Buy now at good price or wait for new MacBook Air

[syrcular]

Hi all,

I apologize if this has been covered, but I was not able to find any definitive thoughts on this.

I recently took advantage of the sale price of a MacBook Air Mid 2012 1.8GHz i5 with 256GB Flash Storage for $1299 at Best Buy. It was on sale as it's regular price is $1399.
I literally bought the last of this model in the LA area, and am starting to hear ramblings of the new MacBook Airs on the horizon for WWDC.
I bought this machine as a internet, word doc, occasional light photo organizing, machine for basic needs, and to have a very portable computer I could use around the house, and on the go, in addition to my main machine which is a top of the line MacBook Pro which for the most part stays stationary at my office and does all the power housing.

So I bought this machine more for the portably and value being that it was on sale and performance was not a top priority since I have another machine that facilitates that.

However with the new machines around the corner...should I have waited for the new Airs to arrive? I could still return this one and get my money back and wait, however I heard besides the process speeds, the new airs probably won't be too significant of a boost to what I have now, which is the 1.8GHz i5 with 4GB RAM and 256GB Flash Storage.
Again for basic consumer level use. Should I return this thing and wait or did I make a good buy?

Would love your opinions. Thanks!

 

[Laco]

Hi all,

I apologize if this has been covered, but I was not able to find any definitive thoughts on this.

I recently took advantage of the sale price of a MacBook Air Mid 2012 1.8GHz i5 with 256GB Flash Storage for $1299 at Best Buy. It was on sale as it's regular price is $1399.
I literally bought the last of this model in the LA area, and am starting to hear ramblings of the new MacBook Airs on the horizon for WWDC.
I bought this machine as a internet, word doc, occasional light photo organizing, machine for basic needs, and to have a very portable computer I could use around the house, and on the go, in addition to my main machine which is a top of the line MacBook Pro which for the most part stays stationary at my office and does all the power housing.

So I bought this machine more for the portably and value being that it was on sale and performance was not a top priority since I have another machine that facilitates that.

However with the new machines around the corner...should I have waited for the new Airs to arrive? I could still return this one and get my money back and wait, however I heard besides the process speeds, the new airs probably won't be too significant of a boost to what I have now, which is the 1.8GHz i5 with 4GB RAM and 256GB Flash Storage.
Again for basic consumer level use. Should I return this thing and wait or did I make a good buy?

Would love your opinions. Thanks!

Personally, I would return it. Usually I don't think it is a good idea to wait but since it is so close to an EXPECTED update and you don't seem to "need" it right now I would wait. Besides a 100 dollars off is not an amazing deal.

 

[tooobe]

The new theoretical Macbook Air should have a Intel Haswell CPU which is 15W instead of the current 17W if i'm not mistaken. It should also have a significantly more powerful integrated GPU. All this should equate to either a lot more performance at the same power consumption/battery life OR similar performance as the current specs with a lot longer battery life and less heat generated. Either way, it's going to be a pretty big deal in terms of an upgrade.

 

[Scrub175]

The new theoretical Macbook Air should have a Intel Haswell CPU which is 15W instead of the current 17W if i'm not mistaken. It should also have a significantly more powerful integrated GPU. All this should equate to either a lot more performance at the same power consumption/battery life OR similar performance as the current specs with a lot longer battery life and less heat generated. Either way, it's going to be a pretty big deal in terms of an upgrade.

All this. This new product cycle could be significant for the Air line.

 

[Mrbobb]

I literally bought the last of this model in the LA p

Is that what the salesman told u?

For what u need, what u currently have is more than enough. U could had gone for a 2011 and even that can do the job.

So new one around the corner, plan for 20% performance increase.

Heck if u don't need it right away, once the new one comes, 2012 models should drop$.

 

[syrcular]

It wasnt necessarily what the salesperson told me, but I when I was checking stock of where I could by the specific model I wanted, almost all the stores in the area were out of stock, and Amazon had 4-5 week wait listed on their site.

I think you're absolutely right from a current performance stand point, for what I need this particular machine to do, which is be my "consumer" read email, watch occasional web videos, surf the internet, work on documents, edit photos in Lightroom...all seem to work pretty speedily on this machine so far, from what I can see. I'm actually using this as almost a replacement to my iPad, which currently sit on my nightstand collecting dust.

But from an invest stand point I was curious if waiting and getting the latest and greatest MacBook Air in June, would be a better investment since it's so close to release.

But either way...you are right...even a 2011 machine would probably work just fine for my needs. I have a maxed out MacBook Pro which is currently my power house machine, and handles all my heavy lifting....

But I'm still open to thoughts, as I'm still in the window of being able to return it, if needed....just trying to make the best investment decision on this recent purchase...

 

[Isamilis]

Return it and wait for the new 2013. You will not lose opportunity to get the cheap 2012 version (because they will get cheaper later) and you still have opportunity to consider the new 2013 (new features vs its full price).

It wasnt necessarily what the salesperson told me, but I when I was checking stock of where I could by the specific model I wanted, almost all the stores in the area were out of stock, and Amazon had 4-5 week wait listed on their site.

I think you're absolutely right from a current performance stand point, for what I need this particular machine to do, which is be my "consumer" read email, watch occasional web videos, surf the internet, work on documents, edit photos in Lightroom...all seem to work pretty speedily on this machine so far, from what I can see. I'm actually using this as almost a replacement to my iPad, which currently sit on my nightstand collecting dust.

But from an invest stand point I was curious if waiting and getting the latest and greatest MacBook Air in June, would be a better investment since it's so close to release.

But either way...you are right...even a 2011 machine would probably work just fine for my needs. I have a maxed out MacBook Pro which is currently my power house machine, and handles all my heavy lifting....

But I'm still open to thoughts, as I'm still in the window of being able to return it, if needed....just trying to make the best investment decision on this recent purchase...

 

[racer1441]

Is that what the salesman told u?

For what u need, what u currently have is more than enough. U could had gone for a 2011 and even that can do the job.

So new one around the corner, plan for 20% performance increase.

Heck if u don't need it right away, once the new one comes, 2012 models should drop$.

you not u

 

[LeeM]

dont you know any students? you'll get more than $100 discount with their discount. return it

 

[Bear]

If you can catch it on the refurbished store, you would save between $200 and $300 for that model. If you don't need the computer now, return it if you want and wait.

 

[Badrottie]

do you need a retina display? if so then return it back.

 

[Grove86]

do you need a retina display? if so then return it back.

Is retina display even coming to MBA? Also is the design expected to be refreshed or just the spec? Just wondering.

 

[DisplacedMic]

Is retina display even coming to MBA? Also is the design expected to be refreshed or just the spec? Just wondering.

nobody knows, but i imagine the consensus is that no - it's very unlikely that retina is coming to the MBA.

 

[tooobe]

The new theoretical Macbook Air should have a Intel Haswell CPU which is 15W instead of the current 17W if i'm not mistaken. It should also have a significantly more powerful integrated GPU. All this should equate to either a lot more performance at the same power consumption/battery life OR similar performance as the current specs with a lot longer battery life and less heat generated. Either way, it's going to be a pretty big deal in terms of an upgrade.

Could my prediction have been any more correct?

 

[mattferg]

Could my prediction have been any more correct?

Not really a prediction - it was fairly obvious the new Air would be like that as we all knew that those were the characteristics of Haswell.

Unless you called out the price drop and the dual mics, your comment was nothing impressive, sorry.

 

[DisplacedMic]

Could my prediction have been any more correct?

....or more what most people were saying?