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2011 13" Macbook Air is Dead...Apple is Offering a Replacement..Please Help me Decide

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majkom said:
For god sake, why do you want to pay for i7? even upgrading ram to 8 gigs does not make sense with your usage...
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I might be given $1300 to spend instead of $1000

If that is the case I might as well get my money's worth and upgrade the Ram and processor especially since I barely use half of my current 128GB SSD.

Why would I upgrade the HD if I dont use more than 50-60 GB at one time?

That leaves me with $90 upgrade for Ram, $140 for processor = $230 + $183 Apple Care would basically mean I would pay roughly $100 for a fully loaded MBA which would work in my benefit in case I decide to resell it in the future.

If I am only given $1000 of credit I plan on just upgrading the ram and adding Apple Care.
 
stfwayne said:
I might be given $1300 to spend instead of $1000

If that is the case I might as well get my money's worth and upgrade the Ram and processor especially since I barely use half of my current 128GB SSD.

Why would I upgrade the HD if I dont use more than 50-60 GB at one time?

That leaves me with $90 upgrade for Ram, $140 for processor = $230 + $183 Apple Care would basically mean I would pay roughly $100 for a fully loaded MBA which would work in my benefit in case I decide to resell it in the future.

If I am only given $1000 of credit I plan on just upgrading the ram and adding Apple Care.
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Speaking from experience with the MacBook Air and rMBP, the MacBook Air does not have retina but it still has an excellent resolution. When placed on a table or on my lap, I find it just as good for reading as a rMBP because I want to increase text size anyway - by pinching to zoom in Safari or in PDFs, or by pressing Command +.

The speed difference between the Intel Core i5 and i7 is not noticeable. It is just a 20% speed increase for select tasks. This CPU upgrade is not recommended for most users, and would only be slightly noticeable for very intensive tasks.

Upgrading from 4GB to 8GB of RAM is also unnoticeable. Paging RAM to this SSD is effortless, in stark contrast to the slowdown when paging RAM to hard drives. Again, this upgrade is only noticeable for very intensive tasks: a task that uses a significant amount of RAM at once.

Of course, eventually future operating systems will use more RAM. But when the time comes when 8GB RAM performs noticeably better than 4GB RAM, you probably would want to upgrade your computer for other reasons, like speed, features, or worn out components.

In short, these upgrades are only noticeable for intensive tasks like certain video rendering or games. And if you do intensive tasks such as these, you would be better served with a laptop with a quad core processor or a dedicated graphics card. Get an i5 4GB MacBook Air, or, if you want better performance, spend the money towards a quad core Apple laptop.
 
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stfwayne said:
I might be given $1300 to spend instead of $1000

If that is the case I might as well get my money's worth and upgrade the Ram and processor especially since I barely use half of my current 128GB SSD.

Why would I upgrade the HD if I dont use more than 50-60 GB at one time?

That leaves me with $90 upgrade for Ram, $140 for processor = $230 + $183 Apple Care would basically mean I would pay roughly $100 for a fully loaded MBA which would work in my benefit in case I decide to resell it in the future.

If I am only given $1000 of credit I plan on just upgrading the ram and adding Apple Care.
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I was in a similar dilemma, stuck between rMBP and Air but I decided to go with the rMBP because BestBuy had the 13in 2.4/8gb/256gb rMBP model on sale for $1424.99 from it's $1499.99 price tag for Memorial Day and with the BestBuy $150 student discount, I was able to get the rMBP for $1364 including sales tax. The price for a 13in MBA with 1.4/8gb/256gb came out to be $1325 after student pricing and sales tax. So for me, it was worth the extra $40 to just upgrade to the rMBP and after a weeks use, I have not noticed any screen problems or lag besides some minor hiccups with applications but those are not a big deal considering that the Retina screen and a better CPU only cost me an extra $40.
 
I owned an 11.6 MBA for a while - the screen is simply too small, both physically and resolution-wise. It's a wide(r)screen, so the vertical dimension is chopped off for web browsing and document writing. I'd rule out that size altogether.

So, my advice is to choose between battery life and resolution (and better color).

If battery life is important, go Air.

If better resolution, brightness, and color is important, go Pro.

I recommend the Pro, personally. I now own a 15" rMBP, and I run it at pseudo-1920x1080 and I love having that real estate.

EDIT: also, if you can wait for a few more days, do it. Who knows what will come out of WWDC?
 
Plerf said:
I owned an 11.6 MBA for a while - the screen is simply too small, both physically and resolution-wise. It's a wide(r)screen, so the vertical dimension is chopped off for web browsing and document writing. I'd rule out that size altogether.

So, my advice is to choose between battery life and resolution (and better color).

If battery life is important, go Air.

If better resolution, brightness, and color is important, go Pro.

I recommend the Pro, personally. I now own a 15" rMBP, and I run it at pseudo-1920x1080 and I love having that real estate.

EDIT: also, if you can wait for a few more days, do it. Who knows what will come out of WWDC?
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The 11 Air is not an option as you cant downgrade on an AppleCare replacement. So it is looking like I am going with a i5/i7 + 8GB + 128 13" Air unless WWDC delivers some miracle
 
stfwayne said:
The 11 Air is not an option as you cant downgrade on an AppleCare replacement. So it is looking like I am going with a i5/i7 + 8GB + 128 13" Air unless WWDC delivers some miracle
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That's a good machine - you won't regret it.
 
stfwayne said:
Thanks coming from a MBA 2011 with 4GB hopefully ill be able to feel the performance boost from this new model
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You'll feel a performance boost, especially with the improved graphics cards and speedier SSDs in the newer MacBooks. For CPU speed, there is a 40% speed improvement with the i5 MBA, a 60% increase with the i7 MBA and the 13in rMBP, and a 320% increase with the 15in rMBP. The only two options I'd consider and the best value for your money would be either the base MBA or the 15in rMBP. If you don't like the performance of the base MBA, don't upgrade the components: instead get the 15in rMBP.
 
mangomind said:
You'll feel a performance boost, especially with the improved graphics cards and speedier SSDs in the newer MacBooks. For CPU speed, there is a 40% speed improvement with the i5 MBA, a 60% increase with the i7 MBA and the 13in rMBP, and a 320% increase with the 15in rMBP. The only two options I'd consider and the best value for your money would be either the base MBA or the 15in rMBP. If you don't like the performance of the base MBA, don't upgrade the components: instead get the 15in rMBP.
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stfwayne said:
Thanks coming from a MBA 2011 with 4GB hopefully ill be able to feel the performance boost from this new model
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Wtf are you guys even writting about?

With the OPs usage there is no performance to boost.
 
Meister said:
Wtf are you guys even writting about?

With the OPs usage there is no performance to boost.
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There will be a performance boost my friend has an i7/2013 MBA with 8GB of Ram I tried today and it is considerably faster than mine

Dont understand why you are so against upgrading.

I am getting the credit towards a computer why would i leave money on the table. I am not gonna pay extra to upgrade my HD space when i dont use more than 50 gigs so what am i gonna do not get any upgrades? The AppleCare is not part of the $1300 credit that lies in just the computer itself as a replacement credit. Fully upgraded i7/8GB/128 is just under $1300 with educational discount which means i would pay $183 + tax for a brand new fully upgraded Macbook Air.

Even if I dont NEED or NOTICE the specs it will vastly increase the resale value in the next year or two.

No need to act ********
 
stfwayne said:
There will be a performance boost my friend has an i7/2013 MBA with 8GB of Ram I tried today and it is considerably faster than mine

Dont understand why you are so against upgrading.

I am getting the credit towards a computer why would i leave money on the table. I am not gonna pay extra to upgrade my HD space when i dont use more than 50 gigs so what am i gonna do not get any upgrades? The AppleCare is not part of the $1300 credit that lies in just the computer itself as a replacement credit. Fully upgraded i7/8GB/128 is just under $1300 with educational discount which means i would pay $183 + tax for a brand new fully upgraded Macbook Air.

Even if I dont NEED or NOTICE the specs it will vastly increase the resale value in the next year or two.

No need to act ********
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I think the resell value of a i5/256 will be higher than a i7/128
Just my two pence....
 
stfwayne said:
There will be a performance boost my friend has an i7/2013 MBA with 8GB of Ram I tried today and it is considerably faster than mine
Even if I dont NEED or NOTICE the specs it will vastly increase the resale value in the next year or two.
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If it doesnt cost you anything then defintly upgrade of course!

For the programs you use any mba should be equally fast.

your friends is probably snappier because of the pcie.

The 256gb ssd is faster then the 128ssd, but if you are 100% sure you wont use it then get i7 and 8gb ram.

Now enjoy :)
 
Meister said:
If it doesnt cost you anything then defintly upgrade of course!

For the programs you use any mba should be equally fast.

your friends is probably snappier because of the pcie.

The 256gb ssd is faster then the 128ssd, but if you are 100% sure you wont use it then get i7 and 8gb ram.

Now enjoy :)
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So are you saying getting 256GB woud yield higher performance than the 128 with i7?
 
stfwayne said:
So are you saying getting 256GB woud yield higher performance than the 128 with i7?
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Yes. But it is noticable mainly while copying files. SSD speeds up computer thx to its low access times - that is responsible for really fast apps starts, this should be equally fast on 128 or 256 ssd.

i7 wont give YOU (with respect to YOUR usage) any noticable better performance.
 
stfwayne said:
So are you saying getting 256GB woud yield higher performance than the 128 with i7?
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With your usage there is no difference either way. I would certainly get the 256gb over the i7.
For word processing, email, browsing and watching movies anything is fine.
A 2014 macbook needs no performance for these tasks.
That said I think you should get i7/8gb/128gb because thats what makes you happy.
 
majkom said:
Yes. But it is noticable mainly while copying files. SSD speeds up computer thx to its low access times - that is responsible for really fast apps starts, this should be equally fast on 128 or 256 ssd.

i7 wont give YOU (with respect to YOUR usage) any noticable better performance.
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I would argue that the i7 would be more future proof and can't be changed later, whereas the SSD will be upgradeable.
 
stfwayne said:
There will be a performance boost my friend has an i7/2013 MBA with 8GB of Ram I tried today and it is considerably faster than mine

Dont understand why you are so against upgrading.

I am getting the credit towards a computer why would i leave money on the table. I am not gonna pay extra to upgrade my HD space when i dont use more than 50 gigs so what am i gonna do not get any upgrades? The AppleCare is not part of the $1300 credit that lies in just the computer itself as a replacement credit. Fully upgraded i7/8GB/128 is just under $1300 with educational discount which means i would pay $183 + tax for a brand new fully upgraded Macbook Air.

Even if I dont NEED or NOTICE the specs it will vastly increase the resale value in the next year or two.

No need to act ********
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I didn't read through all of the pages but best bang for the buck is the original 15 rmbp refurb. If not and must be new the base 13 retina is my other suggestion. The air vs retina screen is a huge difference and worth more than any memory or processor upgrade (you mentioned storage isn't an issue and if it is the sd card options are abundant and cheap anyway)
 
Plerf said:
That might be the silliest thing I've seen on these forums in my short time here.
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If you think so. When current i5 will be obsolete, i7 in air will be as well. I7 is no more future proof than i5, thats the fact.
 
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