Hi all,

Thinking of getting a Macbook air for personal/work purposes, but I can’t think of anything I’d actually use it for. I have a (high-end) personal desktop and a work desktop, what would I need another device for?

Is there any way another device could help me with like training at work or watching YouTube at home or something?

In case you’re curious why I chose a Macbook Air, they look cool and I am an avid user of Apple’s technology.

I know the price is a bit steep, and I probably won’t use it for much (my work desktop does everything it needs to, and my personal desktop runs games flawlessly).

Can someone give me like a pros/cons list of another device please? I’m not changing my mind about the device being a Macbook Air.

13 Spice ups

This is something you have to answer yourself - if you don’t need one and just want one, if you can justify the cost and are willing to learn it, go for it, if not, stick with what works for you.

Perhaps buy an older model, used device and see if it is used, if it’s not, can you justify the cost of one being sat on the shelf as art.

3 Spice ups

I have been wanting to get a nice new laptop as well, but run in to the same problem of seeing an actual use for it. I would not pay the premium for a MacBook, but still, get what you want. It would make no sense to get a Windows machine, then just wish it was something else. I already have a nice gaming desktop, phone, iPad, kindle and nook so I have not been able to justify in my mind getting another device.

I guess, with a laptop (or MacBook) you can work or play from the couch instead of the computer desk. It is portable so you can take it places more easily if you travel much. It is easier to type on than a tablet, if you want to send emails or write stuff and not sit at your desk.

That is all the pros I can think of that can’t be done just as easily on your phone or a tablet. I am going to be watching the responses to see if I can find enough benefit to justify a laptop for myself, but I am kind of holding out for a Spacetop from https://www.sightful.com/ so I can have a bigger monitor and smaller laptop :slight_smile:

1 Spice up

You have to look at what you want to use it for. See if it does all that, then see if you want to spend the money. I don’t think anyone can answer it for you. If all you’re going to do it watch videos, why not get an iPad? Or even a Chromebook? JK, but not really. Think about the differences between the two and think if a $1200 device that you will not use any more than a $300 device, but looks better, it worth it.

1 Spice up

A laptop is good for working whilst reclined on a settee instead of the office desk and for me looking a a recorded film or iplayer download when travelling on a plane. They are lightweight and portable. The Macbook Air will have very good graphics.
However, for watching YouTube videos and taking online courses then any laptop will do as long as the graphics is acceptable. I use a Chromebook which does most tasks well and is trouble free. I also use Linux on an old Chromebook (with upgraded storage) which is a little more versatile than the Chromebook OS and if it gets stolen or broken when I am away then it not worth much anyhow.
In summary, get your Macbook Air as it is what you desire. Technically, justifying the need for it is a “mission impossible”.

1 Spice up

The inspiration was seeing someone else use it for personal/work. I don’t know what they use it for, but they are in the same situation as me, and they use it all the time lol

The only justification I have to own Mac is to assist in supporting company Mac users. It’s much easier to train yourself on the how-to of installing, adding, setup, configurations, shortcuts and so on if you have a Mac in front of you to “play with”.

4 Spice ups

Macbook Air would be good for working remotely. Don’t want to lug around your desktop for that. It’s definitely nice to have around. I have one at work that I hardly touch, but I have it for testing purposes as we do have a small handful of Macbook users. The version I have is an older one, not the newest from Apple. Go for it if you have the money to burn. It should last you a long time and if most of what you do is web based, then it’s an easy justification.

1 Spice up

FYI, I forgot to mention I have a MacBook pro and Windows 11 laptop for work, if you intend to use it for work in a windows environment, know there are caveats.
You can work around most, but if you are a long-time Windows user, and not familiar with macOS you’ll spend longer (initially) figuring things out vs being able to do them, because you know how from experience.
Would I get another MacBook when this one expires - no, likely not in a Windows environment.
Would I get one because it’s light and I can use it to send emails - no, I couldn’t justify the cost of the device for the use case.

1 Spice up

I work on-prem, so the laptop would act as a “third screen” for me if I chose to get it. It also goes with what @rod-it ​ said about using MacOS in a Windows environment, but even that is a learning curve, and gives me more work to do, so that’s not entirely all bad.

If you want to use is as a third screen, that’s a very expensive 3rd screen. an actual 3rd screen and VM dedicated to that monitor might be a better option.

While learning a new OS does give you something else to learn, it’s not productive if you’re having to learn while people need help, if you intend to use both devices alongside each other - you’ll likely favour one over the other.

It’s you money (or works) but don’t get one because they are light and shiny, get one because it has a purpose.

1 Spice up

The MBA is THE bargain Mac, even moreso than the Mini. The new 15" is a reflection that it’s got enough juice with the M2 that even the “lite” version can be a daily driver.

However, you aren’t articulating a “reason” to get a Mac besides the novelty and style. That’s a non-essential item, in other words, despite you’re heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem.

I’d never travel with the MBP/MBA, no LTE radio, overweight for its capability (compared to my Dragonfly G3), no touchscreen, no facial recognition, just the remaining broken-ness of Apple’s adherence to a dead man’s wishes. The M1 MBP I drink coffee with in the morning is so I can keep up with MacOS and talk with my wife on the couch, instead of “working” at my desk.

BUT - it’s a solid machine, and we acquired a company with a PM that’s a happy brand-new M2 MBP user. His old parent company took back his MBA and Lenovo T480, he doesn’t miss them. His standup desk machine is a 12th gen i7 drafting workstation (water cooled LED gaming rig), and he couldn’t be happier. Because, a Mac is just another computer.

If $1200 for an MBA is a budget hit, then it doesn’t make sense. If it isn’t, then why not, what else are you going to waste money on? Education is never free, just sayin’.

1 Spice up

Seems like you already have the answer. Save your money

2 Spice ups

I have an M2 Air and love it. I’m also a previous lifelong despiser of everything Apple and finally jumped feet-first into the ecosystem roughly 2 years ago. There is a curve to using a Mac. I used to call it the dumb-down curve because coming from a Windows, Linux, and Android background you will have an immediate instinct to look for advanced configuration options and settings. There aren’t any. At least on the surface. Everything just works and that’s why so many people stay Apple once they go that way. One justification for getting a Macbook is if you already have other Apple products. The seamless integration between an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Macbook is truly unmatched. I live and breathe all day long in a Microsoft environment which will not change but having become familiar with Apple has made supporting business Apple devices a lot easier. It has also made life much easier in my family life as I was the only person that didn’t originally use Apple products. I suspect if you’re uber-geeky like most of us, there aren’t going to be a lot of logical reasons for you to purchase one other than you want one and you want to play with it. In the past to have any usefulness in a Microsoft environment, you’d need Parallels which is expensive and wasn’t always guaranteed to work or work very well. Now you can jump onto a VM or even RDP to a workstation and you’re in business. I operate with a desktop system at work, a VM, a very powerful laptop from home, and my Air. Transitioning between them all is easy. Especially since I’ve migrated most of my usage to the VM. RDP to my desktop is also simple and I commonly work on both at the same time. I will warn you though if you intend to get one and plan on using more than one additional monitor, you will need to purchase a Pro. The Air does not support multiple monitors. There may be ways around that (I haven’t looked), but out of the box, you can only run one. Oh, and other than bumping the cores up and getting more local storage, you don’t have to buy the $1200 Air. You can do just fine with the 7 to 8 hundred dollar model as long as you have other storage options or in my case, work predominantly in a VM. Good luck!

1 Spice up

OK, now pull the other one, hahahhaahahah!!!

1 Spice up

I travel a lot and wish I could afford a new MacBook Air! Having a laptop really matters if you need a computer away from home/office.

1 Spice up

If you’re thinking about buying an older model, make sure it’s not one of the Intel-based ones. Since going with their own processors, Intel-based Macs are being left behind at a rapid pace. My 2019 27" iMac with 40GB of RAM struggles with Lightroom now, especially if I switch back and forth between the two user accounts on it. The other day it slowed to a crawl and it took me 20 minutes to shut down all apps before powering it off.

I have a 2014 MBP that still works fine (SSD), and is “acceptable” for those times I need to use it for Lightroom, but otherwise gets light use. On my work desktop is a late 2013, 27" iMac that I upgraded several years ago to a fusion drive (big HDD and small SSD working together). It was a self-contained kit, and has made a huge difference. The upgrade has kept it viable, but it’s stuck at Catalina and can’t run current versions of MS Office, so its days are numbered. I’m hoping it will hold up until I retire next year. We only have a handful of Macs/Macbooks left here, and those are just for our Deaf managers, who need smooth, seamless video for communication. And our CEO, who is a Mac person. :slight_smile:

I think my home desktop will end up being replaced by a top-of-the-line 16" MBP with the latest Apple processor. This will untie me from a desk and be able to travel, which we plan to do a lot in the coming years. :slight_smile:

1 Spice up

For work we are issued laptops, and you can pick whatever you want. So I have a dock at work and at home, and right now I’m typing from a hospital. The point is, the desktops in my past jobs meant I had to purchase additional mobile devices. So if you’re due for an upgrade at work or home, I would consider a laptop (probably not an Air if you like having external monitors, it doesn’t have the necessary thunderbolt controllers to drive multiple displays). At this point though, if your desktops are both new, I’d probably be looking more at an iPad than a MacBook Air but that’s just personal preference to keeping mobile as light as possible and any heavier computing on a workstation. Having said that about the iPad, if you type a lot when you’re on the go, I’d rather have an actual laptop keyboard and not just a tablet keyboard (for my big hands, they don’t feel the same at all).

1 Spice up