I need a new MacBook. I have a 2011 MacBook Pro. I use it for work; Word, Excel, a little PowerPoint. Also web surfing. And a little bit of Apple Photos, just to lighten tones or crop the size. Basically, I am lightweight user.

Costco has the old Air for $699. Or the new one for $799.

90%+ of the time this machine is plugged into an external monitor and speakers and I am using a external keyboard and mouse.

For that reason, I do not care about the retina display. I am also hesitant about the new one because it only has the new Thunderbolt connections and I will need a bunch of adapters. The old one will work with my speakers, monitor and other stuff without the need to purchase a bunch of adapters.

What does SigForum say? Save the $100 and the price of adapters? Or pony up and get the newer version?

Avoid the new flat keyboard. No spec is more important than keys that are reliable and pleasant to use.

I bought my twins the older version for school simply because they have multiple types of connections instead of just USB-C ports.

I have two of the old style Macbook Air 13" machines - love 'em! Do not like the new flat keyboard.

I had the same issue, replace the 2011 Air.

I was about to buy a 2018 Air. Much research, Air or Pro.

The Apple shop guy was browsing through his stock and I happened to see they had a 13" Pro, with 2.7GHz i7, 16Gb RAM and 1 TB disk. Four Thunderbolt ports. For only a few dollars more. The weight difference is barely noticeable.

Struck a deal, bought the 2018 Macbook Pro 13"

Happy camper, love the Pro. Check it out.

Are you still running your old spinner hard drive? I was growing tired of how slow my 2011 MBP was and I couldn't afford a new machine. I ended up installing a 1TB SSD hard drive for about $100 (https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/macbook-pro/2011).

It felt like I was running a new machine! From the time I turned on the computer to the time I was surfing the internet was about 20 seconds. I was blown away!

I also bought a new battery for it and I can run it for a few hours and it never loses charge when not plugged in and in sleep mode. It was $95) (https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAP13MBU65V/)

Luckily for me, my neighbor is an IT guy and his company gives him a new MBP every three years. He's not a Mac guy and never used his 2015 MBP with a 500GB hard drive. It was still new in the box, unopened. My wife and I are constantly giving him our sons clothes that don't fit anymore and I help him with his car a lot. As a gesture of friendship, he offered me his unused 2015 MBP. I got it last week and I'm using it to type this response.

It's a nice computer and the computing speed is awesome. My old 2011 MBP will be wiped when I get home and given to my (almost 80 year old) mom who is ready to throw her Windows laptop out the window. The 2011 will still be used for a few more years and it's a solid machine.

Had I not been given the new MBP, I'd still be happily using the 2011 MBP with the 1TB SSD and my max'd out 16GB of RAM. I'm still going to be upgrading my new MBP with a 1TB hard drive.

Also note that I guess there were years where Apple was making bad keyboards and they just now "admitted" that maybe it was a bad design. I believe it was from 2015 to 2018.

If you do choose to keep your old MBP and just upgrade the SSD, you'll lose the license on your Microsoft Office packet since the serial number on your hard drive is different and Office will ask you for your registration key. I doubt you still have the original disk, like me, so I just purchased the monthly subscription at $9.99 and I can install it on more Macs (which I did since I upgraded my wife's 2013 MacBook Air SSD from 128GB to 1TB). You'll go through that anyway even if you decided to buy a new machine.

So for basically $200, I made my old MBP like new with the SSD and battery. You can upgrade your RAM as well and it should have two slots where you can insert two 8GB RAM chips for about $70 (https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_MacBook_MacBook_Pro/Upgrade/DDR3_1333MHz_SDRAM). Newer Macs, or basically any Mac that has a Retina display, has the RAM soldered into the motherboard and can't be upgraded.

Tony.

 
Thunderbolt 3 is also USB 3, same connector (a USB-C connector). TB3 also carries video signals and provides charging, enough for laptops. Instead of an adapter, you can get pretty cheap cables with USB-C on one end and USB-A (the old style) on the other. Plug into a TB3 port and the other end to your older USB device. Newer peripherals, like external hard drive enclosures, are coming with two cables. One is USB-C -> USB-C, and the other is USB-C -> USB-A. You should be able to utilize the TB3 ports with only a little outlay of $$, and that style plug/jack is the future. New phones are already equipped with USB-C jacks (Android ones, anyway). To hook up your monitor, there are TB3 -> Display Port and TB3 -> HDMI cables, for under $20.
 
I would get the newer version just to future-proof your equipment. Newer hardware will mostly be using the USB-C style of plug/jack, which will work in a TB3 port.

I bought a new maxed-out 13” MacBook Air a few months ago. I’m not going to suggest which is the better choice for you, but a couple of comments.

#1: I don’t have any complaints about its keyboard.

#2: I LOVE its fingerprint sensor for login. It works so well.

I do wish it had a Thunderbolt jack on each side rather than two on the left side.