[iphonelvr]

I have an old macbook from 2008. It's time to upgrade. I looooove my macbook. But should I get the chromebook (it's cheaper but it doesn't have itunes) or windows (it'll get viruses).

Also where is the cheapest place I can find a MacBook Air?

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[warcraftWidow]

Yes. Get a MacBook Air. As for cheapest prices, you just need to watch for sales. Maybe the upcoming Presidents' Day holiday if you're in the US.

[iphonelvr]

Ok. Thanks. I love MacBooks. I forgot that I can also put windows on a Macbook 😬


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[MacintoshDan]

I saw one for $800 at best buy open box. That's how I bought mine a year ago.


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[TurboTiger]

I saw one for $800 at best buy open box. That's how I bought mine a year ago.


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That's a nice price.
Good Luck

[phreddyl]

I would suggest going to the outlet section on the apple site. They have one for $850 http://aos.prf.hn/click/camref:1100l...macbook_air/11

[metllicamilitia]

All computers can get viruses, Windows just gets them quite easily. Chromebooks are cloud based web browsers. So if you need iTunes, they are out of the question period. And if you love MacBooks, then get a MacBook.

[Bazza1]

What are you wanting to do with your computer? If you 'looooove' your MacBook and store your entire life upon it (as one is wont to do on a primary computer), you may find the Air is simply not for you. Not enough storage might be an issue for you.

I have an 11" Air and when I considered it, I was worried about the storage on it. We get so used to computers with GBs worth of storage, that we don't think how we use the space. Kinda like filling a basement with stuff when, really, a walk-in closet will do. Anyway, I did the math of the stuff I wanted to hand daily and in a portable kinda way and realized I could easily fit it on a 128 MB Air. The less-important stuff I shunted over to a partition on a portable HDD which also has a partition for the Time Machine backups. In a pinch, I could take this drive with me when I travel, but frankly, I haven't had the need.

The other issue when moving from a MacBook is the Air's lack of a optical drive - and again, I had to think how I really use my computer. "When was the last time I used a CD/DVD on my computer?" In reality, quite some time ago. And while I admit I have an external optical drive from another time/project, again, I can't tell you the last time I used it.

The upshot is, are willing on 'sacrificing' stuff for more lightweight portability? Are you willing on doing a purge if necessary, or do you really just want to recreate your environment on another capable computer? If it's the latter, and you 'looooove' MacBooks, get another MacBook.

As noted above, the Apple Store's Refurb section is a good place to start for an Air (or MacBook) - and all product there comes with a full warranty - and, dare I say it, possibly a better testing process than 'new factory'. Or check out your favorite Big Box - they may have 'old' (last model) product in a back room that they still need to get rid of. That's how I got mine - brand new, but a couple of weeks after an Air refresh. Sold it to me (with both the regular Apple as well as an additional year in-store extended warranty) for 15% less than the new model.

[Bazza1]

By the way, if you do decide you'll go the Air route, I would be remiss (again, noting the storage limitations of the SSDs) to not mention to you the software product Xslimmer - Xslimmer - Your Mac, on a Diet!

It significantly reduces the size of software - built-in and later added by you - and could, it seems, help in the start-up time of software, too. Basically, it takes a look at your language and hardware settings and removes not only the unneeded languages (which freeware like Monolingual can do), which takes a significant amount of room in software, but it also strips out any unnecessary legacy (pre-Intel) code and other flotsam.

I've run my Air with this software almost from the start and the first pass with it reclaimed tons of storage from the software, while I run it occasionally to scan through new or updated software - almost always finding stuff to clear. I've never had an issue with any installed software because of this process. You can choose what to scan or remove, but otherwise the product's Genie has been fast and accurate.

Absolutely the best $15 I've spent on software for the Air. There's also a free trial version, just to give you a flavour for what it can do.

[Ed Traywick]

Do you, or anyone, have any experience with the 11" MBA (mid-2013) with an Apple Thunderbolt display? I will be pulling the trigger by the end of the week and it's between that and a 13" rMBP without a 27" display. Thoughts?
Thanks.

[warcraftWidow]

Do you, or anyone, have any experience with the 11" MBA (mid-2013) with an Apple Thunderbolt display? I will be pulling the trigger by the end of the week and it's between that and a 13" rMBP without a 27" display. Thoughts?
Thanks.

Depends on what you are going to be doing with it and how important portability is. Are you primarily going to be using it on the move? Primarily as a desktop replacement? Without knowing more, my personal opinion between those two choices would be to go with the Air and a Thunderbolt Display. However I do not have either of the two laptops you mention. I have a 2012 15" rMBP.

[Ed Traywick]

I'm very curious about the performance of the 11", maxed out, driving that big display. I don't do anything terribly resource intensive and I have a quad core 2011 15" MBP for those tasks. I would probably like to use Logic Pro with the Air, probably around eight tracks or and some light Aperture.

[dkhmwilliams]

I have an old macbook from 2008. It's time to upgrade. I looooove my macbook. But should I get the chromebook (it's cheaper but it doesn't have itunes) or windows (it'll get viruses).

Also where is the cheapest place I can find a MacBook Air?

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I would definitely not get a Chromebook. I have the Samsung Chromebook and it is garbage. It is really slow and there are lots of things that it doesn't do and the things it does do it doesn't do well. I can't even watch videos on the Chromebook without it stuttering big time. This is with YouTube, Google Play Movies, etc. It doesn't even work well with Chrome Cast because it lacks the power.


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