Breaking Point Reached: Bye Bye to Windows

[explanade]

Yes, I'll absolutely buy a refurb ($1099 instead of $1299). I'm pretty sure those are the same models as the new ones.



I'm also thinking that if a new Macbook came out tomorrow, it would be a while before any appeared as refurbs--a good reason not to wait.

The MacBooks that you're looking at use really low power Intel chips.

If you're mainly surfing, not doing anything that requires a lot more processing power like transcoding videos or editing photos and videos, you probably don't need the maximal power.

What a new MacBook might bring is more reliably longer battery life, using more efficient chips.


But one of the rumors is that they will update the MacBook Air line, which used to be their most popular laptops.

Those may not be as thin and light as the MacBooks, especially the 12 or 13 inch model. But the rumor is that they will update the internals for the first time in a couple of years as well as update the screen to retina display.

MacBook is already a retina display.

If you haven't tried typing on the keyboards, you might prefer one over the other.

That might be about the only reason to wait to see what happens, to see if it has a slightly bigger screen and is better to type on.

 

[spncity]

The new Macbook Pro (maybe all Macbooks) seem to be coming out with an improvement in the keyboard design. They've never admitted the problem, but if a crumb gets under a key, there's trouble (for some people). You can probably find an article about it.

And, like mentioned above, the Macbook Air is supposed to be new this year. I love my Macbook mid-2012 still. Would like a larger hard drive, but don't see that coming in an Air.

The new Macbook Air will have a smaller profile (eliminating the frame around the screen.)

 

[sgstaley]

I second That

After having to add about 5 different things (block out them tiles, as one example) to compensate where I felt Win 10 was confusing or inadequate, Win 10 is workable for me now. My favorite Win system as of look and feel is Win XP.

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.

Still in the end the maintenance and the over-looming threat of a virus (that would completely wreck the hard drive) more or less drove me away.

I do miss some of the windows software. There used to be a ton of cool and useful software out there for Win OS.

 

[jim584672]

You don't need to give up Windows, just run Virtualbox to run Windows in your OS.

I run Ubuntu Linux and Windows in Virtualbox. This way I get the safety of Linux for Internet stuff and full MS Office if I ever need it.

 

[ikonomore]

New 12" macbooks notebooks are on sale today only at Amazon for $949.

I'd still wait the few weeks when the new ones are released. The previous versions go to the Apple refurbished store for a great price and same warranty.

 

[easysurfer]

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.

Still in the end the maintenance and the over-looming threat of a virus (that would completely wreck the hard drive) more or less drove me away.

I do miss some of the windows software. There used to be a ton of cool and useful software out there for Win OS.

Win XP was a very organized system with functionality in mind. Win 10 on the otherhand, is an exercise is trying to block out features and pestering not really needed or desired.

 

[sgstaley]

You don't need to give up Windows, just run Virtualbox to run Windows in your OS.

I run Ubuntu Linux and Windows in Virtualbox. This way I get the safety of Linux for Internet stuff and full MS Office if I ever need it.

Yea, Jim, I had forgotten most of that stuff over the years. I got a mac and got lazy. I always did find Ubuntu somewhat fascinating.

The mac has a program called Boot Camp that can boot your machine to the Win OS.

 

[TromboneAl]

I'd wait.

Rumors of new Mac laptops coming in the next month or two.

Yes, I've decided waiting is the wise choice. I bet I'd be happy with the current Macbook 12, but if a new version that was faster and had longer battery life came out the next day, it might bother me.


Also, if a new version came out and the current refurbed Macbooks dropped in price, I wouldn't be happy.


A release date of Sept 12 is rumored, as is a date in Oct. Luckily, since I don't need it, I can wait.

 

[explanade]

Sept 12 is when they hold an event. Nobody knows for sure what they will announce.

New iPhone for sure, since that's the company's money maker.

Everything else is maybe or maybe not.

But the MacBooks are due, especially MacBook Air.

 

[TromboneAl]

I will keep waiting before buying a Macbook, at least through November.


I'm enjoying the Mac experience, with no hair-pulling annoyances.


I had to spend an hour with a problem on Lena's Chromebook related to printing. It's otherwise been problem free.

 

[TromboneAl]

I'd wait.

Rumors of new Mac laptops coming in the next month or two.

Tomorrow seems to be the big day. In the meantime, I've been holding off and using this configuration as a laptop:

 

[Ready]

I'll be watching the event mainly to see the new iPad Pro, but my MacBook Pro is 6 years old. I keep hoping it will either stop working or become obsolete, but so far it's been running great and keeping up with all the latest advances in operating systems, so I haven't been able to justify an upgrade. I can't ever remember being happy with a six year old Windows machine.

 

[TromboneAl]

Unless the new MacBooks are significantly better, I'll buy a refurbished MacBook 12" from the current lineup ($1099).

 

[TromboneAl]

Well the new Macbook Air, just announced, looks like a significant improvement over the Macbook 12" that I was considering.

 

[explanade]

Well the new Macbook Air, just announced, looks like a significant improvement over the Macbook 12" that I was considering.

Really depends on what you want to do with it.

It is mainly designed for people surfing and watching videos.

You can do something more creative like editing photos and videos but it's not the best machine for that, though you can hook it up to an external monitor.

The previous MacBook Air started at like $999 so it brought a lot of people to Macs for the first time. It was a nice entry-level product (to Macs at least) with nice build quality compared to plastic laptops from the competition.

You can save a little money from brands like HP where you can get a 13-inch laptop which weighs about the same but has similar specs, including a 4K screen.


I'm not particularly interested in any of the products they showed today. Especially since I bought an iPad Pro last year.

But if they put OLED display on iPads, I'd be interested in upgrading.

It's clear a lot of people are watching videos, including movies on these devices, so they put in 2 or 4 speakers.

 

[tulak]

The new Macbook Air looks good.

Personally, I wouldn’t get anything without a retina display. That alone makes it worth the extra cost.

 

[explanade]

The iPad Pro probably has better screens, not just in terms of resolution but color rendition.

They call it Liquid Retina:

https://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/specs/

Liquid Retina display
11-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi‑Touch display with IPS technology
2388-by-1668-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi)
ProMotion technology
Wide color display (P3)
True Tone display
Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
Fully laminated display
Antireflective coating
1.8% reflectivity
600 nits brightness

 

[TromboneAl]

I went with the new Macbook Air—placed the order a minute ago. I hope it won't hurt to be on the bleeding edge!

Blow that dough!

 

[Ronstar]

Way to go , Al! You won't be disappointed.

 

[Ready]

The Air looks like a very nice computer now that they have upgraded it to a retina display. I think you will get many years of enjoyment out of it.

 

[W2R]

I went with the new Macbook Air—placed the order a minute ago. I hope it won't hurt to be on the bleeding edge!

Blow that dough!

YAY!! Nothing like a new laptop that is exactly what you wanted - - what a great way to Blow that Dough. And now, you will be on the bleeding edge, you're right.

I seriously thought about trying a MacBook, but since I am not an "Apple person" at heart I decided to go with Windows again. Recently I bought a new Dell Windows 10 laptop that I have had in my hot little hands for a week by now. What amazing, sensational fun! I got the 17" FHD IPS display and I am getting a big kick out of that. It's so easy to see with everything bigger. It has a big SSD drive, but then so did my previous laptop. Basically my new laptop is slicker than snot, fast beyond belief, and just ever so cool and fun to play with.

Other than one minor obstacle (having to uninstall and reinstall my printer in order to get it to work), setting up my new laptop was no problem and so much fun.

Frank is enjoying my previous laptop tremendously! It was only 18 months old and the best laptop I had ever had until now, and nothing was wrong with it at all. In fact, the same model is still for sale on Amazon and just what he wanted, so he feels like he got a brand new laptop, too.

 

[explanade]

I went with the new Macbook Air—placed the order a minute ago. I hope it won't hurt to be on the bleeding edge!

Blow that dough!

Did you upgrade any of the components like RAM or just take the stock config?

128 GB for the storage seems really low.

 

[audreyh1]

I went with the new Macbook Air—placed the order a minute ago. I hope it won't hurt to be on the bleeding edge!

Blow that dough!

I think you’ll be happy. It’s very sleek. Retina display is awesome. You’ll have to get an adapter for the thunderbolt ports to connect existing external devices like thumbdrives or hard drives, but no big deal.

We used the older 13” MacBook Air for traveling for several years. Eventually replaced with the smaller 12” MacBook with Retina display. Looks like this new Air has leapfrogged.

 

[TromboneAl]

Did you upgrade any of the components like RAM or just take the stock config?

128 GB for the storage seems really low.

No upgrades. I will only be using it for writing at Starbucks so that I can feel like JK Rowling. So, only one or two apps and no heavy-duty processing.

Here I am with the 17" laptop that I've handed down to my sister:

>And now, you will be on the bleeding edge, you're right.
Right. I usually like to wait until the manufacturer has discovered a problem after release and fixed it.

>You’ll have to get an adapter for the thunderbolt ports to connect existing external devices like thumbdrives or hard drives, but no big deal.

Yes. I've already ordered these:

I understand the cult of Apple now. Still, it was funny to watch the Apple event. For example, they said "The Macbook Air is made with 100% aluminum." That's good and it's interesting, but the crowd went wild with a long period of applause. Talk about drinking the Koolaid.

 

[target2019]

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