Replace battery on MacBook or get a new base model MacBook Air

[AsianCommie]

I either need to replace the battery or buy a new MacBook Air for college. The MacBook I have now is the 2015 base model and the battery sucks now. Like even if I just leave it there the battery will drain 25% unplugged. I also usually use it when it has a lot of tabs open so that slows it down and drains the battery as well. I’m think about getting the base model MacBook Air at Best Buy when it  is discounted to $899 and then using a student discount to get it to $799. So any recs on if I should just replace the battery on my current one or get a new one?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Do you do anything that uses only x86 hardware and needs Rosetta 2 tranemultion?
If not, then yeah, that m1 is perfect for you, power efficient, good at the whole tabs thing. Great for typing.

[BondiBlue]

Honestly it's a great time to upgrade from your 12" MacBook. Those weren't great, even the higher end models. Not to mention the fact that you're still running OS X El Capitan - that's quite outdated now. 

 

The base model M1 Air would be an excellent upgrade. Much better battery life, far more reliable keyboard, better I/O, and more. If I were you I'd go ahead and upgrade now and sell the 12" MB on to someone who wants to put money into a battery. 

[mt123]

2 hours ago, BondiBlue said:

Honestly it's a great time to upgrade from your 12" MacBook.

Plus, if you're going into college as a freshman, a computer upgrade is a definite must, especially if you're going to be using your computer for intense schoolwork (CAD, photoshop, video editing, etc.) 

 

Source: I'm a college freshman, currently in a summer program/ semester. I bought myself a Dell XPS 17 9700 with some of the money I saved from college (i9-10885H (8 cores, 16 threads, 5.3 GHz), 32 GB memory, RTX 2060 Max-Q, 1 TB SSD, 1920*1200p display).

 

I bought my laptop with the intention that it's going to last me throughout my four years of undergraduate, and knowing you can get similar, if not better hardware at a much lower cost (i.e., gaming laptops), I believe a good laptop can be a great investment, especially since you can find ones with 30-series GPUs. Though, knowing you're probably an Apple person, I recommend seeing if you can save a little more money to buy a MacBook Pro, or something better than a MacBook Air, especially a base one.

[BondiBlue]

4 minutes ago, mt123 said:

Though, knowing you're probably an Apple person, I recommend seeing if you can save a little more money to buy a MacBook Pro, or something better than a MacBook Air, especially a base one.

Eh, if OP has been fine with a 12" MacBook then the base model MacBook Air will be excellent. 

[Commodus]

16 hours ago, AsianCommie said:

I either need to replace the battery or buy a new MacBook Air for college. The MacBook I have now is the 2015 base model and the battery sucks now. Like even if I just leave it there the battery will drain 25% unplugged. I also usually use it when it has a lot of tabs open so that slows it down and drains the battery as well. I’m think about getting the base model MacBook Air at Best Buy when it  is discounted to $899 and then using a student discount to get it to $799. So any recs on if I should just replace the battery on my current one or get a new one?

Please, for the love of all that's good, get a MacBook Air!

 

I don't know if you can stack student discounts on top of sales, but even if you can't... the base Air is a gigantic leap past your 12-inch MacBook in virtually every way. The larger screen is the obvious difference, but it's also much faster (even for apps running in Rosetta 2 translation), includes a second port, will last far longer on battery and offers an improved keyboard.

 

(I would consider going the official Apple Store route if sales don't stack, since you can get free or heavily discounted AirPods at the same time.)

 

My fiancée has the base Air and swears by hers. It doesn't quit — she juggles a ton of apps, hosts Zoom classes and the machine just hums along. That it can serve as a long-lasting workhorse while being completely fanless is astounding to me... even great Windows laptops like the XPS 13 can't match that.

[AsianCommie]

19 hours ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Do you do anything that uses only x86 hardware and needs Rosetta 2 tranemultion?
If not, then yeah, that m1 is perfect for you, power efficient, good at the whole tabs thing. Great for typing.

I mean I'll be majoring in business management and minoring in computer science, so probably not.

[wgaca]

Mac tech here, get rid of that 12 inch as soon as possible.

[AsianCommie]

16 hours ago, mt123 said:

Plus, if you're going into college as a freshman, a computer upgrade is a definite must, especially if you're going to be using your computer for intense schoolwork (CAD, photoshop, video editing, etc.) 

 

Source: I'm a college freshman, currently in a summer program/ semester. I bought myself a Dell XPS 17 9700 with some of the money I saved from college (i9-10885H (8 cores, 16 threads, 5.3 GHz), 32 GB memory, RTX 2060 Max-Q, 1 TB SSD, 1920*1200p display).

 

I bought my laptop with the intention that it's going to last me throughout my four years of undergraduate, and knowing you can get similar, if not better hardware at a much lower cost (i.e., gaming laptops), I believe a good laptop can be a great investment, especially since you can find ones with 30-series GPUs. Though, knowing you're probably an Apple person, I recommend seeing if you can save a little more money to buy a MacBook Pro, or something better than a MacBook Air, especially a base one.

I'll be majoring in business management and minoring in computer science, so I think I won't be doing anything demanding on the laptop.

[Darkseth]

Get the m1 Macbook Air. Even if the App runs with Rosetta2, it will be a LOT faster.