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My dad bought an 11" MacBook Air in 2011 - I think it was the cheapest possible Mac you could get at the time (maybe $900-$1000?) But I really wanted him to be

by dimmke 4y ago

My dad bought an 11" MacBook Air in 2011 - I think it was the cheapest possible Mac you could get at the time (maybe $900-$1000?) But I really wanted him to be on MacOS. He basically never used it as a laptop, and it's been plugged in to an external monitor and keyboard for many years. He used to stack paper on top of it until I told him to stop it so it could vent better. I would update the software, but I think it's been a while since there's been a new security update. I picked it up recently while visiting and noticed it wouldn't close all the way - uh oh. So I told him his battery was going bad and could explode. He took it to an independent repair shop the next day. They replaced it with a new battery and cleaned out over a decade of dust in the chassis for $120. I tried to impress upon him that having the same computer for over 10 years without ever having to take it in (or really do any kind of maintenance besides software updates) is extraordinary - he understands now that computers are a little more like cars. They need to be serviced sometimes. Not nearly as frequently as cars. And those laptops were not known for having good thermals. I'm on the verge of buying him a new MacBook just so he will be on the latest software - but for what he does (email, web browsing) the Air works just as well as it did in 2011. I think I might end up getting him a gently used M1 Mac Mini though since it never moves from his desk and it would be under $500. Anyways, I'm on an M1 MacBook Pro and it's hard to see myself buying a new Macbook Pro in the next 5 years minimum. I just don't need to. They fixed pretty much all of the problems their laptops had.

kome 4y ago
My MacBook Air 11-inch from 2015 with 1.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel i7 and 8 GB of RAM is still my main computer. And I love it, and it feels new. Perhaps i'm just lucky... but I use it everyday for hours. It traveled to super remote places. I want to use it for 2 or 3 more years (10 years in total would be nice!)
SoftTalker 4y ago
> for what he does (email, web browsing) A $200 Chromebook will work fine.
- robopsychology 4y ago
  To be fair the build quality of a $200 Chromebook is pretty rubbish. The pixel is probably on par with Macbooks in terms of build quality but again that's so expensive you may as well get a macbook air.
- heavyset_go 4y ago
  It sounds like he's not even using it as a laptop, he can get some relatively powerful mini-PCs for around that price, as well.
- chongli 4y ago
  That’s opting him in to Google’s data collection engine. I would not do that to my dad!
  - SoftTalker 4y ago
    Chances are he's already using gmail, chrome, and google search. But yeah, Chromebook is a full-on google walled garden.
    - chongli 4y ago
      I got my dad to stop using Gmail, Chrome, and Google search. He uses DuckDuckGo now!
      - SoftTalker 4y ago
        Well good for you. Still I think it's unusual. Any time I've tried to get anyone to use DuckDuckGo they look at me like I'm insane.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  My dad got a Chromebook and I was shocked at how shit the accessibility features were, considering their core markets seem to be kids and old people. I assume Windows is doing better on that front than ChromeOS. MacOS sure as hell is.
sleepybrett 4y ago
I dump my old macbooks on friends and family when I do an upgrade for speed reasons. I usually rotate every 2-4 years. My parents are still using a 2014 air that I got out of a box my previous employer was going to send to recycling. It's probably about time to upgrade them. They generally have the same usecase. They use iPads for most things, but sometimes they want a physical keyboard. They have rejected generally the ipad keyboards as 'weird'.
heavyset_go 4y ago
> Anyways, I'm on an M1 MacBook Pro and it's hard to see myself buying a new Macbook Pro in the next 5 years minimum. How much memory do you have? Seemed like my biggest concern when it came to this generation of MacBooks and longevity.
- dimmke 4y ago
  16GB. I really don't see it being a problem. This isn't to defend Apple's stingy memory and storage specs, I just don't end up needing more than that really for the kind of work I do. The base SSD was 500GB too. Which I'm using like... half of? It's the same thing with iPhones. The base storage amount for Pro models is 128GB and I never run up against that limit. Maybe if I took way more pictures and videos. I store all my important data in different versions of the cloud (code I write in remote Github repos, files in Google Drive) so on device stuff is more ephemeral. If I was a professional photographer or video editor, I'd care a lot more. Again, I think they should offer more a base but I don't ever run into actually needing it so it's not a pain point for me.
- turnsout 4y ago
  Can't answer for the quoted poster, but I'm on a 16GB M1 MacBook Air, and haven't felt a strong need for more RAM yet… I'm doing a heavy amount of SwiftUI, and even messing around with some local LLMs. I could imagine upgrading to the M3 or even M4 MBA, but at that point it will have been 4–5 years on the M1.
paulmd 4y ago
Be sure to enable the "optimized charging", when it decides that you're mostly running plugged in then it'll hold the battery at 80% to avoid holding it at 100% forever. There is an application called "AlDente" that lets you control this more precisely - not only can you essentially force it to hold at a specific charge level at any time, but you can also configure battery temperature limits (battery won't charge above, eg, 35C) and also "sailing mode" which gives it some hysteresis so it won't immediately charge up to 80% (or whatever you set) but rather stay at (eg) 76% if you run unplugged for a few minutes.

by dimmke 4y ago

kome 4y ago

My MacBook Air 11-inch from 2015 with 1.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel i7 and 8 GB of RAM is still my main computer. And I love it, and it feels new. Perhaps i'm just lucky... but I use it everyday for hours. It traveled to super remote places. I want to use it for 2 or 3 more years (10 years in total would be nice!)

SoftTalker 4y ago

> for what he does (email, web browsing) A $200 Chromebook will work fine.

robopsychology 4y ago
To be fair the build quality of a $200 Chromebook is pretty rubbish. The pixel is probably on par with Macbooks in terms of build quality but again that's so expensive you may as well get a macbook air.
heavyset_go 4y ago
It sounds like he's not even using it as a laptop, he can get some relatively powerful mini-PCs for around that price, as well.
chongli 4y ago
That’s opting him in to Google’s data collection engine. I would not do that to my dad!
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  Chances are he's already using gmail, chrome, and google search. But yeah, Chromebook is a full-on google walled garden.
  - chongli 4y ago
    I got my dad to stop using Gmail, Chrome, and Google search. He uses DuckDuckGo now!
    - SoftTalker 4y ago
      Well good for you. Still I think it's unusual. Any time I've tried to get anyone to use DuckDuckGo they look at me like I'm insane.
yamtaddle 4y ago
My dad got a Chromebook and I was shocked at how shit the accessibility features were, considering their core markets seem to be kids and old people. I assume Windows is doing better on that front than ChromeOS. MacOS sure as hell is.

sleepybrett 4y ago

I dump my old macbooks on friends and family when I do an upgrade for speed reasons. I usually rotate every 2-4 years. My parents are still using a 2014 air that I got out of a box my previous employer was going to send to recycling. It's probably about time to upgrade them. They generally have the same usecase. They use iPads for most things, but sometimes they want a physical keyboard. They have rejected generally the ipad keyboards as 'weird'.

heavyset_go 4y ago

> Anyways, I'm on an M1 MacBook Pro and it's hard to see myself buying a new Macbook Pro in the next 5 years minimum. How much memory do you have? Seemed like my biggest concern when it came to this generation of MacBooks and longevity.

dimmke 4y ago
16GB. I really don't see it being a problem. This isn't to defend Apple's stingy memory and storage specs, I just don't end up needing more than that really for the kind of work I do. The base SSD was 500GB too. Which I'm using like... half of? It's the same thing with iPhones. The base storage amount for Pro models is 128GB and I never run up against that limit. Maybe if I took way more pictures and videos. I store all my important data in different versions of the cloud (code I write in remote Github repos, files in Google Drive) so on device stuff is more ephemeral. If I was a professional photographer or video editor, I'd care a lot more. Again, I think they should offer more a base but I don't ever run into actually needing it so it's not a pain point for me.
turnsout 4y ago
Can't answer for the quoted poster, but I'm on a 16GB M1 MacBook Air, and haven't felt a strong need for more RAM yet… I'm doing a heavy amount of SwiftUI, and even messing around with some local LLMs. I could imagine upgrading to the M3 or even M4 MBA, but at that point it will have been 4–5 years on the M1.

paulmd 4y ago

Be sure to enable the "optimized charging", when it decides that you're mostly running plugged in then it'll hold the battery at 80% to avoid holding it at 100% forever. There is an application called "AlDente" that lets you control this more precisely - not only can you essentially force it to hold at a specific charge level at any time, but you can also configure battery temperature limits (battery won't charge above, eg, 35C) and also "sailing mode" which gives it some hysteresis so it won't immediately charge up to 80% (or whatever you set) but rather stay at (eg) 76% if you run unplugged for a few minutes.