considering buying a macbook air or a macbook

By Alan, 24 March, 2017

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Good evening all. I am considering buying a new macbook, mainly for writing and office purposes. I must admit that new macbook or macbook pro have some features I do not like, (the new keyboard sistem feels a bit weird, any usb ports included), so, I am considering a macbook air. But, in your opinion, is it too much outdated? Has anyone tried to install a virtual windows machine on an macbook air, and is it powerful enought to use it? And last but not least, must I go for the i5 or i7 procesor? Does voiceover response better with an i7? ANY opinion would be welcome! Anyway, if you think I should buy a macbook or macbook pro, please share your reasons...considering

Options

Comments

By Ekaj on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 - 15:24

I will give you my own opinion based on experience, but whatever works best for you is what you should get. I've been a Mac user since 2014. Well, the end of 2013 to be exact but I was just getting used to a different operating system. Anyway, I have a mid-2013 MacBook Air and love it. The only major complaint I have is the alleged lack of native .pdf support on here. Apparently the built-in Automator application can be configured to read .pdf files out loud, but for some reason I haven't gotten that to work. Furthermore, nobody has been much help at all. But I digress. Aside from the .pdf issue, I'm very impressed with what Apple has done. I suggest going to your local Apple store and trying out the new MacBook Pro to see if it's a good fit for you.

<thanks for your reply. Excuse me, perhaps I have not said something important: my doubts are not concerning macOs, in fact, I have been a mac user for some time (from mountain lion to maverix, more or less), but I replaced my old macbook pro for a windows computer. <i use windows 10 for some tasks, but I would prefer a macOs based laptop. So, I supose macOs has not changed too much since my last experience, and I asume it is even better. The problem is that recent changes in macbook products are, well, a bit confusing to me, that is because I am asking for experiences and recomendations related to the macbook models on sale.Any advice would be appreciated!

By Fatima.Hamoud10 on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 - 15:24

In reply to by Alan

How about you try the mac book pro with touch bar? Even though the touch bar replaces the function keys, you can still use the number row as the function keys. Also if you hold down the function key, the touch bar will turn in to the regular keys like ESC, F1, F2, F3 and so on. If you don't want the touch bar you can still go for the 13 inch model which has the regular function keys on it. Like the previous poster said, you can try all the macs at your local Apple store.

By That Blind Canuck on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 - 15:24

I too am in the process of taking the leap from Windows to Mac. I am lucky enough though that I am receiving financial aid from the Assistive Device Program (ADP) here in Canada. The program doesn't grant you a big budget, but at least their covering %75 of the cost of the machine, but only out of a budget of $1,250. This leaves me with the only option of a MacBook Air. My question, and my apologies for tacking it over this forum topic, but how does a MacBook Air perform with the latest version of Mac OS? At least compared to when I got their help 5 years ago when I got my Windows laptop, this time I am getting an SSD drive, which should improve the performance significantly. Thanks!

By Ekaj on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 - 15:24

In response to the previous post, my mid-2013 MacBook Air works great with OS Sierra. I upgraded the day after Sierra was unveiled to the masses, and had no trouble at all. There is now a Compact Alex voice in addition to the one that comes standard on all Macs. He doesn't sound all that different, but I have noticed some improvements. Safari is working great on my end, as is Mail and most other standard apps I use. As mentioned in my previous reply to this thread, my only major complaint about the Mac thus far is with .pdf support. VoiceOver doesn't seem to work that well with Preview, unless I'm missing something but I don't think I am. I've tried Automator, but from what I have heard support for that is diminishing. There are 3rd-party apps which supposedly work well for decoding .pdf files and other images to work with VO, but I haven't gotten any of them to work thus far. My MacBook Air has remained speedy.