“The MacBook has served me well for five years but it’s on its last legs. It’s starting to develop some little irregularities that together tell me it is not much longer for this world,” James Kendrick writes for ZDNet. “After careful consideration I pulled the trigger on a new 13-inch MacBook Air.”
“It will be my primary computer at the desk, yet be able to go mobile if I want. I will migrate all my stuff from the old MacBook to the new Air as soon as it arrives in a few days and be up and running as before,” Kendrick writes. “I have always found the Mac to be great with video work and that’s pushed me toward the MacBook Air over other alternatives. One of those new MacBook Pros with Retina Display would have been ideal but I couldn’t get over the sticker shock to buy one.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Of all the Macs we’ve owned and used – that’s a lot of different Mac models – our 11-inch MacBook Airs are our favorite Macs. 27-inch iMacs with Apple 27-inch Thunderbolt Displays on our desks and 11-inch MBA’s in our backpacks = Personal Computing Heaven!
Quit complaining about price. In the 90’s you were paying close to $2000 for junk. Macs are fine machines. You get what you pay for, and I happen to think their prices are reasonable. Stop comparing Apple to dollar store equivalent competitors like Dell and HP.
Writing this on my 7 year old MBP 17. Let’s see $3000 / 7 = really cheap per year. I really want an MBP Retina but this thing just won’t die.
You might want to get ready and be prepared. They don’t last forever. It’s probably ready to go if you’re the real mobile type.
I’m not and my 17″ MBP probably moved off my desk once once or twice a year. Mine went to sleep one night last fall and wouldn’t wake up the next morning. It didn’t quite make to it six years and a half years as the motherboard died with notice. Because of the expense I decided not to fix it or replace the MBP with a new one.
No kidding.
The guy is a writer. These are the “tools of his trade” we’re talking about. And he got 5 years from his last machine.
Splurge on the retina version of the MacBook Pro. It’s cheaper than my first iBook.
Splurge?
On the Apple store: 13.3inch Refurbished MacBook Pro
2.5GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5 with Retina Display $1,269.00
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD212LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-25ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5-with-retina-display
Thinking or saying that a 5 year old MacBook is on its last legs is not good thinking, honestly. I will gladly take that though; James, please let me know to send you a free shipment box.
Backpack!! Kids use backpacks. Unless climbing a mountain, adults don’t use backpacks. Jeez MDN!
Well that’s obviously not true, if you were being serious. At my stuffy Fortune 500 company, there are thousands of employees who use backpacks daily. I’m sure other companies are the same way. And I always use a backpack when I travel, frees up your hands.
Sure. If you’re 15 years old.
Not everyone fires up the SUV to go to work, particularly in urban environments. Ever ride a bike holding a stodgy old briefcase?
Adults use backpacks all the time. Just because you have some twisted mental issue that equates backpacks with children, doesn’t mean everyone shares your twisted views.
Basically, the author selected a less capable machine at a lower price. So what?
Why do you say less capable? All macs are capable to do anything some just might be a bit slower.
Because he’s a troll.
It’s obvious that you know the precise phraseology to use when an intelligent response is required.
“Slower” means the inability to perform as well. I guess fanbois have to make difficult decisions, even at the cost of taxing their limited brain power. Thanks for agreeing with me.
I’m not sure his choice is really a good one to work with video.
The hard drive selection is to small. The Macbook Air doesn’t have a dedicated video card. So it seems to be a weak choice for a computer to be used for video editing unless those videos are really small and low resolution. The Air is a great choice for someone on the go to make presentations on. I think he would have been better off with a 27″ iMac with a 3TB fusion drive for video editing. Big storage, dedicated video card, 8gigs of ram or more, and a big display to work with. To me this makes much more sense for a video editing machine then a Macbook Air.
Agreed. But I’ve traveled a lot with the 27″ iMac for editing video at remote locations, and the Air would travel way, way better.
Only because I was compositing lots of green screen did I need the power of the iMac.
If you’re editing cuts only video with minimal rendering, I think the Air could certainly cut it. Field test before travel, your results could vary depending on your needs.
Interesting how some video pros are whining about switching to Windows unless there’s a Mac Pro refresh.
Yup.
Precisely, thank you. Some idiot fanboi will no doubt disagree thinking that the functionality and performance of a high-end desktop and a puny MBA are insignificant. As if the Apple logo alone has some magical powers that transcends hardware specifications.
“sticker shock”
Jeebas!!!!!
I can’t get over these whiney cry-babies who want to quibble about maybe $2 per week over the life of a machine that is used all day every day!
I don’t understand the “sticker shock” remark. I just bought a 13″ MBP with retina display. It was only $200 more than a similarly equipped Air. But, with the Pro I got a faster processor and a better display. If this guy keeps his computers as long as he indicates, the “savings” between the Air and the Pro = false economy.
It’s a quality of life issue. Splurge.
And if it a quality of work issue, too!
I really like my Air, especially for traveling. But it doesn’t have the horsepower and storage I need for some of my bigger projects (simulations and numerics), so I picked up a new iMac. On the road, Back-to-My-Mac gives me access to the power when needed, and I don’t have to carry a back-brace to get on the plane. It’s so nice having the *appropriate* tools for the different tasks…
If you read his follow-up from today you’ll see that using a Google Pixel Chromebook caused him to change his mind and get a retina Mabook Pro 13″ instead of the MacBook Air.
Sorry, MacBook Pro…
As people in general transition away from the desktop, Apple has so much more to gain than anyone else. Whether it be and iPad or a Mac book, MS is doing a bang up job of selling them lately.
Screw not having an optical drive, especially with DRM video file restrictions on projector use. iTunes, as far as I’ve been able to tell, is not required nor feels any obligation to include a disclaimer about what video files are incompatible with projectors due to DRM protection. It’s the one area, for me, in which Apple has done an absolutely terrible job of customer education and service.
My 2005 PowerPC based 17″ PowerBook still going strong, although it got stuck in Leopard. 🙂 Luckily, I have a 2010 21″ iMac as my 2nd Mac desktop in addition to the usual iPhone, iPad and iPad Mini.
It will be nice if the new MacPro will be out soon…
Finally I’m driven to contribute: My MBA is my favorite of all the many Macs I’ve owned. If you clip on a Speck plastic cover you never worry about scratching it and it feels like…I can’t describe the feeling. You know it’s your Mac, but it feels so protected and pleasurable in your hands. And so light, it’s like, forget about it. Delightful. Oh yeah, and it just works.
When purchasing a newer Mac, I always sold the older Mac and got an very good price.
Older Macs have an excellent resale value. How much can you get for a 4-5 year old PC?
Cost of ownership not retail price is what should be compared, Macs win by a long shot, and you gat a better machine.
Win-Win.
“How much can you get for a 4-5 year old PC?”
Never had a laptop PC that lasted more than 2 years.
I don’t care what ‘brand’ of PC laptop you get within 3 years it is worth $250 tops, often less.
I used to give away 4-5 year old PC laptops all the time.
” how much can you get for a PC that is 4-5 years old?”
I don’t know. Most of the time I end up giving them away.
You mean for free? You don’t have to give people money to take them off your hands and to the nearest landfill?
I have a 15 inch decked out rMBP. Its not a laptop. Its a portable desktop given its ass kicking performance.
I suppose I’m just an outsider for wanting a bigger MBP. A 17″ retina. Especially for video editing. But Apple is convinced smaller is always better. Can we just have a choice??? Same with the phone. So the competition will fill the void. Sort of.