I'll wait for the M3 model even if it's still a year away.
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Hands-On With the New 15-Inch MacBook Air
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I suspect that you are right about the speed of that external 3.0 drive being a big reason for the beach balls. Photos likely doesn’t load everything into RAM so it will frequently be reading from that drive to get more photo data. When you get a new computer, if you can get enough space to hold your photos, that is ideal. If not, at least get an external SSD with thunderbolt and it will be several times faster than that old 3.0 HD.
It's not TB, but spec wise it's supposed to be fast (with a fast machine)
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I have a large external drive and I get beachballs when I try to access something after the drive has gone to sleep after a period of inactivity. Changing settings to have external drives not sleep doesn't affect this drive for some reason.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
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Keep the MBP. It performs better and has an awesome screen.
Good video. The 15" Air is a great laptop.
Funny story, I went from a HUGE to small laptop. I went from a 17 inch MBP to a 13 inch, now I use a 14 inch MBP. I like smaller laptops personally.
I went yesterday to the Apple Store to compare the Air 15 and the pro 14. I preferred the colour, form and big screen of the Air, but when I looked at the screen, the pro 14 was sharper and had better tones of colours. The biggest difference for me was the 120 herz. When scrolling on the Air, I felt a little “pain” in my head for every scroll, unless I was scrolling super slow. The pro 14 had no issue and was smooth. That’s a game changer for me and I never read about it before. I mean read about that little “pain” when scrolling. I have even not noticed it myself, when using all my other apple machines.
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Could someone please take the time to explain why I would benefit from one of these. I would love one of these machines but I'm just an average consumer and I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), 2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3. It works perfectly and seems to me as good/quick as the day I bought it nearly 10 years ago..
Why should I get this 15 MBA?
Why should I get this 15 MBA?
Until the 13” MacBook Air M1, the last three iterations of the 11” MBA were the greatest laptops ever created, IMnsHO. I would absolutely say I would go back to a 11” machine … until I snap out of nostalgia and remember that the 11” Air and 13” M1 are virtually the same physical size.
It'll probably last 10 years like the current one.
10 hours more battery life. (on Paper).
CPU IS at least twice as fast.
SSD is 2x to 3x as fast (depending on configuration).
Better screen (brighter & better contrast ratio).
1/4lb lighter.
Much Better Webcam.
Silent
Will support more up-to-date OS features.
Most of all it won't cook your Gonads if you are watching youtube videos.
But specs aren't everything. If you are happy with the current machine, and it's fast enough for your daily needs then there's no real reason to ditch the ol' girl yet except to treat yourself. Personally I prefer the keyboards on the older Macbooks.
Last thing to bear in mind, is that your current Macbook might be worth $300-400 depending on it's condition.
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I still use my 2014 Macbook pro 15". It still runs fine, though battery max 2 hours, loudspeakers need a fix. Will probably upgrade in the next year. My dream machine would be promotion, great loudspeakers, great screen, 15", thin and light and m3. If the Air 15 had promotion and a better screen it would have been a great choice. I just think promotion is a must and I want 16gb/512g, so the Air15 is getting too expensive here in Europe (more than €2000). If I need a new machine today I would go for the pro 14.
Well, you can spec up the 13" to the 10C GPU and Apple Store doesn't change the charger to 35W if you do that.
It's over-provisioning anyway, as a 20W iPad charger can keep my 13 topped at 100% while playing games. I imagine they want to cover potential scenarios with high brightness + USB-accessories as well.
Such a large screen, but still the bump on top. Please Apple stop with the bump. You can do it! It has no function. It is in the way on the top line.
Regarding CPU speeds and technology, it feels like Apple's trying to make the Air line more like the iPad line, in that they want people to buy based on generational technological leap, rather than the specific technology.
Compare this to Intel or AMD, where people buy based on clock speed. Higher = better. A zero sum game, ultimately.
For example, most of us no longer know what clock speed the M-series chips are running at. Few of us outside of enthusiasts can even list the core count. I've an M1 Max laptop and I honestly couldn't tell you the clock speed, CPU core count, GPU core count, or ML core count.
People buy newer iPads because they're just a newer generation, or to replace a broken device. Few people outside of enthusiasts buy them because there's a new chip inside.
And I think Apple wants people to buy its consumer laptops in the same way. And why not? People have been getting bamboozled by meaningless tech specs for too long.
The Pro laptops are a different matter.
Compare this to Intel or AMD, where people buy based on clock speed. Higher = better. A zero sum game, ultimately.
For example, most of us no longer know what clock speed the M-series chips are running at. Few of us outside of enthusiasts can even list the core count. I've an M1 Max laptop and I honestly couldn't tell you the clock speed, CPU core count, GPU core count, or ML core count.
People buy newer iPads because they're just a newer generation, or to replace a broken device. Few people outside of enthusiasts buy them because there's a new chip inside.
And I think Apple wants people to buy its consumer laptops in the same way. And why not? People have been getting bamboozled by meaningless tech specs for too long.
The Pro laptops are a different matter.
FWIW, I traded in my MBA M1 13" to Apple for $500 to apply towards a 15" M2. The little bit of research I did seemed to indicate I might be able to get ~$550-600 on the high-end for it.
Apple is selling the M1 13" for $899 in the edu store, so a painless and quick $500 seems like a good value retention for the M1 MBA with zero selling effort involved.
Try Swappa or eBay and see what the same configuration is going for.
These new products essentially replace the old intel 16" MacBook Pro I have an i9/2tb/32gb and 5500M. My 13" M1 air 16/1tb runs circles apart from graphics and ram needs.
The main issue is the one external display. I use 3 and it still means you have to spend an extra £1000 to get more than one display.
From this perspective its still a big gap and if your a multi tasker there is no replacement for additional displays and this hardware limitation is an issue. Whether it is a hardware issue or purposeful limitation to make you upgrade to the higher end machines who knows but the old air could do more than one display so its frustrating.
Especially for people where the speed is enough but you travel a lot. Even if its between the office and home let alone international.
Really annoying.
The main issue is the one external display. I use 3 and it still means you have to spend an extra £1000 to get more than one display.
From this perspective its still a big gap and if your a multi tasker there is no replacement for additional displays and this hardware limitation is an issue. Whether it is a hardware issue or purposeful limitation to make you upgrade to the higher end machines who knows but the old air could do more than one display so its frustrating.
Especially for people where the speed is enough but you travel a lot. Even if its between the office and home let alone international.
Really annoying.