I've just got a rMBP but now I'm slightly addicted and want to try an 11inch Air as well as a casual use/family on-hand machine. Now that the 2014 Airs have hit the refurb store, is it worth buying one of them over the equivalent refurb 2013 model? For instance, in the UK refurb store the 2013 11 inch 4/128 is £599 while the 2014 11 inch 4/128 is just £40 more at £639. Is it worth the extra £40 for the newer machine or should I get the 2013 and put the £40 to an external drive? Thanks!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2014 Refurb Airs
- Thread starter dj95
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Other than a teensy 0.1GHz speed bump on the processor, the two models are identical. In the long run, it's doubtful that 0.1GHz is going to be worth £40 to you over the life of that Mac.
You could spend the extra money for the title of the "2014 MBA", it may have better resale value in the future just because it is labeled as a newer model. If you have no intentions of selling it ever, Id recommend the 2013 as there is no noticeable difference between the two.
Good advice.
As everyone else has pointed out, there is hardly any difference between both models, other than the year of manufacture, which will only be of relevance should you wish to sell the computer in the future.
I don't know how significant it would be, but an older model will probably have used up more battery charge cycles and more SSD read/writes. These things have finite lifetimes...
There is actually no difference between the 2014 and 2013 i7 models. And only 0.1ghz for the i5 models. As I chose an i7 I decided on the 2013 model - which had a new battery with 4 cycles on it and a (re)manufacture date of this month. So while it's a mid 2013 model it's manufacture date was current so resale value difference should not be huge a couple years from now.