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$367 more for upgrades...worth it?

I'm going to keep my old laptop as I need Windows/IE for work. It still functions well, other than the heat issue and an occasional blue screen/forced restart.

I'll probably keep most of my music on the old laptop and may move it to the TC at some point. I use Spotify Premium and since paying for it no longer really download music.

So, I suppose space wouldn't be an issue for me with the 128 GB SSD. I know that the 256/512 options read/write faster but I don't know if I'd notice it in real world settings.
 
PDXPean said:
I'm going to keep my old laptop as I need Windows/IE for work. It still functions well, other than the heat issue and an occasional blue screen/forced restart.

I'll probably keep most of my music on the old laptop and may move it to the TC at some point. I use Spotify Premium and since paying for it no longer really download music.

So, I suppose space wouldn't be an issue for me with the 128 GB SSD. I know that the 256/512 options read/write faster but I don't know if I'd notice it in real world settings.
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OP, it really depends on what you will use the rest of the Mac for. If you music is the largest thing you have (and it is kept on TC + you have Spotify), the question is, what do you plan on using the Mac for? If only for things like Word docs, etc., you could get by with 128 GB SSD. If for things like videos and photos, you might eventually need more storage.

How long, just as an estimate, do you plan on keeping the MBA?
 
jadAce said:
OP, it really depends on what you will use the rest of the Mac for. If you music is the largest thing you have (and it is kept on TC + you have Spotify), the question is, what do you plan on using the Mac for? If only for things like Word docs, etc., you could get by with 128 GB SSD. If for things like videos and photos, you might eventually need more storage.

How long, just as an estimate, do you plan on keeping the MBA?
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Very basic usage. I have 188 GB used on this (old) laptop. Of that 188, appox 50 gigs is music/pics/videos which all can go to the TC, right?

Only thing is that yeah, 128 might work... but I don't mind $200 for 256 either.

I'd either keep the MBA for 1 year and then sell/upgrade using the back-to-school discounts again or keep it at least 3 years, adding AppleCare and either selling it then/upgrading or if it's still running strong...keep it til the wheels fall off.

I think if I keep it 1 year, I will keep the Best Buy base.
If I keep it 3 years, Apple Store and 8/256.

Leaning keeping it at least 3 years because I am tired of always buying a new laptop every 2 years. My iPhones "just work" and they last a long time. I feel that if I invest in a MacBook, I'll have better luck keeping it for awhile - unlike my Windows-based laptops in the past.
 
PDXPean said:
I think if I keep it 1 year, I will keep the Best Buy base.
If I keep it 3 years, Apple Store and 8/256.
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Exactly.
An update to the MBA is inevitable next year. What will we see? Retina/higher quality displays? Cheaper prices? Larger or faster SSDs? New Intel processors? Lighter and stronger MBAs? All of the above? No one really knows, but we know for sure that they will be updated.

If you are using the MBA for college work, the base config could serve you just fine until next year's MBA update, which is when you could sell it and upgrade to the best one.

You might want to consider the 8GB RAM upgrade though, if you need it. If you buy the base, resale value will be great. With the 8 GB RAM upgrade, resale value will be slightly, slightly less, but still great.
 
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DisplacedMic said:
you think? i'm not so sure.
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Just an opinion, really, so that should be taken with a grain of salt too. :)

But I'm basing that assertion on previous update cycles - Apple updated the MacBook Air in mid 2009, late 2010, mid 2011, mid 2012, and the most recent, mid 2013 (according to Wikipedia's table).
I think we can say that the probability is quite large that the next updates will come around mid or late 2014.
 
I think the next substantial update to the Air line will be to the Broadwell chip in late 2014. This should allow the Air to power a retina display while still maintaining its incredible battery life.
 
I don't understand the term 'future-proof'.

Somehow getting extra ram and a minimally faster processor or more storage space will prevent your laptop from being old in 3 years?

In 3 years, your laptop will be a 3 year old laptop...regardless.

14nm chips are the future- it should come out next year or year after, along with DDR4 RAM. Integrated graphics with eDRAM. It is safe to say that a redesign + better screen will come with the new tech.

-----
Okay, look at it this way - in 2008, when the original Air was released- it came with a base 80GB HDD. It cost ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS to upgrade to 64GB SSD.

Back then, people went batshhit crazy over SSD. Imagine they thought - "I am going to pay $1000 to get 64GBSSD and future-proof myself!"
Flash Forward 5 years, how 'future-proof' are you with the 5 year old SSD? This year's SSD is TWICE as fast as last year's SSD alone... forget 5 years.

So stop trying to 'future-proof' your device. Okay, if you were deciding to choose between the current Ivy Bridge Macbook Pro, and Haswell Mac Air - the term 'future-proof' would make sense in a way.

But seriously - i5vsi7, 4vs8gb ram, and 128gbVS256gb... There's not going to come a day in the near future where the i7/8/256 Haswell Air will be able to run a software or platform that the Haswell i5/8/128 air won't. The difference is too minimal between the 2.

Get what is best for you to use TODAY. Right now, what do you need. What would serve your primary functioning? Get THAT!
 
AXs said:
I don't understand the term 'future-proof'.

Somehow getting extra ram and a minimally faster processor or more storage space will prevent your laptop from being old in 3 years?

In 3 years, your laptop will be a 3 year old laptop...regardless.

14nm chips are the future- it should come out next year or year after, along with DDR4 RAM. Integrated graphics with eDRAM. It is safe to say that a redesign + better screen will come with the new tech.

-----
Okay, look at it this way - in 2008, when the original Air was released- it came with a base 80GB HDD. It cost ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS to upgrade to 64GB SSD.

Back then, people went batshhit crazy over SSD. Imagine they thought - "I am going to pay $1000 to get 64GBSSD and future-proof myself!"
Flash Forward 5 years, how 'future-proof' are you with the 5 year old SSD? This year's SSD is TWICE as fast as last year's SSD alone... forget 5 years.

So stop trying to 'future-proof' your device. Okay, if you were deciding to choose between the current Ivy Bridge Macbook Pro, and Haswell Mac Air - the term 'future-proof' would make sense in a way.

But seriously - i5vsi7, 4vs8gb ram, and 128gbVS256gb... There's not going to come a day in the near future where the i7/8/256 Haswell Air will be able to run a software or platform that the Haswell i5/8/128 air won't. The difference is too minimal between the 2.

Get what is best for you to use TODAY. Right now, what do you need. What would serve your primary functioning? Get THAT!
Click to expand...

excellent post- i agree 100%
 
Question - When you say "future proof," are you talking about 1-2 years or 5+ years? Because people tend to throw that term around a lot. How long are you planning to keep your computer? If the answer is 1-2 or even 3 years, and your uses are average to above average, I say keep what you have (base 13"). If you plan on keeping the system for more than 4 or 5 years (or use high-resource-intensive applications), then pay the extra money, as the system will be relevant longer. 4GB RAM is sufficient for almost all day-to-day tasks right now, and even some resource-intensive tasks like photo/video editing. Several years from now, it may not be. Think about it realistically, how long will you be keeping this computer? Then invest your money accordingly.

Edit: I agree with what AXs says above as well. Great post!
 
PDXPean said:
I've never spent almost $1500 on a laptop before and that's a reason why I haven't pulled the trigger. Seems like a lot...but if it'll last me years it'll be worth it. I feel like I spend $500ish every few years on a Windows-based laptop, they don't last and re-sale value is nill.
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Ronnoco said:
Welcome to Apple...:D
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This is a good thing. There's a reason you can resell an Apple computer on Craigslist for more than a pittance and quickly.

If you spec out a windows machine as close as you can you'll be spending right about the same amount. Apple just doesn't sell low end product. At the end of the day if you treat your equipment with some dignity your overall cost will be lower with an Apple lap top as you recoup a fair amount at resell compared to the near worthless used PC.

And finally to answer your question. There is no wrong answer. I think your current machine will be more than capable. If you can afford more machine and it will make YOU feel better about your purchase and experience than do so. Also if you've never spent $1500, then you didn't buy a laptop before 2005.:p
 
Hi guys, new poster here, Ive been checking out these forums for a while and thought I'd post my thoughts.

I was in the same situation of trying to figure out if upgrades were worth the extra money. Eventually, I went with the 13" base model mac air, and here's why.

First of all, I took advantage of a sale at Best Buy to save an additional $100. That saved me even more on the base model compared to an upgraded version.

Secondly, I started to view it like this -- is the computer good enough to meet my current needs? Well, considering my 2008 macbook was, the answer is yes.

On top of that, by the time the chip or ram become an issue, lets say another 2-3 years from now, they won't be the only outdated part of the computer. I'm sure by that time the macbook air will rock a retina display, maybe even a touch screen, and god knows what else. So yeah, you can supposedly "future proof" the product by spending several hundred more now -- but its still gonna be out of date 3 years from now given other features that end up being implemented. So even if I spent the extra money its no guarantee of being "future proofed".

In my opinion, if the base computer works for you, use it, don't worry about numbers, clocks speeds, gigahertz, whatevers. Take the extra $367 and put it towards a vacation or something else useful in your life.

If it doesn't work for you then you easily have your answer and will need to spend the extra dough.
 
I returned the base 13" MBA to Best Buy, as well as the Time Capsule to Apple today. I haven't ordered the BTO MBA yet...not sure when or if I will. I am going to sit on this some more.
 
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