Do I wait for Broadwell?

Get the current model. If rumors are true, you'll only get ONE port on the rMBA and this is detrimental to your school work. Broadwell or Haswell CPU don't matter for typical school work anyways.

 

I'm facing the exact same question at the moment as you can see, but I certainly will wait. These are rumors, right? Once they announce a redesigned Air, and not just boosted tech specs (and they certainly will after 5 or 6 years) I would be quite p***** if I would have purchased an old one right now.

 

Do you have another computer to get you by if you wait?

If so, and if it won't affect your schoolwork, I would wait. The current 13" MBA is extremely dated and while its certainly still a great computer, the next model is going to be the biggest update in years. I'm not 100% sure I believe that Apple will go to the single-port USB-C for this model, but if they do, I am sure there will be an easy way to connect your existing USB devices.

With your interest in the 13" MBA, why not consider the rMBP? If Apple gets rid of the 13" Air it will be because these two devices are currently quite similar.

 

Broadwell sounds like a prison.

 

I think it's important to remember that - according to rumors - the 12" will not have Broadwell, but the lower powered Core M.

Apple will likely continue the 11" and 13" for the time being, probably updating them to Broadwell. Either way I think waiting is the best option at this point.

 

I am in the same boat, thinking about just getting an MBP rather than waiting for MBA. I was perusing the MBP forums and seems like people are thinking an upgrade won't be before June. Who knows, though.

Also, to correct my earlier post, the Core M is a Broadwell, just not the i5/i7 like are in the current MBAs.

 

sorry but you are wrong, the 12" MBA will have the i5 dual core 1.6 GHZ HD 6000. ANd i would wait for the MBA, the screen will be updated, lighter thinner so will be the defination of portable for a laptop with single-port USB-C but with an accessory 1cm or 2cm long with 2 usb if you really need 1 more usb...so no problem here, everything else is wireless

 

Sorry I forgot: when was it released did you say?

 

USB-C will put alot of people off

i have many devices I use which are USB. I dont want to go out and buy a bloody hub to connect them to one pissing measly port, even if it is 1 trillion times quicker than USB 1.0 But then again I guess Apple must shave 0.001mm off it as its a giant slab.

 

I was in the same situation about a week ago, narrowed my choices down to 3.
MBPR, MBA, Dell XPS
I went with the 13 inch MBA and I am very happy with the choice. And I am loving the battery life so much. Im on the go a lot so, the battery life is very important to me. I borrowed my friends MBPR for a week prior to this purchase. And I was not a fan of the extra weight and size. (yes I know almost the same but now) But the screen is really amazing, aside from that I couldn't tell a difference. I am not a heavy user and or require that much power.

 

It really depends on what you plan on using your computer for, but I vouch for the current generation MacBook Air.

The battery life alone is fantastic, it's cheaper than the MacBook Pro, and it can handle quite a bit of CPU and GPU intensive tasks (it's not much slower than the 13" MacBook Pro). I also noticed that it doesn't have choppy gesture animations.

I use my 2013 MacBook Air for:

• Web browsing
• Email
• Instant Messaging/iMessage
• Boot Camp with Windows 7
• Organizing photos
• Word processing
• iCloud things like Notes
• Music
• Watching videos/Netflix (4k videos play without stutter too)
• Light-to-Medium Photoshop/Illustrator/Premiere Pro

It handles all of those tasks extremely well, I couldn't be happier with the MacBook Air.

 

That's quite a statement. I can't remember the last time I plugged something into the USB port on my Macbook, let alone more than one thing. I'm confident I've never plugged anything in for school.

OP, if you can wait, if you have a computer that meets your needs currently, then wait.

 

I'll bet anyone good money that any future MBA will have more than one USB port. Apple already made the mistake of only having one port on the original MBA and they got skewered in the press and by users for that decision. And guess what, the next revision had 2 ports. No reason for them to go backwards on that.

And why aren't you plugging stuff into your USB ports BTW? You don't do backups? Or they're over wifi?

 

Really, everything else being said here is pure speculation. The next update will either have Broadwell, or they could choose to skip it and go straight to Skylake. The next MBP could be released in the next few months, or towards the end of the year. Really, no one here knows more than that. People are welcome to place their guess on when and what it will be, but ultimately it's just an educated guess, and much of that is dependent on when the Intel CPUs become available.

The rMBA should be arriving before the new MBP... Intel has started shipping the new Broadwell chips that I think will likely be used. I could see that arriving in the next couple of months (but again, just a guess).

 

They also got a lot of **** for not including a CD drive on the original MBA and when the rMBP came out. Also when they chose to remove the ethernet port, and loads of other times. Physical connections are disappearing, the future for the consumer market is wireless. Even now, I'm struggling to think of anything that the targeted Air user would need multiple connections for.

My backups go to network attached storage, even if I used a normal external and didn't connect that to my router, I'd still only be using one, not multiple.

 

Also, if a user does need more than one port, they can always plug in a USB hub, which is often more convenient anyway when plugging in at a desk.

In any case, it's fun to speculate about, but it's way premature for people to be getting stressed out about rumors - it hasn't been released yet!

 

Buy now, current models are excellent.

Each new refresh going forward is a big gamble. Apple's in the mode of making them more like sealed appliances with high price tags.

Now a firmly entrenched mass market iOS gadget & phone maker that no longer considers computers as their main focus, buy a good one while you can.

The future is very uncertain.