5 ms·

Ugh. I really want to upgrade my 2014 mba. Four gigs of ram doesn’t cut it anymore and my eyes have grown tired of the screen. I love the size, battery life, I

by vuln 7y ago

Ugh. I really want to upgrade my 2014 mba. Four gigs of ram doesn’t cut it anymore and my eyes have grown tired of the screen. I love the size, battery life, I just don’t know what to get next.

milquetoastaf 7y ago
2017 Macbook Air models are great, last gen before butterfly keys
52-6F-62 7y ago
There are a lot of refurb 2015 MBP's on the market since many people upgraded to newer machines. They're the last run before the butterfly keyboard, you can find up to 16GB memory and 512GB storage—some of them with dedicated video as well (if the 15" size is what you're after). And substantially cheaper than new models. Mind you I think this is t he run with the battery issue.....
- breck 7y ago
  I didn’t know there were 16GB options. I thought I got the best last generation MBA at 8gb and 512. It’s my primary machine and I still love it.
  - Fnoord 7y ago
    I have a MBP 13" 2015 with 16 GB RAM and a MBP 15" 2015 with 16 GB RAM. The 13" was actually bought in begin of 2017.
    - breck 7y ago
      Ah, as I wrote in the other comment it must have been my mistake, not checking the actual store and just going straight to the refurb store.
  - tdurden 7y ago
    My mid 2014 15" MBP came with 16GB
    - breck 7y ago
      I bought mine from Apple's refurb store, and come to think of it their probably just wasn't any for sale there at the time. I forgot that not all models are on there.
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    Yessir. I'm typing this comment on one such model. I've also been eying up some refurbs for my own personal purposes that a local shop is hosting. I'm just hoping they don't vanish before I decide to take the plunge. Spec: https://ibb.co/r3Q9bmt https://ibb.co/r3Q9bmt (workplace-owned machine I've had since 2016, so not sure the price at the time of purchase)
  - bradknowles 7y ago
    The only problem with the old hardware is that it can't go over 16GB of RAM. And over time, things have slowly gotten to the point where -- IMO -- even 16GB of RAM is no longer really enough for simple baseline usage. If you want an Apple laptop with more than 16GB of RAM, then you don't have much in the way of options. This is a problem that has only been fixed with the latest generation of hardware. So, you have to pick your poison. But either way, at least it's not Windows, or PC hardware.
    - lancesells 7y ago
      I don't know what you mean by baseline but I have 8GB or RAM in a 2014 MBA and it's perfectly fine for most any tasks that I do. I've rendered heavily layered 1080p video in After Effects without any sort of problem. I doubt it can handle 4K video but for me 8GB definitely works as a "baseline".
      - breck 7y ago
        I do a lot of data science tasks in Python and R and 8GB is definitely a show stopper a lot of the time. It makes life easier when I can just write naive code that loads all of our training data into memory. I like to work locally when possible but often have to move things to our 512GB servers for speed. For GPU heavy stuff I'm running things on our Nvidia machines only but lots of non-GPU tasks are still memory bound. 16GB or better 32GB would allow me to go to the server probably 25% and 50% fewer times, respectively. Which would be great!
qaq 7y ago
If one believes the rumors the 2019 Air that will ship this fall will be first macbook with new keyboard type.
derefr 7y ago
Intriguingly, once iPadOS drops, an iPad Pro with a Brydge keyboard (https://www.brydge.com/products/brydge-12-9-ipad-pro-keyboard https://www.brydge.com/products/brydge-12-9-ipad-pro-keyboar...) might work out pretty well as a modern notebook. Then again, once iPadOS drops, iPads will have mouse support, so Brydge will probably come out with an even better keyboard case that actually has a trackpad. Probably best to wait and see.
cassianoleal 7y ago
Rumour has it a new MBA model with scissor switch keyboards will be released later this year [0]. Whether it's true or not, or if it will be an actual improvement remains to be seen but it might be worth the wait. [0] https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/04/kuo-new-keyboard-macbook-air-pro/ https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/04/kuo-new-keyboard-macbook-air-...

by vuln 7y ago

Ugh. I really want to upgrade my 2014 mba. Four gigs of ram doesn’t cut it anymore and my eyes have grown tired of the screen. I love the size, battery life, I just don’t know what to get next.

milquetoastaf 7y ago

2017 Macbook Air models are great, last gen before butterfly keys

52-6F-62 7y ago

There are a lot of refurb 2015 MBP's on the market since many people upgraded to newer machines. They're the last run before the butterfly keyboard, you can find up to 16GB memory and 512GB storage—some of them with dedicated video as well (if the 15" size is what you're after). And substantially cheaper than new models. Mind you I think this is t he run with the battery issue.....

breck 7y ago
I didn’t know there were 16GB options. I thought I got the best last generation MBA at 8gb and 512. It’s my primary machine and I still love it.
- Fnoord 7y ago
  I have a MBP 13" 2015 with 16 GB RAM and a MBP 15" 2015 with 16 GB RAM. The 13" was actually bought in begin of 2017.
  - breck 7y ago
    Ah, as I wrote in the other comment it must have been my mistake, not checking the actual store and just going straight to the refurb store.
- tdurden 7y ago
  My mid 2014 15" MBP came with 16GB
  - breck 7y ago
    I bought mine from Apple's refurb store, and come to think of it their probably just wasn't any for sale there at the time. I forgot that not all models are on there.
- 52-6F-62 7y ago
  Yessir. I'm typing this comment on one such model. I've also been eying up some refurbs for my own personal purposes that a local shop is hosting. I'm just hoping they don't vanish before I decide to take the plunge. Spec: https://ibb.co/r3Q9bmt https://ibb.co/r3Q9bmt (workplace-owned machine I've had since 2016, so not sure the price at the time of purchase)
- bradknowles 7y ago
  The only problem with the old hardware is that it can't go over 16GB of RAM. And over time, things have slowly gotten to the point where -- IMO -- even 16GB of RAM is no longer really enough for simple baseline usage. If you want an Apple laptop with more than 16GB of RAM, then you don't have much in the way of options. This is a problem that has only been fixed with the latest generation of hardware. So, you have to pick your poison. But either way, at least it's not Windows, or PC hardware.
  - lancesells 7y ago
    I don't know what you mean by baseline but I have 8GB or RAM in a 2014 MBA and it's perfectly fine for most any tasks that I do. I've rendered heavily layered 1080p video in After Effects without any sort of problem. I doubt it can handle 4K video but for me 8GB definitely works as a "baseline".
    - breck 7y ago
      I do a lot of data science tasks in Python and R and 8GB is definitely a show stopper a lot of the time. It makes life easier when I can just write naive code that loads all of our training data into memory. I like to work locally when possible but often have to move things to our 512GB servers for speed. For GPU heavy stuff I'm running things on our Nvidia machines only but lots of non-GPU tasks are still memory bound. 16GB or better 32GB would allow me to go to the server probably 25% and 50% fewer times, respectively. Which would be great!

qaq 7y ago

If one believes the rumors the 2019 Air that will ship this fall will be first macbook with new keyboard type.

derefr 7y ago

Intriguingly, once iPadOS drops, an iPad Pro with a Brydge keyboard (https://www.brydge.com/products/brydge-12-9-ipad-pro-keyboard https://www.brydge.com/products/brydge-12-9-ipad-pro-keyboar...) might work out pretty well as a modern notebook. Then again, once iPadOS drops, iPads will have mouse support, so Brydge will probably come out with an even better keyboard case that actually has a trackpad. Probably best to wait and see.

cassianoleal 7y ago

Rumour has it a new MBA model with scissor switch keyboards will be released later this year [0]. Whether it's true or not, or if it will be an actual improvement remains to be seen but it might be worth the wait. [0] https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/04/kuo-new-keyboard-macbook-air-pro/ https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/04/kuo-new-keyboard-macbook-air-...