New Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB) – Space Gray (Latest Model)
Stunning 13.3-Inch Retina Display with True Tone
Touch ID
Dual-core 8th-Generation Intel Core i5 Processor
Intel UHD Graphics 617
Fast SSD Storage
8GB memory
Stereo speakers with wider Stereo sound
Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports
Then I bought this thing in Dec 2018 (macbook air retina 2018).
I had been so spoiled by years of amazing Apple quality I guess my expectations were too high for this latest macbook air.
Just some issues I’ve had:
1. creaky body that emits a strange cracking sound like the screws in the chassis are loose yet I’ve confirmed they arent
2. overheats regularly to that totally uncomfortable burning hot level (never an issue in prior less powerful macbooks)
3. my “A” key is disappearing!! First time I have ever experienced any such quality issue with an Apple product! And when I took it to the Apple Store after properly making an appointment online, describing the issue and waiting patiently for my tech, I was informed “we have no ‘a’ keys in stock but will contact you in the next few days”. Its been a few weeks, I’ve never heard back. This is NOT the Apple I once knew and loved for their exceptional customer support of their products.
4. And finally, my macbook air will get stuck when being “woken” from sleep mode in some weird login loop where it keeps going to the “enter your password” screen repeatedly yet I never can and have to do a hard reset by holding the power button down for a while.
5. Lastly, the whole point of this little, light laptop is its travel-worthiness, ie battery life and lightweight. Whats with the massive charger brick that feels like it weighs like half the entire laptop by itself?
All in all, what the heck is going on here Apple?!?!!?! My family is probably 10+ devices deep at this moment and for over a decade and we’ve never had quality issues like this before! If the Apple Store fails to contact me as they promised for yet another week, I will be putting the new macbook air on OfferUp and moving over to the slick new Surface Laptop 2, Lenovo X1 Carbon, or Dell Oled XPS13.
August 1, 2019
Apple has taken away every functioning port you need to live off of.
Seriously, it doesn’t even have a port for a flash drive!
This is the model provided by my workplace. I was excited to receive it, but already knew that it wouldn’t have a CD drive. For me this was a pretty hard loss as it was. I am a teacher and I was already frustrated I’d have to go buy an external port just to play DVDs and CDs on it for my kids. (Especially since my school has most movie streaming sites blocked.)
But then I got it just to find out it doesn’t have a single normal port on it! No HDMI, No USB (when normally you need two in case you need to transfer files from one flashdrive to another), No SD card reader, Nothing.
I found that for another $20-$150 more you can buy a port bank as an accessory for the laptop.
But aside from being unnecessarily expensive after we’ve already paid OVER $1000 for the laptop itself, this COMPLETELY DEFEATS THE PURPOSE of having a PORTABLE computer.
Accessories are absolutely terrible as it is. The connection is flimsy and easily knocked.
And if you have to move the computer, even an inch, while the accessory is plugged in, well your’e just screwed now aren’t you?
It’s already a flimsy connection, And now you’re telling me I have to buy a dongle/USB-C adaptor, which will add another layer of device that can get screwed up, just to plug in my flashdrive?
This is Intolerable.
At this point with all the accessories I have to have clunking around in my bag and getting misplaced, I’d be better off with a desktop! (Which my school district no longer provides for its teachers. Because we have these ridiculously expensive laptops. Last year I had a chromebook that was more useful to me than this computer is. Because it had ports!)
Sorry guys. But not everyone lives in the high tech bubble of the Apple, Google and Microsoft corporations where everyone makes six figures straight out of college, always buys the latest model, knows how to fix their wifi and tech problems when the connection drops, etc. In fact, MOST of us still work in offices where *old* and *outdated* tech like FLASHDRIVES are still common place for transferring data.
The Cloud and google drive are nice when your company is able to pay for it. BUT IT SHOULD NOT BE THE ONLY OPTION.
I have always been a Mac user. But in order to stay a Mac user the past few years I’ve had to scour the Apple refurbished store just so I could get Macbook Pros from 2011 that STILL HAD A CD DRIVE. But these refurbished models are never as good, or last as long as a brand new computer. The fact is though, that none of Apple’s new models currently on the market still possess a CD drive! And now all the ports are gone!
BRING US BACK OUR PORTS.
Build them into the computer itself. Give me a model I can buy that has a CD drive. One out of all your offerings is not going to kill you! Make the laptop a PORTABLE device once more.
I’m tired of being raked over the coals, and squeezed for my money. I’m not buying into this rabbit hole anymore.
The next computer I buy will NOT be a Mac unless it has all the ports needed to function. Which probably means I will have to switch over to PC.
This is a sad day for human kind.
Also, you should know that I am a tech-savvy Millenial saying these things. Not some old lady who doesn’t know what to do with all this new-fangled tech. And so I will say it again: BRING US BACK THE PORTS.
August 2, 2019
August 8, 2019
I feel obligated to write this because other reviewers are leaving reviews of older models they didn’t even purchase this calendar year, which is just not right and irresponsible considering how dependent people are on these reviews.
If you want a cheaper option, they’re out there but if you want Apple quality and don’t mind the extra money or being forced into usb C, which I think is a step up from the magnetic adapters (and is a generic for), then you aren’t going to be disappointed.
August 5, 2019