My first ever MacBook has finally arrived

[1BadManVan]

Well, I gotta say, I think this comparison vs my Lenovo coming in is going to be tougher then I thought lol. The very seamless flow between this and my iPhone has already been a pleasure and I've only had this thing for an hour.

The keyboard is fantastic to type on, and I love being able to answer my text messages while playing on this. I love its got all my passwords saved, already got all my photos and music linked in from my iCloud as well. This is my first ever MacBook I've owned, still have a lot of little things to figure out with this.

Later this week, I have a Lenovo slim 7 pro x coming in as well. Its the same ram and ssd spec as this air (16gb, 1tb), but has a 3k touch display with 120hz and an Rtx 3050 graphics as well. I do like to game but I have an xbox series x, I haven't owned a gaming computer of any kind in over a decade. Obviously the option of being able to game on the go is very intriguing and the specs on paper sounds very tempting, its why I ordered one whole I was waiting for this to show up

So wish me luck, its going to be a very long 14 days I think unless this Lenovo really screwed something up

 

[Chateaunole-du-Pape]

I think it's going to come down to your OS preferences. I am a big fan of Mac OS, especially for the reasons you outline above - extremely tight integration with your other Apple devices and iCloud. It really is great how fluidly they work together, and, yes, being able to text from a laptop is really handy. Time Machine is also really handy to have.

When I made the move to a Mac as my personal machine 13 years ago, Mac OS was regarded as much more stable than Windows. I think that gap has narrowed somewhat - Windows 10 on my work-issued laptop is far better than the Windows 7 or, heaven forbid, Windows Vista I had on my prior machines, but I do still occasionally get a blue screen of death on my Dell laptop. I, personally, have never once gotten a kernel panic - the rough equivalent to a BSOD - on my Macs. Not to say they don't happen - I know they do - but I have never seen one on my machines.

I was also sold on the longevity of the Mac - after going through Windows machines every two years or so back in the 2000s, I got 13 years out of my old MacBook Pro. It was highly usable for the first 8 or so, though after upgrading to Yosemite it began to slow down noticeably. I did eventually max out the machine's RAM but never put in an SSD, which I am sure would have helped tremendously. Regardless, the notion of being able to get 8 years out of a Windows machine, much less 13, seems somewhat laughable to me.

That said, there are certainly some aspects of Windows that are more appealing. For instance, I find Windows' File Manager or whatever they call it these days a bit easier to use than Finder - but I am not spending a lot of time trying to move files around on my Mac, so it doesn't really matter. I don't game, but obviously Windows machines are better for that.

I received my M2 MBA three weeks ago, and could not be happier with it. Best of luck in your decision and enjoy your new machine, whichever you may decide to keep!

 

[1BadManVan]

I think it's going to come down to your OS preferences. I am a big fan of Mac OS, especially for the reasons you outline above - extremely tight integration with your other Apple devices and iCloud. It really is great how fluidly they work together, and, yes, being able to text from a laptop is really handy. Time Machine is also really handy to have.

When I made the move to a Mac as my personal machine 13 years ago, Mac OS was regarded as much more stable than Windows. I think that gap has narrowed somewhat - Windows 10 on my work-issued laptop is far better than the Windows 7 or, heaven forbid, Windows Vista I had on my prior machines, but I do still occasionally get a blue screen of death on my Dell laptop. I, personally, have never once gotten a kernel panic - the rough equivalent to a BSOD - on my Macs. Not to say they don't happen - I know they do - but I have never seen one on my machines.

I was also sold on the longevity of the Mac - after going through Windows machines every two years or so back in the 2000s, I got 13 years out of my old MacBook Pro. It was highly usable for the first 8 or so, though after upgrading to Yosemite it began to slow down noticeably. I did eventually max out the machine's RAM but never put in an SSD, which I am sure would have helped tremendously. Regardless, the notion of being able to get 8 years out of a Windows machine, much less 13, seems somewhat laughable to me.

That said, there are certainly some aspects of Windows that are more appealing. For instance, I find Windows' File Manager or whatever they call it these days a bit easier to use than Finder - but I am not spending a lot of time trying to move files around on my Mac, so it doesn't really matter. I don't game, but obviously Windows machines are better for that.

I received my M2 MBA three weeks ago, and could not be happier with it. Best of luck in your decision and enjoy your new machine, whichever you may decide to keep!

it will be interesting to me to see what I will end up liking the most over the next couple weeks. Like right now, the big draw for the Lenovo is the higher res display and the option too be able to game on it. But realistically most my gaming will be done on my more powerful series x.

So I think you're rightly think a lot of this will come down too the os preferences that match what my actual needs will end up being. I won't write off either of them yet until I give it a fair shake down. I almost cancelled this MacBook order all together, luckily it had already shipped lol

 

[1BadManVan]

one thing that will take some getting used to is this file system, I feel like I can't find anything lol

 

[Sleix]

Yeah, that's one thing I will nitpick about. Trying to locate my files on the local drive was sort of ugly in default mode, I had to literally adjust a lot of things in order to see my documents. I like opening documents through the file browser (in this case, finder) rather than the application itself. I also have a preference for organizing files the way I see fit and not leave it to some random chance of fate. Guess I'm old fashioned, but I like not relying upon any 'cloud' features, 'cause I'm not leaving my 'private' files to chance.

 

[1BadManVan]

Yeah, that's one thing I will nitpick about. Trying to locate my files on the local drive was sort of ugly in default mode, I had to literally adjust a lot of things in order to see my documents. I like opening documents through the file browser (in this case, finder) rather than the application itself. I also have a preference for organizing files the way I see fit and not leave it to some random chance of fate. Guess I'm old fashioned, but I like not relying upon any 'cloud' features, 'cause I'm not leaving my 'private' files to chance.

completely agree. I dont know Mac OS besides a mere few hours with it so far. try to get used to it before I deep dive into customizing it too much and get lost lol

 

[1BadManVan]

question, how do you make it download all your music to the hard drive? its got all my music synced from iCloud, I've select automatically download music, but this seems to only apply to new music I will add after the fact. But all the thousands of songs I have synced, aren't downloading automatically. I can't seem to find a mass download option anywhere lol

 

[1BadManVan]

I'll take the silence as im screwed

 

[VineRider]

question, how do you make it download all your music to the hard drive? its got all my music synced from iCloud, I've select automatically download music, but this seems to only apply to new music I will add after the fact. But all the thousands of songs I have synced, aren't downloading automatically. I can't seem to find a mass download option anywhere lol

In the music app create a smart playlist where time is greater than 0 seconds. That should select all your music. Save that playlist and then download it

 

[wilberforce]

If this is your first Mac, you are going to have a certain amount of frustration just because you are unfamiliar with the OS and the Mac way of doing things and various tricks and shortcuts. A common mistake is Windows users trying to force MacOS to behave like Windows, rather than embracing the Mac way of doing things (which isn't necessarily better, mainly just different).
I think you are going to have a hard time making a fair comparison in 14 days, unless you are a quick learner.

 

[1BadManVan]

If this is your first Mac, you are going to have a certain amount of frustration just because you are unfamiliar with the OS and the Mac way of doing things and various tricks and shortcuts. A common mistake is Windows users trying to force MacOS to behave like Windows, rather than embracing the Mac way of doing things (which isn't necessarily better, mainly just different).
I think you are going to have a hard time making a fair comparison in 14 days, unless you are a quick learner.

Im a fairly quick learner and to be fair, I haven’t owned a windows pc in about a decade. I keep familiar with it to help troubleshoot and maintain my wife’s laptop.

I’m very open minded and I was honestly very happy with the set up and how easy and fluid it all was. Set up definitely goes to apple. My lenovo should be here tomorrow

 

[1BadManVan]

In the music app create a smart playlist where time is greater than 0 seconds. That should select all your music. Save that playlist and then download it

Awesome, thanks for the tip!

 

[exoticSpice]

k, I have a Lenovo slim 7 pro x coming in as well. Its the same ram and ssd spec as this air (16gb, 1tb), but has a 3k touch display with 120h

Just a note, the the M2 MacBook is apple's entry level laptop that you got. The 14" MacBook Pro is around the same price as the spec you have chosen for $1999.

The 14" MacBook Pro comes with 120hz, miniLED, more ports and better speakers and more cpu/gpu cores but the base
14" Macbook Pro comes with 512SSD and 16GB RAM.

 

[1BadManVan]

Just a note, the the M2 MacBook is apple's entry level laptop that you got. The 14" MacBook Pro is around the same price as the spec you have chosen for $1999.

The 14" MacBook Pro comes with 120hz, miniLED, more ports and better speakers and more cpu/gpu cores but the base
14" Macbook Pro comes with 512SSD and 16GB RAM.

In Canada the 14” pro with 1 tb storage is $2500, the air is $2200 and the lenovo is $1800. The main considerations of the Lenovo is it’s much cheaper with great specs and has the potential to play actual AAA games.

We’ll see if the specs on paper translate into the real world. If they don’t, I’m sure I’ll be more then happy with the air. I’ve only had a day so far but it’s been a great experience

 

[exoticSpice]

In Canada the 14” pro with 1 tb storage is $2500, the air is $2200 and the lenovo is $1800. The main considerations of the Lenovo is it’s much cheaper with great specs and has the potential to play actual AAA games.

We’ll see if the specs on paper translate into the real world. If they don’t, I’m sure I’ll be more then happy with the air. I’ve only had a day so far but it’s been a great experience

Nice, enjoy your laptop testing. I am sure you will love the Air. Apart from AAA gaming the Macbook Air really good laptop.

macOS has great emulation tho. It can emulate all wii and before nintendo consoles, PS1-3.

As for AAA games that are new, RE: Village and No Mans sky is coming to macOS later this year just to list some.

 

[1BadManVan]

Nice, enjoy your laptop testing. I am sure you will love the Air. Apart from AAA gaming the Macbook Air really good laptop.

macOS has great emulation tho. It can emulate all wii and before nintendo consoles, PS1-3.

As for AAA games that are new, RE: Village and No Mans sky is coming to macOS later this year just to list some.

I’m definitely going to give them a fair chance and a good shake down. Took my air off the charger at 3 pm and been web browsing and playing with settings, benchmarks etc and it’s still at 71% lol

 

[Lihp8270]

Just a note, the the M2 MacBook is apple's entry level laptop that you got. The 14" MacBook Pro is around the same price as the spec you have chosen for $1999.

The 14" MacBook Pro comes with 120hz, miniLED, more ports and better speakers and more cpu/gpu cores but the base
14" Macbook Pro comes with 512SSD and 16GB RAM.

I don’t know why people keep referring to the air as an entry level laptop as if it deserves consideration.

The base configuration is £1300 and thus should be judged as such, and compared against laptops of equal price.

 

[1BadManVan]

I don’t know why people keep referring to the air as an entry level laptop as if it deserves consideration.

The base configuration is £1300 and thus should be judged as such, and compared against laptops of equal price.

It’s an entry level into Apple but it’s definitely not an entry level laptop.

 

[MajorFubar]

I don’t know why people keep referring to the air as an entry level laptop as if it deserves consideration.

The base configuration is £1300 and thus should be judged as such, and compared against laptops of equal price.

Because it's a $1199 laptop in country whose average salary is $50k a year whereas for us it's a £1250 laptop in a country whose average salary is £30k a year.

 

[Violet_Antelope]

Congratulations, have fun testing, and please let us know your findings! If you find document management hard with Finder, DefaultFolderX might help. It just provides a bit more control and function around saving files to where you really want them. Not something you can't manage other ways but personally I find it useful. I really miss TotalFinder and HyperSpaces, but they died with the increased security of the chips a few years back. Can't complain about better security but I miss the level of customisation and control they offered.

 

[PsykX]

If this is your first Mac, you are going to have a certain amount of frustration just because you are unfamiliar with the OS and the Mac way of doing things and various tricks and shortcuts. A common mistake is Windows users trying to force MacOS to behave like Windows, rather than embracing the Mac way of doing things (which isn't necessarily better, mainly just different).
I think you are going to have a hard time making a fair comparison in 14 days, unless you are a quick learner.

One of the frustrations that I still have after 16 years of being on the Mac is the Zoom button. It boggles my mind that this button has different behaviors depending on the app. If I were Apple, I'd just copy the simplicity of Windows' Maximize button and be done about it.

I avoid this button like the plague and installed Magnet to be able to maximize my windows more easily.

 

[jdb8167]

In the music app create a smart playlist where time is greater than 0 seconds. That should select all your music. Save that playlist and then download it

I do something similar. I create a smart playlist called “Not on Computer” and use the smart rule of ”Location” “is not” “on this computer”. Slightly more flexible when most stuff is already downloaded or when just clicking the download all button is too much.

 

[raylo32]

I am an iPhone owner and a new first time Mac owner, myself. I am actually enjoying having a toe in both Apple and Windows worlds. There are benefits to both. I use Windows for my home servers and gaming machines and don't see that changing. My last notebook was a 13" Asus i7 Zenbook with SSD now on Windows 10 Pro. That was such a revelation coming from previous clunky hot heavy laptops. That machine is still relevant and is as good as the MBA M2 for browsing, email streaming video, etc. But I have been having keyboard failures so I got the Mac. Glad I did, but I will repair the Asus and keep that, too. I am grateful that Apple has opened up the platform enough to make this a useful combination.

 

[aevan]

@1BadManVan - I am heavily biased towards Mac notebooks, but at the end of the day - you should be able to decide what you prefer. I would just say that your Series X will perform quite a bit better than that laptop (I have a Series X too, it's great) and unless you have specific Windows-exclusive software (apart from games) that you want to use, the Mac will outperform it in battery life, day to day performance, etc. The only way I see Lenovo being better is if you use software that relies on that Nvidia GPU.

Also, as you say, integration with other Apple devices is incredible on a Mac. And you can even run some iPhone and iPad apps, too.

 

[1BadManVan]

@1BadManVan - I am heavily biased towards Mac notebooks, but at the end of the day - you should be able to decide what you prefer. I would just say that your Series X will perform quite a bit better than that laptop (I have a Series X too, it's great) and unless you have specific Windows-exclusive software (apart from games) that you want to use, the Mac will outperform it in battery life, day to day performance, etc. The only way I see Lenovo being better is if you use software that relies on that Nvidia GPU.

Also, as you say, integration with other Apple devices is incredible on a Mac. And you can even run some iPhone and iPad apps, too.

That’s something I’m coming to realize. Im happy I got both so I can just try them during the day to day life. But when you take out gaming, it really kills the benefits of the Lenovo. It’s heavier, thicker, worse battery life, probably worse speakers as well.

But gaming aside, it still has a stupid fast gen 4 ssd in it, a 3k 120hz touch display that’s 14.5” with super thin bezels. It’s still a nice looking laptop and considering the specs it gets, it still gets very respectable battery life with it as well because of the 6nm amd processor

The m2 has left a great first impression so far just with how nicely it integrates with the iPhone. I have an M1 IPad Pro as well that I haven’t played with on it yet.

I definitely see why so many people go all in on apple though, they definitely know how to build a very fluid ecosystem.