Thinking of a MacBook Air-what would you recommend?

rob-nikon

rob-nikon

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I've been thinking of an away from home laptop for a while. I have an old windows netbook but the screen is small (11 inch), it's slow running Lightroom and the screen quality is quite poor and varies greatly depending on the screen angle. I'm thinking of updating it to a 13 inch MacBook Air or similar (11 inch is too small for editing). I have an iMac as my desktop photo editing computer so a MacBook would be ideal. I don't think I need the latest one so I was thinking of picking up a used MacBook Air 2013 model or similar but I'm not what the spec I would need to run Lightroom 6. I was thinking roughly 4GB RAM, 120-250GB hard drive would be ok (I will probably use an external 500gb hard drive as a portable backup using CCC). My budget is roughly £300-400, it seems not too far off looking at sold ebay prices.

Is there anything I should look out for? Can anyone recommend anything or give me advice?
 
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I know of a few people that bought it and are very happy with it.
But none of these having to do with photography are! The normal
MB seems to do the job better I hear.
 
Lr 6 requires 1GB video RAM, so a 4GB Air is likely to be quite slow because the video RAM is shared with the CPU. I'd definitely go for something with a minimum of 8GB RAM.
 
Kodiak Qc said:
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I know of a few people that bought it and are very happy with it.
But none of these having to do with photography are! The normal
MB seems to do the job better I hear.
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Andy Taylor said:
Lr 6 requires 1GB video RAM, so a 4GB Air is likely to be quite slow because the video RAM is shared with the CPU. I'd definitely go for something with a minimum of 8GB RAM.
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Thanks for the replies, so I'm probably looking at a MacBook Pro around 2012 version for what I want to do with it. My current net book is very slow with Lightroom so I wouldn't want to be in that situation again. Is the RAM user upgradable on the the MacBook Pro? I ask as I see a few that are 8gb RAM whilst others are 4gb. It looks like you can buy 8GB RAM on ebay (properly not the best place) so it was guessing you can upgrade it.
 
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We've got an air at work and its currently sat in a cupboard as nobody wants to use it. Poor performance, lack of ports etc etc.

If you can get a 13 pro instead then do it IMO.
 
neil_g said:
We've got an air at work and its currently sat in a cupboard as nobody wants to use it. Poor performance, lack of ports etc etc.

If you can get a 13 pro instead then do it IMO.
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Ive had both, currently a mid 2014 retina 13 but early this year I had an 11in air i5 8gb. I can't say I noticed the lack of power but I am a csc shooter so files sizes not massive. It worked pretty flawlessly to be honest with both Lightroom and CS running in parallel. I would say the biggest drawback would be the screen.
 
I've just started using my 2013 haswell based MacBook Air again. I guess it all depends on the spec. Mine has 8GB Ram an i7 processor and 512GB SSD.

It's instant in nearly anything still today and has a proper 12 hour battery life. Nothing wrong with them. Runs full suite of Adobe CC without issue, normally also have a virtual machine or two open. Office 2016 is absolutely fine as well.

I can't justify getting rid of it as it is still so good.
 
jakeblu said:
Ive had both, currently a mid 2014 retina 13 but early this year I had an 11in air i5 8gb. I can't say I noticed the lack of power but I am a csc shooter so files sizes not massive. It worked pretty flawlessly to be honest with both Lightroom and CS running in parallel. I would say the biggest drawback would be the screen.
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My camera files are 24mp so at least they are not D800 36 mp big files. I would only be running Lightroom as I hardly use PSE.
 
dejongj said:
I've just started using my 2013 haswell based MacBook Air again. I guess it all depends on the spec. Mine has 8GB Ram an i7 processor and 512GB SSD.

It's instant in nearly anything still today and has a proper 12 hour battery life. Nothing wrong with them. Runs full suite of Adobe CC without issue, normally also have a virtual machine or two open. Office 2016 is absolutely fine as well.

I can't justify getting rid of it as it is still so good.
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I think that would be my ideal spec. Can I ask the model number?

I think part of the decision is based on battery life vs screen. I'm swaying towards battery as most of my editing will be done at home on the desktop. A good screen is important but as a portable machine battery life will be important too.
 
rob-nikon said:
I think that would be my ideal spec. Can I ask the model number?

I think part of the decision is based on battery life vs screen. I'm swaying towards battery as most of my editing will be done at home on the desktop. A good screen is important but as a portable machine battery life will be important too.
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That was exactly my reasoning. I take mine with me all day and do not worry about taking a charger. I'll take a look for the model number, happy to take one off your 24mp files and make a screen movie for editing if you want.
 
neil_g said:
We've got an air at work and its currently sat in a cupboard as nobody wants to use it. Poor performance, lack of ports etc etc.

If you can get a 13 pro instead then do it IMO.
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I'll have it if no one wants it :D
 
rob-nikon said:
I think that would be my ideal spec. Can I ask the model number?

I think part of the decision is based on battery life vs screen. I'm swaying towards battery as most of my editing will be done at home on the desktop. A good screen is important but as a portable machine battery life will be important too.
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Model number is A1466, MacBookAir6,2
 
dejongj said:
Model number is A1466, MacBookAir6,2
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Thanks, looking on ebay they seem to be well over my budget. It's that kind of spec I'm probably looking at. As MacBook pros an be upgraded I'm probably going to have to look at this route and upgrade the RAM myself. Hard drive space isn't so much of a concern so I could probably get away with 120gb or 250gb.
 
rob-nikon said:
Thanks, looking on ebay they seem to be well over my budget. It's that kind of spec I'm probably looking at. As MacBook pros an be upgraded I'm probably going to have to look at this route and upgrade the RAM myself. Hard drive space isn't so much of a concern so I could probably get away with 120gb or 250gb.
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I just got a 240GB Crucial BX200 for less than £50. 16GB RAM is around £60.
 
Having looked at recent eBay prices it looks like a MacBook Pro 2011 spec (500GB of storage, 4GB of ram, and a 2.3GHz Intel core i5 processor) is within my budget of £300-400. If I can find one at the right price I may be able to push towards a 2012 model. I'm thinking of upgrading the RAM myself to 8GB. I'm guessing this would be fast enough for what I want it to do.

Looking at newer and higher spec models either used or from the refurb store they are above my budget. As it's going to be a travel laptop I don't really want to go beyond my budget.
 
The only really significant difference between the 2011 and 2012 Macbook Pro 13" non retina display is that the 2012 model has USB 3 ports.

The 2012 models also have slightly faster CPU and RAM.

Both will take 16GB RAM and neither will run Lr with GPU acceleration enabled.
 
I just got a 2009 mbp with 8gb ram and 500gb hard drive. Battery isn't that great, (replaceable), but it runs like a dream... £225 on this forum. Admit it has a cracked screen but that is £40_50 to sort....
 
LongLensPhotography said:
13" MBP retina is minimum spec. Air is and out-of-date historic piece of low resolution credit card penalty.
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Did you actually bother to read the OP's message. The budget is £300-400. Sure everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but when it doesn't even is on topic it is nothing but a rude unnecessary waste of internet space...
 
The new Macbook Air is being released late Q1 2016. These will be much more powerful and use the new Intel Skylake chipset.

I would wait for these to come out before purchasing; the older models will plummet in price.
 
Ryan_W said:
The new Macbook Air is being released late Q1 2016. These will be much more powerful and use the new Intel Skylake chipset.

I would wait for these to come out before purchasing; the older models will plummet in price.
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Good point, if they really put in the more powerful chipsets. Doesn't skylake also include the core m architecture which is great for content consumption but not even close to the old i7 for production. But regardless of that it will affect the second hand market, I agree on that.
 
I've got a 2013 13" Air with 4gb RAM and SSD hard drive in the range you are looking at - I use it to edit, tone and send pics quickly - It's a cracking wee machine and runs Photomechanic and Photoshop together pretty quickly (not yet found a need for Lightroom when out and about)

I wouldn't be using it if it wasn't quick enough to get my pics edited and out to my clients.

It's quicker in practice than my 2013 MacBook Pro largely due to the SSD.
 
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We have an old MacBook Air (2012) which we shall be upgrading next year to the latest one.

We're also getting the new iMac in March with the top spec i7 chipset and M395x graphics card. Hoping that will be sufficient to play around on. However, I will NOT be paying the ludicrous £3,289 price tag!
 
Costco have a MacBook Pro Retina MF839B/A 13.3", 8GB, 128GB SSD for £897.99 delivered
 
admirable said:
Costco have a MacBook Pro Retina MF839B/A 13.3", 8GB, 128GB SSD for £897.99 delivered
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If anyone is considering one, that's just over £100 off rrp and it is the latest model (entry level) machine.
 
Wouldn't the Air offer you better resolution for your editing needs?
 
redlion said:
Wouldn't the Air offer you better resolution for your editing needs?
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I'm not sure which to go with. The pro allows ram to be updated yet the air is lighter, better battery and screen. Im thinking of waiting until February/March to see if there is a price drop with the new model introduction.
 
rob-nikon said:
I'm not sure which to go with. The pro allows ram to be updated yet the air is lighter, better battery and screen. Im thinking of waiting until February/March to see if there is a price drop with the new model introduction.
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Just an air with maxed out memory. Mine with 8GB has proven to be sufficient for nearly everything. I regularly use mine with three virtual machines running without any serious impact.
 
dejongj said:
Just an air with maxed out memory. Mine with 8GB has proven to be sufficient for nearly everything. I regularly use mine with three virtual machines running without any serious impact.
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I think if I could find a 8gb RAM, 250GB hard drive and good processor MacBook Air for just a little more than my budget then the better screen, battery life, size and portability would win for my intended use. I keep going back and forth so its probably best to wait and think about it.
 
Get one with an SSD drive - night and day better than a spinning drive - my Air has SSD my Pro doesn't - the pro only get used occasionally, the Air all the time
 
rob-nikon said:
I'm not sure which to go with. The pro allows ram to be updated yet the air is lighter, better battery and screen. Im thinking of waiting until February/March to see if there is a price drop with the new model introduction.
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Waiting is a bit of a mug's game - would you rather have a machine now that you can definitely use or wait for something that might be a bit faster in 3 months time? My machine is almost 2 years old and still works as well as I need it to.
 
Andy Taylor said:
Waiting is a bit of a mug's game - would you rather have a machine now that you can definitely use or wait for something that might be a bit faster in 3 months time? My machine is almost 2 years old and still works as well as I need it to.
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Currently my first trip away is planned for the start of March so not really any rush yet. I'm going to keep an eye out on eBay and other places to see if the right one comes up at a good price. There is a great spec air on eBay with on bids but it has the light ring issue possibly caused by too much pressure applied to the screen externally. It's seems a minefield to find a good one.
 
Well I've been researching further and I'm thinking to get something really useful with no need to upgrade later then I'm likely going to need to up my budget. So I'm thinking of either a high spec Air or a 2013 retina pro. From help in this thread I'm thinking a good processor, 8gb ram and SSD are the way to go.
 
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