experience in interface design, office and personal tasks
Hi! It just so happened that the employer company provided a corporate MacBook Air on M2 8/256, so the agony of choice from the previous article is temporarily over. I think 3 months is enough time to understand your feelings about using a Mac and give yourself feedback. I hope it will be useful for you too.
Briefly about the tasks and me
From 9 to 18 I am a full-time marketer at an IT company, and from 20 to 00 I am an interface designer. This is what I work with almost every day:
Google Docs and Sheets,
analytics services: Google Analytics, Yandex.Metrica,
video conferences,
web surfing,
Figma and Miro.
I haven’t loaded my laptop with more serious programs like Photoshop and After Effects yet, because there was no need.
First about emotions
And they can't not be. When I unpacked the laptop, I couldn't help but admire its light weight and compactness, and when I opened it and turned it on, I admired the screen size. I thought 13.7 inches would be small, but I quickly got used to it and didn't even feel any discomfort.
But there is still a minus – the impact on the eyes. At the end of February, I had laser correction and perhaps the problem is that now there is no refraction between the eyes and the screen through the glass. Nevertheless, the fact remains: the eyes get tired much faster and you can't sit late at the MacBook. After reading the reviews, I realized that I'm not the only one with this problem. Apparently, as usual, everything is individual.
As for mobility, everything is good: I had to work at the airport a couple of times while waiting for a flight, and in coworking spaces. Small weight and size are decisive in such cases, because the machine is convenient to carry with you and you don’t have to worry about charging.
And finally, about emotions: the design of the device “convinces” you to use a MacBook, and the keyboard just beckons you to bang out some texts.
User experience
I didn't test the MacBook like bloggers: I didn't open a trillion tabs and programs, I didn't load it with 4K editing, and I didn't run rendering tests. However, I got a general understanding of the performance.
Figma and other design
“Easy” projects, up to 30 frames with a simple design, the laptop pulls with a bang and does not even heat up. I did not have problems with the design of images for social networks – everything flies. But if there are more objects, pictures are added and screens multiply, then the fun begins. Still, 8 gigs of RAM make themselves felt and comes the understanding that they are not enough. Recently I had to make about 50 screens and the Mac began to freeze thoroughly, even power from the network did not help. Nevertheless, you can work, although a little uncomfortable.
Another problem I encountered while designing is heating. I didn't notice such a problem in the spring, probably because of the summer temperature and the lack of coolers. It doesn't heat up much, but it's noticeable, even a laptop stand with fans doesn't help. I consulted with “Mac users” from my circle and they advised me to use Clean My Mac software. I'll try it.
To sum up the figma, I will say that the 8/256 configuration is definitely not enough, you need to take at least 16, so that there is a reserve. And I have not tested the Adobe package yet – I think that the situation will be sadder there.
It seems that the initial version of Air will suit freelance designers who work mainly with web design and landing pages. Product design is more demanding on hardware due to the abundance of layouts.
In my opinion, MacBook Air M2 8/256 is enough for beginner web designers.
Office tasks and web surfing
It's not for nothing that Mac is called an expensive “typewriter”, only this machine can also do parallel tasks. Working with text is a pleasure – the keyboard is very comfortable, and you quickly get used to the layout. In the end, I didn't even Russify the keys, because I type blindly. Now typing on Lenovo is very awkward because of the Num Pad. On the Mac, your fingers automatically fall on the right keys.
The MacBook seems to have been specially created for cloud services replacing the Microsoft package. Even when more than 10 tabs with Google Docs and tables are open, and dashboards are adjacent to them, the laptop works perfectly.
But with Russian services, specifically with CryptoPro, there is a major problem. Firstly, you need to install it using some workarounds. Secondly, having this service installed on your laptop, you can hardly access some sites. Surely, the experts have already solved this problem, but the same Diadoc is very reluctant to let me in, and recently it denied me access altogether.
I deleted CryptoPro, but the question remains: what to do if, for example, I am the owner of a company and I need exactly this digital signature, but I don’t have a Windows device? Most likely, sooner or later I will find a solution to this problem, but now it is a significant disadvantage.
Video conferences
The MacBook Air M2 has a cool webcam and a cool microphone, you could even write a podcast on your knee (okay, I got carried away).
Irritating nuances
Screenshots
As an avid Windows user, I would attribute these nuances to MacOS rather than to the MacBook. Perhaps I haven't fully figured out how the system works, but the logic of screenshots is very annoying.
Firstly, they are extremely inconvenient to do, and now instead of one button I press three! Secondly, they are not saved to the clipboard. In my work I often have to take screenshots and attach them to messages, letters or files, and it is wildly inconvenient that you either have to drag them from the lower right corner of the screen or then search for them on the desktop. I don’t know, maybe there is a more convenient mechanic, but I don’t know it, and I didn’t look for another solution – I’m used to it.
Language switch button
I don't know what's going on with it, but I checked and I know for sure that I hit it with my finger. However, switching from English to Russian occurs with a delay or does not occur at all. I checked if the key is stuck – everything is clean. I don't know if this is a bug or a feature, but it adds a fly in the ointment.
Geolocation
I've been struggling with it since I unpacked and set up my MacBook. The laptop, for some logic of its own, randomly determines where I am every time, and there's no way to change it. This is especially annoying for the weather and maps apps (any). Maybe my place of residence is so strange, but I get thrown to Karelia, then to the Kola Peninsula, and I've even been to China recently. And everything would be fine if this were a bug only in the native Mac apps, but this geolocation is also transferred to Google and Yandex maps. I searched the forums, and I got the impression that problems with geolocation on Macs are almost a meme.
Battery
I didn't think I'd put this down as an annoying detail, but in the summer the battery goes crazy and the computer barely lasts 4 hours without charging. Maybe it's the temperature, maybe it's some kind of bug, but it's clearly working less on battery power. This mess started happening when the temperature rose to 23+ degrees. I checked the battery status and everything seemed to be OK. In general, this is pretty strange behavior for a device that was developed in sunny California.
Not for work use
In short, I'm enjoying it. Watching movies, YouTube, chatting is pure pleasure. The sound is top-notch, if you're switching from Windows, you'll enjoy it just like me. I started using my Lenovo exclusively for games and try not to turn it on unnecessarily. As a “family” laptop, it's a blast.
Subtotal
MacBook Air 8/256 on M2 is a good laptop to start with, but it is pointless to buy it now, because there is M3. If you work purely with office tasks and do not load it with design tasks, it is a good device. However, if we are talking about product design and working with the Adobe package, I suspect that it will not work – too little RAM.
I will continue to use it as a corporate laptop, but for personal use I will most likely buy a new Pro on M4 Pro or M3 Pro. Despite all the compromises, I will continue to get acquainted with the system, learn the tricks and learn how to work with MacOS correctly, because designing on a Mac is a pleasure.
