Second hand MacBook Air (A1466) still a worthwhile buy?

[GCH]

If you click on the Apple, and 'about this mac' it will tell you what model year it is.

[TameRacingDriver]

Doesn't tell me what year it is.

Anyway it has behaved perfectly today although not had much use. Still liking it...

[GCH]

TameRacingDriver said:

Doesn't tell me what year it is.

You said you had updated to high sierra?

Very top left of screen -> apple logo --> about this mac.
Brings a pop up like this:



Top line is the year

[NDA]

OP - I bought one of these for my MacBook:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-JetDrive-Lite-S...

I store everything on there - except apps. After 4 or 5 years of ownership, I have around 50% of memory remaining and the MacBook runs just as well as it did when I bought it.

[TameRacingDriver]

GCH said:

You said you had updated to high sierra?

Very top left of screen -> apple logo --> about this mac.
Brings a pop up like this:



Top line is the year

Mine just says MacBook Air (13-inch). Doesn't have the year anywhere.

NDA said:

OP - I bought one of these for my MacBook:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-JetDrive-Lite-S...

I store everything on there - except apps. After 4 or 5 years of ownership, I have around 50% of memory remaining and the MacBook runs just as well as it did when I bought it.

Looks good, but I'm sure the storage will be plenty for my use.

The machine behaved impeccably last night so fingers crossed its alright. It's a breath of fresh air after working with Windows, and I never thought I would say this but there is a possibility I might end up ditching my S7 for an iPhone as I can already see how well the cross platform stuff works. I use Google's services at the moment, which I feel are good, but the Apple stuff looks even more polished than most, if anything - although I still feel Google Photos and Maps are superior.

[TheJimi]

This is just my opinion, but don’t confuse iOS with OS X / MacOS.

I love MacOs / OS X but can’t live with iOS.

iOS 11 does make things a bit better, however.

[TameRacingDriver]

TheJimi said:

This is just my opinion, but don’t confuse iOS with OS X / MacOS.

I love MacOs / OS X but can’t live with iOS.

iOS 11 does make things a bit better, however.

I'm not - as I may or may not have said in my OP - I have an iPad 2017. They both have a role to play. To be honest, I get on alright with most Operating Systems, but my least favourite has to be Windows. I didn't really like it that much when I got my first PC in 1996 - much preferred Amiga Workbench, but the Amiga was at that point very much a dying platform and needs must...

[TameRacingDriver]

Tabbed file browser as standard. I don't know how many years I've been begging for this in Windows. Probably been on this OS for years as well!

[TameRacingDriver]

Going back. Keyboard is definitely goosed. The 1, A and backspace keys randomly fail at any time (strangely, its usually when I have to enter a password). I've tried the SMC and PRAM reset, new user account, clean the keyboard (it wasn't dirty), but nothing has helped. It must be the keyboard as an external one works fine.

What a shame. I'll see if I can get them to fix it but they might just offer a refund, I dunno...

Second faulty laptop bought this year, and the second to have a fault.

[GCH]

Take it to the genius bar....they will run diagnostics and open it up for you, probably while you wait.
Nothing to lose, as it is free.

[TameRacingDriver]

GCH said:

Take it to the genius bar....they will run diagnostics and open it up for you, probably while you wait.
Nothing to lose, as it is free.

Good suggestion. Will do, especially as I've got 2 Apple stores both within 2 miles

[Murph7355]

GCH said:

Take it to the genius bar....they will run diagnostics and open it up for you, probably while you wait.
Nothing to lose, as it is free.

I have little faith in Genius bars at the moment. My mother took her Macbook in and their diagnosis was...weak to say the least.

TheJimi said:

This is just my opinion, but don’t confuse iOS with OS X / MacOS.

I love MacOs / OS X but can’t live with iOS.

iOS 11 does make things a bit better, however.

I tend to agree with this.

TRD - I swapped over to Android after the iPhone (despite being a predominantly Mac user), primarily because of widgets on Android. Being able to see the next half dozen calendar entries, the day's weather and some email headers without having to go into an app or drag down a screen is really useful and something that would irritate me having to do without.

Integration with iOS if you're a Mac user is easier/more slick. But the functionality of iOS is different to Android in subtle ways (before an argument kicks off, I'm not suggesting better/worse. Just different that will suit some and not others ).

Edited by Murph7355 on Sunday 15th October 12:04

[TameRacingDriver]

Murph, thanks for your thoughts. I must admit I still like my android phones. In a way, I would have preferred an android tablet to my iPad, but there aren’t really many good android tablets. Samsung’s have touchwiz like on my s7 edge and whether or not someone likes the functionality they offer, there’s no doubt there seems to be a performance / smoothness penalty, and yet the pixel C which would seem to be the answer to that, it’s strong money for relatively old hardware. Not just that but iPads definitely have better apps.

As for my Mac, I’m pretty sure that it’s just a faulty keyboard so I’ll hopefully get this replaced by the vendor.

[Bikerjon]

Probably keyboard if it works OK with external, but not a quick job to replace on Airs as it will most likely need an entire top case (keyboard is riveted!)

[TameRacingDriver]

Bikerjon said:

Probably keyboard if it works OK with external, but not a quick job to replace on Airs as it will most likely need an entire top case (keyboard is riveted!)

Yeah I did have a look. There was a 28 minute video on YouTube. I'm fairly good at hardware repair as it's part of my job, but as it has a warranty I'll let them sort it. :-)

[Murph7355]

TameRacingDriver said:

...Samsung’s have touchwiz like on my s7 edge and whether or not someone likes the functionality they offer, there’s no doubt there seems to be a performance / smoothness penalty...

I have an S7 Edge and don't have any issues with its performance or smoothness.

My OH has an iPhone 6, so not really comparable. But I think some of the differences you may be spotting are down to subtle differences in the way the graphics work...e.g the iPhone seems to use a bit more "bounce" when flicking between pages which can make it look "smoother".

[TameRacingDriver]

Murph7355 said:

I have an S7 Edge and don't have any issues with its performance or smoothness.

My OH has an iPhone 6, so not really comparable. But I think some of the differences you may be spotting are down to subtle differences in the way the graphics work...e.g the iPhone seems to use a bit more "bounce" when flicking between pages which can make it look "smoother".

Not so much issues but it definitely has a bit of lag. I’ve noticed it in the past comparing nexus devices with Samsung. It’s not slow, but it’s just not as quick or smooth as it could be, given the hardware. Your mileage may vary though

[AJB88]

I always turn down the 'animations" in developer options on android it speeds them up.

[TameRacingDriver]

I'm aware of that option but it doesn't really improve the random lag. Don't get me wrong it's not exactly disastrous, it just isn't quite as quick as it could be.

[AJB88]

I'm having to switch from my Nexus 6P to a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge tonight as Google are refunding me for my Nexus 6P.

Dreading it...

Cant wait for Pixel XL 2 to arrive.