Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Get 13" MacBook air now or wait?

M

mathiasfre

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 21, 2013
2
0
Apple has recently cut the price on most MacBooks and I have considered getting a new one for a long time. Right now I have the 13 " pro from 2010, but I love the look and feel of the Air. Should I get it now with the cheap price or wait till the new ones come out, probably in the summer with retina display. My requirements are good battery life, portability and I am playing some light games like counter strike and football manager. I will probably throw some extra ram in it anyway (8 Gb). What are your opinions?

Thanks
 
B

burnout8488

macrumors 6502a
May 8, 2011
575
79
Endwell, NY
MacBook Air prices from Apple haven't dropped. Also, you can't upgrade the ram, it's soldered on. Buy a higher-spec model to get more ram.

There's a chance they'll get a spec bump sometime before the Haswell 2013 refresh later in the year, but I don't believe the price will go down. $999 for the 11" is their bottom line, and always has been for laptops.

BestBuy recently had a $200-off sale on MBAs, however. Look for sales, I don't think that will be the last time they go on sale. I got my base 13" for $1079 after tax.
 
KylePowers

KylePowers

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2011
1,688
197
If you plan on gaming, even if it's light, I'd recommend just waiting for Haswell. GPU improvements are supposed to be quite impressive.

But, we probably won't see any Haswell updates (from Apple at least), until late summer/Fall... so it could be a long wait =\
 
xShane

xShane

macrumors 6502a
Nov 2, 2012
814
37
United States
mathiasfre said:
Apple has recently cut the price on most MacBooks and I have considered getting a new one for a long time. Right now I have the 13 " pro from 2010, but I love the look and feel of the Air. Should I get it now with the cheap price or wait till the new ones come out, probably in the summer with retina display. My requirements are good battery life, portability and I am playing some light games like counter strike and football manager. I will probably throw some extra ram in it anyway (8 Gb). What are your opinions?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Unless you need it now, then wait.
 
M

mathiasfre

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 21, 2013
2
0
burnout8488 said:
MacBook Air prices from Apple haven't dropped. Also, you can't upgrade the ram, it's soldered on. Buy a higher-spec model to get more ram.

There's a chance they'll get a spec bump sometime before the Haswell 2013 refresh later in the year, but I don't believe the price will go down. $999 for the 11" is their bottom line, and always has been for laptops.

BestBuy recently had a $200-off sale on MBAs, however. Look for sales, I don't think that will be the last time they go on sale. I got my base 13" for $1079 after tax.
Click to expand...
On Apple online store you Can customize your computer and put 4 more GB of ram in it
 
H

Hungry&Foolish

Suspended
Mar 29, 2012
461
2
Check the refurbished.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2013-02-22 at 5.06.27 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2013-02-22 at 5.06.27 AM.png
    94.3 KB · Views: 122
chrisrosemusic1

chrisrosemusic1

macrumors 6502a
Jan 31, 2012
696
21
Northamptonshire, England
If you need it now then buy one and if you can wait another 6 months see what the summer refresh brings.

Haswell GPU's will have improvements but the CPU boost is likely to be 10% or less.

Counter Strike runs just fine on a HD4000 so you won't need any better.
 
B

burnout8488

macrumors 6502a
May 8, 2011
575
79
Endwell, NY
mathiasfre said:
On Apple online store you Can customize your computer and put 4 more GB of ram in it
Click to expand...

Read the beginning paragraph of my post again :D

And yes, light and even medium heavy gaming (just don't max the quality settings) should work great on HD4000. It's really quite decent for integrated graphics.
 
R

Rileh

macrumors newbie
Feb 19, 2013
11
0
I would buy the current model now as it will be significantly cheaper than whatever is announced next sacrificing only a small performance boost.
 
elppa

elppa

macrumors 68040
Nov 26, 2003
3,233
151
The general rule: if you are asking, that means you should wait. As others have indicated akthough Haswell won't have greatly improved CPU performance the GPU will be greatly improved. And there will be battery life improvements as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom