2013 Macbook Air - worth getting?

[Woody]

Looking at dabbling in the world of Macs.
The wifes current windows laptop is on the way out so habe been looking at used/refurbed macs.
It will only be used for surfing, itunes and for her wtiting.

Have been offered a mid 2013 i5 13" Air with 256gb SSD.
Like the look of the Air as its light and has a decent amount of storeage and the SD card slot for some more semi-permanent storeage.

It's barely used and running the latest OSX, the guy wants £500 for it.

Is it worth it? Don't want to spend £800+ on a new one in case she doesn't get the whole mac thing.

Thanks

[Woody]

thanks chaps.
Will see if I can get the price down a bit.
Not too fussed about the retina display as it'll only be used for the purposes stated and not photo/video editing.
To be honest Windows laptops are driving me mad at the moment - I reinstalled Win7 on mine a few weeks back and it's started going slow again - not sure if I should bit the bullet and go for Win10. The wifes is slower than a snail at the moment.

[Woody]

LivingTheDream said:

I have just bought a 2013 MacBook Air 256Gb - although I managed to find 1 with 8Gb RAM which isn't as common. I paid £470 odd for it.

I have a 2013 MacBook Pro retina at home at its a fine machine but it stays at home for the family to use - the air is fab for taking with you, it's very light.

One thing - if you want to factory reset and reinstall the OS then you need to get the original owner to remove the device from their apple account. Otherwise it won't let you reinstall the OS.

Where did you get your Air from - bargain!

Thanks for the tip - will make sure that I get him to do that if I get it.

[Woody]

Thanks again guys.
Also been offered an August 2014 11" with 256gb & 8gb RAM with 18 months Apple care for £700.
The only thing stopping me is I think the 11" is just a tad too small......

[Woody]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

on my 11" now.
"If" it had the SD slot, I'd be happier, but for picking up, stuffing in a bag, battery life and rattling through emails, web etc. It works for me.

you are seeming to have a 50% budget creep there ?

Yeah - the Apple care was quite tempting along with the 8gb RAM - but it's over budget and think the Wife would hate the 11" screen. The SD card slot is also a massive bonus on the 13" - especially with the Jet Drive Lite.

[Woody]

Cheers chaps - again!
Had a play on an 11" today in the Apple Store and I was surprised how well the screen worked - seems to be bigger than my 11" Lenovo.
Tempted by the 11" even though it has less expansion, the 18 months Apple Care on it must be well worth the difference.

[Woody]

Thanks for the link - I've learnt something new!
Screen sizes (diagonal) are the same at 11.6" but different aspect ratios as you said.
The apple is slightly wider by about 0.5" but only 0.25" lower - so does give the overall appearance of being bigger.

[Woody]

Think I'm going to take a punt on the 13".
Bigger screen and SD card slot are going to swing it I think.

How does the 'Pages' programme compare with Word?
Had a quick play today and it seemed ok. Just wondering whether I should fork out for office or stuck with the inbuilt apps.

[Woody]

Thanks guys.
Have managed to bag the 2013 13" for a decent price.
Looking at picking up Office 2011 - shouldn't be any issues running this with the latest OS should there?

Cheers.

[Woody]

Just to update/close out this - I picked up the 13" Air on Tuesday.

The wife was dead chuffed with it - major brownie points scored!!

It was dead simple to set up, MS office installed really easily (unlike my Win7 laptop....) and it just 'works'.

Quality of the product is superb - I now know why they are such a premium product - the engineering is fantastic!

Going to give the migration app a go tonight to sort out iTunes library and documents from her old laptop and also get it connected to the printer.

I should have 'gone Mac' sooner - I can see this getting expensive.....