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Buy a new Air now, or wait until May?

R

rjsbass

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 20, 2006
52
0
I need a replacement fast for my 3-year old macbook pro that fell on the floor. the screen is busted, and it's not under warrantee (white screen with vertical lines that come up to demonstrate the position of the mouse). i'm worried that it will cost a ton of money to fix since additionally the body/lid is dented in several places.

in case the apple store says it will cost a ton to fix, should I buy an Air now, or wait until May for ivy bridge? i can also hold out on ubuntu until May, and need a 13 inch, so any alternatives are welcome (i need to finish a thesis on this machine).

thanks!
 
rjsbass said:
I need a replacement fast for my 3-year old macbook pro that fell on the floor. the screen is busted, and it's not under warrantee (white screen with vertical lines that come up to demonstrate the position of the mouse). i'm worried that it will cost a ton of money to fix since additionally the body/lid is dented in several places.

in case the apple store says it will cost a ton to fix, should I buy an Air now, or wait until May for ivy bridge? i can also hold out on ubuntu until May, and need a 13 inch, so any alternatives are welcome (i need to finish a thesis on this machine).

thanks!
Click to expand...

May be longer than May before new Air models arrive, Pro...maybe. If you are interested in a Air I say buy it now, I just purchased one last week and love it!
 
Under your circumstances, I'd say buy now. There's really no guarantee of when they'll be out. Could be May. Could easily be later in the summer, depending on when the MBPs are released and how much time they choose to wait between them.

The general rule of thumb is, if you need it, buy it. Sounds to me like you need it :eek:
 
Wait or get a used/refurb 2010 model, then upgrade to the 2012, or wait for Haswell cpu in 2013.
 
why living yourlife waiting? buy now and sell it when the new air released with $150 loss, take that as a renting fee.
 
At this point, considering that the new model will be out within 3 or 4 months (unless Intel delays Ivy Bridge again), I would either wait or buy a second hand or refurbished 2011 model. At no point I'd pay premium for a new laptop that will be replaced by a new model in the near future.
 
KohPhiPhi said:
At this point, considering that the new model will be out within 3 or 4 months (unless Intel delays Ivy Bridge again),
Click to expand...
That is exactly what happened - see the latest headline at MacRumors about Intel delaying "mass availability of Ivy Bridge until 'after June'". The question is, if and to what extent Apple and its notebook lines may be affected or whether Apple made another exclusivity deal with Intel...

@OP: Go and buy now - great machine!
 
Buy now your not going to see new ones probably until June or July. I think the next round the pros and airs will merge. At that point they should just call them macbooks from 11"-17".
 
Wait, unless you really need it.
If the rumors are true, and the MBP and Air will be merged, the price of the 13" will be the price of the current MBP, and maybe have the rumored high-res screen. Combined with the usual updates, I really think that this update is the kind of update where a little wait might just be very much worth it.

But this is just my 0.02$
 
I'd get one now. With reports of delays in availability of Ivy Bridge chips, and with the Mountain Lion announcement, perhaps Apple will wait until July again.
 
If you need it buy it. If you don't then wait. It'll will probably be around June or July if the Ivy Bridge delay is true.
 
rjsbass said:
...
in case the apple store says it will cost a ton to fix, should I buy an Air now, or wait until May for ivy bridge?
...
Click to expand...
Based on your damage description, I expect it to be not worthwhile to fix.

I'd Say either a new Pro or Air as soon as you need it. Just remember the differences between the machines. One being no firewire port on the air (in case you care) also internal versus external optical drive.

Also, the amount of ram and internal disk space could make a difference.
 
If you need a new computer (and your post suggests that you do), then, I'd say, buy one now. If you merely want one, well, perhaps, you might consider waiting until fresh updates are released.

However, the MBA is a really terrific machine, and well worth buying. I have one and love it. If you get one, I'd be very surprised if you didn't hugely enjoy it. If finance is an issue, I'd suggest you consider the refurb section of the Apple store; all of the benefits of a new machine - including warranties - at a decent discount.

And, if there is a refresh within a short time of buying it, why, then, you can always sell it and put the proceeds towards a new[er] MBA.

Cheers and good luck with it
 
Same boat as the OP

I'm in more or less the same boat as the OP - I'm using my 2006 macbook that's taken a lot of beating but held up really well, but it's starting to show its age. I'm a law student, so my basic uses are Office 2011, occasional streaming video, general internet e-mail use, InDesign and Photoshop CS3 once in a blue moon, and I'll soon be needing Parallels. I was going to wait until the summer, but now I'm doubting whether I can make it that long. I'm pretty sure either a 2010 or 2011 refurb will suit all of my purposes, but I'd appreciate feedback. I'm also curious as to the "coolbook" moniker - If battery life and cool run temps are a priority for me, should I go with the 2010?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Just received my 1.8 I7 air refurb last week. This thing is awesome. Quite fast. Still have the IMac quad I7 upstairs for heavy lifting. Not getting as much attention though ,with the new one in the stable. I've put my second Lightroom code on it, and it works great. adjustments are instant.
Buy now. Don't think you'll regret it.
 
Safe money is on the new Airs being out with Mountain Lion. Ivy Bridge was also delayed. End of June or beginning of July is the most probable at this point.
 
daf4041 said:
I'm in more or less the same boat as the OP - I'm using my 2006 macbook that's taken a lot of beating but held up really well, but it's starting to show its age. I'm a law student, so my basic uses are Office 2011, occasional streaming video, general internet e-mail use, InDesign and Photoshop CS3 once in a blue moon, and I'll soon be needing Parallels. I was going to wait until the summer, but now I'm doubting whether I can make it that long. I'm pretty sure either a 2010 or 2011 refurb will suit all of my purposes, but I'd appreciate feedback. I'm also curious as to the "coolbook" moniker - If battery life and cool run temps are a priority for me, should I go with the 2010?
Click to expand...

While the 2010 would work, I'd recommend the 2011, particularly since you use Parallels. The Core i5/i7 is far better at handling a virtual machine than the Core 2 Duo. If heat is a concern, stick with the i5, but according to AnandTech's testing, the i5 and i7 models have similar battery life.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4554/apples-11inch-macbook-air-core-i7-18ghz-review-update/5

I have been pleased with the battery life on my 2011 11" i7. While it is a little worse than the 2010 model, it is roughly comparable to what I was getting on the 13" late-2008 MacBook Air. The 13" models last even longer.
 
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