Resolved Just bought my first MacBook Air!

[revmacian]

My local Best Buy has begun their Black Friday sale early, this morning I found that the new MacBook Air is $200 off. I gave in to temptation and bought one. It only has 128GB SSD, but I don’t plan on using this machine to store very much and I don’t usually install third-party apps unless absolutely necessary.

i’m guessing this machine still has Mojave installed on it. Should I upgrade to Catalina?

 

[z2000]

congratulation!
If you don't use "old software" app and/or specific reason, upgrade always good options.

 

[revmacian]

congratulation!
If you don't use "old software" app and/or specific reason, upgrade always good options.

I usually don’t use anything other than the apps that came with the device. Upgrading now. Thank you!

 

[Eksoccer99]

I’d wait. There’s all kinds of bugs still reported in the macOS 10.15 forums.

 

[revmacian]

I’d wait. There’s all kinds of bugs still reported in the macOS 10.15 forums.

Too late. I'm pretty good at working around bugs - been doing it on iPhone XR and iPad Air 3.

This MBA is a dream! So light and easy to carry. The keyboard is going to take some acclimation, though, it's quite "clacky" and the keys don't travel much.

But, I'm loving it so far.

 

[revmacian]

If anyone is wondering how much storage space is left on a 128GB machine after set up on Catalina, I can report that I had approximately 99.7GB of storage left. That number increased after removing Garage Band and Keynote.

 

[Eksoccer99]

Too late. I'm pretty good at working around bugs - been doing it on iPhone XR and iPad Air 3.

This MBA is a dream! So light and easy to carry. The keyboard is going to take some acclimation, though, it's quite "clacky" and the keys don't travel much.

But, I'm loving it so far.

Yes. Love mine as well. Enjoy!

 

[revmacian]

I've been using an iPhone XR and an iPad Air 3, so I've become accustomed to double-tapping the titlebar of an app to quickly scroll to the top of a page.. that doesn't work on a Mac, lol.

 

[pdxplm]

It's a great machine! I reverted back to Mojave after a week due to flakey video drivers. I'm going to wait and see how the updates play out before trying Catalina again.

 

[Peadogie]

I've been using an iPhone XR and an iPad Air 3, so I've become accustomed to double-tapping the titlebar of an app to quickly scroll to the top of a page.. that doesn't work on a Mac, lol.

Yeah, I had the same experience. I checked 'Show scroll bars: Always' in General Preferences and click on the top of the bar as a "kind of" workaround with the cursor.

You'll love your MBA!
Catalina has by and large run fine for me so far. It does have a some bugs, but I haven't experienced any where near as many problems that these forums would lead one to believe.

 

[revmacian]

Yeah, I had the same experience. I checked 'Show scroll bars: Always' in General Preferences and click on the top of the bar as a "kind of" workaround with the cursor.

Thank you for that scrollbar option! I also found that the Command+up arrow shortcut works perfectly for scrolling to the top of a page.

You'll love your MBA!
Catalina has by and large run fine for me so far. It does have a some bugs, but I haven't experienced any where near as many problems that these forums would lead one to believe.

Yeah, I'm not seeing near as many problems either.. might be due to use case.
[automerge]1573225182[/automerge]
If anyone is interested, I just found a nice list of keyboard shortcuts: Mac Keyboard Shortcuts (Apple Support). Export that page as PDF and you're good to go!

 

[Peadogie]

Thank you for that scrollbar option! I also found that the Command+up arrow shortcut works perfectly for scrolling to the top of a page.

Yeah, I use the scroll bar or the kb shortcut as the mood strikes me.

 

[Mainsail]

I am very happy with my 2019 MBA. I had a 2014 MBA that I loved, so it was tough to pull the trigger. But, I am glad I did. There is so much negativity on MR these days. Every issue reverberates though an echo chamber. Often, it is the same people posting over and over again with complaints and commentary about devices they don't even own or have first hand experience. Anyway, congrats on your purchase. Enjoy!

BTW - I am still on Mojave and will probably wait for 10.15.2, which is in Beta, to upgrade. Just being cautious.

 

[Peadogie]

There is so much negativity on MR these days. Every issue reverberates though an echo chamber. Often, it is the same people posting over and over again with complaints and commentary about devices they don't even own or have first hand experience.

A sad truth. I really don't understand it.

 

[revmacian]

There is so much negativity on MR these days. Every issue reverberates though an echo chamber. Often, it is the same people posting over and over again with complaints and commentary about devices they don't even own or have first hand experience.

I find it's best to put them on ignore and forget about them.. life's too short.

 

[TohMac]

Glad to hear it worked for you. I bought the Air 256 gig last week but wont upgrade to Catalina. I had mistakenly earlier upgraded my iMac to Catalina. Several problems took place. I cant use the cloud on it yet. Waiting for a good update to take place. Doing a clean install to Catalina to see if that helps in the meantime. Leaving my Air as it is for now.

 

[revmacian]

Glad to hear it worked for you. I bought the Air 256 gig last week but wont upgrade to Catalina. I had mistakenly earlier upgraded my iMac to Catalina. Several problems took place. I cant use the cloud on it yet. Waiting for a good update to take place. Doing a clean install to Catalina to see if that helps in the meantime. Leaving my Air as it is for now.

Congrats on your MBA 256! I did a clean install and everything seems to be going well. I always do a clean install on a new device, I find it avoids "problem carryover". It does take time, and it only needs to be done once, but it seems to work best for my needs.

 

[madrich]

Thank you for that scrollbar option! I also found that the Command+up arrow shortcut works perfectly for scrolling to the top of a page.


Yeah, I'm not seeing near as many problems either.. might be due to use case.
[automerge]1573225182[/automerge]
If anyone is interested, I just found a nice list of keyboard shortcuts: Mac Keyboard Shortcuts (Apple Support). Export that page as PDF and you're good to go!

Who could possibly remember all those shortcuts!

 

[revmacian]

Who could possibly remember all those shortcuts!

Yep, there are many! I couldn't possible remember all of them. That is why I exported the page as a PDF and keep it on my machine for reference. I'm so glad Apple made keyboard shortcuts as important as they did.

 

[madrich]

Yep, there are many! I couldn't possible remember all of them. That is why I exported the page as a PDF and keep it on my machine for reference. I'm so glad Apple made keyboard shortcuts as important as they did.

By the time you open the pdf file and search for the short cut you need, you waste a lot of time and could have done it without it.

 

[revmacian]

By the time you open the pdf file and search for the short cut you need, you waste a lot of time and could have done it without it.

Hmm, that’s a very good point. I suppose in that case it would be beneficial to memorize that particular keyboard shortcut.