Thinking about a new Mac Book 2024

[Huntn]

My current Mac is a 2016 MBP, see signature, paid $2100, still is working great, yet it is getting older. I was in Costco yesterday and saw a 13”MacBook Air, M2 on sale for $700 ($200 off) through 17 November. This got my attention I examined it, it looks good. My only concerned is that it only has two USB ports and the hard drive is half the size of my current computer, which also has three USB ports, not counting power. Basically all I do with my Mac these days is manage my finances and use it as a word processor, so I’m wondering why not save $1300 this time and get the lesser box? I can mitigate one less USB port with a USB hub although I’m not crazy about the smaller hard drive. Any thoughts on this to share? Thanks! 🙂

 

[russell_314]

You said all you do is use it to manage your finances which I’m guessing is online and a word processor. How many thousands of word documents do you keep on your laptop?

Look how much space you’re using on your current set up and figure out what is using that space. There has to be something other than documents.


I didn’t see you mention the size of your current MacBook Pro but if it’s a 13”, this is going to be a significant upgrade. Just don’t buy something if it doesn’t have what you need. I have this MacBook Air myself and absolutely love it.

 

[pullman]

I don't mean to be the devil's advocate, but whenever I'm in situations like this I try to ask myself honestly what it is that the new model I am looking at can do (of the things for which I use my computer) which my current can't. Basically, what flaw or void am I trying to fix or fill?

The 2016 MBP is a terrific machine. Unless I felt I really had cash to burn I probably wouldn't buy that Air. It's not that much lighter than the MBP and apart from the speed of the M2 compared to the i5 it seems more limited. You don't write how much RAM either model has but I suppose the M2 only has 8GB at that price (or?). Granted, I'm writing this on a 2008 Mac Pro running Monterey and like to keep older Macs running for as long as possible.

cheers
Philip

My current Mac is a 2016 MBP, see signature, paid $2100, still is working great, yet it is getting older. I was in Costco yesterday and saw a 13”MacBook Air, M2 on sale for $700 ($200 off) through 17 November. This got my attention I examined it, it looks good. My only concerned is that it only has two USB ports and the hard drive is half the size of my current computer, which also has three USB ports, not counting power. Basically all I do with my Mac these days is manage my finances and use it as a word processor, so I’m wondering why not save $1300 this time and get the lesser box? I can mitigate one less USB port with a USB hub although I’m not crazy about the smaller hard drive. Any thoughts on this to share? Thanks! 🙂

 

[AJB1971]

Given that you appear to keep your devices for a long time, and Apple has just stopped selling new 8GB models, I’d rather spend an extra $100 and get an M2 Air from Amazon with 16GB of RAM. If the difference was $200, that becomes a tougher choice.
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/11/04/m2-macbook-air-16gb-200-discount/

The storage sounds like it should be fine for your usage, but check how much you’re using on your current device first. You can always get a portable hard drive or SSD to supplement the internal storage.

 

[Huntn]

Given that you appear to keep your devices for a long time, and Apple has just stopped selling new 8GB models, I’d rather spend an extra $100 and get an M2 Air from Amazon with 16GB of RAM. If the difference was $200, that becomes a tougher choice.
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/11/04/m2-macbook-air-16gb-200-discount/

The storage sounds like it should be fine for your usage, but check how much you’re using on your current device first. You can always get a portable hard drive or SSD to supplement the internal storage.

16 GB would be worth the extra $100. My current MBR has a 500GB hard drive, the new Air has 250Gb, and I have a hard time justifying an extra $1000 for a 500GB hard drive in a new MacBook.🤔 Thanks!

 

[russell_314]

16 GB would be worth the extra $100. My current MBR has a 500GB hard drive, the new Air has 250Gb, and I have a hard time justifying an extra $1000 for a 500GB hard drive in a new MacBook.🤔 Thanks!

I think RAM is the equivalent of horsepower in the car world. You have people that drive like grandma in a 392 Dodge Charger when they could be perfectly fine with the V6. It’s just the fact that they know if they wanted to they could hit the gas and have that power. You have people in the computer world that only use it for browsing the Internet with 32 GB. Absolutely nothing wrong with it unless you’re trying to save money

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

I am an attorney and have north of 250.000 docs on my laptop, many of those large-ish pdfs, and it not exceed 90Gb.
For office work 8/256 is plenty (my colleagues have base m1 minis and no one is complaining).

 

[Andrey84]

Sounds like you don't really need a new laptop, but rather you just want one. Get a clean Mac OS Sequoia install with full SSD formatting, clean the laptop really well, and voila, you'll get that new laptop feeling. I'm sure a new thinner and lighter MBA is coming in the spring. The existing MBAs are not really that amazing of a product due to how thick they are. The money you save you can invest into something or partially fund a holiday.

 

[Disher]

When Best Buy gives you 24 months to finance and a $750.00 trade in on my M3 air, I find it hard not to jump to the new Pro M4

 

[mi7chy]

Do you really need portability? If not, get a base M4 Mac Mini 16GB/256GB which has five USB/Thunderbolt ports then expand storage with inexpensive external storage.

 

[Alameda]

My current Mac is a 2016 MBP, see signature, paid $2100, still is working great, yet it is getting older. I was in Costco yesterday and saw a 13”MacBook Air, M2 on sale for $700 ($200 off) through 17 November. This got my attention I examined it, it looks good. My only concerned is that it only has two USB ports and the hard drive is half the size of my current computer, which also has three USB ports, not counting power. Basically all I do with my Mac these days is manage my finances and use it as a word processor, so I’m wondering why not save $1300 this time and get the lesser box? I can mitigate one less USB port with a USB hub although I’m not crazy about the smaller hard drive. Any thoughts on this to share? Thanks! 🙂

It only has two USB ports, but they’re 40 GBPs Thunderbolt ports. You can attach a Thunderbolt hub and attach a huge number of devices, including charger, to just one port on your Mac and have full speed.

For instance, I have one of these hubs and I attack a 4K60 monitor, plus a very fast SSD drive, my card readers, gig Ethernet and my keyboard mouse... All through one USB connection to my laptop, and that connection includes power. Very convenient! So unless you want 2 or 3 monitors, one port can be all you need.

 

[Huntn]

Sounds like you don't really need a new laptop, but rather you just want one. Get a clean Mac OS Sequoia install with full SSD formatting, clean the laptop really well, and voila, you'll get that new laptop feeling. I'm sure a new thinner and lighter MBA is coming in the spring. The existing MBAs are not really that amazing of a product due to how thick they are. The money you save you can invest into something or partially fund a holiday.

Well, my 2016 is running fine, and it could hiccup any time. But I might just wait for it's 10 year anniversary with my fingers crossed. Is 10 years reasonable? It just sits on my desk most of the time...

 

[Huntn]

It only has two USB ports, but they’re 40 GBPs Thunderbolt ports. You can attach a Thunderbolt hub and attach a huge number of devices, including charger, to just one port on your Mac and have full speed.

For instance, I have one of these hubs and I attack a 4K60 monitor, plus a very fast SSD drive, my card readers, gig Ethernet and my keyboard mouse... All through one USB connection to my laptop, and that connection includes power. Very convenient! So unless you want 2 or 3 monitors, one port can be all you need.

I just wanted the connivence without having to run cables up from the floor. Space is tight on my desk.