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It's time to do a bit of a tech upgrade - and the Apple prices are a little frightening, sigh.
I'm currently working on a late 2013 MBP with 8gig of RAM, and I'm thinking an Air makes sense for my next laptop. I would spec it up to get 16gig of RAM.
The chip on my current lappy apparently does its thing at 2.3 GHZ, and the 2019 AIr does it at 1.3GHZ.
Will I notice a difference? Will the Air be noticably slower?
What do you use the laptop for? Do you do anything that is processor intensive?
Does your MBP have an SSD or conventional drive?
Edit:
Geekbench scores:
2013 Retina MBP: https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/345
Latest Air with lower processor: https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/12057550
Nothing massively intensive. Mostly wrangling huge PowerPoint decks. No video. Some videos.
Currently on an SSD, and would continue down that path.
I did an edit while you were typing. Seems there isn't a lot in it processor wise, if you want more power spec the air with the higher processor which beats the old MBP comfortably.
Awesome - thanks for those links. Who knew?
The chip on my current lappy apparently does its thing at 2.3 GHZ, and the 2019 AIr does it at 1.3GHZ.
Will I notice a difference? Will the Air be noticably slower?
non fanboi comment....
you can't just compare the Ghz doesn't make much sense, we are hitting as fast as we can get without breaking physics so we are going for width over more speed.
Quick google says intel 4th gen i5 https://ark.intel.com/products/75990/Intel-Core-i5-4258U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-2-90-GHz-
Current one 8th gen
https://ark.intel.com/products/189912/Intel-Core-i5-8210Y-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3-60-GHz-
It's one gen up on my current laptop, good processor and way better than any of the i's from the long back
Nothing massively intensive. Mostly wrangling huge PowerPoint decks. No video. Some videos.
A phone/tablet would handle that..... macbook air will do it asleep as will any laptop
The processors are about the same performance wise, the newer ones are more effcient so you get better battery life
You will see little difference in speed. If it was me I’d check out the latest gen MBPro’s. They have been on a diet since the 2013 MBP and there is very little difference between them and the air in size / weight. You will get a lower weight machine with a decent speed increase. I just wish Apple did a 12’’ MBP...
Why do you need a new one? 2013 is not old for a Mac. Our Air from the same period still runs just as fast as it did on day one
I'm currently using a 2009 MBP, stuffed with as much ram as it will accept and an SSD. The battery is admittedly completely borked, but other than that it still feels fine using Logic X, SketchUp etc. I don't know what I would do if it failed as current Apple prices have gone beyond an internal pricing threshold I wasn't aware I had!
Why do you need a new one? 2013 is not old for a Mac.
My 2011 MBP won’t run the latest OS which came out in the last year. Still works though.
If having the latest os is important to you, you might not have long left on a 2013 model...
Some good input - thanks.
It's time to replace a) because the old one is getting a bit flakey and beat up from being schlepped around with me endlessly for work every day for six years and b) the accountant is urging me to make some capital purchases as I'm a self-employed/contractor/consultant type.
I'm attracted to the smaller form factor of the Air because the laptop goes everywhere with me. And while it is a 'business' purchase, the cost of the MBPs is just a bit beyond the pale.
The battery is admittedly completely borked, but other than that it still feels fine using Logic X, SketchUp etc.
Little known fact that applies certainly to Apple laptops, if not all laptops... If your battery is dead, and you're running on the mains adapter only, the motherboard will be throttling the CPU back to about 50% capacity max!
The single best thing you can do for your laptop in terms of performance, is to buy it a new battery!!!
I’m currently working on a late 2013 MBP with 8gig of RAM, and I’m thinking an Air makes sense for my next laptop. I would spec it up to get 16gig of RAM.
Which MBP do you have? Model identifier number?
I'd be very wary about "upgrading" to an Air myself... If your current one is a dual core, the current Air (though more efficient) will probably be no quicker, if yours is a quad core processor then the Air will be a big step back!
I changed my MBP not long ago, decided I was better off buying a 3yr old 15" machine with 2.5GHz Quad Core i7 and 16GB of RAM in it already, picked it up 2nd hand in mint condition for £750. Short of the latest 6 core MBP's, it's still faster than anything Apple sells now for even twice the price I paid for it!
MacTracker is your friend here, as it will give you relative performance scores for any machines you wish to compare...
mboy, just bought the same as you. Son1 needs UNIX and MATLAB and a few other bits for his Masters. So I went for a Grade A 2012 MBP with 16GB RAM and a 256 SSD. Quad i7 at 2.7GHz for £685. It is mint. Screen not bad but not retina (my eyesight is rubbish). It's to "replace" the lenovo x280 13" that is coming my way as a swap...
My first Mac since an iMac non-Intel that went outdated a couple of months after I bought it (no OS updates). It's a bit of a beast with CDROM, but now I can rescan my CDs lossless with ease 🙂
While the Apple people are here... How does the OS work? Assuming whatever you buy is still supported do you get free upgrades every time they update it?
And then one day do they just switch off updates for a particular model?
All the Apple threads on here at the moment have piqued my interest, especially all the chat of older (cheaper) models.
the new keyoards are shit
The OS is just a shinier from end over a unix kernel. Which is what I bought mine for. Most of the seismology programs are fortran from the 80s so it’s nice to just open the terminal and away you go. But still be able to come back to MS Office, matlab and all the nice “PC” programs as well.
Linux is lovely too, but you can’t just switch to those comfort blankets. I had used a virtual Ubuntu Linux machine under windows 10! It was fine, but limited to virtual disc space and took ages to set to share a file area with windows (but it did just fine eventually).
Apple switched off upgrades to my last iMac about three months after I bought it. They switched chip architecture and I vowed never to darken their door again. I managed over 10 years and then bought used.
Mine is a bit of a weight, but screen is fine, cd rom and fully upgradeable. It also has a separate video board, apparently.
My work ho elitebook is a lovely 13 inch device. A little more money, probably no faster but nice and light, same quality finish. The other manufacturers caught up eventually.
Cheers @TiRed
My worry would be buying something second hand that stops getting supported the next day.
I've played with Linux in the past, at the time I liked it but never got it 100% working due to a couple of driver issues.
I presume Apple computers of all descriptions just work like they're supposed to?
Little known fact that applies certainly to Apple laptops, if not all laptops… If your battery is dead, and you’re running on the mains adapter only, the motherboard will be throttling the CPU back to about 50% capacity max!
Eh? Link please
Eh? Link please
Yeah I wondered too.
My laptop has been running at full speed for the last 4 years with a dead battery.
I had a 2010 MBP and then a 2013 Air and now a 2019 MBP again. I loved the air, super light, lovely keyboard, screen was okay as well I ‘donated’ it to my uni-bound daughter. The new MBP has a superb screen, is extremely rapid running anything and I’m sort of coming over to the whole USB-C thing.
Don’t like the keyboard tho. Not sure if the new Air has the same one. I’d try before you buy.
Alex The new MB, MBP and MBA all have very similar very short throw butterfly keyboards,
There have been a few iterations with the most recent being the one launched earlier last month on the mbp.
I wasn’t a fan but after a few weeks borrowing one I’ve come round. You get used to not trying to push your fingers through the keys and just tapping (more like a tablet) (that said the new keyboards don’t like crumbs and appear to have some reliability issues)
I guess it’s because I have a ‘normal’ keyboard on my iMac that I really notice it when I got to use the MBP. At one customer site, I plug it into an old Dell super deep and clack-y keyboard. That’s fab.
Anyway I’ll have to adjust as I’m not changing it for a few years.
Don’t worry about updates. Mine is running High Sierra and I’ve chosen not to upgrade until that latest version Mojave is stable and has the bugs ironed out. Bought from macbank, it has a one year warranty. Painless purchase and immaculate condition. Buying older but highest spec will give you better performance than current modest macs like the lovely MacBook Air. The keyboard is very good too.
This one sits on a roost laptop stand with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. It’s more a desk too you can pack away compared with current designs. I’m not bothered by Retina screens. My eyes are poor enough already!
Was pleased with the speed on geekbench. About the same as my 2018 hour quad I5.
TiRed you might like:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Subsystem_for_Linux
.. when you next have to upgrade. I had MBP for very similar reasons (BSD with window dressing) but had to switch back to Windows to accommodate the rest of the family when they all started using 'my' computer for school stuff etc. WSL has been quite helpful, although I've moved out of needing it much for work now, its all Powerpoint 🙁