MacBook Air

[Marc]

My MacBook Air screen has decided to fail. I am in the process of backing up 60,000 photos to iCloud (slow process on cruise ship in Indian Ocean). I need to get new MacBook Air when I get home. Any recommendations on RAM and storage? Not used for anything beyond safari, storage of photos and music, and pages. I would like this computer to be useful for at least five years.

Thanks,

Marc

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

My MacBook Air screen has decided to fail. I am in the process of backing up 60,000 photos to iCloud (slow process on cruise ship in Indian Ocean). I need to get new MacBook Air when I get home. Any recommendations on RAM and storage? Not used for anything beyond safari, storage of photos and music, and pages. I would like this computer to be useful for at least five years.

Thanks,

Marc

We have different use cases - but I will offer an opinion anyway.
I have a 14" M1 Macbook Pro 16GB memory/1TB SSD. I need tons of storage as I am still teaching one comp sci class so that means I have lots of stuff on it - student projects, visual studio, Unity, and on and on. Also various VM's including two Windows 11 installs - one for me and one as a sandbox for student submissions that I can't run natively on the Mac. (For example, Microsoft Visual Studio.)
Anyway, sorry for the digression.

If I were looking for something just for email, etc. I would look closely at the M4 13" Air 10 cpu 16GB/512GB SSD model ($1049) : Amazon.com
If you don't intend to hook it up to an external monitor and/or don't mind something a bit bigger to carry around, the 15" Air is only a little more $1249 (ha ha): Amazon.com

I am amazed at how capable/fast my 2021 M1 Pro remains.
Also, Apple is maybe going to be announcing new M5 Pro models shortly, i.e. early March.

What model Air do you own? It might be worth keeping it, i.e. it now becomes a "Mac Mini" hooked up to an external display.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I am using a Macbook Air M2 series with 8GB/512GB SSD, 13" display. Purchased in 2022. It's going strong. I store a fair amount in the Cloud and use Dropbox for scanned music PDFs, which I load onto an iPad Pro for performing.

I've used 1/3 of the 512G storage and could offload more to to Cloud if I wanted to. I think a 16GB/512GB 13" display will work well for your purposes. But then again, I'm biased.

 

[Marc]

I don’t know model but warranty expired January 2022 so it is old. Only has 8GB of RAM so it has been constantly out of RAM. I think 16GB 512GB storage should good now that I am iCloud for storage.

Is amazon good place to buy or should I go to Apple Store so I can trade in old MacBook?

 

[gamboolman]

We have his and her MacBook Airs, 15" M3's we got in 2024.
We have been using Mac's and Apple products since ~2003 (as I recall)

The only issue I ever had was the previous Mac Laptop was the model with the defective keyboard - by the time we figured it out it was expensive to replace the keyboard so we got the MacBook Air's.

We always buy from the local Apple store.

We like Apple products.
Once you go Mac you never go back....

It is still aggravating to have a failure like what you had.

 

[frank05]

Never had any issues buying from Apple’s certified store. If you have a particular configuration in mind you may need to revisit waiting for one to appear. For new, Amazon has some good deals.

 

[Flieger]

I use a samsung curved display. Wonder if that would get you buy for a while? Then again, when will other items start to fail. Would definitely have time machine backup on and running while you decide.

Flieger

 

[Jerry1]

I don’t know model but warranty expired January 2022 so it is old. Only has 8GB of RAM so it has been constantly out of RAM. I think 16GB 512GB storage should good now that I am iCloud for storage.

Is amazon good place to buy or should I go to Apple Store so I can trade in old MacBook?

I think you’re right. I have a 8GB/256ssd iMac and it works fine but if I were to buy today, I’d get 16/512. I think I’d do fine with 16/256 if I was trying to save a bit of money, but the extra ram is, I think, I good idea given you want it to last awhile.

 

[TripleLindy]

Our use case sounds similar to yours. After getting more than a decade out of our MacBook Pro, I realized that we didn’t need any of the features of the Pro, so I replaced it with an Air during Christmas sales. I went pretty low end: 13.6”, 16gb memory, 256gb storage. External storage is easy to connect, if needed, and actually more convenient for long term storage than built-in. We use Amazon to store photos and videos, so storage space wasn’t a significant consideration. Can’t remember the last time I downloaded music, as we stream it now. I rarely even need installed software, but wanted the laptop for the times that I do. iPads work for 99% of our needs, including simple spreadsheets and documents. As a former programmer, I used to buy as much horsepower as I could, but finally realized that I was paying for things I never actually used.

We use the laptop as intended - portable - so it’s not tied to peripherals, like an external monitor or keyboard. Printer/scanner is wireless.

 

[Jimmie]

I bought a new Air 4 months ago to replace my 7yo MBP. It has 13.6" screen, M4 chip, 16GB ram, & 256GB disk (model MW0Y3LL/A). Super thrilled with it and only use it in the same manner as you. It was on sale at Apple's Amazon Store (paid $873 including taxes & free shipping).

 

[Dash man]

If you’re a veteran, you can get a discount ordering from here:

Government Purchase Program - Shopping Agreement - Apple

 

[audreyh1]

I was very disappointed that Apple did not maintain the very slim and smaller lightweight form factor of the original MacBook Air which made it so handy for traveling. My MacBook Air is the same size and form factor of a MacBook Pro, and almost as heavy. Why do the call it an “Air”? It’s less expensive is all.

We generally use the 10% veterans discount. Very nice. But we always price compare with Amazon and BH Photo.

 

[COcheesehead]

Have you considered an iPad Air? You can get them up to 512 GB of storage. I use mine as my main computing device without issue.

 

[SnowballCamper]

I have a newer Mac mini, and was disappointed to learn that you can't add memory or storage. You get what you get when you buy/order one. Of course you can still have a separate drive with usb connection, but probably need a hub then also.

 

[Al18]

You can increase the SSD in the M4 Mac mini after purchase. The SSD is on a replaceable module. You need to run Apple’s special software afterwards, that permanently links the SSD to the Mac mini. Apple doesn’t sell the larger SSD, but they are available from others.

The RAM is not upgradeable. Not a big issue for most, because Apple made 16 GB the minimum size at the end of 2024 on all M4 Macs.

 

[AlexT]

My MacBook Air screen has decided to fail. I am in the process of backing up 60,000 photos to iCloud (slow process on cruise ship in Indian Ocean). I need to get new MacBook Air when I get home. Any recommendations on RAM and storage? Not used for anything beyond safari, storage of photos and music, and pages. I would like this computer to be useful for at least five years.

Thanks,

Marc

When you decide what to buy, iPowerResale - Open Box Apple Products | iPowerResale have the best prices.

 

[FatCyclist]

There is an Apple event scheduled for 3/4/26, so if you can possibly hold off til then, I would. They may be announcing some new laptops including (maybe) a lower price-point model.

 

[rt-texas]

I made the switch when Apple switched to intel in 2006.

I was living in Costa Rica during covid when this M1 I am typing on now, the display went to sleep and never woke up. No Applecare because couldn't use it outside the US. Borrowed a monitor from another expat so I'd have our main computer.

It now sits on my office desk with an LG monitor and runs absolutely fine. It's my day to day main computer still for everything including the occasional cad project and photo editing.

I would keep you Air and get a $125-$200 monitor and if nothing else use it for additional storage, a media server for moves and possibly a back-up computer if needed. It's paid for so why not. Just my 2 cents worth.

New I would get 16 gig of ram, standard now, and I would spend the money for the 1TB HD. I would also get a 1TB SSD drive to store my photos on as my main back-up.

And I agree with FatCyclist above, wait until after the March event if you can. There will probably be some price drops on the previous models that are still very good.

​

 

[sparky08]

I see Apple is releasing a $600 Macbook Neo.

I wonder if it will be enough for the email/browsing/watching YT folks Looks like it will be about the same weight as an MB Air. But it has the same processor as an iPhone.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I see Apple is releasing a $600 Macbook Neo.

I wonder if it will be enough for the email/browsing/watching YT folks Looks like it will be about the same weight as an MB Air. But it has the same processor as an iPhone.

I think it will sell very well. The market is students and other people that do just as you say... email, web surfing, watching videos online, light productivity tools (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.). An iPhone can do all of those things with these Apple chips. Put it in a laptop with a nice keyboard and big screen and it will be a very useful tool. I see it being very popular with certain demographics.