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2013 Refurbished MBA 11.6"

Wicked1

Wicked1

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 13, 2009
3,283
14
New Jersey
So I am going to sell my 2013 13" MBP 2.5 with 4gb/240gb SSD and getting a 2013 Refurb 11.6" MBA Ultimate with 1.7 and 8gb\512gb

Are there still issues with the WiFi on these machines or have those issues been corrected?

Does anyone make a SSD bigger than 512GB that Apple sells? I am looking to lighten my load and just use the 11 MBA as a primary machine going forward.
 
B

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
The SSDs required for the Macs that use PCIe SSDs are not readily available yet and tend to be quite expensive.

The rMBPs do have a 1 TB option.
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,687
4,570
New Jersey Pine Barrens
I sold my 2011 13" MBA and got the same model 2013" 11" MBA that you're considering. Best thing I ever did. I love this little computer. In the process of ripping my huge DVD collection and have 70 full length movies on the MBA now with about 250gb still free. It's my primary computer and I use it at home with a big screen and external keyboard. I run Final Cut Pro and Logic pro and they are great.

I would love a 1TB drive myself - there's another thread on this topic. Not available yet, but perhaps Apple will offer it in the future. I would pay the premium. So far there are no third party SSD's of any size for the 2013 MBA (AFAIK). There was a thread here where somebody wanted to put the 1TB SSD from a MBP into their MBA. There wasn't any clear answer as to whether this would even work.

Have never had a wifi issue. Have been running around NYC for the past couple weeks and it connects to wifi everywhere with no problem. I think the 2013 wifi issues were not all that widespread and have probably been addressed by now since there haven't been many posts here recently.
 
Wicked1

Wicked1

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 13, 2009
3,283
14
New Jersey
Boyd01 said:
I sold my 2011 13" MBA and got the same model 2013" 11" MBA that you're considering. Best thing I ever did. I love this little computer. In the process of ripping my huge DVD collection and have 70 full length movies on the MBA now with about 250gb still free. It's my primary computer and I use it at home with a big screen and external keyboard. I run Final Cut Pro and Logic pro and they are great.

I would love a 1TB drive myself - there's another thread on this topic. Not available yet, but perhaps Apple will offer it in the future. I would pay the premium. So far there are no third party SSD's of any size for the 2013 MBA (AFAIK). There was a thread here where somebody wanted to put the 1TB SSD from a MBP into their MBA. There wasn't any clear answer as to whether this would even work.

Have never had a wifi issue. Have been running around NYC for the past couple weeks and it connects to wifi everywhere with no problem. I think the 2013 wifi issues were not all that widespread and have probably been addressed by now since there haven't been many posts here recently.
Click to expand...



Good to know, I started with the 15" MBP's but they are too big and heavy and like you when I need to connect to something, I use my Apple TV and connect to my TV in the living room or 24 TV on my desk. i think this little thing will perform well, I just prefer to the get the 11 Ultimate since I plan on keeping it for several years, and will get AppleCare as well. I can live with the 8gb512gb because I use an external drive for iTunes, just was curious if anyone came out with a 1TB drive, however the ram is soldered but the SSD will be upgradeable right? I think the new machines have swappable SSD's they are not soldered if I remember correctly.

Thanks for the info I am set on getting one now and selling my 2013 13" MBP as I ripped my library already all 1100 movies and do not need a superdrive, never use media anymore anyway
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,687
4,570
New Jersey Pine Barrens
The economics of bigger MBA SSD's hasn't been so great in the past. I had a 256 on my old MBA (biggest available from Apple in 2011) and OWC had a replacement 480GB drive. The OWC SSD cost about $1000 when I first got my 2011 machine, think it dropped to about $700 when I sold it last summer.

It didn't make sense to upgrade the 2011 machine at that point, so I got the 2013 with the 512gb drive. Two or three years from now, I suspect the same will be true for 1TB SSD's.
 
S

savetheunstable

macrumors newbie
Nov 1, 2013
18
0
Portland, OR
I got the exact same, Ultimate 11 refurb. I have had 0 issues, with WiFi or anything else. I am still on OS X though.

Wicked1 said:
So I am going to sell my 2013 13" MBP 2.5 with 4gb/240gb SSD and getting a 2013 Refurb 11.6" MBA Ultimate with 1.7 and 8gb\512gb

Are there still issues with the WiFi on these machines or have those issues been corrected?

Does anyone make a SSD bigger than 512GB that Apple sells? I am looking to lighten my load and just use the 11 MBA as a primary machine going forward.
Click to expand...
 
Boyd01

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,687
4,570
New Jersey Pine Barrens
Kind of thought that was what you meant. :) I am also running 10.8. I have a lot of old software that would be too expensive to replace, and each time I upgrade it's a bit of a crapshoot. Since it ain't broke now, I ain't gonna fix it!

The wifi problems were reported last summer right after the 2013 MBA was released. 10.8 was pre-installed on those machines, Mavericks was not yet available.
 
Wicked1

Wicked1

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 13, 2009
3,283
14
New Jersey
Interesting I went to the Apple store and used one of the 11' units with the 1.3 and 4GB/256GB and it seems fine for what I will be doing, so I think I will save nearly $300 and go for a refurbished unit.


Is the Applecare worth it on the MBA's I never bought it on any other 13 MBP's I have purchased and they all seem to work well as I take really good care of my machines.
 
alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
For portables that get moved around, I think it's worth it to get AppleCare. For all the iMacs I've owned, I've used AppleCare zero times to the point where I'm wondering why I even bother. Honestly it's a gamble you'll have to make; sometimes it just has nothing to do with how well you take care of your computer.

For my Mac Pro, I bought AppleCare, didn't use it at all except one week before it would have expired and everything failed (both CPUs, power supply, and motherboard). The repair order was for something like $5000. :eek:

Check B&H, they usually have it much cheaper (so don't buy AppleCare from Apple).

There is also something else. You could always buy it now, but never register it until you need it. Apple lets you register AppleCare for your out of warranty computer if you bought AppleCare when the computer was in warranty (though I'm not sure if this applies to only AppleCare bought directly from Apple or not).


Anyways refurbished I've heard is a good deal from all the people I know that have bought one from Apple. Personally I have no experience since I buy my stuff directly from the retail store.
 
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