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2013 MBA 13" or do I get a Refurb 2012 13"

Wicked1

Wicked1

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 13, 2009
3,283
14
New Jersey
Wondering if the 2013 is worth the money, or do I get a honker 2012 Refurb, I was looking at the 13" with the fastest CPU and 8GB and 256 or 512 but just not sure the 2013 is worth that much more. I guess the battery life is good, just curious if anyone had a 2012 and now has a 2013 and is there a huge difference?
 
It depends, do you need the battery life and the better GPU performance in the 2013 model? Do you need 8GB RAM in the 2012 model? (You were looking at the refurb with 8GB RAM? Not sure if I read your post correctly.)

I went from 2012 11" MBA to 2013 13" MBA, the battery life increase is definitely worth it, the better integrated GPU is just a bonus.
 
They have had 2013 models with the upgraded RAM and hard drive in the Refurbished Stores. The 13" especially go fast, but if you sign up for alerts at refurb.me and are decisive you should be able to snag one. They've gone up around 11am or noon about half of the last 5 weekdays.

Not sure if that makes your decision easier or harder...!
 
Simple: U need the battery performance, go 2013. Battery doesn't bother u and want to save$, go 2012. Haven't heard new GPU makes that huge of a diff. Refurb 2013 becoming available if you are patience.
 
If you have the patience, keep checking the refurb site. I lucked out and got the 13" i7 8GB / 256GB for $1319.

Was only wanting the i5, but figured pulled the trigger on the i7.

Once nice thing about the refurb site too, is that it ships from the US. I got it the very next day with free shipping.

Just picked it up from my Dad where I had it shipped to. Can't wait to start setting it up to surprise the wife. Amazingly thin and light. Now I want to sell my 2012 MBP and get one.... maybe...
 
Mrbobb said:
Simple: U need the battery performance, go 2013. Battery doesn't bother u and want to save$, go 2012. Haven't heard new GPU makes that huge of a diff. Refurb 2013 becoming available if you are patience.
Click to expand...

Having owned the 2012 model and now the 2013, I agree with this post. The 2013 is a huge battery life improvement, but beyond that not much of an upgrade you will notice in day to day usage.

The CPU is a wash. Graphics performance on the Air is about the same. When I attach the 2013 to my Thunderbolt Display, I do notice a bit of improvement though. The flash drive on the 2013 is much faster at benchmarks, but for day to day usage I don't notice much difference. If you were manipulating very very large video files, the 2013 flash drive may matter more to you.
 
Sandman1969 said:
If you have the patience, keep checking the refurb site. I lucked out and got the 13" i7 8GB / 256GB for $1319.

Was only wanting the i5, but figured pulled the trigger on the i7.

Once nice thing about the refurb site too, is that it ships from the US. I got it the very next day with free shipping.

Just picked it up from my Dad where I had it shipped to. Can't wait to start setting it up to surprise the wife. Amazingly thin and light. Now I want to sell my 2012 MBP and get one.... maybe...
Click to expand...

1. Transfer 2012 files to 2013 machine.
2. Go into restore disk partition, delete mac partition, and reinstall osx for an out of the box experience.
3. Put 2012 Air into 2013 box.....:rolleyes:
4. Hope she doesn't find out and call a good divorce lawyer.:eek:
 
7 hours of battery is 'enough' for me so I saved $300 and went with the 2012.
 
clyde2801 said:
1. Transfer 2012 files to 2013 machine.
2. Go into restore disk partition, delete mac partition, and reinstall osx for an out of the box experience.
3. Put 2012 Air into 2013 box.....:rolleyes:
4. Hope she doesn't find out and call a good divorce lawyer.:eek:
Click to expand...

I think it's gonna be hard to fit a 15" MBP in a 13" MBA box and get away with it ;)
 
tooobe said:
I think it's gonna be hard to fit a 15" MBP in a 13" MBA box and get away with it ;)
Click to expand...

LOL, Ain't that the truth.

Pulled it out of the box last night and started to do a migration assistant of her account, but it was going to take too long and she woulda been back before it completed and since you have to the apps closed on both ends it would have been hard to hide.

Darn son saw me working on it, so I made it very clear it was a surprise and he better not say a word ;) I am going to give it to her early to surprise her more... maybe wrap something small with a picture of it or something :)

Nice thing, the MBA is VERY easy to hide. Currently in my old CD collection case.

Think I will do a "backup" of our MBP onto an external drive and then do a migration over firewire on the MBA.

Man that MBA is one sleek piece of hardware. I have never really messed with one.

For a refurb it looks BRAND new. Battery had 10 cycles on it.

EDIT: Well scratch the FW transfer. Guess the MBA doesn't have that. So guess that will be USB or over network.
 
Last edited:
I'll be selling a 2012 MBA 13" i5/1.8GHz/8RAM/128SSD soon if you're interested.
 
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