New Computer: 10 Days Later

[canyonwalker]

I've had my new computer for 10 days now. How's it going? Here are Five Things:

1. In some respects, little has changed. My last 2 personal computers have been MacBook Airs, this is another MacBook Air. So much is familiar.


2. Everything is faster. That much I expected. And it's not just because there's a lot more CPU power— it's also because I configured this machine with 16GB RAM, vs. 8 GB (max) in my previous Air. Memory is the limiting factor on many desktop/laptop computing applications... especially when you've got multiple applications open simultaneously.


3. The screen rocks. Apple wedged a new display in the M2 MacBook Air. The old display wasn't a slouch, but this new one is awesome. With so many pixels (2560x1664) text is super sharp, and I can work on high res images without so much zooming out and/or panning. Plus, the new display is bright.


4. The squared-off shape is... okay. It's a little sad that Apple abandoned the signature, wedge shaped design the 'Airs used for more than 10 years. The new 'Air looks like a slightly smaller, svelter MacBook Pro. That's both a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because it's a clean, modern look; but also bad, because now it's kind of anonymous. Either way, there's no loss of compactness. The new shape is actually smaller than the previous one overall. (See my side-by-side picture when I unboxed the MacBook Air.)


5. Moving to dongle-land is... not so bad. A small but significant feature I loved in my previous 'Airs was the built-in SD card slot. When Apple dropped this from their design two years ago. I actually held off replacing my computer for more than 18 months hoping they'd bring it back. Last month I decided to take the good with the bad and accept that I'd have to use a dongle to read SD cards. I bought a 3-function dongle for about $15 and... using it doesn't suck.
   
   The dongle is compact enough that it fits in my camera bag without being a hindrance. And it's surprisingly fast. I surmise that's because it's running over a USB-C bus instead of the old built-in slot probably piggybacking on a slower USB-A architecture.

Overall I definitely enjoy the new computer. I'm glad I bought it. I quail a bit at the price— around $1800 plus tax due to the upgraded RAM and SSD storage I configured— but that's not bad if I get another 6½ years out of this one like I did my previous one.

Speaking of 6½ years, I kind of regret sticking with my last computer that long. The faster-is-better thing and the much greater SSD storage make me wish I'd upgraded a year or two ago to start enjoying these benefits sooner. I'll more seriously consider replacing this machine around the 4-5 year mark.