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Should I upgrade to the new MacBook Air?

I've been using my 2014 Air and have never had a better laptop. I've been skeptical about upgrading given price, keyboard issues, and because my air has just kept chugging along. Should I get the new Air or should I be looking at a different laptop altogether (I'm mainly doing basic stuff - emails, browsing, excel, streaming)

smt88 7y ago
Is anything wrong with your Air? Is it slow or anything? > emails, browsing, excel, streaming These are all tasks that can be done exclusively in a browser, so I assume you'd consider machines running MacOS, Windows, or ChromeOS. I think for you, size, keyboard, and form factor will be the most important issues. You definitely do not need the latest specs. I can personally vouch for the quality of the XPS 13 2-in-1, but that's definitely overkill for what you do with a laptop. The 2-in-1 form factor is cool though. My personal recommendation is to get refurbished machine that was introduced 1-3 years ago. I have only ever purchased refurbished/open-box (which is not the same as used!) and have had great luck. Dell's refurbished outlet has phenomenal prices. I think Apple's is the same.
- atlasunshrugged 7y ago
  Yeah, it's constantly running slowly and I have to restart it often and it's crashed in critical moments which is unacceptable given I use it for work Great advice on the refurb, thank you!
  - gshdg 7y ago
    Note that the refurb Airs right now may be models with the older and more failure prone keyboard. You may want to wait until the 2020 model is available.
  - smt88 7y ago
    I used MacOS, Fedora, and Win7-Win10 side by side for years (Mac for iOS dev, Fedora for server dev, Win for Office). By far the buggiest and most frustrating was MacOS. Apple's software QC is atrocious. Win7+ has been "it just works" for me. No crashes, no Googling of cryptic errors, no kernel panics. I now use Win10 exclusively. YMMV but Win10 is a great OS if you don't want to think about your OS anymore. You can download Mac-like dock software if you prefer that style over Windows'.
rayhendricks 7y ago
Yes the Air is fine for that, other brands may or may not hold up as well. It has a much higher resolution display though so it needs more integrated glue of course.

smt88 7y ago

Is anything wrong with your Air? Is it slow or anything? > emails, browsing, excel, streaming These are all tasks that can be done exclusively in a browser, so I assume you'd consider machines running MacOS, Windows, or ChromeOS. I think for you, size, keyboard, and form factor will be the most important issues. You definitely do not need the latest specs. I can personally vouch for the quality of the XPS 13 2-in-1, but that's definitely overkill for what you do with a laptop. The 2-in-1 form factor is cool though. My personal recommendation is to get refurbished machine that was introduced 1-3 years ago. I have only ever purchased refurbished/open-box (which is not the same as used!) and have had great luck. Dell's refurbished outlet has phenomenal prices. I think Apple's is the same.

atlasunshrugged 7y ago
Yeah, it's constantly running slowly and I have to restart it often and it's crashed in critical moments which is unacceptable given I use it for work Great advice on the refurb, thank you!
- gshdg 7y ago
  Note that the refurb Airs right now may be models with the older and more failure prone keyboard. You may want to wait until the 2020 model is available.
- smt88 7y ago
  I used MacOS, Fedora, and Win7-Win10 side by side for years (Mac for iOS dev, Fedora for server dev, Win for Office). By far the buggiest and most frustrating was MacOS. Apple's software QC is atrocious. Win7+ has been "it just works" for me. No crashes, no Googling of cryptic errors, no kernel panics. I now use Win10 exclusively. YMMV but Win10 is a great OS if you don't want to think about your OS anymore. You can download Mac-like dock software if you prefer that style over Windows'.

rayhendricks 7y ago

Yes the Air is fine for that, other brands may or may not hold up as well. It has a much higher resolution display though so it needs more integrated glue of course.