Genius told me to 'wait'

[Mr West]

So as I am looking to buy a MBA11, I just visited the Apple store to do some testing when suddenly a genius approached me. When I told him I like the MBA11 but that I'm a bit dissapointed with the screen resolution. He told me:
"I'm not supposed to say this (ugh, classic salesman talk), but you should wait a couple of months, because then you'll be able to make a great deal since 'everything will become retina'."

My guess is this just lame salesmanship, but... what if...
What do you guys think?

Ps: If Apple IP-traced this and matched it to the video surveillance of the store, and some guy just lost his job, I'm genuinely sorry 🙂

 

[dezeeb]

What would differentiate the products if that was the case? The New Macbook is pretty much a Macbook Air now..

 

[jimothyGator]

I suspect the salesperson was simply speculating, much as you and I might. It's not as if notoriously secretive Apple would tell its thousands of retail employees, working all across the world, details about products "a couple of months" away from release.

In other words, an Apple Genius is not a reliable source when it comes to future products. It's safe to say that wait long enough, and something better will come along, but I wouldn't put any more credence in his advice than advice any other stranger might give you.

 

[ignatius345]

Yeah, he's probably right, but I too doubt it's because of any inside information. For my money, I'd hold off for 1. an update to that new Macbook, and/or 2. an update to the Air or whatever its successor is.

All that said, I have the MBA 11" and think it's by far the best Mac laptop I've ever owned. If you get it now, though, I could see a serious case of buyer's remorse setting in soon 🙂

 

[LorenK]

Yeah, he's probably right, but I too doubt it's because of any inside information. For my money, I'd hold off for 1. an update to that new Macbook, and/or 2. an update to the Air or whatever its successor is.

All that said, I have the MBA 11" and think it's by far the best Mac laptop I've ever owned. If you get it now, though, I could see a serious case of buyer's remorse setting in soon 🙂

I agree. Apple is always looking to differentiate itself and it does not seek people looking for cheap. Given the price on screens is continually dropping, why would they continue to offer non-retina screens, when retina screens will soon be at that price anyway? Expect the differentiate between their laptops to be even higher resolutions.

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

So as I am looking to buy a MBA11, I just visited the Apple store to do some testing when suddenly a genius approached me. When I told him I like the MBA11 but that I'm a bit dissapointed with the screen resolution. He told me:
"I'm not supposed to say this (ugh, classic salesman talk), but you should wait a couple of months, because then you'll be able to make a great deal since 'everything will become retina'."

My guess is this just lame salesmanship, but... what if...
What do you guys think?

Ps: If Apple IP-traced this and matched it to the video surveillance of the store, and some guy just lost his job, I'm genuinely sorry 🙂

I'd have to say that he's the worst salesman if that is his sales pitch.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

So as I am looking to buy a MBA11, I just visited the Apple store to do some testing when suddenly a genius approached me. When I told him I like the MBA11 but that I'm a bit dissapointed with the screen resolution. He told me:
"I'm not supposed to say this (ugh, classic salesman talk), but you should wait a couple of months, because then you'll be able to make a great deal since 'everything will become retina'."

My guess is this just lame salesmanship, but... what if...
What do you guys think?

Ps: If Apple IP-traced this and matched it to the video surveillance of the store, and some guy just lost his job, I'm genuinely sorry 🙂

I think if thats the case it'll be because they drop the air not upgrade it. I also think it sounds like nonsense though.

 

[macs4nw]

So as I am looking to buy a MBA11, I just visited the Apple store to do some testing when suddenly a genius approached me. When I told him I like the MBA11 but that I'm a bit dissapointed with the screen resolution. He told me:
"I'm not supposed to say this (ugh, classic salesman talk), but you should wait a couple of months, because then you'll be able to make a great deal since 'everything will become retina'."

My guess is this just lame salesmanship, but... what if...
What do you guys think?

Ps: If Apple IP-traced this and matched it to the video surveillance of the store, and some guy just lost his job, I'm genuinely sorry 🙂

Everybody here is right, that genius is just guessing like the rest of us, and none of us including their store employees, can tell you with any degree of certainty what Apple's plans for the MBAs are. I can tell you they were updated to Broadwell earlier this year (March), and if the Air line continues, they will more than likely be updated with Skylake processors. Somewhat faster, minor battery-life improvement and most likely ThunderBolt3 with USB-C connectivity. Most of the battery-life improvement came with Broadwell's 'tick' cycle (22nm to 14nm die shrink).
If you like the sound of that, and you're not too much in a rush, then sure, wait.

P.S. Unless you are set on the 11", for $100 more, all else being equal, the 13" aside from the bigger screen also gives you over 30% longer battery life compared to the 11", and that SDXC card slot. Make sure to check out the refurb store for excellent savings on good-as-new equipment that comes with full warranty and return privileges.
Best of Luck!

 

[tick.tock]

What do you guys think?

My bet is that come April next year, Apple will launch the new Retina MacBook's in 12 and 14in configurations with Skylake processors. They will still probably sell the classic MacBook Air for another year before officially retiring the Air lineup.

 

[jterp7]

With the pros at 13 and 15.4, hmmm...I'd like to see a 14" with a halfway decent gpu and just be limited to 15".

 

[DavidLynch]

He's probably right, though just speculating. I'm sure Apple hasn't sent out a memo to all of the "geniuses", because we'd all know by now. I'd bet you're going to be waiting more than a couple months though, probably until next year.

 

[Mr West]

Ok thanks for replies. I'll just buy the MBA11, buyers remorse or not

 

[Le Big Mac]

I suspect the salesperson was simply speculating, much as you and I might. It's not as if notoriously secretive Apple would tell its thousands of retail employees, working all across the world, details about products "a couple of months" away from release.

In other words, an Apple Genius is not a reliable source when it comes to future products. It's safe to say that wait long enough, and something better will come along, but I wouldn't put any more credence in his advice than advice any other stranger might give you.

Agree.

Keep in mind that probably the great majority of buyers that Apple Store salespeople encounter are not up on places like MacRumors and other rumor websites. So for a lot of people their reading of rumors and telling customers can be a service. Obviously for folks here, well, we've all read the rumors and are carefully calculating the optimal time to buy (or wait).

 

[jermy4]

Yeah, in no way does an apple genius know when new models are coming out that haven't been announced yet. He just knows that it's been awhile since the MBA has been updated. You might also consider a retina macbook pro or a retina macbook depending on how much processing power you need and how important portability are for you.

 

[bigrell486]

He didn't give you salesman talk. If he didn't attempt you to buy right now or try to push you toward something more expensive that what you are looking at then you weren't a victim of sales talk.

What he did do is give you speculation regarding an item you were looking to buy and advised you against purchasing something that you stated you were not 100% happy with. That is the exact opposite of what you accused the salesperson of doing.

 

[Mr West]

He didn't give you salesman talk. If he didn't attempt you to buy right now or try to push you toward something more expensive that what you are looking at then you weren't a victim of sales talk.

What he did do is give you speculation regarding an item you were looking to buy and advised you against purchasing something that you stated you were not 100% happy with. That is the exact opposite of what you accused the salesperson of doing.

No actually that's not true. I didn't write the full transcript here, but he pushed me towards the new retina Macbook, but when I told him its to pricey and less powerfull than the MBA the discussion started. He was defintely selling.

Apple doesn't want to sell this MBA11. In the store there were at least 10 new macbooks on display but only one MBA11 and maybe 2 or 3 MBA13

 

[Phil A.]

I got an 11" base model MBA a few months ago because I wanted a cheap light computer as a secondary device when I'm on the road and travelling light. It's a great machine and does everything I want it to 🙂

 

[old-wiz]

Unlike others, i would be happy if they continue the MBA line - it is really light and has a decent number of ports and I can continue with current equipment that I plug in.

 

[pat500000]

So as I am looking to buy a MBA11, I just visited the Apple store to do some testing when suddenly a genius approached me. When I told him I like the MBA11 but that I'm a bit dissapointed with the screen resolution. He told me:
"I'm not supposed to say this (ugh, classic salesman talk), but you should wait a couple of months, because then you'll be able to make a great deal since 'everything will become retina'."

My guess is this just lame salesmanship, but... what if...
What do you guys think?

Ps: If Apple IP-traced this and matched it to the video surveillance of the store, and some guy just lost his job, I'm genuinely sorry 🙂

If you need it...BUY it. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[mmomega]

So as I am looking to buy a MBA11, I just visited the Apple store to do some testing when suddenly a genius approached me. When I told him I like the MBA11 but that I'm a bit dissapointed with the screen resolution. He told me:
"I'm not supposed to say this (ugh, classic salesman talk), but you should wait a couple of months, because then you'll be able to make a great deal since 'everything will become retina'."

My guess is this just lame salesmanship, but... what if...
What do you guys think?

Ps: If Apple IP-traced this and matched it to the video surveillance of the store, and some guy just lost his job, I'm genuinely sorry 🙂

That's strange, out of all the years of going to the Apple Store and just fishing for info every once in a while, I've never had an employee even hint that new hardware was coming until it was officially announced by Apple.

 

[Mal67]

I was happy to see that 6500u and and 6500hq chips have made it into at least one Toshiba, Hp and Asus laptop at JBs down under recently here on the west side. Disappointing though to see that with the u models Toshiba and Hp seem to think that 1366 x 768 Resolution screens are still okay. If these guys can get these out now there is always the chance that Apple might get quick processor upgraded versions of the Air and the Pro out quickly with big change versions out later. In which case we might not be waiting all that long at all. 🙂

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I was happy to see that 6500u and and 6500hq chips have made it into at least one Toshiba, Hp and Asus laptop at JBs down under recently here on the west side. Disappointing though to see that with the u models Toshiba and Hp seem to think that 1366 x 768 Resolution screens are still okay. If these guys can get these out now there is always the chance that Apple might get quick processor upgraded versions of the Air and the Pro out quickly with big change versions out later. In which case we might not be waiting all that long at all. 🙂

These aren't the chips that go in the pro, the 28W ones in the 13 inch pro are slated for next year, I also can find nothing named 6500hq!!.

The Air has probably had it's last update if I had to guess.

 

[HoiPiet]

I've never really had an Apple retail employee "sell" me anything. Its sometimes a struggle just to get information. In their defense, that's usually due to traffic.

I wouldn't be surprised if some employees in Apple retail get an idea of what's coming from internal rumors. But saying everything is going to be retina could mean a refreshed MBA or it being discontinued. I'd hope there'd be some info on what's going on with the pro at that time. I'd either get a MBP or a discontinued MBA.

 

[Mal67]

These aren't the chips that go in the pro, the 28W ones in the 13 inch pro are slated for next year, I also can find nothing named 6500hq!!.

The Air has probably had it's last update if I had to guess.

Oops! Should have pasted rather than typed that number in, Sorry. Got rather excited thinking that if Asus; Toshiba and Hp could get something out then so could Apple.
Should have been:
Intel Core i7-6700 HQ Quad Core Processor (2.6GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)

 

[maxsix]

Just buy it now. Apple needs the money, and you'll enjoy it! 😀