2010 MacBook (8gig ram) Vs 2017 MacAir ?

[bernieleeds]

(2.4MHz for both) core 2 Duo with more cash or newer i5 MacAir. Is worth the $999 to updrade?

 

[Dunlop0078]

Well I am sure the 2017 MacAir is quite a bit more powerful. However does your current laptop do what you need it to do? If so then of course it's not worth $1000 in terms of practicality. Simple as that really.

If you just want a shiny new laptop and that is worth $1000 to you then go ahead and buy it. Not sure how else to answer this.

 

[dudeman509]

A SSD and RAM upgrade in the old MacBook will make it quite a bit more usable, but the Core 2 Duo era chips are VERY weak for most demands today (even web browsing).

 

[Solandri]

The 2010 Macbook is the last of the plastic Macs. They were decent in their time, but are horribly outdated today. OS X support for it ended with El Capitan (2015). If you do decide to upgrade the drive to a SSD, be aware that the interface is only SATA 2, and you need to be running El Capitan to have TRIM support.

https/everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-2-duo-2.4-white-13-polycarbonate-unibody-mid-2010-specs.html

The "2017" Macbook Air is also a poor choice. It's basically a minor refresh on the 2015 MBA, and not a very good one at that. CPU upgraded from a 1.6 GHz 2015 CPU to a 1.8 GHz 2015 CPU (2.5 GHz to 2.7 GHz with turbo boost). That's it. Apple didn't even bother to upgrade it to a 2016 or 2017 CPU. Any other company which tried to pull this off would see its sales evaporate to zero. But since it's Apple and a large portion of their userbase is not technically knowledgable and trusts Apple to watch out for them, Apple can rip them off this way.

https/everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/specs/macbook-air-core-i5-1.8-13-early-2015-specs.html

So while I would recommend upgrading from the 2010 Macbook, if you have your eye on the Macbook Air line I'd suggest just buying a 2015 or older model used instead of a "new 2017" model. Ebay sales for a 2015 model seem to be running around $500-$600. About $400-$550 for a 2015 model. Everymac is a good resource for comparing the specs of different year model Macs.

Personally, if you're going to buy in the Macbook ecosphere, I'd recommend avoiding the MBAs and aiming for the MBPs. OS X does not do subpixel rendering of fonts, so the 1440x900 screen resolution ends up with (to my eye) really blurry text. By comparison, Windows does do subpixel rendering, so fonts on even a 1024x768 screen look like they're 3072x768 resolution (provided the lines in the font are wider than a pixel). The color gamut (saturation) on the MBA screens is also atrocious - about 50%-60% sRGB, the same as budget PC laptops. Apple does this to drive customers who need better color (artists, photographers, videographers) to their more expensive Macbook Pro line. The only real advantage of the MBAs is slightly less weight and slightly lower cost.

https/www.grc.com/ctwhat.htm