The "I just bought/ordered/got/shipped my new/refurb MBA" thread, [Merged]

[Dave245]

The keyboard is, of course, the elephant in the room. I can't tell if I should have a keyboard cover to keep the dust out (not sure if that will damage the screen or not) or if I should just deal with it.

I don’t know if the third gen is more reliable, it probably is. Personally I like the feel of the butterfly keyboard but they need to sort out the issues it’s had previously.

I’m interested to see what the rumoured 16” new design MacBook Pro has to offer, is it in response to the keyboard and other issues? It seems a bit early for this yea to be the redesign.

 

[AustinIllini]

I don’t know if the third gen is more reliable, it probably is. Personally I like the feel of the butterfly keyboard but they need to sort out the issues it’s had previously.

I’m interested to see what the rumoured 16” new design MacBook Pro has to offer, is it in response to the keyboard and other issues? It seems a bit early for this yea to be the redesign.

I'm not sure what to expect anymore.

I'm also not sure if the current butterfly keyboard is creating more of the same issues or if the double letter problem is an unrelated issue (I mean, it seems like it's unrelated)

Otherwise, this is an awesome machine. I haven't heard the fan since the day I set it up. I don't have any beach balls ever. I was concerned about the underpowered processor but it has honestly been fantastic so far.

 

[Dave245]

I'm not sure what to expect anymore.

I'm also not sure if the current butterfly keyboard is creating more of the same issues or if the double letter problem is an unrelated issue (I mean, it seems like it's unrelated)

Otherwise, this is an awesome machine. I haven't heard the fan since the day I set it up. I don't have any beach balls ever. I was concerned about the underpowered processor but it has honestly been fantastic so far.

I think it will be interesting, which is why I’m holding off at the moment, I’m in no rush.

That’s great, I think the Air is aimed at the general every day user which is great. Do you do any photo editing type of work on your new Air?

 

[AustinIllini]

I think it will be interesting, which is why I’m holding off at the moment, I’m in no rush.

That’s great, I think the Air is aimed at the general every day user which is great. Do you do any photo editing type of work on your new Air?

Mostly work stuff, which is mostly Microsoft functions and web apps. I don't do much processor-heavy stuff. I only got the 16 GB of RAM because it's a refurb so it was in my budget range.

 

[Dave245]

Mostly work stuff, which is mostly Microsoft functions and web apps. I don't do much processor-heavy stuff. I only got the 16 GB of RAM because it's a refurb so it was in my budget range.

I tend to switch between my iMac and iPad Pro at the moment (since my 2011 MacBook Pro died), thinking of getting the new Air and upgrading my iPad Pro to the new design, they will probably work well together, especially with apps like Pixelmator Pro.

The Air seems to be the best all round laptop while the Pro seems to be more powerful and more bang for the buck.

 

[AustinIllini]

I tend to switch between my iMac and iPad Pro at the moment (since my 2011 MacBook Pro died), thinking of getting the new Air and upgrading my iPad Pro to the new design, they will probably work well together, especially with apps like Pixelmator Pro.

The Air seems to be the best all round laptop while the Pro seems to be more powerful and more bang for the buck.

Honestly, the Pro is just a little too expensive for my taste. The Escape model is fine but Apple is letting it languish. You have to pay a lot more to get the MacBook Pro Apple bothers updating.

 

[Eksoccer99]

The keyboard is, of course, the elephant in the room. I can't tell if I should have a keyboard cover to keep the dust out (not sure if that will damage the screen or not) or if I should just deal with it.

One came with my cover that I bought off of amazon. My setup.

 

[Dave245]

Honestly, the Pro is just a little too expensive for my taste. The Escape model is fine but Apple is letting it languish. You have to pay a lot more to get the MacBook Pro Apple bothers updating.

I get a discount through Apple Perks Corporate, its not a huge amount BUT it does bring the price of the Pro closer in price, i think it's about a £300 difference between the Air with 16GB and 512SSD, and the quad core Touch Bar Macbook Pro with 16GB Ram and 512SSD.

But for everyday use the new Air seems to be the best option for most people, also those of us that own an iPad i think it makes a great companion to the Mac.

 

[AustinIllini]

I get a discount through Apple Perks Corporate, its not a huge amount BUT it does bring the price of the Pro closer in price, i think it's about a £300 difference between the Air with 16GB and 512SSD, and the quad core Touch Bar Macbook Pro with 16GB Ram and 512SSD.

But for everyday use the new Air seems to be the best option for most people, also those of us that own an iPad i think it makes a great companion to the Mac.

Honestly man, if you get Apple Perks Corporate, check if it works in the refurb store. You can save a boatload.

 

[Dave245]

Honestly man, if you get Apple Perks Corporate, check if it works in the refurb store. You can save a boatload.

That’s good thinking I didn’t think about trying that!

 

[AustinIllini]

That’s good thinking I didn’t think about trying that!

Definitely take a look. All the Apple Products my family owns are refurbed. They're basically the same as new with new shells on iPhones and a crazy amount of inspection and same-as-new AppleCare Plus eligibility. If you can get a corporate discount on THAT it's worth it. Otherwise, consider looking at other sites for deals and getting AppleCare within the appropriate time frame.

 

[1050792]

Just bought MBA 2018 base model for my wife. I must say i'm very happy how it works, how light, thin and portable it is. Also the touchpad IMO is much more comfortable and clicky than the one in my MBP 15" 2018. Of course this is not a power house, but he was never supposed to be.

MBP wallpaper aaaahhhhhhhhhhh. Please

 

[omelet1978]

I purchased a Space Gray MacBook Air 512gb hard drive and 16gb of RAM, and after using it all weekend I’m really impressed with it. I’ve been using an iPAD Pro as my main device for a while, and I’d forgotten how nice and seamless everything is with Mac OS.

The screen brightness issue doesn’t seem to be a factor for me. Various reviews said that they would turn the screen up almost all the way in brightness and that is what I found out this weekend. I’ll turn it up to 80 or 90% brightness but never felt the screen was not bright enough.

 

[Dave245]

I purchased a Space Gray MacBook Air 512gb hard drive and 16gb of RAM, and after using it all weekend I’m really impressed with it. I’ve been using an iPAD Pro as my main device for a while, and I’d forgotten how nice and seamless everything is with Mac OS.

The screen brightness issue doesn’t seem to be a factor for me. Various reviews said that they would turn the screen up almost all the way in brightness and that is what I found out this weekend. I’ll turn it up to 80 or 90% brightness but never felt the screen was not bright enough.

I agree, personally i like using the iPad Pro and a Mac, i think they compliment each other very well. The Air and the iPad Pro will probably be no different and will work really well together.

You've picked up the configuration that i've been thinking about getting, how are you finding the 16GB Ram? does it help with your work flow? also how much of the 512GB SSD do you get free to use? as i know so much is taken up by the system.

As for issue i really wouldn't read too much into it as these forums tend to make things sound worse than what they are.

 

[omelet1978]

I agree, personally i like using the iPad Pro and a Mac, i think they compliment each other very well. The Air and the iPad Pro will probably be no different and will work really well together.

You've picked up the configuration that i've been thinking about getting, how are you finding the 16GB Ram? does it help with your work flow? also how much of the 512GB SSD do you get free to use? as i know so much is taken up by the system.

As for issue i really wouldn't read too much into it as these forums tend to make things sound worse than what they are.

The iPad Pro and Macbook Air do compliment each other. I'm a pilot and always on the go, so when traveling I use the iPad with LTE and when I'm home I use the Macbook. I've learned being on the go like this you need to have more than one device since one accidental drop and you don't have a computer for a week.

My workflow is light internet usage, email, etc...so no video editing or anything like that. The 16gb of RAM seems relatively fast. I filled up the hard drive to about 400gb (120gb free I believe) and then did a Time Machine initial backup and it took about 9 hours. I don't know if that is good or bad though, but in my usage it is fast enough and seems buttery smooth the majority of time.

 

[philbeeney]

Just ordered a refurbished Gold 16/256 2018 MBA.

This replaces a 13" Mid-2012 MBA that I utterly destroyed. When a full cup of tea leaks from all the bottom edges, you know you're screwed.

The new MBA arrived on Friday morning. The gold version looks way better in real life, sort of burnished rather than bright. So, first impressions compared to my old 2012 MBA.

The retina display is crisp and bright. A definite improvement.
The sound quality is very good.
It's definitely a lot quicker than the old MBA although I've only done basic stuff like set-up, email and browsing and not stressed it out yet.
It's silent but when I restored the Time Machine backup, the fans roared into life but not overly loud.
The butterfly keyboard will take some getting used to. I like a nice clickety-clack keyboard (IBM Model M), so the minimal travel with this one will require patience.

Overall, not a bad piece of kit. I'd say 8/10 at present. I'll see what it's like after 6 months.

 

[UKBeast]

The new MBA arrived on Friday morning. The gold version looks way better in real life, sort of burnished rather than bright. So, first impressions compared to my old 2012 MBA.

The retina display is crisp and bright. A definite improvement.
The sound quality is very good.
It's definitely a lot quicker than the old MBA although I've only done basic stuff like set-up, email and browsing and not stressed it out yet.
It's silent but when I restored the Time Machine backup, the fans roared into life but not overly loud.
The butterfly keyboard will take some getting used to. I like a nice clickety-clack keyboard (IBM Model M), so the minimal travel with this one will require patience.

Overall, not a bad piece of kit. I'd say 8/10 at present. I'll see what it's like after 6 months.

Can it handle 8-10 tabs in Safari without kicking fan on ?

Is it dead silent most of the times ?

 

[auxbuss]

Can it handle 8-10 tabs in Safari without kicking fan on ?

Depends on the pages. If they're mining Bitcoin, then the fan will kick in. If they're regular, well-behaved pages, then no.

fwiw, the fan kicks in on my uber-powered MBP with crap web pages.

Is it dead silent most of the times ?

Yes. Never hear the thing.

 

[Scarpad]

I have an Asus Laptop i bought last year 8th gen I5, 1tb drive, I upgraded to 16gb and i swear plugged in and with just one chrome tab open the fans on the things run it blows my mind

 

[mtectail]

Hey guys,

Purchased at Apple Store Germany a refurbished 16/512GB MBA (350€ cheaper) with BackMagic e-Gpu (Pro580), its to retire my Mac Mini 2014 (i5 2.6, 16/256GB), I would like to try the MBA as "fixed" system with e-Gpu and mobile without. I like the charge option at the BM and the 2nd TB port as I use the HDMI for external video, maybe it will keep MBA little cooler as e-GPU will do the work when in Clam-shell mode.

Keep u posted when it arrived.

 

[mtectail]

Updated to current MacOS, Disk speed is better than 128/256GB in the reviews I saw so far.
1st TB3 connected via Choetech 6.5FT active TB3 cable to MBA boxed charger 30W, 2nd TB3 to TB3>TB2 to TB2 ETH 1GBit.
Apologize pictures are not so nice as take by iPhone.

 

[mtectail]

Works very good with BM egpu, replaces the charger and hdmi dongle, 2nd TB3 port at BM is now my 1GBit ETH.
So the 2nd TB port on Air 2018 is now free.

 

[imrazor]

I recently got the old model 2017 Macbook Air with an i7 and 128GB SSD. The keyboard of the new model worried me (both in terms of feel and reliability), so I went with the older model. At $899 the older model was also much more affordable, and the older i7 gives it about as much horsepower as the 2018 MBA's i5. I've also expanded the anemic storage with a 128GB SD card, something you can't do with the new model.

I've also got a 512GB Intel SSD on order and intend to upgrade the Apple SSD when it arrives. That's something else you can't do with the new model. I just wish I could upgrade the 8GB of RAM in the 2017 MBA.

So far it's been doing really well. The fans only kick on when playing a 3D game or exporting video out of iMovie, neither of which I do often. Once I have the larger SSD I also intend to try Bootcamp and see if my games run better in Windows. Windows worse power and thermal management may have a negative impact on the overall gaming experience, despite Windows generally allowing games to perform better.

 

[mtectail]

I recently got the old model 2017 Macbook Air with an i7 and 128GB SSD. The keyboard of the new model worried me (both in terms of feel and reliability), so I went with the older model. At $899 the older model was also much more affordable, and the older i7 gives it about as much horsepower as the 2018 MBA's i5. I've also expanded the anemic storage with a 128GB SD card, something you can't do with the new model.

I've also got a 512GB Intel SSD on order and intend to upgrade the Apple SSD when it arrives. That's something else you can't do with the new model. I just wish I could upgrade the 8GB of RAM in the 2017 MBA.

So far it's been doing really well. The fans only kick on when playing a 3D game or exporting video out of iMovie, neither of which I do often. Once I have the larger SSD I also intend to try Bootcamp and see if my games run better in Windows. Windows worse power and thermal management may have a negative impact on the overall gaming experience, despite Windows generally allowing games to perform better.

Yes nice, I think it really depends on your needs and share of wallet, I was looking a while for a MB 12" (portable master in Apple class) but the only USB 3.1 Gen 1 port with 5Gbit was scaring me for the case of future expansions. The MBA '18 has 2x 40Gbit TB3 ports to use external components with very good speed, therefor I chose this one and of course I got it cheaper than MBP with 16GB and 512GB SSD, pretty great that you can exchange the SSD, on MBA ´18 all is "on board fixed" !

 

[Peepo]

Just bought a used 2018 MBA 8/256 SG for $1450 CAD (approx 1090 USD). It is in mint condition, not a scratch on it. So far it is no worse in performance than the 2013 MBP I am replacing and seems snappier in most cases. Sure is smaller on lap though.