Going to uni next year..

[Mac-lover3]

Hello everyone

I'm sorry to start another thread about this subject but that's partially what forums are for. Here we go: I'm in my last year and still have my MacBook Air from 2011 (1,6GHz i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB, Intel HD3000). While the laptop is still in good shape it's generally getting a lot slower. The battery is basically dead after 1300 cycles -according to Battery Health 2- also macOS says Condition: Replace Soon. It just hold for 2-3 hours and then the percentage is back at 0%. First I have no idea what it would cost to replace the battery at an APR or at the Apple Store, so I started looking for a replacement for next year.

OPTION 1:*

MacBook: 12" base model with an M3 (1,1GHz), 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD
= 1362€/1,525$
Upgrade to M7? + 280€ worth it?
OPTION 2:*

MacBook Air: 13" with an i5 (1,6GHz), 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD
= 1268€/1,440$

OPTION 3:*

MacBook Pro: 13" non Touch-Bar with an i5 (2,0 GHZ), 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD
=1597€/1,788.$

*NOTE: All models are with student pricing from the official Apple Store. 256GB is a necessity for me. I will be studying International Business Management and will be traveling to school every day by train and bus approximately 1,5hours a day. Also I live in Belgium a country where Apple doesn't offer refurbished Mac's as far as I know.

Also if I were to sell my MacBook Air what would it still be worth? No external damage whatsoever has been used a lot during its lifespan though.

Thanks for any input.

Mac-Lover3

 

[keysofanxiety]

Personally I'd go for the 2016 13" non-Touchbar. Reasoning:

1) Battery life is ridiculous. Seriously, seriously good. One of my work colleagues was doing light coding & browsing and got 16 hours battery life from it. It has better battery life than the MacBook Retina too.

2) Whilst the MacBook Air also has fabulous battery life, it doesn't have that beautiful Retina screen. Text looks like it's painted on. It's really, really beautiful.

3) It's the most powerful of all the Macs you're looking at. Hardware power means more longevity for the future.

4) The trackpad is big and beautiful. Okay, it's a point of contention here. Some say it's too big but personally I find it's hard to go back to the older ones. It's so spacious and accommodating.

5) Aesthetics. Useful? No. Lovely to use on a daily basis? Oh definitely. Though all the Macs you've looked at are solid sleek machines, the 13" 2016 nTP is simply drop-dead gorgeous. It's such a nice looking machine.

Overall I think it's no contest. 13" non-Touchbar.

 

[Mac-lover3]

Personally I'd go for the 2016 13" non-Touchbar. Reasoning:

1) Battery life is ridiculous. Seriously, seriously good. One of my work colleagues was doing light coding & browsing and got 16 hours battery life from it. It has better battery life than the MacBook Retina too.

2) Whilst the MacBook Air also has fabulous battery life, it doesn't have that beautiful Retina screen. Text looks like it's painted on. It's really, really beautiful.

3) It's the most powerful of all the Macs you're looking at. Hardware power means more longevity for the future.

4) The trackpad is big and beautiful. Okay, it's a point of contention here. Some say it's too big but personally I find it's hard to go back to the older ones. It's so spacious and accommodating.

5) Aesthetics. Useful? No. Lovely to use on a daily basis? Oh definitely. Though all the Macs you've looked at are solid sleek machines, the 13" 2016 nTP is simply drop-dead gorgeous. It's such a nice looking machine.

Overall I think it's no contest. 13" non-Touchbar.

Thanks for your opinion.
1) Doesn't the MacBook Air has even better battery life? But either way damn 16 hours is a damn long time..

2) Yep, you got a point, the MacBook Air's screen is not good it even bothers me on mine sometimes.. But the MacBook has the same beautiful display.

3) True, it's simply the most expensive one thus the most powerful one too.

4) Haven't got a chance to play with the new and bigger trackpads.

5) Little subjective but to me the most beautiful is the MacBook but hey that's not the main raison we're buying our Mac's.

 

[keysofanxiety]

MBA has comparable or possibly a bit better battery life but in every aspect it's behind with hardware, even compared to the rMB (CPU aside). Slower GPU, slower CPU, slower RAM, no Force Touch trackpad, worse screen.

The rMB is a good choice though it doesn't compete on battery life. As it doesn't compete on hardware power either, I think for your needs there's really only one logical option.

 

[Mac-lover3]

MBA has comparable or possibly a bit better battery life but in every aspect it's behind with hardware, even compared to the rMB (CPU aside). Slower GPU, slower CPU, slower RAM, no Force Touch trackpad, worse screen.

The rMB is a good choice though it doesn't compete on battery life. As it doesn't compete on hardware power either, I think for your needs there's really only one logical option.

Yeah I know that it is severely behind in tech but included it in my options just for the sake of it. I was more leaning towards the MB because I thought that it would have more then enough power for my needs.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Yeah I know that it is severely behind in tech but included it in my options just for the sake of it. I was more leaning towards the MB because I thought that it would have more then enough power for my needs.

No worries. It looks like you've got your heart set on the rMB to be honest.

Ultimately just buy what you want! They're all lovely machines and they're all be fine for you usage, so none of your choices are bad ones. You'll be happy whatever you decide to get.

 

[viperGTS]

Yeah I know that it is severely behind in tech but included it in my options just for the sake of it. I was more leaning towards the MB because I thought that it would have more then enough power for my needs.

The rMB (even the base model) is a solid choice. Ultraportable (moreso than the rMBP), gets GREAT battery life, and performs very well.

You didn't really say what exactly you'd be using for; you just said your major. What kinds of work do you plan on using it for?

 

[ApolloBoy]

If you still want to keep your MBA as a backup you can easily replace the battery yourself, it's only held in with screws.

 

[Mac-lover3]

The rMB (even the base model) is a solid choice. Ultraportable (moreso than the rMBP), gets GREAT battery life, and performs very well.

You didn't really say what exactly you'd be using for; you just said your major. What kinds of work do you plan on using it for?

Well my major doesn't require anything too fancy, mostly just mail, research, Word, iTunes and my occasional use of iMovie.
[doublepost=1495258673][/doublepost]

If you still want to keep your MBA as a backup you can easily replace the battery yourself, it's only held in with screws.

I thought about that too.. it kinda depends. If I was going to sell it the price should be decent.

 

[fokmik]

Wait until 5 June because seems that all the Apple laptops line up will be updated,even the macbook air

 

[Mac-lover3]

Wait until 5 June because seems that all the Apple laptops line up will be updated,even the macbook air

Was certainly going to do that. I will probably wait for the back to school actions.

 

[viperGTS]

Well my major doesn't require anything too fancy, mostly just mail, research, Word, iTunes and my occasional use of iMovie.

The rMB will be perfect for those use cases. I use it for more demanding tasks (Xcode development, virtual machines, even some Unreal Editor) and it handles them fine.

As mentioned above, wait for Apple to announce their new MacBooks. You're looking to buy one at probably the best time of the year! I recommend checking B&H once they're announced; they usually sell them for $100 off, and no tax if you're outside of New York.

 

[Mac-lover3]

The rMB will be perfect for those use cases. I use it for more demanding tasks (Xcode development, virtual machines, even some Unreal Editor) and it handles them fine.

As mentioned above, wait for Apple to announce their new MacBooks. You're looking to buy one at probably the best time of the year! I recommend checking B&H once they're announced; they usually sell them for $100 off, and no tax if you're outside of New York.

Well that's nice to hear! How has your battery life been in hours & cycles and battery life left (you can check it with Coconut Battery). I'm holding off because I think an update was around the corner. Won't be able to buy them at B&H though as I'm not in the US where prices are a lot cheaper.. damn you Apple for EU pricing.

 

[viperGTS]

Well that's nice to hear! How has your battery life been in hours & cycles and battery life left (you can check it with Coconut Battery). I'm holding off because I think an update was around the corner. Won't be able to buy them at B&H though as I'm not in the US where prices are a lot cheaper.. damn you Apple for EU pricing.

I've had the computer since late September, 2016. I'm currently at 114 cycles with about 93% of my battery capacity left. I usually get about 9-10 hours of web browsing, 5-6 with more demanding tasks like VMs.

Admittedly, I'm currently on 61 hours of battery (most which is sleep), so when I get a chance, I will charge it to 100% and use it as long as possible to give you a better estimate of battery life.

 

[Mac-lover3]

I've had the computer since late September, 2016. I'm currently at 114 cycles with about 93% of my battery capacity left. I usually get about 9-10 hours of web browsing, 5-6 with more demanding tasks like VMs.

Admittedly, I'm currently on 61 hours of battery (most which is sleep), so when I get a chance, I will charge it to 100% and use it as long as possible to give you a better estimate of battery life.

Well that's quite a lot of degradation. But the times are still good it seems.

Thanks for all the things you're doing, looking forward to the results

 

[viperGTS]

Well that's quite a lot of degradation. But the times are still good it seems.

Thanks for all the things you're doing, looking forward to the results

CoconutBattery isn't terribly good at reporting the max capacity. A couple of weeks into owning, it reported that I had 95%, as an example.

 

[fokmik]

It depends,for example my battery life is at 99-100% when the mac is cold,and at 96 when is warm. So better check when is cold

 

[viperGTS]

It depends,for example my battery life is at 99-100% when the mac is cold,and at 96 when is warm. So better check when is cold

Still at 93%, but I have slightly more mAh (5196) compared to when I checked for the OP yesterday (5182). That's odd...

 

[Mac-lover3]

Still at 93%, but I have slightly more mAh (5196) compared to when I checked for the OP yesterday (5182). That's odd...

That's indeed strange but now I do have an idea about. Thanks a lot for all your input, if you wanna share anything else you're more then welcome to do so.

 

[viperGTS]

That's indeed strange but now I do have an idea about. Thanks a lot for all your input, if you wanna share anything else you're more then welcome to do so.

I wont be able to get a full charge test for you, but after using my computer for ~1.5 hours watching videos and general web surfing (along with some standby), I'm currently sitting at 89%. Activity Monitor reports that I have about 9 hours, 33 minutes left on battery, though these estimates aren't always accurate apparently. I trust them though!

 

[maerz001]

To answer your other question. Selling the Air would give you about 300-400€.
As it has only 4GB I would not invest in a new battery and sell it.

Strange in Belgium Apple really has no refurb macs. Only iPads.
Maybe you can buy in the French store?
https://www.apple.com/fr/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac

Or there should be other online stores cheaper. At least in Germany some offered 15% discount just weeks after introduction. Even amazon sells it now for 200€ off.

MBP with bigger screen more productive but not as portable. So it's more of a personal preference. Just try both in a store. CPU wise both will handle your tasks just fine.