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2011 Air owners not upgrading - step in

Geekbabe

Geekbabe

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 20, 2011
780
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After debating with myself for days here I've decided that tempting as the new systems are that the Retina Pro form factor is too big & that the 2012 Air isn't a substantial enough upgrade to sell my 2011 Air & spend several hundred for a new one. I'll keep my Air & see what the next refresh brings.

I find myself though longing to buy something, anybody else having this feeling?
 
Not me, I am quite happy with my 2011 i5 13" 4gb/256gb MBA. I really dread the whole upgrade cycle, so I plan to keep this machine for several years unless my needs change substantially.

I think your instincts are correct. Try to fight the "longing to buy something" urge. ;)
 
If I had a 2011, I would not bother upgrading. Why would you?

However, I was waiting for Ivy Bridge to come out. :)

I remember going to a Ford dealer to ask when the new Ford C-Max was coming and the sales guy asked me "why don't you buy a Fiesta for now until the car you want is released?" Nice little car but um, no.
 
I will admit....I love my 2011, however, I do need the extra space....even with 256 I was running thin. I run a boot camp partition that I need for school/work and running certain programs, plus I keep most if not all my work files on it. I looked into an OWC upgrade drive, but for that much I can sell my MBA and get a 2012. For me, I am paying the $900 difference and getting 512gb drive, 8gb memory, faster processor, and USB 3.0. Completely worth it in my opinion.....
 
I upgraded from a 2011 MacBook Air to the 2012 model. I considered the rMBP but decided that I didn't want the increased size and weight. I was very happy with the 2011 MBA but could use the 8GB of RAM since I run a Windows VM in Parallel's often and find myself low on RAM. I also use a Thunderbolt Display all day and find the MBA fans running often and hope the new graphics card will better handle the display.
 
Yes, I bought the 2012 but returned it. Tried the Thunderbolt Seagate Goflex drive, didn't like it.

Ended up buying a kayak. :D
 
Geekbabe said:
After debating with myself for days here I've decided that tempting as the new systems are that the Retina Pro form factor is too big & that the 2012 Air isn't a substantial enough upgrade to sell my 2011 Air & spend several hundred for a new one. I'll keep my Air & see what the next refresh brings.

I find myself though longing to buy something, anybody else having this feeling?
Click to expand...

I feel you!
Especially now that i have had a play with the RMBP, the screen is insane! But its just too big.
If they upgraded the Air with the Retina I would already have one now!

Have to wait until next year i guess
 
Not feeling it with the 2012 MBA, still don't like SB/IB chips, run too hot, going to stick with my 2010 13-UMBA.
 
I'll admit, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD and USB 3 are a significant improvement. But at this point I really couldn't justify them since I'm making do without them fine.

But the point about the OWC 480GB upgrade is an interesting one. That is something I thought I might want one day if the price drops. Never occured to me that swapping for a 2012 model would cost about the same.

Regardless, I still have 140+ GB free on my 256 SSD, so that should last awhile with my current usage pattern.
 
I have a 2010 11" MBA and definitely feeling the urge to upgrade to the 2012 version. I can double RAM to 8GB, double SSD to 256GB, the upgraded CPU benchmarks 3x mine, and the SSD is twice as fast reading at 450MB/sec (thats just insanely fast). Plus I get thunderbolt and USB3 for high speed I/O.

But I also get a $1650 price tag for a tiny 11" MBA. I dislike it when people think its a toy netbook or something, especially at that price. And my 2010 MBA doesn't look like it will fetch as much as I hoped, so its a big added expenditure. And I don't clearly need it. I like the SSD speed on the 2010 MBA and for the most part, I'm not CPU bound nor limited on RAM and have been living ok (I guess) with SSD space.
 
I suggest you guys hold out and wait. I've been holding out while using my 15" Powerbook G4. Now that's patience!
 
Boyd01 said:
I'll admit, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD and USB 3 are a significant improvement. But at this point I really couldn't justify them since I'm making do without them fine.

But the point about the OWC 480GB upgrade is an interesting one. That is something I thought I might want one day if the price drops. Never occured to me that swapping for a 2012 model would cost about the same.

Regardless, I still have 140+ GB free on my 256 SSD, so that should last awhile with my current usage pattern.
Click to expand...

I liked the new retina screen on the pro but I adore the form factor of the Air, the 2012 refresh is a beautiful system no doubt but..... My 2011 is barely 6 months old, they are currently going for $850 used on Craig's list, upgrading to the 2012 I want would end up costing me about 1K after selling my current system.

I'm thinking if I get anything this year it might well be a thunderbolt display, particularly if Apple releases a refresh for it. It will greatly expand the things I can do with my current Air & will be very useful going forward.

Besides, This machine works beautifully & has AppleCare, I can relax, enjoy & sell on the next refresh cycle. For now, I'll content myself with the Bamboo stylus I bought for my iPad :D
 
I upgraded from 2010 11" to 2011 13" Ultimate. Going to Ivy Bridge and backlit keyboard was a nice bump up.

My current machine already more than fast enough for my needs. I'm not sure I will perceive any benefit from Sandy Bridge. Only reason I might consider it is to get back to 11" which I really miss.
 
I went the OWC upgrade route. The faster drive, and bit more space will be a nice consolation prize (i just got the 180 + external unit for my existing 128). It'll arrive right around when Mountain lion is released, which will make this system feel new again.

I also ditched my keyboard covers that I've been using for a year.
 
Upgrading from the 2011 11'' 1.6Ghz i5 4GB 128GB to the 2012 2.0Ghz i7 8GB 256GB has honestly felt like a breath of fresh air.

It is noticeably faster, no doubt a product of - in addition to all the other spec bumps - the upgraded Samsung SSD's which are significantly quicker. I ran a BlackMagic test earlier and was pulling down speeds of around 410/460 RW.

And USB 3.0 is a NICE addition. Now I can leave most of my virtual machines on the external without sacrificing much by way of performance. Time Machine backups are snappy too.

And yes, I have experienced slightly better battery life.
 
I am thinking I will see how big of a tax return I can get, but unless it is substantial enough to pay a huge chunk off my credit card and afford a new MBA or RMBP, then I might just wait...
 
Gonna stick with my basic 11" 2011 MBA. Around Christmas I hope to stick a larger OWC ssd in it. Plan on using it for 3 years before replacing it....longer according to my wife. :rolleyes:
 
ctdw said:
I upgraded from a 2011 MacBook Air to the 2012 model. I considered the rMBP but decided that I didn't want the increased size and weight. I was very happy with the 2011 MBA but could use the 8GB of RAM since I run a Windows VM in Parallel's often and find myself low on RAM. I also use a Thunderbolt Display all day and find the MBA fans running often and hope the new graphics card will better handle the display.
Click to expand...

The new fans should help too :)
 
At one point last week I had a brand both 2011/2012 versions of the 256GB 13" Air. The 2011 is a fantastic machine but I went with the 2012 because the upgraded SSD and graphics made a pretty big difference in my Aperture workflow, and USB3 gives me a cheap way to upgrade speeds without relying on overpriced hardware.

Both are great machines but for me the 2012 is worth the price difference for me because of USB3. (But all that is necessary to change that is a TB->USB3 dongle)
 
Still holding out for the 13in rMBP, but no rush. My 2011 13in MBA is doing great!

I might just invest in a 256GB SSD pulled from a 2012 MBA though. I'd imagine it'd still work - plus it's SATA III.
 
I'm perfectly happy with my 2011 13" (i7, 256), and really feel no need to upgrade. Like another poster upthread, I'm going to skip the upgrade cycle for a while and just make the most out of this machine for as long as I can. If a 15" shows up at some point, I'll be tempted, though.
 
KylePowers said:
Still holding out for the 13in rMBP, but no rush. My 2011 13in MBA is doing great!

I might just invest in a 256GB SSD pulled from a 2012 MBA though. I'd imagine it'd still work - plus it's SATA III.
Click to expand...

It will not work. They changed the connector.
 
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