Buy or Wait?

[OwenMeasures]

Hi,

Does anyone know if Apple are set to release a new MacBook Air? if so... any rumours regarding new design or purely a inside refresh?

Cheers,

Owen.

 

[Matthew9559]

Nope, no recent rumors really.

Best bet is to check back the Buyer's Guide every once in awhile.

https://buyersguide.macrumors.com//

 

[adamtj11]

I was wondering the same but with Ivy bridge not being out till April at the earliest , the chances of a new Air with it will be summer at the earliest, I personally couldn't wait for 6 months for it so I bought the 2011 model and it is awesome and couldn't be happier. The current Air is only barely mid life cycle so if you buy now you can be assured of a good few months of it being the "latest and greatest". The 2012 model won't be the jump that the 2010 -> 2011 was, think more like a yearly update to the Pro line(nice bumps but not necessity upgrades).

 

[oneMadRssn]

Wait and buy mine on ebay when the new one comes out, whenever that is.

 

[boy-better-know]

Going by past cycles, the next one won't be a design change either.

 

[Jetman]

We can always dream of a 15" model...

 

[jj48]

Wait and buy mine on ebay when the new one comes out, whenever that is.

No, buy mine!

But seriously - think about buying one now. Realistically it will be a summer release, that's too long to wait IMO.

 

[johnhurley]

Does anyone know if Apple are set to release a new MacBook Air? if so... any rumours regarding new design or purely a inside refresh?

Just the upgrade to ivy bridge will be significant.

Many of us are expecting ( or at least hoping for ):
1) usb 3.0
2) a higher resolution display
3) a higher max memory size

 

[oneMadRssn]

Just the upgrade to ivy bridge will be significant.

Many of us are expecting ( or at least hoping for ):
1) usb 3.0
2) a higher resolution display
3) a higher max memory size

My predictions that are based on 100% speculation:

1) Won't happen. Apple is clearly backing thunderbolt and purposely ignoring USB 3.0. Don't ask for reasoning, it's just the obvious direction of the ship.

2) Won't happen. It's already the same resolution as the base 15" MBP. Any higher and the pro won't seem so pro anymore. Unless of course they update the MBP to an even higher resolution display. Even then, I don't see them changing the display in any significant way until a major revamp. I think they will make the MBP more 'pro' before upgrading the MBAs much.

3) This better happen, I bought a 4GB 2011 MBA but my number 1 concern was RAM. It barely squeaked by in 2011, it will not squeak by again in 2012 or 2013.

 

[Appleking]

I just bought my 1.7 i5 256gb MacBook Air today. I decided I'm not waiting until .. end of 2012?? or even summer...

Worst case scenario: I saved all the packaging and will sell on eBay. The money I will lose in selling it is basically the cost of use. I take really good care of my products. I always plan for re-sale... I ALWAYS get Apple Fever for new products.

 

[Mr MM]

My predictions that are based on 100% speculation:

1) Won't happen. Apple is clearly backing thunderbolt and purposely ignoring USB 3.0. Don't ask for reasoning, it's just the obvious direction of the ship.

not necessarily since that both aint competing techs.

2) Won't happen. It's already the same resolution as the base 15" MBP. Any higher and the pro won't seem so pro anymore. Unless of course they update the MBP to an even higher resolution display. Even then, I don't see them changing the display in any significant way until a major revamp. I think they will make the MBP more 'pro' before upgrading the MBAs much.

there are rumors about the intro of retina displays in the mac world, aside the ipad and iphone

3) This better happen, I bought a 4GB 2011 MBA but my number 1 concern was RAM. It barely squeaked by in 2011, it will not squeak by again in 2012 or 2013.

I do hope so too, since that I want to grab a mba next year or when haswell comes out, since I dont anymore the cpu performance of the mbp

 

[shadowjeff]

I had to make this decision too when I was buying my mba in Nov. Do you want to wait 5-7 months (expecting the cycle to be a year) for the new mba? I can't bear to wait that long even though my old laptop could have easily lasted me.

So IMO if you WANT it, get it now because waiting would kinda kill the current hype you have for the mba. I'm still loving my mba a lot after 3 months of use!

 

[lolwut89]

I think it will happen later this year. I think Q1 is too soon like some are saying. Intel is going to release Ivy Bridge in April. It takes time to release mobile CPUs. I can see a Late Q2 - Late Q3 update being more realistic.

I went ahead and got one.

Think of it this way: People who are in the apple store buying MBAs now will be in the same boat as you. Ivy bridge will offer a modest improvement, as it's going to be a tweaked Sandy Bridge. Intel's "tick tock" strategy is, new architecture and then refining/new fab process.

Sandy Bridge was the "tick" which offered a tremendous boost in performance, my Core i5 outperforms my roommate's Westmere i7. Ivy Bridge will be the "tock". The only significant improvement will be them increasing the about of stream processors in the GPU from 12 to 16 and it is expected to be a fairly good boost in the graphical department.