Breaking Point Reached: Bye Bye to Windows

[Jerry1]

Congratulations. I just gave my old MacBook Air to my daughter. I want a new one, but can not justify. I mostly surf and I do that on my iPad Pro. Between that and my phone I’m all set. I have a desktop (Windows) for some of our other needs, but I hardly use that any longer now that I’m retired.

Let us know how you like your new machine. I may have to get one to pass down to my grandson in five years

 

[Ready]

Right now you can buy a 2017 MacBook Pro 13" from the NY resellers (Adorama or B&H) for just a bit more than a MacBook Air and get a much higher end machine. And they don't charge sales tax outside of NY or NJ (although you may still owe the tax depending on what state you live in).

I think that's still a better deal for the moment, but the Air does look like a nice laptop.

 

[Ready]

Here is a link for anyone interested:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1342546-REG/apple_mpxv2ll_a_13_3_macbook_pro_with.html

 

[target2019]

Here is a link for anyone interested:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1342546-REG/apple_mpxv2ll_a_13_3_macbook_pro_with.html

First thing that jumps out is the 256GB SSD...
The one on order by Al has 128GB.
Things like this drive me crazy with manufacturers offerings, and how baseline configs jump around.

 

[njhowie]

I would certainly ditto the Windows XP. The icons were a little "candy store-like" to me but I thought that the operating system rocked.

We have one small form factor Windows XP machine that we keep around because it's got a high end scanner and photo printer attached which do not have any newer drivers. We updated the machine with a SSD a few years ago. Since there's really nothing on it besides the scanner software and a web browser it flies on only 2GB of memory.

 

[explanade]

I think they were applauding recycled aluminum.

Including aluminum shavings for previous products when the CNC machine carves down blocks of aluminum to cases.

 

[TromboneAl]

How much of the 128GB SSD is consumed by pre-installed OS, etc., already? That would be helpful to know.

Here's my iMac:

Looks like I've only used 100 GB of the 256 Gs.

 

[Jerry1]

I had a 128 in my Air. I loaded Office to it and a couple other things and filled up about 3/4 of the disk. Stayed that way and worked fine for my needs for five years. When you know your needs, there’s no reason to go bigger than you need.

 

[JDARNELL]

I have an older Mac air. Love the machine but the 128gb is not enough now and the touchpad does not work.

 

[ERD50]

I had a 128 in my Air. I loaded Office to it and a couple other things and filled up about 3/4 of the disk. Stayed that way and worked fine for my needs for five years. When you know your needs, there’s no reason to go bigger than you need.

Yes, but that was 128 GB five years ago. Starting with 128 GB now - hard to say how that will look in 5 years.

-ERD50

 

[explanade]

As long as you don't take a lot of photos or videos.

Or load up a lot of movie downloads.

Say you're taking a trip and want to have movies on it, as well as music.

Though you should be able to put enough to cover couple of weeks.

 

[TromboneAl]

New MacBook Air up and running.

 

[W2R]

New MacBook Air up and running.

Al, congratulations and I am glad all is well.

On a related topic, I think this editorial very nicely explains some of the reasons why some diehard Windows enthusiasts (such as me) have had their enthusiasm shaken lately and don't feel as warm and fuzzy about Microsoft as they did six months ago.

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsofts-silence-on-the-windows-10-1809-delay-is-deafening/

I was NOT one of those whose personal files were deleted by the 1809 update. But I could have been! I do back up my personal files every week because backing up is an old habit and that's just how I am. But not everyone does this, and I can't even begin to imagine what many of those those poor people went through when their files were deleted.

What's worse, there were other severe bugs besides the file deletion bug, as detailed in this article:

Windows 10’s October 2018 Update had quite a few important bugs that needed fixing, even after the original file deletion bug. The .zip file data loss bug was pretty bad, but it’s not all. The Task Manager shows incorrect CPU usage details. And the October 2018 Update has compatibility issues with device drivers, antivirus software, and virtualization tools that can cause your PC to blue screen.

And Microsoft's critical fixes to these bugs have not been universally distributed through updates, according to that article.

As for me, I updated my old machine to 1809 within minutes after it was available to me, and by sheer luck (AFAIK), I had no problems with it at all. My new machine was purchased after 1809 was withdrawn by Microsoft, so it is still on 1803.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I bought a new HP laptop about a year ago from Costco, made an image of the disk, then wiped it and install Linux Mint. It boots and works faster and when there is a problem I cannot solve any other way, I back up my files an re-install. Try that with Windows.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

LibreOffice works well enough for me (not as good as Word and the spreadsheet won't run fancy Excel programs but OK for my purposes). As a non-workplace machine, I am happy with it.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app