OT Tech Support.

[NotCranky]

Well, i am not going to break into the old macbook any further until we have the data on a new one.

Can you guys help pick the new one.
looking at this for someone who only does email, word processing, powerpoint,
web browsing. Very little video and we can do photography on other computers.

This is one we are thinking about.

Thanks

[spdrun]

As good as anything. SSD is still off-board AFAIK, so you can upgrade it later if need be. 128 should be enough for basic tasks, but if you want to be cloudfree for other things, you may need more.

[an]

[quote=Blogstar]Well, i am not going to break into the old macbook any further until we have the data on a new one.

Can you guys help pick the new one.
looking at this for someone who only does email, word processing, powerpoint,
web browsing. Very little video and we can do photography on other computers.

This is one we are thinking about.

Thanks[/quote]$900 bucks for email, word processing, powerpoint, and web browsing?

[spdrun]

Not like Apple’s cripplecrap iDevices are much cheaper. But yeah, you can grab a refurb Thinkpad X220 or whatever for $300 or so and have an equally solid machine.

(Most cheap non-business laptops are utter shit, so go with a biz-grade Thinkpad. Some of them can even run hacked OS X.)

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]Not like Apple’s cripplecrap iDevices are much cheaper. But yeah, you can grab a refurb Thinkpad X220 or whatever for $300 or so and have an equally solid machine.

(Most cheap non-business laptops are utter shit, so go with a biz-grade Thinkpad. Some of them can even run hacked OS X.)[/quote]

I’m partial to the Toshiba Satellite notebooks (w/high def), videocam and Intel inside. Almost everyone I know has one, incl myself. Its original battery and power supply lasted nearly six years. I installed a SSD in it last year and now it runs really cool 🙂

One caveat. They DO tend to be heavy. Mine weighs 21 lbs and it hurts to carry it around an airport on my shoulder. It has its own classy rolling case. I paid $500 plus $16 (CA monitor disposal fee) for it over six years ago but its retail price at that time was $899.

This machine can do so much more than what you are looking at, Russ. The $900 price is strictly for the Apple logo. Yes, my kids all have MacBook Pros, which are even more expensive than the one in your link 🙂

[spdrun]

Why the tapdancing hell would you want a 21 lb laptop when you can get one that’s sub 4 lb and does the job? Thinkpad x201 or t2x0 series for life!

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]Why the tapdancing hell would you want a 21 lb laptop when you can get one that’s sub 4 lb and does the job? Thinkpad x201 or t2x0 series for life![/quote]As long as it has a keyboard (and not a touchscreen, like a pad) I’ll take a look at those next time I’m in a place like Best Buy, spdrun. I know there are lighter-weight choices available today which were not available in 2009/10.

My Toshiba notebook has a LOT of features for a laptop and used to run very hot (even with a gel pad under it). I’m still very happy with it and usually drive instead of fly so all I have to do is carry it into my (always ground floor) hotel room or into the house I am staying in. I’m keeping the Win 7 it came with cuz I don’t want Win 8 or 10.

My youngest kid gave me their Kindle Fire HD 9″ with a nice leather stand when they left home for college and I still find it cumbersome to use, even with a detailed instruction book :-0

[spdrun]

Lightweight Thinkpads were available then. I think my x201 was first sold in 2010, probably a bit more than $500 new though.

And no, not “downgrading” it to Win 10 cloudpushing spyware.

[NotCranky]

Thanks for the constructive comments.

[an]

Personally, if I’m looking to spend $1k on a laptop, I’d get something like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/272090036846?rmvSB=true

However, for the usage you’d mentioned, I’d either get a Surface Pro 3: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Surface-Pro-Mouti-Touch-Professional/dp/B019RTN060/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1454054594&sr=1-10&keywords=surface+pro+4

or the many different cheaper laptops around $300 price range.

[spdrun]

I’d rather have a good business-grade lappy (running Win 7 pro, TYVGDFM) used for $300 than most of the flimsy crap that’s sold in the $300-new range.

The Surface Pro is decent, though clearly not $300. After you disable most of the spyware in Windows 10, that is 🙂

[NotCranky]

I’ll mention that to my better half AN, but is she wants a mac, it’s fine with me. O.K. I sent my wife a text suggesting she look at the cheaper alternatives.
What about making data transfer from the mac air to these other alternatives?

[an]

[quote=Blogstar]I’ll mention that to my better half AN, but is she wants a mac, it’s fine with me. O.K. I sent my wife a text suggesting she look at the cheaper alternatives.
What about making data transfer from the mac air to these other alternatives?[/quote]
Where does her data reside? It shouldn’t be an issue transferring data. Just get a flash drive big enough to store all the data, then move the data to the flash drive, then plug it in the new computer and move them into the new computer. If you have Office 365, then all the docs should already be in the cloud, so all you have to log into your account and you should be able to see them all. All of my docs are in Office 365 cloud, so I can log into my mac, my android tablet, and my PC and they’re all there. No need to worry about where the files are.

[spdrun]

… just your privacy, but I guess that’s not important to the majority of bleating sheep. Incidentally, Office 365 local apps can be set to save locally.

The real question is whether the Macbook Air can boot. If it can’t, then you’ll need an adapter for the disk drive. The actual interface varies from proprietary PATA, to SATA (I think), to PCIe on the latest models. All of which have USB adapters, but you need the right kind.

[an]

I lost my tin foil hat…

[Author]

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