Is a 2015 MacBook Air still “worth it” ?

damianmkv

damianmkv

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I used to use a laptop for editing but as it’s full an old ( 2011 maybe ) I’ve gone to quick edits via Snapseed and LR mobile. But there are things which the full LR would be helpful for...

I also used to use PSE a bit when on PC....

My eldest is about to start his photography A level - he is just 16 and did his first shoot for a Japanese car tuning company this week ( he was chuffed :) ) and there are something’s that he would have like to have PS for. Of course, PS doesn’t yet exist for the iPad..

So I was thinking about a MBA, 256gb SSD. It looks like they’re £400-£450 for the A1466 2015 model

Would this be ok for him and for LR and PS without issue ? Or should I save more and go for a newer model ?

Sorry for the questions, I have no MB experience
 
I would only consider pro 15" of that vintage truly adequate. 13 may do job but will be slow. Air not only has a truly terrible screen but also little more power for just editing a spreadsheet
 
ah, OK - I'll cross it off then. Thanks very much (y)
 
I have a mid 2014 15" MBP with 500 GB SSD, and it's perfectly adequate for my needs; I've never had it run slow with Aperture (yes, I know!) or Affinity Photo. However, although I have a reasonably large library (from my point of view) of around 32,000 images (according to ApertureExporter), most of those images are small at 10-20 Mp mostly JPEG.
 
I own and use a 2011 MacBook Air and a 2017 MacBook Pro 13".

The Air will run the GIMP quite well and I used to run Photoshop Elements on it until I upgraded to High Sierra. It's a competent machine and good value if you can get one £450 or less. The version of Preview built into High Sierra is a competent editor and I don't often find myself needing anything more. It runs smoothly on my Air.
 
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I use a 2012 MB pro 13" for my editing and it works fine for my needs.
It's an i7 version with 8gb ram and a 750gb hd.
 
I ruled out the 2015 MacBook Air in 2015, because I thought it was a bit dated even back then, I ended up getting a 2015 MacBook, which has a significantly better screen.
 
Is the 2015 MBA screen poor in comparison to today’s iPads ?

I wonder if it’s worth waiting to see if PS ever gets released for tablets..
 
i assume your talking used ??if so i would go with a pre-2013 MacBook Pro (non-retina) ok screen wise maybe not quite as good, but fully upgradeable with RAM, hardrive and even battery is simple plug and play, so you can replace that for £60 ish pound (depending what make you choose)

An upgraded one can be found for around £400-£450 with i5/i7 250g/500gSSD, 16g ram, a pretty good 'budget' workhorse
 
i am talking used. My wife is now thinking about buying my son a new laptop instead...
 
damianmkv said:
i am talking used. My wife is now thinking about buying my son a new laptop instead...
Click to expand...
as above, check out some vids or comparisons, not that much slower than a 2017 MBP, yes some lag compared to new but also the best part of 1k cheaper, for 1k, ill wait an extra 6 seconds (search 2012 mbp v 2017 or something similar).
 
I have a 2015 Air, 8gb i5 256gb ssd. It runs Photoshop and Lightroom fine. Screens not great though but i'm not a pro so its fine for my needs.
 
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