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Frosteric901

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 23, 2014
29
0
so is it worth while getting a 2014 macbook air or waiting for the refresh in 2015 and the so called "rumoured" retina display airs?
basically the macbook air will be my secondary computer for uni as i already have a 2014 rMBP 15" and iPad air 2. i mean the 2014 airs looks like an amazing machine for what they are, but i know the retina display does make a huge difference. there also the possibility that these new retina airs might have decreased battery life. so confused what to do haha. help?
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
If there's a need for you get a MBA now, then by all means, otherwise you may possibly wait until 2nd Qtr of 2015. As for retina display, so far its just speculation. Apple may and may not do a retina display on the MBA
 

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
so is it worth while getting a 2014 macbook air or waiting for the refresh in 2015 and the so called "rumoured" retina display airs?
basically the macbook air will be my secondary computer for uni as i already have a 2014 rMBP 15" and iPad air 2. i mean the 2014 airs looks like an amazing machine for what they are, but i know the retina display does make a huge difference. there also the possibility that these new retina airs might have decreased battery life. so confused what to do haha. help?

Who knows what Apple will do or when.

Eventually Apple will put retina displays in the Airs. Nobody knows if that will be next month or 3 years from now.

There have been strong rumors that retina MBAs are just around the corner for the last year and a half. Imagine the guy who asked for advice 1.5 years ago and everybody told him to wait. Now he's frustrated and he could have spent that time using a nice new laptop.
 

AustinIllini

macrumors G5
Oct 20, 2011
12,682
10,517
Austin, TX
If there's a need for you get a MBA now, then by all means, otherwise you may possibly wait until 2nd Qtr of 2015. As for retina display, so far its just speculation. Apple may and may not do a retina display on the MBA

We should tag each "should I buy" with this statement.

If there is a need, the answer is yes. Otherwise, everything is speculative.
 

Investor27

macrumors regular
Mar 8, 2012
200
98
It's always a good time to get a MacBook Air. I love mine!

Why wait? You can enjoy your Macbook Air now. It's cheaper. It still has that amazing Apple click touch pad, great battery life, and is 13". The next MB Air may or may not have the Retina display. If it does, the battery life will suffer significantly (well, by a couple of hours). Apple may choose to wait until the 4th quarter to release a Retina Macbook Air with the newer Intel Skylake chip, which is even more energy efficient than Broadwell. The Skylake chip will have wireless charging. If you don't have a need for a Macbook Air right now, you should wait until the end of 2015, but you'll be losing out on another year without a Macbook.
 

Dweez

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2011
1,248
10
Down by the river
This question seems to come up almost weekly. The correct answer is as maflynn stated - if you want/need it now, get it now. If you don't, then wait to see what the next revision may hold in store.

My mid 2013 MBA is a stellar performer, doing exactly the job I purchased it for and has never let me down. However I'm not one of the "I need the newest & latest & greatest" type, instead preferring to wait until the bugs are worked out of a product before I take the plunge.
 

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,687
4,570
New Jersey Pine Barrens
basically the macbook air will be my secondary computer for uni as i already have a 2014 rMBP 15" and iPad air 2.

Admittedly, I'm an old f@rt…. but do you really need two expensive laptop computers as a student? I understand that you *want* a MBA, but do you *need* one? Couldn't you put that money to better use?

Just a thought….
 

grumplekey

macrumors newbie
Aug 17, 2013
9
0
Admittedly, I'm an old f@rt…. but do you really need two expensive laptop computers as a student? I understand that you *want* a MBA, but do you *need* one? Couldn't you put that money to better use?

Just a thought….

I'm 22 and i'm thinking the same thing. That money can be invested, saved, or used to buy more important things...
 

Serban

Suspended
Jan 8, 2013
5,159
928
if it will be the secondary computer...than buy the next macbook air
buy 10 more laptops if makes you happy...life is short and old f@art should know such thing
money are just money so do whatever makes you happy...not only what you need
for example i have a 5k imac and a 15" haswell macbook pro and so on, only the imac i am using for a long period of time, but it is nice to have an apple laptop when i am traveling.
 

Serban

Suspended
Jan 8, 2013
5,159
928
he doesnt need because he already have another macbook..so we already know that a new macbook air will be next year and 100% will be slimmer and lighter with retina but it will have 10h usage instead of 12h
 

AFEPPL

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2014
2,644
1,571
England
If you have a 2014 MBP why not just use that?
What advantage do you believe the Air will bring that you don't have with the pro?
 

entropi

macrumors 6502a
May 20, 2008
583
384
you should have bought it when you could run 10.9 on it, now you could wait for the retina mba with the retina graphics optimized yosemite (which might even be a less buggy in 2015... in may perhaps?)
 

mtneer

macrumors 68040
Sep 15, 2012
3,179
2,714
You obviously have the money to buy 2 laptops as a student. So making the "optimum" purchase decision can be less important to you. If Apple releases a magnificent retina Air next week, you can go and replace/ buy that Air.

If you have to optimize, then consider moving to a single 13" machine as many others have recommended. That would be a far better optimization choice.
 
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