MacBook Air Durability

[LazyJ]

[Uncivil Engineer]

Go try the keyboard. There was a lot of talk about the key travel and break being a problem.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[PizzaPizza]

Had one for years. Just got another. No travel/breaking issues. Love it.

[Casual_Shooter]

We've had three or four of them over the years and have had no problems.

Edit: Saw the post above about the keys. We did have one where the up arrow key popped off. We assume it was from a child prying/ pulling etc on it.

FWIW- GCVT is selling a Mid 2013 MB Pro for a good price.

https://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1735363

[nn21]

Looking at buying an Air because it’s closer to what I have as far as size and the keypad layout. I am rough on my laptops so not sure the Air is a good fit for me.

Anyone out there with a long term report using an Air?


Thanks

The key argument from above is moot. Apple changed their design from the atrocious butterfly keyboard, with basically zero travel and failure problems, back to something normal in the 2019(?) cycle. A brand new MBA will not have the problems of the butterfly keyboard macs of yesteryear.

I've had a MBA for little while now, I'm typing on it now. It's great and apple silicon for every day use is amazing.

The most important thing you need to recognize is that all but a few of the current mac laptop offerings are running Apple silicon now. It's great unless you're running a super niche program that requires x86 (read: an intel mac) to run appropriately. If you don't, the speed and battery life gains are magnificent. I routinely get > 12 hours of actual use before needing to plug in and it's significantly faster than any laptop I've had prior. They also don't overheat like the old mac's were notorious for. Considering you can get a brand new base model MBA for $899 that is objectively faster than probably 90% of laptops on the market, I wouldn't even consider an older intel mac.

The only point of contention with the current gen MBA is that it doesn't have a fan. There's the "fewer things to break and no dust" camp and the "holy thermal issues, batman" camp. Considering apple silicon is basically just an advanced iteration of the processors in the iphone and ipad, neither of which have fans, it's not something that bothered me. Plus, having a laptop that never makes sound is amazing.

Unless you have an actual use case to justify the $1000 difference between the base model MBA and the cheapest M1 pro MBP that just dropped, it's a waste of money. The only justifiable advantage to the new machines, absent an actual work use case, is magsafe. Not having to worry about wearing out a port, that cant be replaced, because the position you sit in puts stress on it is lame. It's not $1000 lame though.

[ocabj]

My personal laptop is still a 2015 MacBook Air 11.6" (maxed out CPU, RAM, SSD). It is still a great laptop for tossing in the vehicle for when I need to get on to address an issue at work or for general purpose use when traveling.

I wish they didn't discontinue the 11.6" because it is extremely compact comparatively and fits in something like the HSP FlatPack.

I've dropped it a few times on datacenter floors and it's got no damage whatsoever.

I had Apple replace the battery earlier this year for something like $100 give or take. I could have gotten the battery and DIY'ed for a little less, but I figure I'll let them put in an OEM battery for just $30-ish or so more.

I'm going to have to eventually get an M1 laptop for personal, but I won't do it until this MBA is 'discontinued' from support for the latest Mac OS. I'm going to replace my Mac Mini with an M1 before I get an M1 MBP/MBA.

My work laptop is one of the butterfly keyboard Macbook Pros, but that's currently in the process of being replaced with an M1 MBP. I never used the keyboard when in the office. I always used a standalone KB. When I was traveling with my work laptop, it really hated using it. I could work on it, but writing any code or doing any sort of typing (shells or office docs) was just an atrocious time.

[gcvt]

I heard someone mention my name

I bought an M1 Air in June and it's awesome. As mentioned above, the keyboard issue has been fixed and it's great - no issues there at all. If I had any complaints at all it would be that it only has the two USB-C ports and no MagSafe. At least one USB-A would have been nice and I just like MagSafe. Other than that, it's fantastic and very solid. Plenty of protectors/shells/cases out there too if you're extra rough on it.

And yes, I am selling my MacBook Pro. It still works like new. I was waiting for it to break down before buying the Air but it became apparent that was never going to happen.

[LazyJ]

So on my currently broken MBP, the fan will kick on for several applications that I use, so maybe the Air wouldn’t be a good idea for me then if it doesn’t have a cooling fan.

I also prefer the mag connector. I’m constantly grabbing my laptop and forgetting it’s plugged in

[nn21]

So on my currently broken MBP, the fan will kick on for several applications that I use, so maybe the Air wouldn’t be a good idea for me then if it doesn’t have a cooling fan.

This isnt really an applies to apples comparison as the processor architecture is completely different between your intel mac and apple silicon. The intel macs are notorious for overheating. The M1 macs rarely even get warm. Even if you get a MBP with a fan, it's unlikely that it will ever turn on unless you're a video editor exporting long 4k videos or something crazy. At this point, there have been extensive tests done by multiple groups on the M1 MBA in video editing and other demanding programs. I've yet to see a single hint of any negative effects of not having a fan in the MBA. I've exported a handful of 20 minute long videos in davinci resolve on my computer with it not even slightly getting warm to the touch. My work windows laptop gets hotter from opening an internet browser.

[1911-CV]

MacBook Air

My older MacBook Air has out-lived the available updates as its older, perfectly functioning hardware no longer meets the spec for an update.

[Casual_Shooter]

I heard someone mention my name

Currently using the same model MBP you're selling. Have had it for a lot of years. Great laptop.

[kcheung2]

Like post 9 says, the lack of fan isn’t an issue. There are YouTube vids of people running the Air & the new MB pro with M1 pro chip (which has a fan) on the same table simultaneously. They would runa whole bunch of stress tests & benchmarks. Eventually the Pro’s fan would turn on, but it took them quite a few tests to do it. Unless you’re deliberately running every program you have simultaneously, not having a fan isn’t a problem.

I ordered a new Pro, mainly for the ports & better graphics cores.

[gcvt]

Yep, the lack of fan is a non-issue. I've done some video editing on my new Air and the case never even gets slightly warm to the touch. It's quite impressive.

Intel-based Macs get hot just browsing the web.

[hermosabeach]

OP

There are some 3rd party repair folks who save a lot of people from being extorted by apple.

How bad is your device? It might be worth shipping to Rossman and having it fixed.

[hermosabeach]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoiByFIPgK8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFIVZYevfGU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2eO_cHTmm0

Apple has the moisture indicator dots... if they show red, apple replaces the entire board. Apple does not do component level repair...