Feedback: Any reason to NOT get a late 2013 MacBook Air?

[eyeseeyou]

I currently have a maxed out 2011 i7 15" MacBook pro and am considering pulling the trigger on a 13" late 2013 MacBook air i7 (8gb ram/512gb ssd).

I'm looking for something lighter and with better battery life and can run photoshop/illustrator and maybe some light video editing.

I've found a deal on a late 2013 MacBook air 2013 and don't mind the 13" size. Is there any noticeable difference in user experience between the two aside from size and weight?

 

[Pugly]

Looking at benchmarks, the 2011 i7 is faster in multicore performance. But single core they are about the same... so it's kind of a wash in performance. But it will be plenty fast to do stuff. The quality ssd really helps make the machine speedy.

I had a quadcore i7 2010 macmini and a 2009 white macbook. I wanted to get something portable that matched the performance of the macmini. I debated going with a used 15inch or a newer MBA. The i7 macbook air isn't as fast as the 15" MBP or macmini, but not by much... and I never notice it. Unless you are doing something that really cranks the CPU for hours at a time, video encoding or some sort of number crunching... the performance difference isn't noticeable.

I really notice the portability though. It's great having this much power in this portable of a computer. It's like there are no compromises here. Well outside of the screen and bezel... but that doesn't matter.

 

[Boyd01]

Still using my 2013 11" i7/8gb/512gb MBA as a primary computer and love it. Very speedy little machine, I do video editing on it with no problem. Of course, the condition of a used machine is always a concern though. You could be looking at a battery replacement in the next year or two, although mine still works great with only slightly less run time than new.

Like @Pugly said, the SSD is really fast on these machines, around 700MB/sec write and even better read performance. The 802.11ac wifi is also very nice if you access files on a LAN, I get around 60MB/sec connecting to a shared disk over wifi.

IMO, the 2013 MBA is the sweet spot for performance vs price, the new models really aren't much faster (although the new 13" model has a faster SSD).

 

[playtech1]

I bought a 2013 MBA i7/512 in 2015, as I wanted to run Mountain Lion and that was the last model that did this. I have been very pleased - it is fast and has a good battery life.

The impression I have of the newer MBAs are that the only significant improvement has been in graphics performance. That is important for some things, but I don't think it makes a huge difference for what you say you would use it for.

That said... you might notice the speed reduction from your 15 inch due to the lack of a quad core processor on the MBA. And the screen is definitely inferior on the MBA.

Personally, I would spend the dosh on a 13 inch retina of a similar vintage, given your software is graphics/photo oriented.

 

[eyeseeyou]

I bought a 2013 MBA i7/512 in 2015, as I wanted to run Mountain Lion and that was the last model that did this. I have been very pleased - it is fast and has a good battery life.

The impression I have of the newer MBAs are that the only significant improvement has been in graphics performance. That is important for some things, but I don't think it makes a huge difference for what you say you would use it for.

That said... you might notice the speed reduction from your 15 inch due to the lack of a quad core processor on the MBA. And the screen is definitely inferior on the MBA.

Personally, I would spend the dosh on a 13 inch retina of a similar vintage, given your software is graphics/photo oriented.

• Are you running el capitan on the 2013 yet?
• The quad core I7 from the 2011 MacBook pro is faster in some situations than the 2013 MacBook air I7?
• The screen of a 2011 MacBook pro is inferior to a 2013 MacBook air?

 

[Rok73]

• Are you running el capitan on the 2013 yet?
• The quad core I7 from the 2011 MacBook pro is faster in some situations than the 2013 MacBook air I7?
• The screen of a 2011 MacBook pro is inferior to a 2013 MacBook air?

I think the 2011 one has a 1280x800 screen, no?

EDIT: Nvm, didn't see the 15"

 

[hellopupy]

If I had a choice to do it again knowing what I know now, I probably would not get the mid-2013 MBA again. Don't get me wrong I love my MBA and except for slight regret not getting something more powerful (I have the 1.3GHZ i5) and complete regret for not getting a bigger hard drive (I have 128GB), the biggest issue for me today is that I really want the retina.

The MBA has done me well, if you're not that picky about screen clarity and don't necessarily need retina, get the MBA.

 

[eyeseeyou]

If I had a choice to do it again knowing what I know now, I probably would not get the mid-2013 MBA again. Don't get me wrong I love my MBA and except for slight regret not getting something more powerful (I have the 1.3GHZ i5) and complete regret for not getting a bigger hard drive (I have 128GB), the biggest issue for me today is that I really want the retina.

The MBA has done me well, if you're not that picky about screen clarity and don't necessarily need retina, get the MBA.

I think I'll look for a deal on a retina macbook.