I am toying around with buying a Macbook Air as the laptop seems noticeably lighter than my Macbook Pro 2015. However, the issue is that the Macbook Pro works just as good as it did the day that I bought it - plenty of storage space left, and 8 GB of ram is working fine. Buying a Macbook Air seems like a waste this year, especially with ARM Macbook Airs likely in 2020 or 2021. It may make more sense to use that money to buy a new iPad Pro. I am also still toying around with the idea of buying a Surface Go to pair with the iPad pro for certain needs...
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Is the Macbook Air a transitional device?
- Thread starter Adelphos33
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My advice is that if you dont really need it don't buy it. But I dont think will see ARM chips next year that's a rumour, also industry is not ready for that and apple knows it. Maybe in 3 years is possible but next year is too soon in my opinion.
I also think next year is too soon for ARM.
I'm not 100% sure but it would probably take a lot of work and time to port apps to the new hardware.
There are millions of devices running macOS on Intel. I remember the time and hassle it took to fully transition from PowerPC to x86.
I'm not 100% sure but it would probably take a lot of work and time to port apps to the new hardware.
There are millions of devices running macOS on Intel. I remember the time and hassle it took to fully transition from PowerPC to x86.
I agree, until microsoft doesn't move to ARM we won't see a major change. Many people rely on x86 apps like office, adobe, cad, etc...
It'll be a bad move from apple leaving all 2018 mac buyers behind with no support.
There is already Windows on ARM with full x86 emulation and very little performance loss from it. The hold up was waiting on powerful enough chips. 2-in-1's with Win 10 and ARM have been shipping since mid-late 2018.
Although emulation of x86 on ARM is possible, I'm not sure how well apps from Adobe would perform using emulation.
There's always a better machine and a better deal down the road. That's tech. If you don't need it today, then don't buy.
Personally, I have to have a spare machine. My spare died last year, so I bought the MBA. I know it will be updated/upgrade/replaced next year. C'est la vie.
However, I think the MBA is a great piece of kit. I got the 8/128 for ~1,000, and it does exactly what I expect. I use it far more than I expected – mainly because it's so portable – and I enjoy using it.
re: iPad Pro: I toyed with this – I have an iPad Air – but the MBA suits my needs much better. As a media consumer, the iPad is great, for everything else, the MBA is far better. ymmv.
re: Surface: I'm in the Apple ecosystem, so non-Apple must provide a huge advantage to switch. I would if it were there.
fwiw, my main machine is a late 15" 2013 MBP and like you, it's still a great bit of kit: i7 quadcore, 16Gb, 512Gb, dedicate GPU, retina. I think of it as a desktop now I have the MBA, and I'll probably replace it with a Mac mini when the time comes.
Personally, I have to have a spare machine. My spare died last year, so I bought the MBA. I know it will be updated/upgrade/replaced next year. C'est la vie.
However, I think the MBA is a great piece of kit. I got the 8/128 for ~1,000, and it does exactly what I expect. I use it far more than I expected – mainly because it's so portable – and I enjoy using it.
re: iPad Pro: I toyed with this – I have an iPad Air – but the MBA suits my needs much better. As a media consumer, the iPad is great, for everything else, the MBA is far better. ymmv.
re: Surface: I'm in the Apple ecosystem, so non-Apple must provide a huge advantage to switch. I would if it were there.
fwiw, my main machine is a late 15" 2013 MBP and like you, it's still a great bit of kit: i7 quadcore, 16Gb, 512Gb, dedicate GPU, retina. I think of it as a desktop now I have the MBA, and I'll probably replace it with a Mac mini when the time comes.
I agree, I live between mac and windows as I think both platforms have their advantages. My main computer is a powerful Ryzen PC I build myself but when I'm on the go I like the portability of my MBA 2018.
Most apps/programs I use are in both worlds mac and windows. I just dont marry with either but get the best of both
I also had the first ipad air but I realized I only used for media consumption so I sold it a year after was released. At the moment I don't own any tablet but I may buy next gen ipad only if apple makes iOS more productive on tablets other than watching youtube, netflix and checking emails.