Sell me on MBA

[kissymac7]

That's not great advice.

The new MBP is a stunning machine. My 13" and 15" touchbar units are the best laptops I've ever used. They will not compare and the Air will seem inferior.

In the beginning that is!

But the butterfly keyboard is not a small problem. As I posted in the MBP forum, my friend ordered a LOT of the new machines for the Board of Ed in NY. A third have keyboard failures after just 4 months.

Look, the keyboard failures are a lot like global warming. It's no fun believing in it...until a big storm washes your whole state away. I was one of the folks who ignored peoples warnings about the keyboards. I actually went back to that forum and apologized to those folks! Don't make the same mistake I made. Wait until Apple resolves the keyboard issue. If you MUST have a new laptop, get the Air. You can always sell for good money and upgrade later.

My i7 based Air is VERY capable. I even completed a photo editing job on it!


R

Hi I'm reading your post and you stated that the Air is very capable. I do the same work as you photo and video editing and my dilemma is the day, non retina screen on airs.
It drives me nut when I'm editing in photoshop and I really feel like I color edit wrong. Airs for photo editing are ONLY good if connect it to a Retina display but what about on the go editing when u are only using your screen????

 

[throAU]

This i5 cpu is blazingly fast. I don´t notice the difference to the quad core I7 in everyday tasks. This or that cpu, doesn't matter. Apple should keep the wedge shape, palm rests ( that means 13" screen) and the superior keyboard. Resolution of the mba is actually good enough. And for gods sake, cut the crap touch bar, and the oversized trackpad. Stupid combined.
I have found a lifeboat, if Apple continues on this crap after my 2017 MBA dies. It´s the Chromebook. I have bought an acer 14" Chromebook, that looks like a copy of the MBA, but fanless. Fantastic OS. Fantastic computer, and a value for money that is unmatched. So people, set up google drive on your Macs.

To clarify: the i7 in the 13 inch machines is not a quad core (yet).

It's almost identical to the i5 with a wee bit more cache and slightly boosted clocks.

It's a dual core just like the i5 in the 13" machines and smaller.

 

[CaptRB]

Hi I'm reading your post and you stated that the Air is very capable. I do the same work as you photo and video editing and my dilemma is the day, non retina screen on airs.
It drives me nut when I'm editing in photoshop and I really feel like I color edit wrong. Airs for photo editing are ONLY good if connect it to a Retina display but what about on the go editing when u are only using your screen????

I had both the 13" and 15" Touchbar machines, but there's virtually NO way I (or anyone else I work with or know of) ever does serious paid photo work on these machines internal screens. The 15" and smaller screens are simply too small. Without exception we do the real grunt work with a calibrated external monitor or a desktop.

Now...I do think the retina screen is good enough to do some photo work and for meetings and presentation, but an iPad Pro is actually a slicker solution for that.

My laptops are used to check photos and organize them, but I'm not going compromise results by trying to do post on a 15" screen. In a pinch or for my own casual shooting, I can happily use the Air for light duty stuff. The touch-bar units were a one system solution with external monitors until the keyboards started to fail.

R.

 

[ignatius345]

But the butterfly keyboard is not a small problem. As I posted in the MBP forum, my friend ordered a LOT of the new machines for the Board of Ed in NY. A third have keyboard failures after just 4 months.

Troubling. Do you know if these failures are in the first-gen MacBooks or the ones with the "revised" butterfly switch?

They did make make some changes to the butterfly switch in the standalone Magic Keyboard and newer Macbooks that has much better tactile feedback. Key travel is still basically nil, but they added something in the switch to make the key presses register a little better by touch. It feels usable now. Not great, and not as good as the Air keyboard -- but miles ahead of the first gen, in my opinion.

Personally, I'm still rocking a pretty old Air 11" and find it super capable of holding its own for writing, web, video and even some graphics and light video editing stuff. And hey, it has magsafe and usable USB ports so you can (gasp) charge your phone while you charge your laptop!

I had a first-gen MacBook Retina for a bit, but ended up reselling it because of that god-awful first-gen butterfly keyboard, terrible ports, and weak battery life. Reading your post just sows more doubt in my mind about it.
[doublepost=1505667446][/doublepost]

Indeed. hopefully by that time, Apple would improve those noisy-low-travel keyboards. Chances are, keyboards will go away and AR/VR kit will enable iPads to read keystrokes from a projected keyboard on a table.

Banging my fingers against a tabletop all day sounds like the worst experience I can imagine. Keyboards have key travel and tactile feedback for good ergonomic and sensory reasons. Not everything newer is automatically better, despite what the marketers tell you.

 

[CaptRB]

I actually loved the new keyboard. I was typing faster on it once my fingers adapted to the lighter touch. But then it started to fail.

I was told by folks at Apple that the new keyboards are still problematic, which is why I did not accept a 2017 machine to replace the 2016. In fact, the customer relations person said he had returned his unit and was planning to wait until the eventual redesign fixed the issue for good.

Very happy for now with my 5K iMac and Air combo.


R.

 

[newellj]

Personally, I'm still rocking a pretty old Air 11" and find it super capable of holding its own for writing, web, video and even some graphics and light video editing stuff. And hey, it has magsafe and usable USB ports so you can (gasp) charge your phone while you charge your laptop!

For all I've said about the lousy display (IMO) and the (also IMO) slightly handicapped display ratio in the 11" MBA, it's really hard not to love that machine for it's ultra portability. It's sort of like an iPad with a built-in keyboard (and a GOOD keyboard) that runs OS X. I keep thinking I might buy one of the 2015 11" MBA refurbs before they're gone forever, but they're getting a little old in their tech, even if you get a "new" refurb. :-/

 

[Isamilis]

If you can get MBP with good price, then definitely go with MBP. I used to use MBA for 5 years (before I replaced it with MBP Retina 13" 2014) and still wonder how good, powerful and beautiful is the new rMBP 13" compared to Air.

You will get (much) better retina screen, better processor, better connectivity (MBP has more ports than MBA), and also (much) better speaker.

I'm usually a proponent of the MBA 13", but seeing your main usage is video & photography, your eyes will be pissed off at the screen. If like me, you place more importance on weight, keyboard quality & battery life, then the MBA is it.

You no longer have the choice to buy a new 2015 MBP 13" only the 15" are still for sale.
Refurb'd 13" MBPs are also getting rarer.

I agree with BornAgainMac, the Air is a classic and will be a collectible down the road.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar price curve akin to when the iPod Classic was discontinued.
Already the refurb'd 13" MBPs are snapped up by butterfly-keyboard opponents and once the Air is retired (sooner than later), the Air will gain status.

Also, one of the last iconic devices intro'd by Jobs.

No one can make the choice for you. We all wish, the 2017 iteration of the MBA had at least a 1080p IPS display, but only received a minor speed bump to 1.8Ghz.

 

[ignatius345]

I keep thinking I might buy one of the 2015 11" MBA refurbs before they're gone forever, but they're getting a little old in their tech, even if you get a "new" refurb. :-/

I've thought the same thing, but it's kind of hard to justify parting with upward of $1K for a somewhat faster version of the machine I already have.

 

[tentales]

Banging my fingers against a tabletop all day sounds like the worst experience I can imagine. Keyboards have key travel and tactile feedback for good ergonomic and sensory reasons. Not everything newer is automatically better, despite what the marketers tell you.

I think you misread my statement. I'm not saying *I want this*, I'm saying Apple might go there. Extrapolating on how they've gone from mechanical to membrane to chiclet and now to butterfly low-travel, the next step is to do away with any keyboard. Who knows, we may end up thinking words that can be picked up by implants or bionic eyewear. They've already added the word bionic to their chip designs.

 

[ignatius345]

I think you misread my statement. I'm not saying *I want this*, I'm saying Apple might go there. Extrapolating on how they've gone from mechanical to membrane to chiclet and now to butterfly low-travel, the next step is to do away with any keyboard. Who knows, we may end up thinking words that can be picked up by implants or bionic eyewear. They've already added the word bionic to their chip designs.

Fair enough.

I'm dictating this sentence right now, and it's actually pretty decent. I'm not doing any extra work to pronounce things the way I think the computer wants me too it does get some homophones and punctuation wrong but I suppose that's just what do you get.