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What color MacBook Air to buy: Midnight, Space Black, or Space Grey?

S

SW3029

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 22, 2019
534
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I'm going to be buying the M3 15" MBA when Apple releases it in a few months. I've always gotten Space Grey MacBooks, but I'm thinking about changing that and getting a Midnight or Space Black this time (if Apple offers Space Black on the M3 15MBA).

I hardly ever notice fingerprints on my Space Grey MacBook. How does Midnight and Space Black compare to Space Grey as far as fingerprints and other smudges are concerned?

And does the Midnight color look too bright or is it a darker color than the Space Grey?
 
I’ve had all the colors so here is my ranking of fingerprints/oils from, **** ton to barely noticeable:
1. Midnight
2a. Space Black (on higher MBP models)
2b. Space Grey
3. Starlight
4. Silver

Never noticed any chipping or anything around the ports like some have had but I rarely use them and actually look when I plug stuff in so results may vary. Midnight is darker than space grey with almost a metallic blue in certain lighting while low light almost makes it look black.
 
Midnight is darker than Space Grey, with a blue tint in some light. It really varies a lot based on lightning.

I doubt Space Black will come to the MacBook Air, since it's absence from the base M3 MacBook Pro indicates it's being reserved as a high-end "Pro" color.

Space Grey is a good compromise between resisting fingerprints and not being as light as Silver, though it can still show scratches. As for the truly fingerprint-free colors, Silver may show big dents but is effectively immune to light scratches, and Starlight is pretty close.
 
I had to midnight for a few months, and I found that it didn't feel a lot premium to me after a while. I switched to silver, and I cannot be happier.
 
Space grey is a sweet spot, cool and distinctive looking while keeping the inherent mac sleekness.

I’m not the biggest fan of the darker colours, they add an ambiguity that makes the laptops look more windows like (ie less distinguishable from high end dell/lenovo/etc lines). Then again I’m pretty conservative when it comes to laptop shades - I’ve always found the gold tacky.
 
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Midnight looks beautiful out of the box, but then the fingerprints drive you crazy.

I now have Space Black on my MBP, less fingerprints, but not as dark unfortunately.
 
I’m a creature of the night, so Midnight all the way. Fingerprints be damned by a daily wipe down. Could care less about whether it screams Apple or not. It is a quality device to me. I love the immersive look of the screen with the darkened borders. Midnight or Space Black for life. Keep the dark side coming Apple.
 
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outlawarth said:
I never quite understood the online hysteria about fingerprints and chipping on the midnight MBA. I've had my midnight for a while and I do not have one chip on the ports or anywhere on the body of the laptop. And I am OCD about these things.
Click to expand...
If you’re “OCD” about these things, you probably look after your stuff.

Many people don’t. They stab USB plugs blindly into the ports (or kink the cable coming out of the plug, but that’s a different problem), throw laptops into backpacks full of abrasive junk like keys or hard drives, drop laptops, drop things onto laptops, etc.

My stuff typically looks nearly new after five years. My wife’s looks like it’s been in the trenches. My father’s stuff doesn’t even survive five years. Etc.
 
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After having space grey for years, I went with silver for the MBA retro look. I have owned it for 1.5 years and it’s pristine. To each their own.
 
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Picked up another one today in Starlight. It’s also a winner. Coming from a space grey rMB and silver MBA.
 
I got space grey. silver is boring and gold isn't my thing. I really liked the look of Midnight but saw it had problems.

If we ever get a black Air i'll get that. The black MBP are gorgeous.
 
I went for starlight. Silver was not available at Best Buy where I got this on sale from. Starlight even looks almost silver in certain lighting. Classy color for sure, at least in my opinion
 
I do remember being a kid and chewing gum was popular like MacBooks and va'ping today!
my dilemma was the same, do i chew:
• WaterMelon
• Cherry
• Lemon
• Orange
• Peach Smash

gum favors while being bullied at school since packs of gum was 50% of my allowance
and paper route while those brutes demanded 75%, boy was I broke, in the bones and wallet!

Lucky for me they made *FruitStripeGum™ which had those flavors!
Perhaps they ( Beech-Nut) can provide a machine for these Macbooks 

and ship an "all colors' in one" machine to Cuppertino, then the Far East.

*Each stick included a temporary tattoo of mascot Yipes the Zebra, too. Fruit Stripe came in five flavors — Wet n' Wild Melon, Cherry, Lemon, Orange and Peach Smash
 
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Midnight M3 owner here, by far the nicest color I’ve seen on a Mac. Runner up would be classic silver for sure.

IMG_4343.jpeg
 

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