I May Get My Wife's Unwanted M2 MBA

[Buadhai]

I thought my wife would be thrilled with the M2 MBA that I bought for her to replace her 2017 13" MBA.

I was wrong. She's a busy attorney and moving from the old machine to the new MBA has been a time consuming hassle that she would rather do without.

The main problem, as she sees it, is that the new machine doesn't have enough of the right kind of ports.

She mainly uses her old MBA at her office and our condo. Both places have monitors to which she connects using the old MBA's mini-DVI port, printers to which she connects via the MBA's USB-A port. She uses the other USB-A port for her Time Machine drive or an external USB keyboard.

She has Mag-Safe 2(?) chargers at both her office and the condo. The M2 came with one Mag-Safe 3(?), so she'll have to buy another.

She very much dislikes the idea of having to use a hub to connect her stuff. She'll either have to haul the hub around, or buy enough hubs to populate home, office and condo.

None of this would bother me. I'd accept it as an interesting challenge and would enjoy getting everything working right. Spending money doesn't bother me as much as it does her.

Of course, I'm retired and have nothing but time on my hands.

The upside is that I may end up replacing my kernel panic plagued 2017 iMac with the M2 MBA and, perhaps, a nice big display to go with it.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.

 

[Jack Neill]

I hope you get a new Mac.. I know how it goes. I gave my kids mom a Switch for her birthday and she uses about 0.0%, so I got a Switch..

 

[DHagan4755]

What a conundrum. She should be able to replace the cables on the printer, drive, and monitors with ones that connect USB-C. Do you really want to do that when YOU can get a new machine?

 

[Buadhai]

What a conundrum. She should be able to replace the cables on the printer, drive, and monitors with ones that connect USB-C. Do you really want to do that when YOU can get a new machine?

Yes it's all possible with or without a hub. USB-C to DVI for the monitor. USB-C to USB-B for the printer. And so on. To me, the best solution is a small hub with am HDMI port and a few USB-A ports. With that and an HDMI/DVI adapter she'd be set. But having to buy all this stuff really irks her. (You wouldn't think a busy attorney would be so thrifty.)

Oh, wait. The best solution is an MBA for me!

 

[russell_314]

I thought my wife would be thrilled with the M2 MBA that I bought for her to replace her 2017 13" MBA.

I was wrong. She's a busy attorney and moving from the old machine to the new MBA has been a time consuming hassle that she would rather do without.

The main problem, as she sees it, is that the new machine doesn't have enough of the right kind of ports.

She mainly uses her old MBA at her office and our condo. Both places have monitors to which she connects using the old MBA's mini-DVI port, printers to which she connects via the MBA's USB-A port. She uses the other USB-A port for her Time Machine drive or an external USB keyboard.

She has Mag-Safe 2(?) chargers at both her office and the condo. The M2 came with one Mag-Safe 3(?), so she'll have to buy another.

She very much dislikes the idea of having to use a hub to connect her stuff. She'll either have to haul the hub around, or buy enough hubs to populate home, office and condo.

None of this would bother me. I'd accept it as an interesting challenge and would enjoy getting everything working right. Spending money doesn't bother me as much as it does her.

Of course, I'm retired and have nothing but time on my hands.

The upside is that I may end up replacing my kernel panic plagued 2017 iMac with the M2 MBA and, perhaps, a nice big display to go with it.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.

A hub or just cheap adapters. I'm not sure about DVI but you can buy cheap USB-A to USB-C adapters that just stay on the cord so you never even have to think about it. I couldn't even imagine having to plug a printer in every time I wanted to print something after I've used wireless.

But if I was you I wouldn't try to convince her of that. It sounds like she's happy with her really outdated but I guess still working tech. It sounds like maybe you need a Mac more than she does. Maybe she knows this

 

[Buadhai]

As someone who never prints anything I’m probably not qualified to comment, but I agree about wireless. The printer we have at home has WiFi. The one at her office is an inkjet that needs a cable. The one at the condo is an ancient Canon laser printer that also needs a cable.

I have on order all the cables and adapters I need to make this, hub or hub-less, as painless as possible.

I hesitate to predict the result.

 

[KPOM]

Even my early 2021 HP work PC has only 2 TB4 ports, 1 USB-A and 1 HDMI port. The world has moved on. Eventually that 2017 MBA (really a 2015) will stop working. But in the meantime you get to use the M2.

 

[NotApplicable]

With that aversion to change, hopefully she’s nearly retired as well! Imagine trying to survive today on 30-pins and VGA!

 

[Buadhai]

She’s really not averse to change, just to spending money.

 

[jchap]

She’s really not averse to change, just to spending money.

I get the feeling that you wanted the M2 MBA more than she did anyway.

 

[Buadhai]

I get the feeling that you wanted the M2 MBA more than she did anyway.

😂

Truth is that if I were going to spend that kind of money on myself I would have bought an M1 iMac. I still may.

 

[tastesliketailpipe]

Don’t try to fix what ain’t broken.

 

[Danfango]

With that aversion to change, hopefully she’s nearly retired as well! Imagine trying to survive today on 30-pins and VGA!

You laugh but I had someone recently bring their white plastic macbook to me and ask me to fix it because she didn’t want to move to a new computer. The thing was almost destroyed. She has no backups. It only worked if it was plugged in and a book was leaned on the cable. No advice was taken.

 

[Alex Cai]

I’d like USB-A, DVI, and VGA ports to diminish from earth in the next 5 years
I hate them

 

[Buadhai]

You laugh but I had someone recently bring their white plastic macbook to me and ask me to fix it because she didn’t want to move to a new computer. The thing was almost destroyed. She has no backups. It only worked if it was plugged in and a book was leaned on the cable. No advice was taken.

I’m still using a 2010 white MacBook as my only laptop. I upped the RAM to 8GB and replaced the drive with an SSD. It performs quite well for the simple things I do with it. The Mag-Safe cable is on its last legs but I don’t yet have to lean a book on it. I do back it up regularly.

 

[jchap]

I’m still using a 2010 white MacBook as my only laptop. I upped the RAM to 8GB and replaced the drive with an SSD. It performs quite well for the simple things I do with it. The Mag-Safe cable is on its last legs but I don’t yet have to lean a book on it.

Good for you. My mother is in a very similar situation: a white plastic MacBook (2010, I believe) with an upgraded SSD. She was having some power and charging issues with it recently, so we replaced the MagSafe adapter and cable and now it works fine. (I thought the battery needed replacement and I wasn't too optimistic about using third-party batteries for that MacBook, which likely are not manufactured much anymore even though old stock of Li-Ion batteries that have sat quietly discharging on the shelf for possibly years is readily available online. Surprisingly, the battery still holds a modest charge after over a decade of use.)

Such a solid unit, that MacBook was.

 

[Buadhai]

I’d like USB-A, DVI, and VGA ports to diminish from earth in the next 5 years
I hate them

How do you feel about FireWire? I still have a working original iPod that charges via the FireWire port.

 

[Buadhai]

Good for you. My mother is in a very similar situation: a white plastic MacBook (2010, I believe) with an upgraded SSD. She was having some power and charging issues with it recently, so we replaced the MagSafe adapter and cable and now it works fine. (I thought the battery needed replacement and I wasn't too optimistic about using third-party batteries for that MacBook, which likely are not manufactured much anymore even though old stock of Li-Ion batteries that have sat quietly discharging on the shelf for possibly years is readily available online. Surprisingly, the battery still holds a modest charge after over a decade of use.)

Such a solid unit, that MacBook was.

Yep, really heavy, but solid.

I’ve replaced the battery a couple of times, but, as you note, they don’t last long. The dealer I bought from here in Thailand was pretty straight up about that.

 

[BCARLLUVSM1]

Her loss; your gain. I would have kept both if I was her; but that is me. I love old Macs and new Macs.

 

[Fraserh02]

At some point she’s probably going to want to because her MacBook isn’t going to get further OS updates when Ventura comes out. Migration Assistant I used recently and it transferred everything seamlessly (settings, files, apps - even though the files were all on the cloud as they should be). On top of this, it’s fairly straight forward to just put an adapter on her laptop case, but crucially all of the monitors and devices she connects to at the desk, just change them to USB C and keep that cable connected so it likely won’t make a difference.

 

[Wokis]

Going to need those adapters sooner or later but if the 2017 still performs well enough for her I suppose the motivation to solve these things is low.

The main thing I love with docks is that you don't connect a cable for each peripheral. Imagine having to remember to plugin the keyboard cable each and every time One cable and all stuff starts working. M2 MBA supports charging over USB-C also, of course.

OP I hope you're figuring out right now what you should gift her instead, if she ends up not wanting the MBA!

 

[ilikewhey]

attorneys and these in the legal field don't need the newest and greatest, most of the work is documentation and sites like westlaw or lexis for research. i'm a exception cause i like new apple stuff, but my supervisor, he is perfectly fine with his 2014 mac mini with a 1440p display.

 

[MajorFubar]

Gotta admit even before USB became the standard I still preferred connecting everything to a dock then from the dock to my computer via one cable. Well actually it was three cables because power and video always needed a separate cable.

It's definitely a win for you if you end up with new kit but this to me is (was) an ideal chance to drag her peripherals out of 2010. She's going to have to at some point.

 

[Student of Life]

I thought my wife would be thrilled with the M2 MBA that I bought for her to replace her 2017 13" MBA.

I was wrong. She's a busy attorney and moving from the old machine to the new MBA has been a time consuming hassle that she would rather do without.

The main problem, as she sees it, is that the new machine doesn't have enough of the right kind of ports.

She mainly uses her old MBA at her office and our condo. Both places have monitors to which she connects using the old MBA's mini-DVI port, printers to which she connects via the MBA's USB-A port. She uses the other USB-A port for her Time Machine drive or an external USB keyboard.

She has Mag-Safe 2(?) chargers at both her office and the condo. The M2 came with one Mag-Safe 3(?), so she'll have to buy another.

She very much dislikes the idea of having to use a hub to connect her stuff. She'll either have to haul the hub around, or buy enough hubs to populate home, office and condo.

None of this would bother me. I'd accept it as an interesting challenge and would enjoy getting everything working right. Spending money doesn't bother me as much as it does her.

Of course, I'm retired and have nothing but time on my hands.

The upside is that I may end up replacing my kernel panic plagued 2017 iMac with the M2 MBA and, perhaps, a nice big display to go with it.

Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion.

Just get her the three hubs and call it a day, you can find them on Amazon or eBay on the cheaper side. I would also look at getting a wireless printer. What type of law does she practice?

 

[orionquest]

She’s really not averse to change, just to spending money.

If it's not broken don't fix it....