Considering selling my MBA for an ultrabook.

[Xikum]

So, as the title says, I'm considering trading in my 13" 2010 MBA (2 GB RAM/256 GB SSD) for an ultrabook (not so much out of choice, but money), and I'm looking for opinions.

Let me explain the situation; I bought this MBA for university second hand off Gumtree (British version of Craiglist) almost a year ago for a really good price; £650. It came with almost a full years warranty, however, that is now running out (it runs out in August, with me going back to university in September). I asked in an Apple store near me if they could offer me a student discount on the Applecare extended warranty, and they said that the maximum they could do was 30% off. That would reduce the price from £200 to £140, however, I'm still unsure about spending £140 at this moment in time; £140 is quite a lot of money for a student.

So, I'm thinking about selling this MBA, as I think I could get back the £650 I paid for it. This isn't because I don't like the MBA; its a perfect machine for my needs, but I just don't have a spare £140 to insure it, and the thought of something in it breaking and then having to fork out a repair bill that could be several hundreds is rather worrying. The ultra books I was looking at were the Lenovo u310 and the Sony Vaio T13; these both sell for about £650, the price I would (hopefully) sell my MBA for. They would have a 2 year warranty on them from the shop I would buy them from, and as an added bonus they are both Sandy/Ivy-Bridge laptops, albeit without a large SSD drive.

Thoughts? I don't really want to get rid of my MBA, but I'm considering everything, and I'd appreciate an outside opinion.

 

[dasx]

I wouldn't get rid of a machine you actually like because you can't pay 120£. Can't you ask someone for that money? Parents, uncle, aunt, brother, girlfriend... If not, I'd probably stick to the MBA even though the original warranty ended. I've had several Apple Products and the only one I had to replace for a new one was a MBP that I accidentally spilled coffee on.

IMHO I really think any Ultrabook would let you down after having been user of a MBA for almost a year. Plus leaving OSX to jump into windows again.

 

[maflynn]

Sounds like you're throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Did you try looking online for applecare, places like amazon sell it cheaper then apple does.

If the MBA is a perfect machine and you enjoy you, it makes no sense to sell it. Plus you probably won't get what you paid for it, since it will be out of warranty and the Ivy Bridge based MBAs are now out. That is your 2010 MBA is two generations old at this point.

My advice is to keep it, and not worry about the extended warranty if you cannot afford it. You also could search for applecare online and see if you can get a better price.