Which macbook air to buy for my Parents?

[alexxk]

I'm helping my familyget a new macbook.

I came across these
Early 2014 for $1249

• 1.7GHz Intel Core i7 Dual-Core (Haswell)
• 8GB of Onboard 1600MHz LPDDR3 RAM
• 512GB Flash Storage
• Integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000

Early 2015 - $1559

• 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 (Broadwell)
• 8GB of 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
• 512GB PCIe-Based Flash Storage
• Integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000

The price of the first option for my family is right, all they do is surf the net and my mom likes to take photos with her iphone and edit in the Photos App. I sometimes edit some photos for my sister using Lightroom.. but only sometimes..

The early 2014 has a Haswell processor but its an i7. Doe it compete with the Broadwell i5 1.6?

 

[alexxk]

Any other options?

 

[s2mikey]

Did you check the apple refurbished section? There may be some better deals there.

 

[Boyd01]

The 2013 MBA would have almost identical performance if you could find one. I have a 2013 i7/8gb/512gb MBA and love it. I run some pretty powerful software though, like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, VectorWorks, FileMaker Pro, Photoshop, etc.

I would say that the i7 CPU and 512gb SSD are overkill for the kind of use you describe. I imagine you could also get by with only 4GB RAM, but 8gb isn't a bad idea. If you are looking for the most bang for the buck, see if you can find a 2013 i5/8gb/256gb model. Otherwise the 2014 i5/8gb/256gb would be a good option.

OTOH, if you aren't concerned about the cost, the i7 and 512gb combination is certainly a nice machine.

 

[mtneer]

Both the Haswell and the Broadwell machines will easily handle web surfing and simple photo edits. My Sandy Bridge i7 handles multi-MB Photoshop edits like a champ. I would just look for the price and get the cheaper deal.

 

[Meister]

What you are mentioning could easily be done by any mac, ipad or iphone.

 

[Mainsail]

You can get a brand new base model 2015 Macbook Air 13in that will do everything your family wants for $999. If you are patient, the big box stores (e.g. Best Buy) typically have sales for $100 off. If you can get the college discount, that's can be another $100 or more off. In my opinion, this is probably the best value for everyday use.

 

[jdechko]

You can get a brand new base model 2015 Macbook Air 13in that will do everything your family wants for $999. If you are patient, the big box stores (e.g. Best Buy) typically have sales for $100 off. If you can get the college discount, that's can be another $100 or more off. In my opinion, this is probably the best value for everyday use.

The one downside in my opinion is storage. How comfortable are the parents with cloud storage? The OP didn't say how many photos they'd be storing, so I think that's a big question. It could get really confusing.

 

[Meister]

The one downside in my opinion is storage. How comfortable are the parents with cloud storage? The OP didn't say how many photos they'd be storing, so I think that's a big question. It could get really confusing.

good point!