just like the day i got it. i know the i series intels are snappier, i just cant justify upgrading because it doesnt really have any real issues. Use it daily for normal tasks. Its even been dropped a few times on tile, a few corner dents but still chuggin along.
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Are any other Air owners keeping their Air for now instead of upgrading?
- Thread starter Jacoblee23
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just like the day i got it. i know the i series intels are snappier, i just cant justify upgrading because it doesnt really have any real issues. Use it daily for normal tasks. Its even been dropped a few times on tile, a few corner dents but still chuggin along.
I have the same machine as yours, maybe not the same specs but the same year. It's been great so far, so I have no plans to move up whatsoever. Just wiped the SSD and reinstalled Yosemite and it runs like a dream.
How do you wipe the ssd? Sorry if this seems like a dumb question. This is my very first Mac.
Oh well it's no biggie. There are no dumb questions, only dumb people :roll eyes:.
Anyhow to wipe the SSD you need to re-download Yosemite from the mac app store, and then use a program called disk maker X to a USB thumb drive 8GB or larger in size. Then with the flash drive plugged in, boot up the computer with your finger on the option key, and chose the flash drive as the boot option. Then just wipe the SSD in disk utility and reinstall Yosemite to that location.
There are over 300 guides on how to do this, if you google it you are destined to find one of them!
Not a problem. Are you considering switching to a different macbook or something?
Well, I've blabbed my MacLifeStory all over this site (consistently, but embarrassingly overexposed!). My laptop is working, but slow (early 2011 MBP). I'd love something lighter; dazzled by the rMB when I saw it at the store, But at heart, I am not an early adopter (know thyself!). I've debated holding out until the rMB goes through a few updates. I've also thought about the new Air, which I assume will have good resale value even a few years from now.
So, it's between getting the newest Air or holding fast with my MBP. Or dithering. I'm good at dithering.
And I just spent a few minutes looking at refurbished MBA, and trying to see what kind of difference there is between the 2013/14 versions.
Dithering.
My brain is like that spinning globe.
Aren't you sorry you asked?
Unless my trusty 11" dies, I'm not upgrading anytime soon. Not that there's anything preventing me from using a 12" MB, just that there's nothing wrong with my current Air.
In the mean time, the MB will continue to mature into a better product.
Waiting is always a good option. Long standing MacRumors advice is if you need something now, buy it now. Otherwise wait, there's always something better/faster/cheaper coming out.
As far as the differences in the Air models, the 2013 and 2014 models are all but identical. The base 2013 model had a 1.3GHz processor that was bumped to 1.4GHz for the 2014 model. Otherwise, they're the same computer, though you might be able to get a better deal on a 2013 because it's "older".
(full disclosure, I'm on a 2013 base 11")
In the mean time, the MB will continue to mature into a better product.
Well, I've blabbed my MacLifeStory all over this site (consistently, but embarrassingly overexposed!). My laptop is working, but slow (early 2011 MBP). I'd love something lighter; dazzled by the rMB when I saw it at the store, But at heart, I am not an early adopter (know thyself!). I've debated holding out until the rMB goes through a few updates. I've also thought about the new Air, which I assume will have good resale value even a few years from now.
So, it's between getting the newest Air or holding fast with my MBP. Or dithering. I'm good at dithering.
And I just spent a few minutes looking at refurbished MBA, and trying to see what kind of difference there is between the 2013/14 versions.
Dithering.
My brain is like that spinning globe.
Aren't you sorry you asked?
Waiting is always a good option. Long standing MacRumors advice is if you need something now, buy it now. Otherwise wait, there's always something better/faster/cheaper coming out.
As far as the differences in the Air models, the 2013 and 2014 models are all but identical. The base 2013 model had a 1.3GHz processor that was bumped to 1.4GHz for the 2014 model. Otherwise, they're the same computer, though you might be able to get a better deal on a 2013 because it's "older".
(full disclosure, I'm on a 2013 base 11")
keeping mine seems pointless to see and take a hit. My 2014 13 inch air is perfect for my needs.
I also have a fully loaded 2014 13" Air and after seeing the new Macbook, I will be keeping the 13" Air for a longer time. I want/need my ports. Not even an SD reader!
I just wish it had a retina screen. The screen isn't bad, but when compared to my iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2......
Ah...need...vs. want.
In terms of the refurbished Mac Airs, there are more 2013s than 2014s, and I'd be fine with that 2013 - from what I have heard, I've been fine for a number of years with the 2013 without a problem. I know I want a 512 drive, so the remaining issue is 4 vs. 8 RAM. I don't do heavy processing but (and it's a big BUT) I am RIDICULOUS when it comes to how many tabs I keep open. I'd be embarrassed to tell anyone.
Ah...need...vs. want.
In terms of the refurbished Mac Airs, there are more 2013s than 2014s, and I'd be fine with that 2013 - from what I have heard, I've been fine for a number of years with the 2013 without a problem. I know I want a 512 drive, so the remaining issue is 4 vs. 8 RAM. I don't do heavy processing but (and it's a big BUT) I am RIDICULOUS when it comes to how many tabs I keep open. I'd be embarrassed to tell anyone.
Just keeping tabs open will essentially not use any RAM.
Whatever memory the tabs use will eventually get paged out to disk if you don't look at the tab for a while, and won't make any difference to anything.
Really? Boy, as much as I think I understand some things, I am also clueless. Sorry for my ignorance. I actually read Cary Lu's seminal book on Macs all those years ago, but I clearly don't spend enough time continuing to upgrade my technical information.
If that's the case, then I wonder why I so often have such slowness online on my 2011 MBP? (I use Chrome and not Safari, but I can't imagine that has anything to do with it)
No problem. It can be confusing. And I just checked and it looks like Cary Lu passed away in 1997... things on the Mac have changed since then.
All modern operating systems now have "virtual memory" where they can swap data between RAM and disk, and they just keep the most-frequently-used data in RAM.
Of course, if you're frequently using more data than you have RAM, this can still be prohibitively slow.
But if you have a tab open that you might not look at for several minutes, then its memory can be moved to disk. When you click on the tab again, the memory must be read back from disk into RAM but this will only take a fraction of a second with an SSD.
To check to see if your system is laggy due to low memory, you can run Activity Monitor and look at the Memory tab. You will see a graph at the bottom, in the middle. If the graph is green then you are fine for memory. The laggyness might be because something is running in the background taking up your CPU time for whatever reason, or maybe Chrome is just programmed in such a way that some things are slow. I've noticed that Chrome on my computers is getting slower and slower to close tabs in particular, which is a shame. I don't know what it's doing but I wish it would just make them go away immediately like it used to.
Flash is also a nightmare on Chrome these days; I've disabled it, then enabled it, reinstalled it, but it still crashes the browser more often than I can tell you.
Huh. I thought Chrome had its own version of Flash so you didn't need to install Adobe's version.
I assume Google's version is better. Might want to investigate how to get rid of the Adobe one and only use Google's.
Also I remember years ago that I used an extension for Firefox that would disable any Flash stuff unless you clicked on it explicitly. I wonder if there's something similar for Chrome.
I agree that Flash is a disaster. Adobe really makes the worst software now. Too bad there aren't any real competitors to Photoshop or I would switch to them in an instant.
Good discussion. Another suggestion, in Firefox there is a setting to only load tabs when you click on them. The advantage of this is, you can have dozens of tabs open, and Firefox will remember them when you close or open the app, but they will only load the page when you select them. It saves quite a bit of memory. Of course, I've noticed Firefox and Safari have been getting progressively better with memory management with each little update.
The clicktoflash or flashblock plugins for Safari and Firefox are also essential.
The clicktoflash or flashblock plugins for Safari and Firefox are also essential.