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13" MBA: Worth upgrading from 2012 to 2013?
- Thread starter dmk1974
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Decision was made for me...
My husband announced out of the blue that it was time to replace his 1000 pound 15" MBP of 4.5 years. This of course means he gets my 2012 MBA and I am typing this on the new one!
The 2012 MBA has the 2.0 Ivy bridge processor; the new one is upgraded to 1.7 Haswell. We've been playing the speed game and the new MBA is faster, not by much, but faster. Of course the difference my husband is experiencing from his old pro to the Air is unbelievable. He can't stop smiling.
And me, I'd rather have a new shiny Apple product to unbox rather than a shopping day at the mall buying shoes! It's been a great weekend.
My husband announced out of the blue that it was time to replace his 1000 pound 15" MBP of 4.5 years. This of course means he gets my 2012 MBA and I am typing this on the new one!
The 2012 MBA has the 2.0 Ivy bridge processor; the new one is upgraded to 1.7 Haswell. We've been playing the speed game and the new MBA is faster, not by much, but faster. Of course the difference my husband is experiencing from his old pro to the Air is unbelievable. He can't stop smiling.
And me, I'd rather have a new shiny Apple product to unbox rather than a shopping day at the mall buying shoes! It's been a great weekend.
If it still works, I dont see why you want to upgrade.
Laptops last way more than just 1 year.
Save your money and upgrade it when you actually need to.
Laptops last way more than just 1 year.
Save your money and upgrade it when you actually need to.
Hello,
I have the 13'' MBA with 1.7ghz i5 , 3000 intel graphic.
I love it and have it for about 2 years now.
Im thinking about a new one but not so sure.
The new 13 MBA have 1.3ghz cpu and I don't know if its strong enough.
Im a student and next year i will need to use solidworks.
I think that my MBA will work just fine with it (for this coures requirements, its only 1 semester, and don't think it will be very very complex 3ds).
If Ill go with the new one it will be the 13" with i5 and 8GB memory (now I have 4GB).
what do you think ?
And the reason I want to seal it its because I have 1 more 1 year warranty.
and its a good time for me to sell it for a good price and buy a new one with 3 years warranty.
I have the 13'' MBA with 1.7ghz i5 , 3000 intel graphic.
I love it and have it for about 2 years now.
Im thinking about a new one but not so sure.
The new 13 MBA have 1.3ghz cpu and I don't know if its strong enough.
Im a student and next year i will need to use solidworks.
I think that my MBA will work just fine with it (for this coures requirements, its only 1 semester, and don't think it will be very very complex 3ds).
If Ill go with the new one it will be the 13" with i5 and 8GB memory (now I have 4GB).
what do you think ?
And the reason I want to seal it its because I have 1 more 1 year warranty.
and its a good time for me to sell it for a good price and buy a new one with 3 years warranty.
what is so good with touch screen ? don't want or need one.
as I said, I happy with the one I have but if I can get a new one, will it be better ? don't know how good the 1.3 i5 compare to the 1.7 I have now.
I would estimate you get somewhere between 10-20% increase in CPU performance, and a huge increase in battery life as well of course. GPU performance I'm not so sure, but probably a lot more increase in performance (maybe 50-100%?)
Each to their own of course. Apple already has touch in iPad, iPod and the iPhone but not in their computers. It only reasonable to expect to see touch in airs sooner rather than later. However if this was to occur next year it could include more than just a speed bump and could also include a memory increase which would present a significant improvement over the current model.
i paid USD$40 to upgrade/downgrade from a 13" 2012 MBA 128/4/i5 to a 11" 2013 MBA 128/4/i5...
the feeling of using new laptop is great!!
----------
we will not see that in near future, touch screen laptop is just a hype with current technologies...
we already have touchscreen air a.k.a. iPad...
the feeling of using new laptop is great!!
----------
we will not see that in near future, touch screen laptop is just a hype with current technologies...
we already have touchscreen air a.k.a. iPad...
Well, I still haven't been able to sell my 2012 MBA 13 as I was hoping for $800 (ugahairydawgs appears to be right). I've had a few offers for up to $750 on CL though so I may take cash for that.
BB has the base 2013 version on sale for $999 so after the $100 EDU coupon and RZ certs earned, a shiny new 2013 MBA 13 base would cost a net of $910 after taxes. Only $160 to make the upgrade I guess (if sell 20120 for $750), or I can just hang onto the 2012 and even buy AppleCare for ~$180 online to extend the warranty for 2 additional years.
Thinking...
BB has the base 2013 version on sale for $999 so after the $100 EDU coupon and RZ certs earned, a shiny new 2013 MBA 13 base would cost a net of $910 after taxes. Only $160 to make the upgrade I guess (if sell 20120 for $750), or I can just hang onto the 2012 and even buy AppleCare for ~$180 online to extend the warranty for 2 additional years.
Thinking...
I would say no. Wait until either Retina display or at least 1080 Full HD screen is released. Sure, 1440x900 will suffice but you will feel crappy if, let's say, next year they release one with IGZO screen with retina display. The only improvements you've got are better battery life and iGPU. Stay with your current machine or upgrade to rMBP 13".
In my house, with the previous Time Capsule router using Comcast Xfinity cable, I get 55 Mbps DL/11Mbps UL rates. Would the newer ac router even help though? While newer tech, I don't see the benefit for me.
Also, with the current BB/edu deal, the upgrade from 2012 to 2013 MBA is now only about a $120-$150 net delta after selling the 2012.
Well, the file transfer rate is much faster than with 802.11n and the range I get on the 5GHz band is noticeably better especially between rooms (walls). The Beamforming tech is a big step up as well.
I would buy one of of these in a heartbeat, but they would probably have to keep the lower grade one also, for cost reasons, as these are positioned as such.
The problem (and for me it's substantial), is that once you use a retina for a while, your badly spoiled. This, although perhaps amusing, is probably a bad thing.
I admit to a surge of buyers remorse when I saw the specs for the 2013 MBAs. It looks like one darling of a computer
OTOH my 2012 has been going strong since last August and (at least for me) the improved battery life isn't enough of a reason to upgrade the hardware.... especially when OSX Maverick will be a considerably cheaper upgrade and also promises to improve real-world battery performance.
My 2012 is still meeting my needs, and that's good enough for me. YMMV, of course.
OTOH my 2012 has been going strong since last August and (at least for me) the improved battery life isn't enough of a reason to upgrade the hardware.... especially when OSX Maverick will be a considerably cheaper upgrade and also promises to improve real-world battery performance.
My 2012 is still meeting my needs, and that's good enough for me.
YMMV, of course.I considered upgrading from my 2012 base 13-inch Air but like the OP, I don't use my laptop outside of the home very much as I have an iPad for my limited mobile computing needs (basically, web browsing, Netflix, Kindle app for reading). I hope the next Air refresh has at the very least, a true 1080P display (if not Retina) along with the usual upgrades in Intel Graphics, etc. I didn't buy my 2012 Air until the November Black Friday sale on Amazon and only paid a little over $800.
This thread is sort of funny for me. I just bought (8 days old today) a 2012 Air that was built in April. Luv the thing. I bought it to replace an iPad, which I hated. My home computer is a souped up Mac Pro. Anyway, I compared the 2012 & 2013 Airs, and came to the conclusion that for what I wanted it for, the 2012 was just fine - Happy with my choice.
Lou
Lou
How did I miss your post from last year!
Aww shucks... somehow I missed your proposal! What a compliment. If I may brag, We jumped into the whole "home theatre/crazy awesome sound system in every room of the house" craze when it first came out. All the techs that came out routinely to upgrade our system used to say the same thing you did!
You have to marry someone who loves the same stuff you do. But not to change the subject... I wonder what new stuff is coming out at the next big Keynote?? If the Airs are going to have Retina or some new fangled awesome feature I'm going to need a Support Group!
I'd marry you if you weren't already married
Aww shucks... somehow I missed your proposal! What a compliment. If I may brag, We jumped into the whole "home theatre/crazy awesome sound system in every room of the house" craze when it first came out. All the techs that came out routinely to upgrade our system used to say the same thing you did!
You have to marry someone who loves the same stuff you do. But not to change the subject... I wonder what new stuff is coming out at the next big Keynote?? If the Airs are going to have Retina or some new fangled awesome feature I'm going to need a Support Group!
I'd wait for the rumoured 12" 2014 Air with a Retina Display. I'm also hoping the 2014 12" model has an HDMI port too.