either machine, and I don't really use the Surface in tablet mode. I prefer to stick with Apple since my entire family and 90% of my friends are on iPhones so it's nice to be able to use Messages on the computer.
My concerns with switching are:
1) Loss of screen size (the current MBP is my everywhere computer, so is essentially a "desktop" at home). The flip with that is the increased portability compared to when I want to carry the MBP, which at this point is pretty much any time I travel, or otherwise need a laptop, for non-business (for business, as noted, I currently care the Surface Pro provided by my company).
It's already a downgrade from the two monitors I have at my office, so I'm not sure that the smaller screen at home would be the end of the world.
2) Whether the newer chip, etc. in the MBA will result in a loss of performance compared to the current MBP for my uses.
#2 might be a bigger concern for me, since some things get bogged down more than in the past. My assumption is that with the updated chips and internals, even with the lower GHz processor, things may be as quick and efficient, if not more so, given that this is a 6.5 year old machine, but I'm in no way certain of that.
Anyone have thoughts?
