Apple MacBook Air MWTK2LL/A Early 2020 13.3" Laptop $830

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10-19-2020 at 04:08 PM #2

Girlfriend may need one soon. She might start editing photos but not heavily. Should I advise her to wait for Arm processors?

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10-19-2020 at 06:32 PM #3

In store only

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10-19-2020 at 06:42 PM #4

Quote from MaroonLeopard1601 :

Girlfriend may need one soon. She might start editing photos but not heavily. Should I advise her to wait for Arm processors?

It's really hard to say. There isn't much to go by in terms of what to expect from the Apple silicon just yet. There's talk about Apple having to go through software compatibility problems like Microsoft when they switched some of their surface pros to ARM... But it's just speculation for now. I'm keeping a close eye on this was well but I did pull the trigger on this base model on the prior Amazon $849 deal. For an i3 I'm quite impressed how fast it is (granted my comparison is based on 2012 MBA i5). But I'm not so sure how much you can push the i3 for sustained cpu work loads because of the controversial heatsink / fan decision apple made with the redesigned MBA's. However, there are YouTube videos showing users pushing the cpu hard and it keeps chugging along with a sustained cpu temperature of 100°c. So it does seem to be working well.

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10-19-2020 at 06:42 PM #5

pls add in store only into the title. Micro Center not avail to most SD members.

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10-19-2020 at 06:51 PM #6

These are great prices at Micro Center if this is the model that you want. However, I went through a lot of research on this several months ago and found that these Intel-based MacBook Airs have a few frustrating tradeoffs. The i3 processor is under-powered for some basics (e.g., you won't be able to hide the background on a Zoom call unless you use a greenscreen). The i5 is a good step up for $100, but then it runs hot / loud fans because the cooling system in the Air is poorly designed. I decided to wait for the ARM-based Air, which rumor suggests will be announced (if not released) on November 17, 2020. Unless you need a computer right now, I would wait to see what the ARM units offer. These units (as well as the MacBook Pro, which has a better cooling system) will only drop further in price once the ARM-based units are set for release.

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10-19-2020 at 07:03 PM #7

Quote from aieronimo :

These are great prices at Micro Center if this is the model that you want. However, I went through a lot of research on this several months ago and found that these Intel-based MacBook Airs have a few frustrating tradeoffs. The i3 processor is under-powered for some basics (e.g., you won't be able to hide the background on a Zoom call unless you use a greenscreen). The i5 is a good step up for $100, but then it runs hot / loud fans because the cooling system in the Air is poorly designed. I decided to wait for the ARM-based Air, which rumor suggests will be announced (if not released) on November 17, 2020. Unless you need a computer right now, I would wait to see what the ARM units offer. These units (as well as the MacBook Pro, which has a better cooling system) will only drop further in price once the ARM-based units are set for release.

do you honestly believe that apple tiers their laptops at different price levels so that some computers can do background removal and some cant

like you dont actually believe this right? is that how you differentiate i3 and i5??

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10-19-2020 at 07:40 PM #8

Quote from moogpunk :

do you honestly believe that apple tiers their laptops at different price levels so that some computers can do background removal and some cant

like you dont actually believe this right? is that how you differentiate i3 and i5??

That's the general IQ of most Apple fans, that's why they buy overpriced hardware with the excuses of apple ecosystem blah blah! As if if you used a windows machine all you are missing out on life!

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10-19-2020 at 07:45 PM #9

Quote from moogpunk :

do you honestly believe that apple tiers their laptops at different price levels so that some computers can do background removal and some cant

like you dont actually believe this right? is that how you differentiate i3 and i5??

I could be wrong but I read that as the i3 doesn't have the computing power to do whatever Zoom does to dynamically detect and change your background.

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10-19-2020 at 08:24 PM #10

Yuck i3 processor.

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10-19-2020 at 08:40 PM #11

I haven't had used a MacBook since 2011 but do the new ones still have the ability to run windows via bootcamp like my older Macs did?

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10-19-2020 at 08:47 PM #12

Quote from MaroonLeopard1601 :

Girlfriend may need one soon. She might start editing photos but not heavily. Should I advise her to wait for Arm processors?

Do yourself a favor and lose the girlfriend.

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10-19-2020 at 08:48 PM #13

Quote from Dealmasterrocky :

That's the general IQ of most Apple fans, that's why they buy overpriced hardware with the excuses of apple ecosystem blah blah! As if if you used a windows machine all you are missing out on life!

That's the thing about apple though, their software is so optimized that less is more in reality. They can make use of relatively low rent hardware and make it run smoothly. That at least seems to be their MO. You can definitely buy a windows machine with way better hardware for less but always feels less polished then apple stuff. The nice thing is long term product support and updates, build quality is pretty nice, display resolution especially since dropping the 720p airs is quite nice and I always appreciate the quality of the built in speakers which I can't recall the last time I had a windows laptop that had built in speakers that didn't sound like crap.

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Last edited by MK7GOLF October 19, 2020 at 08:50 PM.

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10-19-2020 at 09:22 PM #14

Quote from MK7GOLF :

I haven't had used a MacBook since 2011 but do the new ones still have the ability to run windows via bootcamp like my older Macs did?

Yes, and not just in Bootcamp. VMWare now offers Fusion as a free download, which lets you run Windows within MacOS, so there is additional flexibility.

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10-19-2020 at 11:19 PM #15

Quote from bink :

Yes, and not just in Bootcamp. VMWare now offers Fusion as a free download, which lets you run Windows within MacOS, so there is additional flexibility.

That's great thanks!

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