From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

Wow! A couple of months ago I was out of town for several days and really needed a laptop. I'd left my 2017 MBA at home, so after a bit of local sleuthing I popped into Cash Converters & got a base M1 MBA (8gb/256gb) for -u300. Have to say I was - and am - very, very impressed all round.

Unfortunately I realied the Tab key was slightly sticky. Trying to fix it I
got it off and couldn't get it back on... Sheepishly took it into the Apple Store and they told me it was still under warranty and would fix it! Took a couple of days but they replaced the entire top case where the keys are. Free of charge. As my 2017 was 512gb I am very VERY tempted to just pick up another of these s/h with 16gb/512gb (mainly for my iTunes library). Thought about an M2 but I do like the body shape of these & I don't really mind the lack of ports...

(I also went into an Apple store ths week and an assistant came over when they saw me using a new MBA. I asked if it was running Tahoe & they had no idea
what I was talking about. I said 'well how about Sequoia?' Still a blank look until I said 'the operatng system?')!
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

In article <10c1674$h425$1@dont-email.me>,
Mark <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:

Wow! A couple of months ago I was out of town for several days and really needed a laptop. I'd left my 2017 MBA at home, so after a bit of local sleuthing I popped into Cash Converters & got a base M1 MBA (8gb/256gb) for -u300. Have to say I was - and am - very, very impressed all round.

Unfortunately I realied the Tab key was slightly sticky. Trying to fix it I got it off and couldn't get it back on... Sheepishly took it into the Apple Store and they told me it was still under warranty and would fix it! Took a couple of days but they replaced the entire top case where the keys are. Free of charge. As my 2017 was 512gb I am very VERY tempted to just pick up another
of these s/h with 16gb/512gb (mainly for my iTunes library). Thought about an M2 but I do like the body shape of these & I don't really mind the lack of ports...

(I also went into an Apple store ths week and an assistant came over when they
saw me using a new MBA. I asked if it was running Tahoe & they had no idea what I was talking about. I said 'well how about Sequoia?' Still a blank look until I said 'the operatng system?')!

Apple silicon really is a gamechanger for the platform. ARM
architecture, particularlly the SoC model, makes it smooth as butter! My
only complaint, which of course comes with the territory, is that you
need to ensure you have the configuration of Storage, RAM, etc when you purchase the machine since they are by definition not upgradeable.

Do you think you'll migrate to the Silicon you bought? Sell both and buy
a new M4 model (they've only improved over the years, I have an M3 and
it's a screamer).
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

On 6 Oct 2025 at 8:54:48rC>PM GMT+1, "Smithwicks" <user@nonsenseurl.com.invalid>
wrote:

In article <10c1674$h425$1@dont-email.me>,
Mark <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:

Wow! A couple of months ago I was out of town for several days and really
needed a laptop. I'd left my 2017 MBA at home, so after a bit of local
sleuthing I popped into Cash Converters & got a base M1 MBA (8gb/256gb) for >> -u300. Have to say I was - and am - very, very impressed all round.

Unfortunately I realied the Tab key was slightly sticky. Trying to fix it I >> got it off and couldn't get it back on... Sheepishly took it into the Apple >> Store and they told me it was still under warranty and would fix it! Took a >> couple of days but they replaced the entire top case where the keys are. Free
of charge. As my 2017 was 512gb I am very VERY tempted to just pick up another
of these s/h with 16gb/512gb (mainly for my iTunes library). Thought about an
M2 but I do like the body shape of these & I don't really mind the lack of >> ports...

(I also went into an Apple store ths week and an assistant came over when they
saw me using a new MBA. I asked if it was running Tahoe & they had no idea >> what I was talking about. I said 'well how about Sequoia?' Still a blank look
until I said 'the operatng system?')!

Apple silicon really is a gamechanger for the platform. ARM
architecture, particularlly the SoC model, makes it smooth as butter! My
only complaint, which of course comes with the territory, is that you
need to ensure you have the configuration of Storage, RAM, etc when you purchase the machine since they are by definition not upgradeable.

Do you think you'll migrate to the Silicon you bought? Sell both and buy
a new M4 model (they've only improved over the years, I have an M3 and
it's a screamer).

I'll need a 512gb model to port over my TM backup from the Intel MBA. To be honest, an M1 will be enough for at least a couple more years (cheaper too). Funnily enough, the only irritant has been the lack of physical keyboard brightness keys... You can 'hack' this though apparently, so that's ok. Let's see if Apple do in fact bring out a smaller 'A' chip laptop. I'd be all over that!
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2