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Was this a good buy? Looking for fellow fanboy feedback

christophermc

christophermc

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 29, 2010
46
0
Dublin, Ca
So I just picked up the mid 2009 13" 1.8Ghz MacBook Air with a 120GB HDD for $949..

This one: http://support.apple.com/kb/SP548

I couldnt justify paying $999 for 11" air with a smaller screen and less hard drive space.. I really like this one and it has a nice backlit keyboard. The original price was $1499, so it was a great deal at Fry's for $949.

Would you have done the same thing? I guess I am wondering if I made the right choice since it's a gen behind, but it still is so sexy and nice to me atleast. Would like some feedback tho :)

Or if anyone has this same model of the air, how do you like it?

UPDATE: So after the experience of this thread, I leave you all with this closing message: I'm actually quite proud of myself for suppressing my obsessive need to own the latest gadget, and actually buying the one that made logical sense for me. Plus when the new Airs come out you will all be looking at the ones you just bought and not look at it the same. I just braced myself and got it over with now, and realized, hey its still a great computer. Idk just my 2 cents to the other fanboys/girls, I think we forget what really matters sometimes just cuz we wanna have the newest toy SJ announced;p
 
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I don't think I would have. It has HD which is ridiculously slow (4200rpm). For 350$ more, you would have gotten an SSD, multitouch trackpad, 2 USBs, hi res screen and all that fancy stuff. For couple hundreds less I might have bought it but not for 949$.

Just my opinion though. I ordered my 13" puppy like 15 mins ago :D
 
As long as you are happy that's all that matters. But personally I wouldn't even think of doing it.

11" MBA, smaller screen physically but more pixels (1366x768 vs. 1280x800), faster speed in all benchmarks even though the CPU is slower frequency, more portable, lighter. For an extra $200 you can get the same storage also but as a flash drive instead of very slow HD.

But in the end, if you are happy with it that's all you should care about.
 
Hellhammer said:
I don't think I would have. It has HD which is ridiculously slow (4200rpm). For 350$ more, you would have gotten an SSD, multitouch trackpad, 2 USBs, hi res screen and all that fancy stuff. For couple hundreds less I might have bought it but not for 949$.

Just my opinion though. I ordered my 13" puppy like 15 mins ago :D
Click to expand...

Hrm calling the hard drive ridiculously slow is kinda stretching.. I mean come on basically every other macbook uses a hdd.. I really didn't notice any speed difference between the two, I had them side by side..

The benefit of the SSD was it offered speed improvment on opening apps simultaneously, serious speed improvment when they opened 17 apps at once, but on the second time due to Leopards aggressive caching the HDD performed nearly as fast as the SSD the second time around..

And I'm not gonna be launching 17 apps at once ever really.. Idk, SSD just kinda seems overrated to me. I don't think it would actually make a real life difference to justify like $300 more for a smaller screen and pathetic size hard drive. I can bear the extra 2 seconds of start up time from sleep, it's cool. Just me :D
 
If you're happy thats all that matters but if it was me i'd return it asap. Either save up the cash up the cash for the 13 inch or get the 11 inch instead. Both are much faster than that machine.
 
I'm with HellHammer on this one. Mainly because of the HD––if you could've gotten one with the 128 SSD for around the same price, that would've been the way to go. However, it depends, as always, on your needs and uses. One big plus (or small plus to some) at least you'll be getting a Back-lit keyboard!
 
christophermc said:
And I'm not gonna be launching 17 apps at once ever really.. Idk, SSD just kinda seems overrated to me. I don't think it would actually make a real life difference to justify like $300 more for a smaller screen and pathetic size hard drive. I can bear the extra 2 seconds of start up time from sleep, it's cool. Just me :D
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Extra 300$ is for 13". It's your money though but I wouldn't have bought it for that price. If you're happy with it, that's all what matters
 
As the other poster said, if you think it's a good buy that's all that matters but who knows how long you'll think it's a good buy. While the older MBA may still look sexy it'll become all hot and slow if you try to watch any videos.

If you never watch any videos and do light browsing and check email, then maybe you'll remain happy with the machine. I personally went from that MBA to both the new 11" and 13" and the difference is like night and day. My 2 cents is you'd have been better off spending some more money.
 
Well I can rest easy knowing someone paid $1500 for this computer before me, hah

I like it, I guess thats what matters, I didn't have enough for the new 13" air.. But this one seems really nice, much better than buying the white macbook for $999 which was my other option, because I can't do smaller than 13" :\
 
christophermc said:
This one was new sealed in box, idk I kinda would rather pay the extra $100 to get brand new vs. refurb lol
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Fair enough, however you did ask for our opinions. :). If you're happy with your purchase then our opinions don't matter.
 
HLdan said:
Fair enough, however you did ask for our opinions. :). If you're happy with your purchase then our opinions don't matter.
Click to expand...

I kno I just didn't think everyone was gonna hate on my decision lol.. I guess I was refuting what you said to make myself feel better since everyone is like bwah you did something dumb. ;p
 
WORTH NOTING: I got the Fry's 2 year warranty (they are legit, my buddy had a macbook replaced with them before) and the guy reassured me that since the parts for this macbook will no longer be made, and they only use Apple brand parts, if anything goes wrong in 2 years and it needs to be replaced, they will replace it with the newer model.

And 2 years is a long time, so if something fails at least I get the new air :D
 
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No one's hatin'. Believe me, I wrestled with the decision to go for a previous gen on clearance or the new model for 2 weeks before caving on the new one. Still do miss that B-L keyboard though. You've still got a good machine, and yes far better option IMO than the white plastic MB. Enjoy it!
 
HLdan said:
Fair enough, however you did ask for our opinions. :). If you're happy with your purchase then our opinions don't matter.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that was what I was thinking, too. If the OP is happy, what difference does what we think of his deal make? He did invite dissenting opinions, though, so he brought on himself the opinions that he didn't get a very good deal. In the OP's defense, though, I didn't think he used the word "fanboy" pejoratively, After all, he called himself a fanboy, too.:)
 
Well, I've had both. I had a 1.8 Rev 'B' with the 120GB HDD; I finally gave up in disgust - too many beach balls - and sold it on this past summer.

I now have the 1.6GHz 13" with the 128GB SSD and the performance is like night and day.

I'm with the majority of the responders here ... send it back and either buy the 11" - with which I'm frankly in love - or save up the money for the current generation 13".
 
I guess my air and I will always share a love for each other you guys will never understand :D

air.JPG
 
AppleGoddess said:
You got burned the old MBA were lets say Junk.
The new ones are what they were meant to be.
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I agree that obviously it is slightly slower in some places (I mean what are we talking about here honestly, adding an extra 10 minutes of computing time MAX added up through the day? I noticed absolutely no speed difference doing normal things that I would use it for between this and the SSD air in the store, and this comp is deff way faster than my previous 2008 white macbook) But to say it's junk? Idk. Not cool. It is a nice machine, just because the new air's have some improvements does not make this one junk. Have you used one? I haven't noticed anything wrong with it.. But I've only had it for a day or two..
 
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AppleGoddess said:
You got burned the old MBA were lets say Junk.
The new ones are what they were meant to be.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say the old ones were junk. My Rev B gave me two years of very good service and I sold it for a decent price. Granted, I had the SSD model (which, while slower than the current generation, was still faster than the HD model). It was fine for everyday OS X tasks and Boot Camp usage. Where it struggled were virtualization and having more than 2 or 3 applications open.

I think if the OP had gotten an SSD model at that price it would have been a good deal. Depending on the value of the warranty, even the HD version may be a decent deal.
 
MBA HDDs are beyond slow, and between the old backlit keyboard and new glass multitouch trackpad, I'd take the new trackpad anyday. Never liked the single button Mac trackpads. But if it rocks your boat, enjoy it. :apple:
 
christophermc said:
I guess my air and I will always share a love for each other you guys will never understand :D
Click to expand...
If you're happy, feel free to ignore the opinions questioning the wisdom of your purchase of a 2009 MBA, including mine, which follows.

I think the $999 entry level 11 inch, which has a 1.4Ghz C2D processor, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of flash storage is a remarkable bargain. Although it does have a smaller screen and less storage capacity than the discontinued 13 inch, which you bought, those weaknesses are more than made up for by the 11 inch MBA's higher screen resolution, remarkable compactness and light weight, and most of all by its flash storage.

Flash storage is a game changer, one of the most significant leaps forward in computer design I have seen in the the past 30 years. Thanks to the solid state technology of flash storage, applications load far faster and run faster than they do with a conventional hard drive of the sort contained in your MBA.

You would be doing yourself a favor by returning the old MBA and buying one of the new 11 inch models for the same price you paid for a discontinued model. You wouldn't regret it.
 
You could have gotten a refurb with full warranty from Mac store, 1.86 GHZ processor and solid state drive for $849, so it seems to me you were hosed. But as PT Barnum said ....
 
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