When do you decide/justify upgrading Airs?

robdrj45 said:

Coming from the Windows PC world with its endless software/security updates, disk defragmentation and virus scans, which all waste time and slow performance, the Air just plain works.

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That's the story with Mac vs Windows since the beginning of time. Hence the reason i switched my home computing to Mac in 1998.

Ray2 said:

https://www.macrumors.com/2014/05/02/2014-macbook-airs-slow-storage/

One of many similar reports. To reduce cost to hold down the price probably.

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This report compares the 2013 and 2014 models (which both use PCIe by the way). Between 2010 and 2014 the SSD technology has quite advanced a bit and I really doubt that Apple made the change from SATA to PCIe and as a result decreased the performance. Doesn't make sense.

Ray2 said:

https://www.macrumors.com/2014/05/02/2014-macbook-airs-slow-storage/

One of many similar reports. To reduce cost to hold down the price probably.

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That Report is FOS. They neglected to mention, or just didn't know that Apple uses 3 manufacturers for their SSDs, and some OEMs supply faster SSDs than others.

Lou

I use my computers for about 5 to 6 years. I just don't really do enough to justify a new one even though they are tempting. My Applecare is about to run out on my Air that I bought in 2011 so I went to the store this past weekend to get it checked out and nothing was wrong and my battery is still at 93%. That being said, my next laptop will be a MBP. The retina display is great and I want a 15" screen instead of a 13".

slipper said:

That's the story with Mac vs Windows since the beginning of time. Hence the reason i switched my home computing to Mac in 1998.

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I certainly have no plans for going back. My last Windows laptop was an older machine (a 2006 model, IIRC), and running a routine virus scan (which took a long time) or getting updates would slow the thing to an absolute crawl. Basically, I couldn't use it till it was through. And the restarts..a million required restarts. It became such a pita. I spent almost as much time maintaing the machine as using it. It wasn't too bad when I first got it, but got worse as time went on. The machine got older/more tired and the maintenance requirements increased.

When I first got the Air, I couldn't believe how user friendly it was. As I said before, it just plain works. Very little maintenance, just the occasional update. Two years later, the Air runs like the day I got it. And the SSD, light years ahead of the my old machine's HDD. The whole experience is just better.

Boyd01 said:

Using your own math, you won't be ready to upgrade until 2016 or 2017. How could you possibly know what the choices will be then?

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Lol. True. Apple will have to convince me before that then.

I start considering an upgrade when any of the three items below are true

• Warentee expiring
• Machine no longer meets needs or productivity impacted
• New model offers some benefit worth the upgrade

At the moment I'm looking primarily for more storage so weighing an SSD upgrade for maybe an extra years life against a new machine with additional benefits that I'll likely get 2-3 years out of.

I'm balancing the size/weight, display quality/size, performance, ports, and battery life. Will likely be one of:

• 11" MBA maxed out - more storage, performance, battery life in same package
• 13" rMBP - more storage, battery life and a lot more performance and display quality, few more ports in a package 25% larger and 50% heavier
• 12" rMBA - more storage, performance, display, battery life, in slightly larger package

Boyd01 said:

How do you know all these things about a product that doesn't even exist yet?

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I absolutely don't know. These are at best educated guesses. And no one will really know until at least the product announcement. But given Apples track record they usually don't make a "worse" product and current offerings all exceed my older machine so its a reasonable assumption that the new one should as well.

If it does, (and is offered soon enough) that is my likely purchase. But if it isn't all those things I won't buy it and will buy something else from the existing lineup that meets my needs.

Given intel's ongoing processor delays, I'll likely end up with a 2014 11" MBA but who knows.

personally i'd wait for broadwell to arrive alongside retina displays

if you own an air (2010 or up), i dont see any reason to upgrade just now

macines said:

personally i'd wait for broadwell to arrive alongside retina displays

if you own an air (2010 or up), i dont see any reason to upgrade just now

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IMO, this is pretty sound advice. Although I find the upgrade from my 2010 ultimate 11" to my 2013 13" ultimate to be quite noticeable, if you are waiting for an rAir, probably best to wait for the next processor upgrade.

I'm still loving my late-2010 MBA 13". I'll upgrade when I need capabilities my current model just doesn't have, which probably won't be anytime soon.

I have a 2012 Air right now. It's great. I've had it for a little over two years and I don't expect to upgrade any time soon because it does exactly what I need it to. Once the battery can't hold a charge, I'll probably upgrade. Rather than pay $129 to fix an old computer, I'd rather put it toward a new one. The current Airs get much better battery life anyway.

I expect I can get at least another two years out of this laptop before it's time to move on. By the time this battery dies, I'm sure there will be a ton of other cool new reasons to upgrade as well (like a Retina Display!)

I dont upgrade until there is a new form-factor I am after. Think about it this way. Sure, hardware improves every year, but is the software increasing the hardware load? Nope. There really is only a need to upgrade a new laptop when the software demands it.

Unless you are after the form factor change, which does not happen until like 5 years?