So I replaced my late 2015 13" retina MBP (core i5) with the new Air (core i5). I was waiting for the keyboard. Thought about waiting for the “14” MPB to come but other the MBP I’m replacing I’ve always had Airs so seem like the right choice.
Had it for about a week and:
1.Iit does all my tasks just fine with no noticeable performance differences
2. The keyboard is great and feels just like the magic kb I use on my desktop mac mini
3. Touch ID is really awesome. Faster the watch unlock on my mini by far.
4. I anticipated the USB-C transition by getting 1 “super dongle” A Purgo unit that has 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt plugs that fits into the Air’s side by side ports.(see picture below) It supplies:
- A T3 USB-C passthru & power port
- An HDMI port
- 2 USB-A 3.1 ports
- A Gb Ethernet port
- 2 SDCard slots (1 regular, 1 micro)
It’s compact and fits snuggly to the side of the machine when needed
- 4 ports on the Air would be better but with the above I can live with it
I got ~$300 resale on my MBP so basically a $1K purchase to last another ~4 years.
All in all very good.
Jay+
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My keyboard on my new MacBook Pro 16 inch is perfect too. The best keyboard I have ever used. Like you I skipped replacement until keyboard issues were fixed by Apple. I am keeping my old MBP 15. Best machine I ever had, I can’t leave it go. This one is shaping up, touch wood, to be even better. If it doesn’t have any ‘peeling’ screens that kind of thing it will make it on present performance. I will let you guys now how it all turns out. I am fine with my $19 dongle too for USB-C.
I have future proofed this one, with a vengence too, way beyond my supposed needs. 64GB RAM, 2.4 core and I don’t need more than the 1TB of SSD that came anyway. Never a spinning disk again. I have a couple of spinning hard drives for backup. They will do till they break. I hardly need backup, I save my files on thumb drives and have back blaze. However belt and braces? @JohnAtl I think? recommended a future proof up to 32 GB I went the whole hog and am glad. I do think some websites and so on consume way too much RAM but that is another issue.
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I got a notification from your post that had your name and “My keyboard on my new MacBook Pro 16 inch…” and my heart sank, thinking there were problems.
Glad to hear it’s going well for you, and it sounds like you are indeed future proof!
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Thanks for your good advice as well. It was you I think? I future proofed with a vengence. 64 GB I also know I am lucky to be in the position to do that. I didn’t stint one thing on this one and I am pleased. It is early days I know but it feels marvelous really. I will say, at present 64 GB doesn’t feel like ‘too much’, I know it is complicated and can’t do it by ‘feel’. I just get instant response on everything.
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@Phideaux I too upgraded an older MBP 2016 to the new MBAir but i3 core with 16GB. I don’t do any coding or video gaming so based on the reviews I thought it would be fine especially for the price and trade-in. I started to panic as I was building the machine with s/w installs. Had the beach ball showing up but thankfully after a full week that has gone away. If I had to do it again I probably would go for the i5 but the light weight and the work use cases are settling in just fine. Interesting dongle setup. All the best.
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Interesting Stan. I found that with my 16 inch. It sort of learnt over about a week it felt like. Beachballs on some simple things, or things I intuit are simple for a few days and then ‘snap’. I did max out every spec and I don’t regret it one bit, though it was probably over kill.
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