Thinking about a new Mac...

[Rainman]

@Axtremus said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

Most of the time I use a personal computer, I use a MacBook Air.

Hey Ax 'ol buddy 'ol pal. What do you mean, like most of the time you use an impersonal computer? Or, do you have a rack of computers, like a rack of sports coats in your closet?
@George-K
As for cheap George, do you really want to buy a fancy car, and tell them you don't want a dual-turbo V-8, you will settle for a 4-banger?

Here's what you do: decide on Apple, go in and drop your Visa on the counter, and just tell them you want the highest-powered laptop they make, with all the accessories Apple makes. This takes 30 seconds. Within 10 minutes, you'll be out the door and putting the boxes on the front passenger seat of your Audi.

Audi, with the most expensive computer Apple makes, it all makes sense and fits together as a presentable image of a retired physician that believes money is no object, everything is pocket change.

And @Horace Thanks for putting your picture back up. I almost forgot what you looked like. Lost a couple pounds, eh?

[jon-nyc]

I bought the LG monitor from the apple site. Perfectly fine. They have 24 and 27”. Honestly I forget which I bought.

The monitor has several USBc and regular USB ports so it acts as something of a hub.

I have that with the top of the line MacBook Air from last September, and it’s a great setup.

[Horace]

You're welcome Rainman. I'm trying to achieve an elfin figure but for now it's still elefantine. Only a few more letters to drop.

[89th]

@George-K said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

I'm thinking that, in the next 6 months or so, I may want to move to a new Mac.

This is so funny. Just yesterday I was thinking about how reliable you are with your Mac, your data backups, your vast collections of music and audio...and truly was like “I wonder what he’d buy if he got a new rig”, just because you’re so l337.

[Rainman]

I purchased an external 1T SSD drive that is thunderbolt-only. It is incredibly fast, and works fantastic with huge music files which are instruments for DAW. Point is, the speed is worth the money. Thunderbolt is de bomb.

[taiwan_girl]

I may be wrong, but you can get a mac book regular or pro for the same price as a mac book air, it has more ports and maybe more power.

If you are not going to be carrying it around, I would think you would be better off with a non-Mac book air. You pay for the weight savings.

[Klaus]

@George-K one buys the Air for its portability. But from what you write, it sounds more like you need a desktop computer. Have you considered a Mac Mini or iMac instead?

[Rainman]

I've got an Apple IIe that I'm not using.
More than enough power for someone retired.
Let me know if you're interested. I can throw in some floppies.

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

I bought the LG monitor from the apple site. Perfectly fine. They have 24 and 27”. Honestly I forget which I bought.

The monitor has several USBc and regular USB ports so it acts as something of a hub.

I have that with the top of the line MacBook Air from last September, and it’s a great setup.

Yeah, I was specifically thinking of what you do when it comes time.

@Klaus , yeah. Portability is not high on my list of needs. I spend 90% of my time at my desk. If I want to consume content, or travel, my old iPad Air (2) does it pretty well, particularly with a Brydge keyboard attached to it. Mrs. George has an 11" MacBook Air and I have an account on it, so I can access all my stuff should I need to.

Like I said, I'm just spitballing here.

The one nice thing about the MacBook Air is the fact that it's a larger screen than my iPad.

[Klaus]

If you don't need the portability, I'd not get a notebook. The Mac Mini or iMac give you more bang for the buck: better performance, longer lifetime (upgrades), more repair options, more connectors. The iMac also gives you a very clean look with minimal set of visible cables.

[George K]

@Klaus I have a 27" iMac (2014) now which I love.

The reason for the upgrade is that D2 is using a hand-me-down 27" iMac from 2011. It's getting long in the tooth and the internal hard drive (which had a recall that she never took care of and now is out of date) has died. I want to hand mine down to her.

If it weren't for that issue, I'd stay with what I have.

[mark]

If I ever do buy another Mac, it will be a MacMini. Loaded with memory and SSD and you have a very compact and capable machine.

[George K]

@mark said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

If I ever do buy another Mac, it will be a MacMini. Loaded with memory and SSD and you have a very compact and capable machine.

If you're going to hook it up to a reasonable monitor (27" or larger) there's no advantage to compactness, is there? And, you have more cables.

[Axtremus]

@George-K said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

@mark said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

MacMini.

And, you have more cables.

Hmm ... wonder when Apple will make the MacMini take power input via USB-C too. The power cable is the only "extra cable" required by the MacMini today over a MacBook Air. The MacMini also gives you most of the legacy ports you want.

[George K]

Looking at prices for various options here.

I'm looking at 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

If I go with the Mini or the Air, I'll have to spring for a monitor and a webcam (I'd keep my keyboard and mouse):

The price for the iMac is for this year's Intel version with an i5 processor, I assume that when Apple releases a new iMac this year, as is rumored, it'll be priced pretty similarly. Looks like the MacBook Air gives the same features as the iMac for a better price, even after all the add-ons.

[Klaus]

I may buy a new iMac when it is released with a new ARM chip (not the current one; I want more than 16GB of RAM).

[Copper]

Why a Dock with the mini?

[George K]

@klaus said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

I may buy a new iMac when it is released with a new ARM chip (not the current one; I want more than 16GB of RAM).

I've seen videos of performance with only 8 gigs of RAM on a MacBook Air. For the stuff that I do, 8 is probably adequate, and 16 is overkill, considering the videos I've watched. But...

Link to video

The other thing is that rumors say that the new iteration of iMac will be a 24" model. I really, really don't want a smaller screen than I have now. That's a big deal for me with my aging eyes.

[George K]

@copper said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

Why a Dock with the mini?

Hooking up external devices: I have a 4 bay enclosure which stores my Time Machine data, media (books, music), and another backup drive.

[jon-nyc]

@george-k said in Thinking about a new Mac...:

I'm looking at 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

That's what I have.

I just bought a webcam this week, delivered xmas eve. It's sitting in the box still by my desk.

Up to now I've been using my iPad for zoom calls.