Macbook Pro Needs Replacing
Discussion
After 7 years I think my MBP has given up.
It only seems to work off mains power now and if power is disconnected and reconnected it seems to think it's 1970 which suggests the battery is completely screwed and maybe even disconnected internally.
I've done SMC and PRAM resets and the battery status has shown "Service Recommended" for a while.
Given the age it doesn't owe me anything and it doesn't seem worth bothering getting the battery replaced.
Entry level Macbook Air M1 off Amazon seems the obvious replacement as it'll be here tomorrow and it's £120 cheaper than it is going to an Apple Store (any reason for that?!).
Slightly annoyed as I'm sure there's a new Air due soon but any thoughts?
It only seems to work off mains power now and if power is disconnected and reconnected it seems to think it's 1970 which suggests the battery is completely screwed and maybe even disconnected internally.
I've done SMC and PRAM resets and the battery status has shown "Service Recommended" for a while.
Given the age it doesn't owe me anything and it doesn't seem worth bothering getting the battery replaced.
Entry level Macbook Air M1 off Amazon seems the obvious replacement as it'll be here tomorrow and it's £120 cheaper than it is going to an Apple Store (any reason for that?!).
Slightly annoyed as I'm sure there's a new Air due soon but any thoughts?
New M1 Air is superb, just as fast as my 2019 all boxes ticked 16’ i9 machine.
One downside of buying outside of Apple is that you’re less likely to have any goodwill in the Apple store outside of warranty.
My 2019 refused to charge 20 days outside of the 1 year warranty and the store wanted to charge me £1k to fix.
One downside of buying outside of Apple is that you’re less likely to have any goodwill in the Apple store outside of warranty.
My 2019 refused to charge 20 days outside of the 1 year warranty and the store wanted to charge me £1k to fix.
Phunk said:
New M1 Air is superb, just as fast as my 2019 all boxes ticked 16’ i9 machine.
One downside of buying outside of Apple is that you’re less likely to have any goodwill in the Apple store outside of warranty.
My 2019 refused to charge 20 days outside of the 1 year warranty and the store wanted to charge me £1k to fix.
I think one of the things I'm underestimating may be how fast the new "entry level" M1 models are?One downside of buying outside of Apple is that you’re less likely to have any goodwill in the Apple store outside of warranty.
My 2019 refused to charge 20 days outside of the 1 year warranty and the store wanted to charge me £1k to fix.
My MBP is a dual core 2.7 i5 with 8GB and SSD so I think I'm looking at the M1 Air and thinking it must simply be a new version of that.
For example part of me thinks spend more and get something with 16Gb RAM but then I look at some write-ups and it seems like the M1 architecture is doing something very funky with RAM.
Keep in mind I only really use this for basic web browsing and watching Sky Go so I'm hardly taxing it
trashbat said:
If you run the battery to zero on this era of MBPs, it loses the time and date, even when the battery is otherwise behaving, so that you're seeing that doesn't mean much. Annoying but it should recover very quickly by self-updating the time from the network.
Yeah the time recovers via NTP but every time I catch or move it to a different room it now dies and essentially has to boot up each time.I'm doing some reading and watching some videos on the various models now the M1 has been around a while.
Problem I have is I know a basic Air should be fine but f
k me those new 14" and 16" Pro's look nice 
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: Problem I have is I know a basic Air should be fine but fk me those new 14" and 16" Pro's look nice
I had the same conundrum. I used the logic (flawed as it may be) that if you go for a better spec it will last longer before needing to be replaced.k me those new 14" and 16" Pro's look nice 
So I now use this for my basic web browsing and reading/writing emails
Oh I could do that maths and buying it isn't the issue it's just feeling I've got value for money.
The counter logic is buy an entry M1 Air now and just buy another entry M2 or whatever it is by then in 2 years time etc.
Just looking on Macrumors and it really does't look like there's a new Air due any time soon.
The counter logic is buy an entry M1 Air now and just buy another entry M2 or whatever it is by then in 2 years time etc.
Just looking on Macrumors and it really does't look like there's a new Air due any time soon.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said:Phunk said:
New M1 Air is superb, just as fast as my 2019 all boxes ticked 16’ i9 machine.
One downside of buying outside of Apple is that you’re less likely to have any goodwill in the Apple store outside of warranty.
My 2019 refused to charge 20 days outside of the 1 year warranty and the store wanted to charge me £1k to fix.
I think one of the things I'm underestimating may be how fast the new "entry level" M1 models are?One downside of buying outside of Apple is that you’re less likely to have any goodwill in the Apple store outside of warranty.
My 2019 refused to charge 20 days outside of the 1 year warranty and the store wanted to charge me £1k to fix.
My MBP is a dual core 2.7 i5 with 8GB and SSD so I think I'm looking at the M1 Air and thinking it must simply be a new version of that.
For example part of me thinks spend more and get something with 16Gb RAM but then I look at some write-ups and it seems like the M1 architecture is doing something very funky with RAM.
Keep in mind I only really use this for basic web browsing and watching Sky Go so I'm hardly taxing it
What do you use your MB for? What software do you run? This is the best answer to your question, as the M1 Air will be easily good enough for 95% of people I would have thought. Unless you are doing heavy video editing, hi-res photo processing or 3D modelling then it will be fine.
Of course, that doesn't solve the 'wait for shiny new Air' problem. I would wait personally for the new one, but there is no justification in that other than wanting the new one!
My 2019 MBP developed a fault with the display last week so I decided to replace it with a 14" M1 MacBook Pro.
A bit spendy, but it is a dream to use. More power than I need, but as I live on it during the day and the evenings too, it's worth it.
I only use Migration Assistant every few years - it's very good.
I did look at the M1 Air, but was tempted by the Pro.
A bit spendy, but it is a dream to use. More power than I need, but as I live on it during the day and the evenings too, it's worth it.
I only use Migration Assistant every few years - it's very good.
I did look at the M1 Air, but was tempted by the Pro.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: After 7 years I think my MBP has given up.
It only seems to work off mains power now and if power is disconnected and reconnected it seems to think it's 1970 which suggests the battery is completely screwed and maybe even disconnected internally.
I've done SMC and PRAM resets and the battery status has shown "Service Recommended" for a while.
Given the age it doesn't owe me anything and it doesn't seem worth bothering getting the battery replaced.
Entry level Macbook Air M1 off Amazon seems the obvious replacement as it'll be here tomorrow and it's £120 cheaper than it is going to an Apple Store (any reason for that?!).
Slightly annoyed as I'm sure there's a new Air due soon but any thoughts?
Plenty here have bought basic M1 Air's of Amazon with no issue.It only seems to work off mains power now and if power is disconnected and reconnected it seems to think it's 1970 which suggests the battery is completely screwed and maybe even disconnected internally.
I've done SMC and PRAM resets and the battery status has shown "Service Recommended" for a while.
Given the age it doesn't owe me anything and it doesn't seem worth bothering getting the battery replaced.
Entry level Macbook Air M1 off Amazon seems the obvious replacement as it'll be here tomorrow and it's £120 cheaper than it is going to an Apple Store (any reason for that?!).
Slightly annoyed as I'm sure there's a new Air due soon but any thoughts?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-MacBook-Chip-13-inc... I have the same dilemma OP, I think this is what you need.
I replaced my 2017 MBP about 3 weeks ago with a base model Air - it seems much nicer.
Apart from only having USB-C ports, it's a fantastic machine.
I got mine from John Lewis - same price as Amazon & cheaper than the Apple Store - though I did read that Apple would price match.
I contemplated the new Pro, but really can't justify it for what I use it for.
Apart from only having USB-C ports, it's a fantastic machine.
I got mine from John Lewis - same price as Amazon & cheaper than the Apple Store - though I did read that Apple would price match.
I contemplated the new Pro, but really can't justify it for what I use it for.
I went from MBP 2010 to 2020 base MBA. I bought before the 14/16 pros were released. My needs are light other than pockets of fairly basic image editing. Excellent upgrade for me. Only weakness would be the screen isn’t quite as nice as some of the pro motion displays but I think (not 100% sure) it’s the same on the pros, albeit 100 bits brighter.
If you can get in store try them out - the pros are quite chunky compared to the MBA “wedge” so may be a factor if you do a lot of typing on your lap / travel.
No denying the ports are better on the pro as well if you use any regularly.
If you can get in store try them out - the pros are quite chunky compared to the MBA “wedge” so may be a factor if you do a lot of typing on your lap / travel.
No denying the ports are better on the pro as well if you use any regularly.
And now I'm typing on it and it's running on battery without the charger plugged in (though for how long is anyone's guess).
WTF
I might try and get to an Apple Store and take a look but for those that have a base Air am I right in thinking the Retina display is as good as (if not better) than the one on this?
Even with man maths the sensible part of me is really struggling to justify a 14" or 16" pro
WTF
I might try and get to an Apple Store and take a look but for those that have a base Air am I right in thinking the Retina display is as good as (if not better) than the one on this?
Even with man maths the sensible part of me is really struggling to justify a 14" or 16" pro
I would wait for the new Air.
amongst other laptops we have 2 2011 Airs in the household which both now sit at 100% fan/cpu almost all the time when you use them and are dog slow.
But it is only a few weeks until 6 June WWDC when we should see the new Air, lots of colours, new chips, new design.
If nothing else this year’s Air should become cheaper and more available second hand.
Given they appear to have an 11 year lifecycle in our house I will wait and buy 2 of the newer ones.
amongst other laptops we have 2 2011 Airs in the household which both now sit at 100% fan/cpu almost all the time when you use them and are dog slow.
But it is only a few weeks until 6 June WWDC when we should see the new Air, lots of colours, new chips, new design.
If nothing else this year’s Air should become cheaper and more available second hand.
Given they appear to have an 11 year lifecycle in our house I will wait and buy 2 of the newer ones.
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