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a-m-k

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 3, 2009
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I’ve been planning this for a very long time. My question is will it be worth it? I mean how much of a price difference is there? I probably will be replacing my external hard drive, too. I have had it since 2012 or earlier.
 
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What is your use case? What do you want to do that your current machine is not able to do? Those questions would be very important to ask before making any purchase. In my humble opinion, if you have been thinking and planning about this for a long time and still cannot figure out if its going to be worth it - then it probably is not worth it to upgrade. An upgrade value proposition has to be very obvious to make the purchase.
 
Use case? When I said planning this for a long time, I knew it was going to happen. My current MBP died a long time ago, a mid-2012, it was almost eight. When I asked if it was going to be worth it, what are the differences between the MBP and MBA in terms of how the two perform?
 
Yes time to upgrade if your coming from a 2012 PC. The MacBook Air (starting price/ base) is fine if you are going to use it just to browse the web, watch movies, email, etc.

MacBook Pro is a bit better with speed, you can have lots of browser tabs open
and applications running at the same time then the MacBook Air.
 
I’ve had really bad luck with MBPs. I figured it was time for a model change. I am just waiting for Amazon Prime Day.... Or Summer sale according to others. Will there be an announcement of when it starts. So maybe I’ll have better luck with my MBA when I get it.

Yes, my MBP is completely useless, too. I’m not replacing it “just because”.
 
I think that if you're doing video editing or serious Photoshop work, the MacBook Pro with an independent graphics card is the way to go. I just replaced my 2010 MacBook Air (Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM) with a brand spankin new 2020 Air. My needs are not so graphic-intensive. Mostly I use Office apps like Excel, and I do a lot with PDFs using Adobe Acrobat Pro, so the Air is perfect for me. I went with an over-specced configuration for my needs just because, getting an i5 processor and 16GB of RAM. I feel like I did when I went from a dialup modem to a cable modem - quantum leap in performance.

I do some light Photoshop work using Adobe Photoshop Elements, the "lite" version of Photoshop. No troubles, no lag. There used to be a huge performance gap between the MacBook Pro and the regular MacBook or the MacBook Air. Even for regular daily use you would see a difference in performance. These days, however, the Air handles all but the most graphic-heavy tasks with aplomb.
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I’ve had really bad luck with MBPs. I figured it was time for a model change. I am just waiting for Amazon Prime Day.... Or Summer sale according to others. Will there be an announcement of when it starts. So maybe I’ll have better luck with my MBA when I get it.

Yes, my MBP is completely useless, too. I’m not replacing it “just because”.

Perhaps keep an eye on the Apple Refurbished Products for a MBA. None right now but it changes daily.
 
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No video editing and I will never consider refurbished products. Sorry.
 
i replaced my 2012 with a 2020 MBA i5, i love it, it's very smooth. I'm not a power user, I'm planning on using it for at least 5 years.
 
I’ve had really bad luck with MBPs. I figured it was time for a model change. I am just waiting for Amazon Prime Day.... Or Summer sale according to others. Will there be an announcement of when it starts. So maybe I’ll have better luck with my MBA when I get it.

Yes, my MBP is completely useless, too. I’m not replacing it “just because”.

The 2020 MacBook Pro is also worth considering. The 2020 Air will be faster than your 2012 Pro, but the 2020 Pro has a better screen and the CPU is still faster when pushed to the limit. Best Buy, B&H Photo etc have some specials on MacBook Pros right now.

What models are you looking at? How much RAM and SSD? For the Air are you looking at the dual core or the quad core?
 
No video editing and I will never consider refurbished products. Sorry.

I'm not sure I really understand this.. Refurbs are fantastic, IMO. Anything that can go wrong with a MacBook can go wrong with it whether it's brand new or a refurbished product. The great thing about Apple Refurbs is that any issues that the previous owner had, they are looked after. But in most cases, refurbs are just products that a person decided they didn't want and sent it back. The best part about it is that each unit is looked over again, so that very MacBook is actually getting twice the amount of Quality Control than a brand new one would get. The only difference is you'll be getting a laptop that looks completely brand new, may have a few cycles on the battery already and it comes with a Refurbished box instead of a new one... oh, and yeah, you're saving a couple of hundred bucks, to boot and still getting the exact same warranty. I've bought roughly 6-7 Refurbs in the last 9 years for myself and family members and have zero issue with any of them.

If you're unsure of what to get, the 2019 MBA is fantastic, I just recently picked up a refurb and the prices are crazy good now for one. Plus, the keyboard warranty is good for 4 years, and these third generation butterfly keyboards are pretty nice, I must say. I wanted a 2020 Air originally, but due to the complaints of the heat/fan issues, I avoided it and picked up the 2019. The keyboard doesn't make or break it for me, and for a normal user like me, I highly doubt I'd notice much of a speed difference in the processors. Anyways, good luck with whatever you decide to get! :cool:
 
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No video editing and I will never consider refurbished products. Sorry.
That's a shame. You're definitely missing out on Apple's fabulous refurbished line of products. Great deals on products that you can't tell from brand new. They even come with the same exact warranty. All sold directly from Apple. Can't go wrong with an Apple refurbished product. That's all I ever buy. Never had a problem. Here's the link.

 
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Use case? When I said planning this for a long time, I knew it was going to happen. My current MBP died a long time ago, a mid-2012, it was almost eight. When I asked if it was going to be worth it, what are the differences between the MBP and MBA in terms of how the two perform?

My mom has a 2017 MBA and I have a 2020 MBP. Both are very light but the air is lighter. Personally I like the touchpad and the finger sensor for apple pay purchases found in only the MBP.
 
That's a shame. You're definitely missing out on Apple's fabulous refurbished line of products. Great deals on products that you can't tell from brand new. They even come with the same exact warranty. All sold directly from Apple. Can't go wrong with an Apple refurbished product. That's all I ever buy. Never had a problem. Here's the link.

Agreed. I have had several refurbished MacBooks, including the 2017 12” that I still have.
 
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I'm not sure I really understand this.. Refurbs are fantastic, IMO. Anything that can go wrong with a MacBook can go wrong with it whether it's brand new or a refurbished product. The great thing about Apple Refurbs is that any issues that the previous owner had, they are looked after. But in most cases, refurbs are just products that a person decided they didn't want and sent it back. The best part about it is that each unit is looked over again, so that very MacBook is actually getting twice the amount of Quality Control than a brand new one would get. The only difference is you'll be getting a laptop that looks completely brand new, may have a few cycles on the battery already and it comes with a Refurbished box instead of a new one... oh, and yeah, you're saving a couple of hundred bucks, to boot and still getting the exact same warranty. I've bought roughly 6-7 Refurbs in the last 9 years for myself and family members and have zero issue with any of them.

There are a number of cases where Apple Certified Refurbished products have arrived with reworked logic boards and poor soldering. You can read up on testimonials from Apple contracted employees, CSAT.
 
There are a number of cases where Apple Certified Refurbished products have arrived with reworked logic boards and poor soldering. You can read up on testimonials from Apple contracted employees, CSAT.
On the other hand, every return to the Apple Store winds up on the refurb page. My i7 Air will be available for 15% off soon (I returned it when the 2020 Ice Lake Pro was released).
 
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If it‘s just for emails and things like that (mostly “iPad usage”), the base model is fine. But if you are looking at buying something for quite a long time and requires a bit more of power, I would definitively consider the quad core + 16 GB RAM. Will last you far longer than the base model. And at this price, the MacBook Pro 13 with 8th gen Intel is almost the same price with 2 thunderbolt ports more, touchbar, and a bit better for sustained workload.
 
I’ve been trying to write a book (just fo an experiment... for now) and I think I have something saved on my current external hard drive or (hopefully) iCloud. I also want to play my Apple Music on it so I don’t waste my battery or wear the capacity down anymore than it already is on my phone.
 
There are a number of cases where Apple Certified Refurbished products have arrived with reworked logic boards and poor soldering. You can read up on testimonials from Apple contracted employees, CSAT.

Sorry, a bit late replying to this one, but I go by my experiences, not what I've read on the internet. I can attest to Apple Refurbs, they're solid. I'm sure there have been issues reported over the years, but all the same, just because I see a few bad reviews of something, doesn't sway me to the point of avoiding it altogether. I've seen a lot of positive feedback on refurbs as opposed to negative. ;)
 
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