Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

nepats81

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 28, 2014
139
150
I just bought an i5 8 gb MacBook Air in the spring. I could probably sell it for a decent price as its in perfect condition. What would be the benefits of selling and upgrading to the new ARM MacBook Air?
 
  • Like
Reactions: limesmoothie
What are you planning to use the computer for? That will be key to any answer. Moreover, you just recently purchased your Air, and unless there is a use case that just happened to crop up that your currently paid for machine can't do - why upgrade at all?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4sallypat and jchap
This is pretty much impossible to answer accurately since you didn't give us a clue on how you use your system.

For sure, you will not recover the full price of your i5.

The biggest unquestionable gain would be improved battery performance.

Is that valuable to you?

It's not for me. I think that notebook computers are piss poor product designs re: ergonomics so I don't use my notebook computer for more than a couple hours in a stretch. That means for me that 12+ hour battery life is meaningless because I'll never use it for 12+ hours straight.

As an indirect AAPL shareholder, I would love for you to sell your i5 and buy a new M1-MacBook Air. I want Apple to make oodles of money.
 
ill use it for Microsoft excel, YouTube, web browsing, organization tasks, basic stuff. I just like speed to be honest
 
ill use it for Microsoft excel, YouTube, web browsing, organization tasks, basic stuff. I just like speed to be honest
I haven’t seen when Excel is going is going to be compatible, but outside of that I think you’d be happy.

I’d HIGHLY recommend for the first set of reviews to come out though. We have very rough approximations of what things MIGHT look like from what people have done with the Mac Mini prototypes. If you’ve been waiting a while, I’d say “sure why not”. Just want to make sure you are satisfied with it.

One other thing, that I think is important is your personal disposable budget. I bought a Macbook Pro 16 in April. I’ll be watching things, as it shakes out personally. If I was running my aging out MacBook Pro 13 that I was using before April, I probably just would have pulled the trigger.
 
I haven’t seen when Excel is going is going to be compatible, but outside of that I think you’d be happy.

I’d HIGHLY recommend for the first set of reviews to come out though. We have very rough approximations of what things MIGHT look like from what people have done with the Mac Mini prototypes. If you’ve been waiting a while, I’d say “sure why not”. Just want to make sure you are satisfied with it.

One other thing, that I think is important is your personal disposable budget. I bought a Macbook Pro 16 in April. I’ll be watching things, as it shakes out personally. If I was running my aging out MacBook Pro 13 that I was using before April, I probably just would have pulled the trigger.

Wait. Excel isn’t compatible?
 
Wait. Excel isn’t compatible?

I don’t know if it’s compatible YET.

It will run under Rosetta 2 today. What does that mean without seeing it in reviews?!? Maybe Microsoft has posted something on this, and I just missed it, but I am not aware of the Microsoft suite running natively today on this hardware.

Once they release the code to support Apple Silicon, I fully expect it to beat the snot out of his current MacBook Air. But until we see Rosetta 2 running the current version, or until there is a press release saying it’s out, it’s hard to say.

Maybe I missed the mark, and they already announced something.
 
Better performance
Supreme battery life

If those are important to you, upgrade. These are the best laptops Apple has ever made.
no one really knows of the performance yet... everything is speculative. You cant go on just numbers honestly. I just have a hard time understanding why anyone would need such a long battery life, its not like anyone is traveling that far during a pandemic? I also do NOT think an Air will touch the performance of a recent pro...
 
Since you're going from an air to an air, I can't imagine the new MBA not being able to run everything you want to do, whether the apps are native or under rosetta 2. Honestly the better battery life alone would be worth it for me. I have a 15" Retina MBP that still works perfectly, but as soon as an Arm 16" MBP is announced, im jumping ship.
 
Since you're going from an air to an air, I can't imagine the new MBA not being able to run everything you want to do, whether the apps are native or under rosetta 2. Honestly the better battery life alone would be worth it for me. I have a 15" Retina MBP that still works perfectly, but as soon as an Arm 16" MBP is announced, im jumping ship.
So what’s your plan? Just sell your current mbp on eBay?
 
So what’s your plan? Just sell your current mbp on eBay?


Depending on how much it’s worth, I may sell it online. When I bought this one, I had an older 13” retina MBP that was worth maybe $500 at the time. Instead of selling that one, I gave it to a family member. If it’s worth a good amount when I go to sell, I’ll sell it online. Otherwise I’ll pass it down to keep everyone in my family with a somewhat “current” MacBook.
 
Since you're going from an air to an air, I can't imagine the new MBA not being able to run everything you want to do, whether the apps are native or under rosetta 2. Honestly the better battery life alone would be worth it for me. I have a 15" Retina MBP that still works perfectly, but as soon as an Arm 16" MBP is announced, im jumping ship.
I have 2 i7 - 2015 15" and 2019 16" and my 2015 is getting aged so I am looking at replacing my 2015 Retina MBP with this M1 MBA for the weight savings, increased battery life, and better performance.

Don't really need a Pro anymore with M1 because I don't do any serious gaming or video editing....
 
  • Like
Reactions: SHKLMRE
Will this new ARM mac be significantly faster? 🏎💨
Oh yes, because Apple basically designed a new RISC chip (similar to the old PowerPC days), this integrated multi core CPU will run circles around Intel chips without the heat and fan requirements..
 
Now that the reviews are out... should people be upgrading?

im worried my 2020 MacBook Air 💻 will be worth nothing in a year and I should just sell now to recoup something and by an M1
 
Actually I sold my MBA i5 early 2020 to 2nd hand shop today and then purchased MBA M1 (base model: 7 core GPU, 8GB memory, 256GB SSD) in Apple store.. After few hours of usage, with running same version Big Sur 11.0.1, I can say M1 blows i5 away.... smoother performance in normal usage... One good thing over the i5 model is M1 model generates less heat when performing same tasks.
Now that the reviews are out... should people be upgrading?

im worried my 2020 MacBook Air 💻 will be worth nothing in a year and I should just sell now to recoup something and by an M1
 
How much did you get for it? Worth it?
I'm living in overseas. I sold my MBA i5 2020 at around 770USD. So, I still need to pay 229USD more to get the M1 model... Worth it for me since I don't use Microsoft office in Mac and I want to try running iOS app in my Mac. As my last reply, I think the big difference is the heat generated when performing same tasks between i5 & M1. When using i5, I can feel a bit warm on the rear side. When using M1, I didn't feel any warm on the rear side.
 
  • Like
Reactions: limesmoothie
I've sold my 2020 MBA to upgrade, and I've no regrets. Battery life is paramount for me in terms of my job, so this is worth it. I can take the hit of about £250, its just one of those things.

I should have been more patient and not pulled the trigger on an early 2020 MBA, but I felt that I needed it for working at home during the big lockdown, as my older MBP has taken a hammering (it is still working, though).
 
I just bought an i5 8 gb MacBook Air in the spring. I could probably sell it for a decent price as its in perfect condition. What would be the benefits of selling and upgrading to the new ARM MacBook Air?
Check if the apps you use are Universal 2 binaries by the time you make the transition
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.