Resolved MBA Upgrade rant

[calliex]

I have been a mac guy since 1984. I have had very good luck with all my previous and current Mac. Never bought apple care (never needed it). My current MBP 2012 retina is 6 years old and still work great (best laptop). I would like to upgrade. Three things are making me hesitate. Cost, Keyboard issues and the lack of ports.

I follow these forums daily and the keyboards on the new laptops seem to still have issues. I thought the new air would be my machine. I do not need the power of pro anymore now that I am retired but the fact it only has two USB-C ports is an issue. I constantly have a 2nd screen plug in and need to able to pop in a thumb drive from time to time, plus there will an occasion to charge it also.

I have looked at the available dongles for USB, HDMI, etc and reviews are all over the place. I can't go windows left that long ago and can't go back.

Cost wise it seems only $100 separates the air from MacBook and MacBook Pro

Just had to get it of my chest

 

[turbineseaplane]

I share your frustrations

 

[Howard2k]

Agreed. Difficult to buy right now with the KB, thermal, and T2 issues. I’m holding on for sure. I like the new MBA but I don’t want to be more of a gunieau pig than I already am with Mojave, and my current MBP is working great. Could always use more horsepower but the MBA won’t solve that (non-)issue.

 

[calliex]

I am so tired of waiting. My MBP 2012 retina is still running great but I would like a newer machine. Can't run Mojave yet because the version of filemaker pro (12) I have does not run on either High Sierra or Mojave. Can't justify upgrading to new version because they went to yearly subscription. When I get a new machine I can keep the old one to run Filemakr

 

[Velin]

Many of us right here with you. Still running my 2013 MBPro, I simply do a clean OS install with every major release and it's running great.

As for all the modern Macbooks, the keyboard still sucks. "Generation 3" changes nothing. No desire to "learn" or "adapt" or "get used to" this butterfly no-travel garbage. I can type fast. This keyboard hinders speed and comfort. It's a big no.

Only two USB-C ports on the new Air. Anyone who travels, or does anything outside their house, you know it's a 95% chance you'll have to interface with USB-A. Plus all the cables and peripherals. We spend top dollar on the best USB flash drives, all of which are USB-A 3.1 or 3.2. We also have nice EOSO lightning cables for charging and connecting -- all of them are USB-A to lightning.

Either Apple should have made the USB-C switch long ago, or on the new Air, throw in a damn USB-A port on the right-hand side, or the back. Instead of helping users, Apple forces us to spend more $ to deal with dongle and adapter hell. Not. Interested.

X1 Carbons are looking better with every Macbook release.

 

[Mainsail]

I can live with the cost. I can live with the ports. I can even live with the limited keyboard travel.

But, I can’t live with an unreliable failure prone keyboard on a laptop. That’s a non-starter for me. So, I will wait to see how it holds up. This might take a while. It has to be used in the wild. The hands on reviews that will come out next week won’t tell me anything. It needs real world exposure. TBD.

 

[calliex]

I can live with the cost. I can live with the ports. I can even live with the limited keyboard travel.

But, I can’t live with an unreliable failure prone keyboard on a laptop. That’s a non-starter for me. So, I will wait to see how it holds up. This might take a while. It has to be used in the wild. The hands on reviews that will come out next week won’t tell me anything. It needs real world exposure. TBD.

That is what I am doing. I am looking at March as a possible time to make a decision.

 

[Trusteft]

I have been a mac guy since 1984. I have had very good luck with all my previous and current Mac. Never bought apple care (never needed it). My current MBP 2012 retina is 6 years old and still work great (best laptop). I would like to upgrade. Three things are making me hesitate. Cost, Keyboard issues and the lack of ports.

I follow these forums daily and the keyboards on the new laptops seem to still have issues. I thought the new air would be my machine. I do not need the power of pro anymore now that I am retired but the fact it only has two USB-C ports is an issue. I constantly have a 2nd screen plug in and need to able to pop in a thumb drive from time to time, plus there will an occasion to charge it also.

I have looked at the available dongles for USB, HDMI, etc and reviews are all over the place. I can't go windows left that long ago and can't go back.

Cost wise it seems only $100 separates the air from MacBook and MacBook Pro

Just had to get it of my chest

Sounds like you would be better served with a 13 inch MBP. The Pro is slightly smaller, only 120g heavier, better screen, more powerful CPU, etc.
If I was in the market for a light laptop, I wouldn't go for the Air.
If performance wasn't an issue I would go for the 12 inch Macbook because I love the idea of no fans.
If you use the laptop as a desktop replacement, plugged in at home to a second monitor etc, then why not go for a Mac Mini or even an iMac?
Just saying.

 

[calliex]

Sounds like you would be better served with a 13 inch MBP. The Pro is slightly smaller, only 120g heavier, better screen, more powerful CPU, etc.
If I was in the market for a light laptop, I wouldn't go for the Air.
If performance wasn't an issue I would go for the 12 inch Macbook because I love the idea of no fans.
If you use the laptop as a desktop replacement, plugged in at home to a second monitor etc, then why not go for a Mac Mini or even an iMac?
Just saying.

I am considering it. I have a 15" now and had two 17" before that. I wouldn't get enough use out of a desktop even though you get the most bang for the buck out of it. I was thinking of MBA because of price until the raised the price. Not much of pro user anymore. It will a difficult decision.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I can type fast. This keyboard hinders speed and comfort. It's a big no.

That is a perfect summary...

I can also type very fast on the butterfly keyboards (and on other keyboards), but I totally frickin' hate the feel of it and the type of feedback the keys give. They are more like clicks than key strokes with depth and fidelity to them. Additionally, if I do use it for an extended period of time, my fingers end up sore.

...oh and the reliability is hot garbage..

Terrible change in my opinion.
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That is what I am doing. I am looking at March as a possible time to make a decision.

At least then you'll hopefully have the chance to buy refurb and pay a more reasonable price that is commensurate with the actual offering.

These are overpriced at retail to me.