Mulling My MacBook Air
It struck me recently that my personal computer, a MacBook Air, is over 4 years old now. In fact, at 4 years 4 months it's basically the same age as the age at which I replaced my first Air.
This comes at a time when Apple has gotten a lot of attention in the technical press for its latest models of the MacBook and MacBook Air. ...And the iPad, for that matter. Tablets are getting more powerful, able now to replace more (though hardly all) of what can be done on a laptop.
Curiously a lot of that technical press attention is on the keyboard. Apple changed the technology of its laptop keyboards a few years ago. Industry writers absolutely vilified Apple for its change. The new keyboard was less comfortable to use, they said, and prone to get jammed. I actually own one of each and use both daily; my personal Air has the classic keyboard while my work Pro has the so-called terrible one. Yeah, they're different, just not that different. This is, of course, simply the web doing what the web does: seize on a true but minor technical issue, a corner case really, and blow it totally out of proportion as if it's the end of the world.
While tech writers rave over the new keyboard almost as fervently as they condemn the old one, the truth is that the latest Air bundles in a lot of nice technology across the board. It's got a high resolution 4k display- quite a feat in ultralight laptops weighing under 3 lbs. (about 1.3 kg mass) and with a starting price of $999. In addition the Air has the latest generations of Intel's CPUs, up to 16GB of RAM, and SSD configurations from 256GB to 2TB. These are all improvements over what I've got on my 4+ year old model.
This new release enticed Hawk to replace her Air this month. Her old computer was just over 5 years old... and has suffered a badly dented case since she dropped it on the floor on holiday a year ago. It wasn't the dent that drove her to replace it, though. It was lack of storage. I've been okay with carrying around an external SSD. It's so small and light I routinely forget it's even in my bag. But Hawk wanted more storage onboard. So she optioned a model with a whopping 2TB SSD. That's not such a big thing in a larger laptop, let alone a desktop, but in an ultralight it's pretty capacious... and pretty expensive.
If I were buying a new Air right now I'd step up to the middle CPU option, up the RAM to 16GB, and up the storage from the base 256GB to 512TB. I've got 256 today, and it's constraining. 512 wouldn't store everything but it'd solve a few frustrations... at least for now. The thing about storage is that it shrinks over time- because new files keep getting larger! Yeah, I could go larger on storage, but it's costly. The above configuration runs $1,499. Upping SSD to 1TB adds $200. Maxing it out at 2TB adds $600- bringing the cost to $2,099 before tax (about $2,300 all-in).
The new technology is tempting. Hawk loves her new Air. But it's expensive! And while my machine is now over 4 years old- the current consensus for when to replace a computer- there's no compelling event to replace it. I replaced my previous machine at this age because it was literally on the blink (the screen was flickering badly). If it hadn't broken I likely would have kept it until 5 years old. The laptop I had before that was a Dell workhorse I kept working for over 8 years. So while the new technology is tempting my thrifty streak is likely to win. I'll see if I can stretch this computer to 5 years and plan to buy around the start of 2021. Maybe there will be a price reduction by then!
This comes at a time when Apple has gotten a lot of attention in the technical press for its latest models of the MacBook and MacBook Air. ...And the iPad, for that matter. Tablets are getting more powerful, able now to replace more (though hardly all) of what can be done on a laptop.
Curiously a lot of that technical press attention is on the keyboard. Apple changed the technology of its laptop keyboards a few years ago. Industry writers absolutely vilified Apple for its change. The new keyboard was less comfortable to use, they said, and prone to get jammed. I actually own one of each and use both daily; my personal Air has the classic keyboard while my work Pro has the so-called terrible one. Yeah, they're different, just not that different. This is, of course, simply the web doing what the web does: seize on a true but minor technical issue, a corner case really, and blow it totally out of proportion as if it's the end of the world.
While tech writers rave over the new keyboard almost as fervently as they condemn the old one, the truth is that the latest Air bundles in a lot of nice technology across the board. It's got a high resolution 4k display- quite a feat in ultralight laptops weighing under 3 lbs. (about 1.3 kg mass) and with a starting price of $999. In addition the Air has the latest generations of Intel's CPUs, up to 16GB of RAM, and SSD configurations from 256GB to 2TB. These are all improvements over what I've got on my 4+ year old model.
This new release enticed Hawk to replace her Air this month. Her old computer was just over 5 years old... and has suffered a badly dented case since she dropped it on the floor on holiday a year ago. It wasn't the dent that drove her to replace it, though. It was lack of storage. I've been okay with carrying around an external SSD. It's so small and light I routinely forget it's even in my bag. But Hawk wanted more storage onboard. So she optioned a model with a whopping 2TB SSD. That's not such a big thing in a larger laptop, let alone a desktop, but in an ultralight it's pretty capacious... and pretty expensive.
If I were buying a new Air right now I'd step up to the middle CPU option, up the RAM to 16GB, and up the storage from the base 256GB to 512TB. I've got 256 today, and it's constraining. 512 wouldn't store everything but it'd solve a few frustrations... at least for now. The thing about storage is that it shrinks over time- because new files keep getting larger! Yeah, I could go larger on storage, but it's costly. The above configuration runs $1,499. Upping SSD to 1TB adds $200. Maxing it out at 2TB adds $600- bringing the cost to $2,099 before tax (about $2,300 all-in).
The new technology is tempting. Hawk loves her new Air. But it's expensive! And while my machine is now over 4 years old- the current consensus for when to replace a computer- there's no compelling event to replace it. I replaced my previous machine at this age because it was literally on the blink (the screen was flickering badly). If it hadn't broken I likely would have kept it until 5 years old. The laptop I had before that was a Dell workhorse I kept working for over 8 years. So while the new technology is tempting my thrifty streak is likely to win. I'll see if I can stretch this computer to 5 years and plan to buy around the start of 2021. Maybe there will be a price reduction by then!