[Technology] Calling NSC's Linux Gurus - replacing macbook

[happypig]

My 2014 Macbook is getting a bit long in the tooth so I'm looking to replace but what I want comes in at an eye-watering cost (like over £2k).

I'm thinking that I could buy a decent laptop for around half that and install linux on it.

Requirements are :
13/14 inch screen
16gb ram
512mb SSD
Long battery life
USB ports

Highly desirable is an ethernet port but I dunno if laptops even have them these days.

Any suggestions ?

 

[gazingdown]

If you are otherwise happy with your MacBook, then a new (or Apple refurb) MacBook Air (M1 chip) would be more than sufficient and just over £1k, not £2k.

 

[boik]

Have you tried just installing Linux on your Macbook. You might be surprised how well it runs.

 

[Bold Seagull]

My 2014 Macbook is getting a bit long in the tooth so I'm looking to replace but what I want comes in at an eye-watering cost (like over £2k).

I'm thinking that I could buy a decent laptop for around half that and install linux on it.

Requirements are :
13/14 inch screen
16gb ram
512mb SSD
Long battery life
USB ports

Highly desirable is an ethernet port but I dunno if laptops even have them these days.

Any suggestions ?

First suggestion is whether the 2014 is truly redundant? My daughter inherited my 2011 MBP with a new SSD put in it and it was suddenly given a turbo boast.

I'm on a 2012 MBP, again I max'd the RAM stuck an SSD in it and it's running fine with some processing heavy CAD and Sketchup 3D work.

Check your model on the Mac Upgrades website, and you may find that with a couple of upgrades, you'll get a lot more life from that machine.

Edit: so these shipped with SSDs and soldered RAM, so no RAM upgrades possible, and with an SSD already, only difference will be size of storage. How much free HD space do you have on it, because sometimes they go really sluggish if you get to sub 50GB free or so. As [MENTION=21369]boik[/MENTION] suggests above, could a clean install of Linux on that machine be worth a look at?

 

[smudge]

Debating about splashing on a new Macbook Air as I'm in US of A. Total cost $1,249.00
8 GB memory
512 GB storage

In real money that's around 885.00 GBP

Shall I? (Had my Macbook since 2010, it's now slower than Glenn Murray in the last minute of ET).

 

[Bold Seagull]

Debating about splashing on a new Macbook Air as I'm in US of A. Total cost $1,249.00
8 GB memory
512 GB storage

In real money that's around 885.00 GBP

Shall I? (Had my Macbook since 2010, it's now slower than Glenn Murray in the last minute of ET).

I was going to say consider upgrading to 16gb RAM, but it seems the M1 chip, unless you're doing serious video work, the 8gb is not a noticable difference to the 16gb.

 

[smudge]

I was going to say consider upgrading to 16gb RAM, but it seems the M1 chip, unless you're doing serious video work, the 8gb is not a noticable difference to the 16gb.

No I don't need that at all. Going with 8 as what I have on my current Macbook.

 

[Deleted member 22389]

My 2014 Macbook is getting a bit long in the tooth so I'm looking to replace but what I want comes in at an eye-watering cost (like over £2k).

I'm thinking that I could buy a decent laptop for around half that and install linux on it.

Requirements are :
13/14 inch screen
16gb ram
512mb SSD
Long battery life
USB ports

Highly desirable is an ethernet port but I dunno if laptops even have them these days.

Any suggestions ?

Like Boik suggested try Linux on your Mac first, you might be surprised at how fast it runs. If your using a standard HDD, swap it for an SSD.