Apple MacBook Air (13-inch Retina Display, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) - Gold (Previous Model)

I first bought the lowest-priced MacBook Air which has the lowest capacity SSD of all available. When it showed up at my house, I was surprised at how sluggish it was. I read some reviews, and realized that Apple didn't make it clear (at least to me) that the lowest-priced Air also has a slower, dual core processor. It makes sense in hindsight, but I digress. I returned that Air, and replaced it with the 500+GB SSD and quad core processor. Wow! The difference in performance is marked! Multitasking, turning on from sleep, everything is MUCH quicker and smoother than with the dual core processor. If you can afford the higher-priced model, I really recommend it! Overall, the MacBook Air is really a beautiful machine aesthetically. I the recycled aluminum exterior is slick and high-end. The onboard speaker won't ever be confused for an external sound system, but it is the best onboard speaker system I've heard. The Retina screen looks great; vibrant and detailed. I also love the large touch pad with the gestures. My favorite aspect of the laptop is the OS. Out of the box this runs Catalina. I haven't owned a Mac since the iBook G4, but I got back into it without much exploring required. I like how easily it works with my iPhone XR as well. Getting texts on the laptop, or pushing a webpage on my iPhone to my Air is seamless and easy. Things just work. I needed to download updated drivers so that I could print wirelessly to my Canon laser printer, but that took five minutes. I also downloaded and installed Chrome for Mac, which I use for a few things, but Safari works very well for the sites I visit. I did have to buy a converter cable that switched from the onboard USB-C to a regular USB cable for a few attachments I have, but that was pretty cheap (especially for an Apple product). I wish the Air had one more USB-C port. Some people hate the onboard camera. At first I was disappointed with it too. With all of this COVID business, I use my laptop to play D&D online with friends via Roll20. We use cameras to interact with each other, and although I found the onboard camera to be slightly grainy, it is very fluid. One of my friends commented that everyone else's video feed stuttered as they moved, but mine looked like he was watching TV. So, although it could be better, it is NOT horrible for my purposes. For the price we pay, Apple could beef up the camera, but it is what it is.

Macs continue to be dependable machines with a long life. Recently, a 2011 MacBook Pro I'd picked up used kicked the bucket. I removed its HD and was easily able to migrate my apps, preferences, account data, etc., into this new Macbook Air with Migration Assistant. It was like resurrecting my old machine only under the OS Catalina which my unit arrived with. This was an Amazon Warehouse Deal, which I've had luck with over the years. It arrived looking brand new, even the packing was perfect. Setting up a Mac is ridiculously intuitive and easy. If you're coming from an older machine as I was, some of your apps will be incompatible with latest OS and file system, but for me it was a very small % of what I brought over. I paired the unit with a keyboard cover and laptop casing and am using USB-C to USB adapters to use my old drives with this Mac. The screen is nice and bright with plenty of detail. I regret having not used the camera yet, as I never make calls from my laptops, so I cannot comment on its quality. I've read it pales in comparison to the quality of an iPhone camera, which baffles me. It's got some weight to it compared to my previous MacBook Air. Handles streaming video like a champ and runs demanding apps like Adobe programs. The keyboard and track pad took a few days to acclimate myself to, but feel great now, and you always have the option of using a mouse. My device boots up fairly quickly and the power button/fingerprint reader is a welcome addition. You can still type in your pass if you prefer, but the touch button is very reliable. Battery life seems solid. It's just a nice quality product. I've had PC laptops, but prefer Macs. If you're already a Mac fan, you should appreciate this machine. I highly recommend this model. We've come a long way from the IIe.

Came in sealed. Easy to set-up. The screen is beautiful. The Magic Keyboard feels very nice and a definite upgrade from the previous butterfly mechanism. The camera quality is just what I need. If you are going to be at school or at work doing zoom calls with other people, they can see you clearly. The camera, in my opinion, could definitely be improved, especially because of that high price. That seems to be the only “flaw.” Lastly, I will talk about the fan noise and the MacBook “heating up.” In my personal use, the MacBook never heated up (even on the bottom) and the fan was only heard just a bit when I was downloading a large app file. From day-to-day use of browsing, Netflix, zoom calls, and presentations, you would most likely never hear the fan nor feel the heat from underneath your keyboard. I’d definitely recommend this computer, especially if it’s your first Mac. Enjoy! Update: After less than a week of purchasing, this MacBook still works fantastic. However, once I started up Minecraft and played creative for just 2 minutes, the fan started blasting and was very loud. I do not suggest this computer if you want to game, however, for daily usage, it's wonderful.

Ease of usage. Very simple to understand