Macbook Air for around £350

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Guest2

Guest2

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GF is looking for a Macbook Air for around £350.

Use will be study and work - websites, banking, youtube, o365, OneDrive, remote desktop into work, airdrop from mobile > device and device > mobile.

I’ve heard the m1 chips are great but these seem to sell for £650+ (what’s so great about m1?)

Budget is around £350 so can be an older one but needs to update to the latest os for security and app functionality. 2nd hand isnt an issue but ideally a bit of warranty or remainibg applecare.

Preference would be around 13” screen but not notebook size as she needs to read off it.

I might post a wanted in MM as its been good for selling and buying in there with members.
Thanks
 
M1 was, in my mind, a leap forward. Hugely better performance, better battery life... I found the jump from a 2019 i5 to a 2020 M1 to be almost life changing - if only for the dramatically improved battery life.

Personally, I think it's worth the stretch.
 
I wouldn’t even consider an Intel Mac now. The M1 MBA came out in November 2020 so is nearly three years old. You’d be hard pushed to find an Intel MBA with any AppleCare left.

Performance between Intel and M1 is phenomenal.
 
Thanks @Conanius @Feek

So Macbooks prior to the M1 were all Intel based chips?

I have an A1465 Macbook Air (11”, early 2014) to me this seems to work well enough for general use.

It was an old work test device, has held up really well. Unfortunately it cant be updated any more and is a bit ‘slow’ (noticable latency when typing in Word on Onedrive)
 
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Conanius said:
M1 was, in my mind, a leap forward. Hugely better performance, better battery life... I found the jump from a 2019 i5 to a 2020 M1 to be almost life changing - if only for the dramatically improved battery life.

Personally, I think it's worth the stretch.
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Couldn't agree more. M1 Air is definitely worth the jump and will probably save you money in the long run, not having to upgrade so soon down the line.
 
Definitely wouldn't look at Intel Macs.


My 2019 16 inch MPB with 32GB of RAM and i9 feels a lot slower than it did when I first got it, and I only use it for web-based work so it's not like there's a tonne stored on the device slowing down the SSD.


Switching to an M1 Pro-based 16 inch in the near future and hoping it feels a lot more snappy.
 
I've been vaguely wondering about picking up a 2020 M1 as well, as they've got down to decent prices, so thought I'd hijack the thread.

My last Mac was a 2011 MBP which I loved, and it lasted me until 2020. I moved to a Windows machine (now running Ubuntu as Windows drove me spare) which is fine, but nothing more.

My use is almost entirely browsing, Word, email, and occasionally Netflix etc, plus the odd game of things like FM and Civ but nothing too strenuous. Would a 2020 M1 machine last me a good few years? Or would it realistically force me into a further upgrade sooner than I'd ideally want to?
 
manic111 said:
I've been vaguely wondering about picking up a 2020 M1 as well, as they've got down to decent prices, so thought I'd hijack the thread.

My last Mac was a 2011 MBP which I loved, and it lasted me until 2020. I moved to a Windows machine (now running Ubuntu as Windows drove me spare) which is fine, but nothing more.

My use is almost entirely browsing, Word, email, and occasionally Netflix etc, plus the odd game of things like FM and Civ but nothing too strenuous. Would a 2020 M1 machine last me a good few years? Or would it realistically force me into a further upgrade sooner than I'd ideally want to?
Click to expand...
Absolutely, my better half bought one on release and it hasn't skipped a beat and her use case is identical to yours apart from the gaming - you don't even need to worry about getting a machine with 16GB the base model will suit you fine, even with Word,Excel and Teams and other bits and bots open she usually has around 1.5-1.8GB of RAM free.

IMO this is the finest computer that Apple has created and is an absolute steal in terms of price/performance not to mention the true all day battery life - simply put the M1 chip is a game changer you certainly won't regret it and will give you many years of enjoyment.
 
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