In November 2014, I purchased my first Mac – a late 2014 MacMini – following the hard drive in the MintMachine failing. I was pleased with Mac OS, as it suited my needs as a web/graphic designer and allowed me to grow. I owned a web/graphic design business at the time, but money was still limited. Despite the higher upfront cost of a Mac system hardware, there were cheaper alternatives in software which competed against Adobe software.
I was so pleased that I decided to buy another Mac. The MacMini would be delegated to personal tasks, whereas this new machine would be responsible for business tasks. I needed something portable yet powerful, so that I could take my business on the go but still have power to do it at my desk.
I originally was looking at a MacBook Pro for the task. However, money was fairly tight, and therefore I ended up purchasing an older model of a MacBook Air.
I purchased the MacBook Air from Early 2014. Despite being purchased after the MacMini, it was made before the MacMini.
Depite the age of the machine, it held up fairly well. With the 1.6GHz Intel Core i5 processor, it wasn’t the fastest beast, but it could change its clock speed if need be up to 2.4GHz. It was fairly fast at many tasks. Overall, it was a good machine.
However, as with any and all things, there are negatives along with the positives. The MacBook Air features a stylish aluminum case. While pretty, it is not very ergonomic. In some areas, namely along the front edge of the notebook where the aluminum case comes to an edge, the edge is sharp. While not sharp enough to cut through flesh, it is uncomfortable with time.
Another negative con about this machine is the lack of upgradable parts. Since Apple started welding their machines shut, and soldering components like RAM and the hard drive (solid-state drive) directly to the logic board, there is no current ways to upgrade the machines. It is similar on the MacBook Pro and MacMini, although I’m uncertain about the upgradability of the iMac, and I know that the Mac Pro is upgradable.
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EARLY 2014 MACBOOK AIR
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| Processor | Intel Core i5 (clocked at 1.6GHz, turbo 2.4GHz) |
| Hard Drive (Storage) | 128GB solid-state; non-upgradable |
| Memory (RAM) | 4GB DDR-3; non-upgradable |
| Displays | Thunderbolt |
| Optical Drive | None |
| USB Ports | 2 USB 2.0 ports |
| Other Ports | 1 Thunderbolt port, 1 headphone port, and SD card reader |
| Internet Connectivity | WiFi (wireless) |
| Other special features | Bluetooth, MacOS X, excellent speakers |
| Operating System | Mac OS X (10.12 Sierra) |
| Usage | Father’s main machine, light gaming and web browsing |