Transitioning from iMac to MacBook Air?

[jm31828]

I have a 2017 iMac that is really starting to feel slow for even the light use I put it through (mostly photo editing in the Skylum Luminar products). I was considering buying a MacBook Air M1 as I see there is a sale for $150 off the one with 512GB storage.... I like the iMac for the beautiful display it has- not so much the size, but just the resolution and color reproduction- easily the best display I've ever had.

I'd like the smaller footprint on my desk and the mobility of the MBA, not to mention the added speed from both the M1 chip and the SSD.

My question is- have any of you made that move from iMac to MBA- especially without using an external monitor on the MBA? If so, how was the transition- no regrets? Does the display on the MacBook Air look like it's not really much of a downgrade as far as color reproduction goes? I know the actual resolution is lower, but if I am understanding correctly, the smaller display at that resolution equals a similar DPI- but the contrast and colors are something I am not quite understanding in regards to the differences between these displays.

Thanks in advance for any responses!

 

[rm5]

I made the transition from a Mac mini to an MBA (16 GB of RAM) back when the original M1 came out. It was a huge upgrade (my Mac mini was a 2012 i5 with a spinning hard drive).

Is the iMac the non-Retina one (base 2017 model) or is it the upgraded Retina 4/5K model? If it's the Retina model, you'll notice that the MBA only goes up to 400 nits while the iMac goes up to 500. But the display technology is roughly the same - it uses "Retina scaling" just like the iMac. Also, the MBA supports HDR while ALL 2017 iMacs do not.

You'll notice a crazy CPU performance improvement with the M1 chip over the slow i5 processors (unless your iMac has the upgraded i7). And in terms of graphics, the M1 runs circles around the iMac. To give you an example, I regularly use a 2017 21.5" 4K at school, and it is very slow compared to my M1 (the iMac takes over 20 minutes to export 10 minutes of 4K, while the M1 takes around 5 minutes).

I rarely use an external monitor with my MBA, and it doesn't really matter, unless I need the screen real estate - then that becomes really annoying, especially in DaVinci Resolve.

Now, my three complaints after almost a year and a half of use:

1. No fans - machine gets really hot under heavy load and starts to thermal throttle. When rendering in Blender, the machine starts to slow down significantly. Resolve doesn't really make the machine hot (unless in specific circumstances obviously), which is good.
2. DONGLES! I really wish I had more ports (mainly USB-A, 3x USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet). I mainly use my machine for light tasks (email, web browsing), but I also do things like music production and video editing, which require the use of more ports.
3. (Wouldn't really apply in your case since you said you aren't using an external monitor) Cables everywhere - on the floor, reaching to the USB-C hub. And the most annoying/frustrating thing is that using an external monitor = more cables everywhere. I know this is stupid, but I actually want to get an old iMac to use in addition to the MBA because of this problem - it's so annoying

I hope I was able to answer your questions thoroughly enough. Hope you like the MBA.

 

[jm31828]

I made the transition from a Mac mini to an MBA (16 GB of RAM) back when the original M1 came out. It was a huge upgrade (my Mac mini was a 2012 i5 with a spinning hard drive).

Is the iMac the non-Retina one (base 2017 model) or is it the upgraded Retina 4/5K model? If it's the Retina model, you'll notice that the MBA only goes up to 400 nits while the iMac goes up to 500. But the display technology is roughly the same - it uses "Retina scaling" just like the iMac. Also, the MBA supports HDR while ALL 2017 iMacs do not.

You'll notice a crazy CPU performance improvement with the M1 chip over the slow i5 processors (unless your iMac has the upgraded i7). And in terms of graphics, the M1 runs circles around the iMac. To give you an example, I regularly use a 2017 21.5" 4K at school, and it is very slow compared to my M1 (the iMac takes over 20 minutes to export 10 minutes of 4K, while the M1 takes around 5 minutes).

I rarely use an external monitor with my MBA, and it doesn't really matter, unless I need the screen real estate - then that becomes really annoying, especially in DaVinci Resolve.

Now, my three complaints after almost a year and a half of use:

1. No fans - machine gets really hot under heavy load and starts to thermal throttle. When rendering in Blender, the machine starts to slow down significantly. Resolve doesn't really make the machine hot (unless in specific circumstances obviously), which is good.
2. DONGLES! I really wish I had more ports (mainly USB-A, 3x USB-C, HDMI, Ethernet). I mainly use my machine for light tasks (email, web browsing), but I also do things like music production and video editing, which require the use of more ports.
3. (Wouldn't really apply in your case since you said you aren't using an external monitor) Cables everywhere - on the floor, reaching to the USB-C hub. And the most annoying/frustrating thing is that using an external monitor = more cables everywhere. I know this is stupid, but I actually want to get an old iMac to use in addition to the MBA because of this problem - it's so annoying

I hope I was able to answer your questions thoroughly enough. Hope you like the MBA.

Thank you for the response!
Indeed my iMac is the 27" 5K version, it was the midrange model with the upgraded CPU and video card, but not the top end one, with the I7 processor.

Great info- I was wondering if color reproduction is as good on the MBA- sounds like it is?

Interesting about the MBA getting really hot, though. I assume that is only when you are pushing it with things such as rendering video- but with more basic tasks such as photo editing, email, web browsing- it would run quite cool?

And yes, dongles.... one concern I have is the lack of ports. I don't plug much into my iMac, but I do like the SD card reader on the back, I use that weekly when I take my memory card out of my DSLR to download pictures from hiking/photography trips so I'd need an external reader for that- as well as dongles to connect any peripherals that I may need to occasionally charge (my Magic Trackpad for example) or to use my external hard drive for backup of my photos.

All good things to consider- I appreciate your response!

 

[rm5]

Yeah, only when you push the machine does it get hot. Right now with a few Safari tabs, Notes, Calendar, and Mail open, it's not even warm.

The display is very color-accurate. Obviously it's not nearly as good the XDR display in the 2021 MBPs, but still a very good display

And yes, in your case, you might become frustrated having to connect/disconnect the SD card reader. I should mention that if you connect an SD card reader (at least the Apple one that I use) to a dongle (i.e. you have a dongle plugged into a dongle), it WILL NOT WORK! Has to be connected directly to the port on the computer. So, when I want to transfer files, I have to unplug my USB-C SSD (because the second port is occupied by my USB hub for other things) and plug in the SD card reader. IT IS A PAIN!

Other than that, the MBA seems like the perfect choice.

 

[jm31828]

Yeah, only when you push the machine does it get hot. Right now with a few Safari tabs, Notes, Calendar, and Mail open, it's not even warm.

The display is very color-accurate. Obviously it's not nearly as good the XDR display in the 2021 MBPs, but still a very good display

And yes, in your case, you might become frustrated having to connect/disconnect the SD card reader. I should mention that if you connect an SD card reader (at least the Apple one that I use) to a dongle (i.e. you have a dongle plugged into a dongle), it WILL NOT WORK! Has to be connected directly to the port on the computer. So, when I want to transfer files, I have to unplug my USB-C SSD (because the second port is occupied by my USB hub for other things) and plug in the SD card reader. IT IS A PAIN!

Other than that, the MBA seems like the perfect choice.

That does sound rather annoying!
I am on the fence, don't need a new machine- I was just attracted to the $150 off deal that ends this week on the 512GB option... so I'll think about it a bit. I think I might get too annoyed with the dingle situation, though, the more I think about it.

Thanks again for the discussion!

 

[erasr]

Anyone doing anything more than everyday light use should get a Pro all day long.

The guy above saying Air gets too hot; you absolutely should have a Pro, especially if it’s on your desk most of the time.

I’d get an Air if it was general lighter use and needed portability a lot.

 

[Bazza1]

I'm looking at the reverse -

I currently have a 2017 Air, which does everything I need it to do. For home and mobile work use. However, it is now out of warranty - and its had a couple of 'near misses' in the last year while being mobile for work. Considering that, last Black Friday I picked up a cheap and cheerful ASUS L210 (11") Win11 laptop to act as my travel / mobile work device - with the idea I won't see my bank account flash before my eyes if it slips off a coffee table or gets lightly bashed, while still capable of using a majority of the 'work' apps I need, as well as access to the cloud.

That done, my Air now sits at home - for the most part as a desktop (I rarely drag it from room to room) - and I'm considering the option of getting an iMac as an alternative. More horsepower, a bigger screen for older eyes. I don't really need significant RAM or more storage for what I do. And, depending on the stock at any one time, an Apple Refurb iMac can be had for not much more than a similarly kitted-out new retail Air.

The lack of ports (especially when compared to the 2017 Air) is irritating and means more dongles - with the assumption by Apple that everything is wi-fi enabled, but I guess that's just a bullet I'd need to bite.

 

[AudiHeel]

Think I saw the base 14" Pro on sale for $1,750 online the other day, which has more ports/SD and 16GB/512GB.

 

[ChairSpud]

About a year ago I upgraded from a 2017 iMac to the M1 MacBook. The most notable difference was the screen size. Smaller but sharper, it didn't take long to adjust to and the portability more than made up for the smaller screen. The 2017 iMac is still plenty fast enough for me especially with an SSD and the quad core 3ghz processor. the only other feature I miss from the iMac is the sd card clot slot and USB ports but a hub takes care of that nicely. If I had to pick one over the other it would be the MacBook.