I picked up my new 15″ M4 MacBook Air at the Kahala Apple Store yesterday afternoon. It had arrived a week earlier than expected. I ordered it amidst all the China tariff turmoil, putting to an end a long year of procrastination. Both the prospect of future price increases, and the stable trade-in value of the computer I’ve been using for the past 4 years, provided just enough of a boost to overcome my consumer hesitation.
I had last upgraded my everyday computer in 2021 when Apple introduced its first generation chip (M1) packaged in a MacPook Pro. It has been a very good computer, but with Apple’s chips already in for 4th generation, it seemed like a good time to make the upgrade move.
And this time around, I stepped down from the Pro line to a 15″ M4 MacBook Air. The Pro model now seems like overkill for my everyday uses. This Air will probably be plenty fast for everything I do, faster in most tasks than the Pro that it is replacing, and at a much more reasonable cost.
When I first opened it and removed the Air from the box, the 15″ screen seemed as big as the 16″ Pro that I’ve gotten accustomed to. It isn’t, of course, which becomes obvious when the two computers were set up side by side. But without the direct comparison, the screen on this MacBook Air is certainly big enough. I don’t feel like I’ve given up much at all.
Apple makes the whole process simple. I ordered online and was given an expected delivery date. To avoid problems, I chose to have it delivered to the Apple Store in Kahala Mall, where I could then pick it up.
Apple then sent a box to use for returning my MacBook Pro for trade-in. The box arrived at our house the day before I received a notice that the new computer was waiting at the Apple Store.
Pickup was simple. Apple emailed a QR code, which I presented along with my drivers license. Within a few minutes, I was out of the store and heading home to set up the new computer.
I made a mistake or two in the set-up process, but quickly figured out that Apple’s Migration Assistant (tucked away in the Utilities folder that sits with all your Applications), made things simple. I decided to run a cable between the new and old laptops, gave Migration Assistant to go-aheaad to transfer data. The process started around dinner time on Saturday, and when I got out of bed this morning, the new MacBook Air was ready to go.
I’ve had to sign in to certain accounts again to complete the transfer, but that’s been the only hassle so far, and no other problems have surface.
I then wiped down the MacBook Pro, followed the instructions to prepare it for delivery to the close-by UPS Store, and I’ve made the transition to a new computer. It has been very simple and straightforward, a tribute to Apple’s customer-friendly engineering.
This is, I think, the right choice for me. The specs are good, and the price is far below the comparable Pro model, allowing me to order more than the minimum internal memory and storage.
Hopefully this one will last me another four years or more!
MacBook Pro, left, and the new MacBook Air, right.
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Can also recommend purchasing Apple’s refurbished products. They are listed on the website, way down near the bottom but there are many good deals for a wide range of items. The average “discount” is about 15% off the price of a new item but you can get quality stuff and it?s all eligible for Applecare if you choose to buy that.
If you are looking for particular specs, try using the refurb-tracker.com website. Easy to set up alerts which you get promptly.
Good advice. My last several computers have been refurbs. I’ve been watching the refurbs for a while, looking for just the right selection. It didn’t show up, so I finally bought it new.
Going the recycle route: getting a 15” MacBook Air M2 for $800. Nosing out my 2017 MacBook Air (another testament to Apple). It still cooks along for my needs, but knowing this can’t go on….
Think the transfer process will be a little more challenging.
Congrats!
Thx for describing the process Ian and also talking about switching from Pro to Air.
That’s what I need to do I think
My Pro is only 2 years old so I bet I can get a pretty good trade in value…..
How’s it going now that you’ve had it for over a week? Is there anything you’ve found you cannot do on the Air?
It has gone more smoothly than I expected. Migration Assistant did the file and account transfers. The only glitch was my fault, and recovery was simple. I did have to get phone/iPad/Air all updated to the latest operating system version. Once that was done, the syncing of notes and other things went well. The only apps that I had trouble with were Topaz Labs photo apps, and that was quickly resolved after an inquiry to them. Turned out they were hanging up on one of Apple’s security settings, that had to be tweaked to allow use of the Topaz apps. This M4 Air feels zippier than my M1 MacBook Pro, and it feels faster working with Photoshop and Lightroom, although not massively so. The 1″ lost screen space isn’t noticeable once I can’t view the Air side by side with the Pro. So I’m very pleased. And the savings by moving “down” to the Air meant that I could get more memory and storage than I could have afforded in a 16″ M4 Pro. So far, as you can see, I’m pretty happy with it. I have a lot of files transferred over, so it is still in the process of fully indexing them. The symptom is that I haven’t yet gotten the full expected battery life, but that happened when I move to the 16″ Pro back in 2001, as I recall. It just took a while.
Thx for the update Ian….I hope you’ll update in a month or two once you’ve used the Air for awhile. I think it was originally developed as a niche for students to use but I am still curious about its range. Let us know!