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Upgraded from an iPad to a MacBook "Air"

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
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I've been using iPads for casual use for the past couple of years and honestly I love them but have always been hampered by the limitations of the platform. My iPad has a cracked screen but I still use it, in fact I cracked it twice and it's still useable.

For Christmas the lovely Mrs_Bob gave me the smallest version of the MacBook Air and I'm loving it a lot more than the iPad.

We are planning a 500 mile hike across northern Spain in June/July 2016 and my plan was to take the iPad like I did when we did our hike across England this summer. But the iPad wouldn't allow me to back up photos, etc. The new MacBook Air will allow me to store the photos on the computer and allow for easier manipulation of the images, etc. It's also a lot faster than the iPad.

As for weight, the iPad, with a Bluetooh keyboard from ZAGG is only a couple ounces lighter than a MacBook Air so there is only a very minimal weight penalty. But when you factor in the need to carry a back up hard drive to download photos, plus the iPad, then the small MacBook Air actually ends up being lighter and smaller.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
So, Santa was good to you. :clap::clap:

To be honest, I'm just about to give up on these tablets. There's a lot of things to like about them but a lot of things to dislike. As you said, without a keyboard and external HD they are limited. For checking email and similar stuff they are just fine but I can do that on my phone, otherwise, if you have some serious stuff to do, they are ... inconvenient, or at least I find them so.

Don't know where I'm going to go next but I need something for our trip to the UK this summer.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
So, Santa was good to you. :clap::clap:

To be honest, I'm just about to give up on these tablets. There's a lot of things to like about them but a lot of things to dislike. As you said, without a keyboard and external HD they are limited. For checking email and similar stuff they are just fine but I can do that on my phone, otherwise, if you have some serious stuff to do, they are ... inconvenient, or at least I find them so.

Don't know where I'm going to go next but I need something for our trip to the UK this summer.

Well this little MacBook Air is roughly the same size as my iPad + keyboard. Roughly the same weight as my iPad + keyboard. I am pretty sure it will fit into my backpack. There is a strong possibility it will be backpacked 500 miles across Spain this summer.

I wish Santa had purchased an external hard drive for this little thing, she got me the 128GB model, which is smaller than the old fashioned hard drive in my MacBook Pro, so I can't transfer EVERYTHING to this little guy, but I can get all the important stuff on here with plenty of room to spare. Going to look into an external drive to see about storing the massive photo library I have loaded on my other computer so I have access to it on this MB Air. Other than that, its fast enough, small enough, light enough to be a very handy tool and still get everything done that I need done :biggrin:
 

Av8r3400

Gone Flyin'
I've been a MacBook Air driver for a couple of years now. They are a great little machine. I like my iPad mini, but the MacBook is far more usable.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I've been a MacBook Air driver for a couple of years now. They are a great little machine. I like my iPad mini, but the MacBook is far more usable.

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear.

The Lord only knows, we are not computer poor in this house but I wanted to get something that I could travel with to the UK this summer and also in the RV. My old Asus netbook is definitely on its last legs and has seen better days. It doesn't need to be a powerhouse but it does need to be serviceable. I was kind of leaning towards the Dell XPS but I'm willing to consider the MacBook Air. I still have a lot of research to do do before a purchase.
 

Av8r3400

Gone Flyin'
The only downside to the MacBook Air is that it won't (at least mine won't) run the Windows office suite. There are apple apps that are similar but not the same.

For email and web surfing it's far better than an iPad, IMO.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
The Mac Book Air is a tremendous computer. Actually, any computer running OS/X El Capitan is tremendous.

Yesterday I saw a 8 year old iMac with a Core 2 Duo processor running El Capitan flawlessly and fast. It was also upgraded for free as Apple currently does not charge for OS upgrades. Only the memory had been upgraded from 2 GB to 4 Gb. Try running Windows 10 on a 8 year old PC. Not going to happen without spending tons on upgrade money.

Don't get me wrong, I also like Windows and own a Windows computer that i use every day as well. There are always exceptions, but generally speaking Windows just simply cannot compare to the ease of use, stability and excellent hardware components of an Apple computer running 10.11.2 El Capitan.

As always, YMMV. :biggrin:
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
The only downside to the MacBook Air is that it won't (at least mine won't) run the Windows office suite. There are apple apps that are similar but not the same.

For email and web surfing it's far better than an iPad, IMO.

I use Apache Open Office on my Mac for my wife's business and it is a solid performer. The price is fantastic too. FREE! Of course we use only a word and excel type programs so our demands are not that great. Never used their power point type software.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
OK, been living with the new MacBook Air for about a week.

LOVE almost everything about it. LONG battery life, great screen, backlit keyboard, plenty fast enough.

BUT . . . the one thing I really miss that the iPad has is a camera on the back side for snapping photos.
Sure, I can snap a quick photo with my phone and that will automatically transfer to the MacBook Air, but I don't sit around the house with my phone so I am missing that attached camera.

This doesn't have as much storage space as my old MacBook Pro. That means I can't simply transfer all my data. Not a big deal. Most of that data is old photos that can simply be backed up onto flash drives or back up drives should I ever want to access them. The lovely Mrs_Bob could have gotten me one with more storage, but there is really no reason for it other than to carry around more crap on the computer. I wanted an upgrade from the iPad. This little light computer is a fantastic upgrade. I don't need to carry my life history in this thing, that is what storage drives are used for.

This also does not have a CD/DVD drive built in. That saves a lot of weight and size. But it also means that I will occasionally need to hook up an external drive. So I had to buy one of those ($79 from Apple).



The only downside to the MacBook Air is that it won't (at least mine won't) run the Windows office suite. There are apple apps that are similar but not the same.

I have Word, PowerPoint & Excel Mac versions running on my MacBook Pro, didn't bother to transfer them to the MacBook Air but I don't know why they wouldn't run? Now I don't think there is a MAC version of the OUTLOOK. I think my programs are dated back to 2008 with some upgrades along the way.
 

Catavenger

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
I just bought ( and am writing this on) an RVA 7 inch tablet running Android it has a keyboard that can be attached. Only had it a few days. That might be an option.
 
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