An upgrade which adds nothing to the 2014 model.
I just upgraded my 2014 MacBook Air to the 2015 model, an annual process for me, and question the value. The CPU speed bump this year is from 1.4GHz to 1.6GHz, a 14% increase yet Geekbench reports only a 4.1% speed gain. I paid $830 at B&H for the base model, with free shipping. If you have a 2014 I would pass on this ‘upgrade’, especially when you realize the usual time wasting data migration frustrations you must endure. Keep the 2014 and spare yourself the smell of old socks emanating from the new one for the first couple of weeks of use, a ‘feature’ of almost every Apple device I have bought in the past many years.
Finder icons? Something Apple has persistently ‘lost’ for the last few versions of OS X – they seem to come and go as they please:
Finder icons gone missing.
I much prefer TotalFinder which does it right:
Finder icons in TotalFinder.
CPU speed comparisons – Geekbench:
2015 compared with 2014 – a 4.1% CPU speed gain
GPU speed? Despite the ‘upgrade’ from the Intel 5000 to the 6000 integrated GPU nothing has changed:
Cinebench GPU comparisons – 2015 vs. 2014 – no change.
Just more Apple hype. For reference, my 2009 Mac Pro which runs upgraded dual X5690 3.46GHz Xeon Wetstmere CPUs, chips which are now some 4 years old, clocks in around 32,000 on CPU performance and is twice as fast on GPU throughput. Laptops still have an Everest to climb when it comes to CPU performance though the GPU in the MBA is excellent given the space limitations.
However, if you are new to the laptop/notebook category, it has to be said that the MacBook Air remains the best value laptop for road use, is well made, weighs 50lbs less than a real Mac Pro and runs PS CS6 and LR6 just fine if not as fast as the behemoth. Depreciation is low and resale easy. For road trips it’s all you need. The absence of a disk drive is a welcome feature (the drive adds bulk and confers no functionality in an online world) and the speedy flash storage is a great feature. While the base model includes only 128GB that is more than enough for the machine’s intended purposes. The trackpad is perfect in every way and the quality of engineering, fit and finish are all unimpeachable.
Disk speed test – MBA 2015.
But, please, do not buy this nonsense:
“Repeat a lie often enough and the people accept it” – Goebbels
Thunderbolt? Of little use and a dying technology, but the Thunderbolt socket will accept a Mini DisplayPort cable and if you use the Apple Dual Link DVI->MDP adapter, you can happily power your 30″ Apple Cinema Display from the MBA at full 2560 x 1600 definition. The MBA’s GPU is exceptionally competent for an integrated design.
Other issues? The MagSafe magnetic power plug, in the current design, adopted four years ago, remains too weakly magnetized and falls out at the slightest provocation. The previous cylindrical design, replaced by the ugly cube one in use today, was superior in every way. But it’s not like you have a choice.
As for ‘all day battery life’ I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can get you a great price on, featuring ‘all day traffic’.
The MacBook Air commands an 80% of cost resale value after 12 months, which is outstanding, justifying annual upgrades – a new machine for $100 or so. I know, as I just sold my 2014. Try those economics with your garbage Windows laptop playing in a crowded field along with its atrocious OS and crapware.
For comparative data on the 2014 MacBook Air click here.
Recommended with the conditions noted.
Comparison with the new MacBook:
I have not tried the new MacBook – you know the one that dumps the ‘insanely great’ Thunderbolt port and MagSafe power connection, in favor of yet another connector, USB-C, so now when you trip over the cable your laptop goes crashing to the floor like the MacBook of old, that oldie with the white plastic body. But Marco Arment, a reputable Apple writer has, and his review sums up the general trend in Apple’s hardware (new Mac Pro anyone?) well. He writes:
“Now, Apple’s priorities have changed. Rather than make really great products that are mostly thin, they now make really thin products that are mostly great.
This concerns me more than you probably think it should. Not only does it represent compromised standards in areas I believe are important, but it suggests that they don’t have many better ideas to advance the products beyond making them thinner, and they’re willing to sacrifice anything to keep that going.”
And it seems like the CPU is a bit of a basset hound in the speed stakes and the GPU is one generation behind the one used in the 2015 MBA review above.
To address Arment’s issues with the new MacBook, the 2015 MBA like its predecessors has an outstanding keyboard with excellent feedback, and the ‘force touch’ track pad is notable for its (welcome) omission. In other words, the MacBook’s failings are absent from the MBA.
Guess I’ll be sticking with the MBA for a while yet. I do not think the premium $450 for a bad keyboard and worse trackpad quite works. That’s a shame as the 12″ MacBook is lighter that the 11″ MBA, but it seems that Jony Ive’s thinness obsession has gone too far yet again. Did the lad not get three squares a day when designing toilets in his youth?