Get 13" MacBook air now or wait?

[mathiasfre]

Apple has recently cut the price on most MacBooks and I have considered getting a new one for a long time. Right now I have the 13 " pro from 2010, but I love the look and feel of the Air. Should I get it now with the cheap price or wait till the new ones come out, probably in the summer with retina display. My requirements are good battery life, portability and I am playing some light games like counter strike and football manager. I will probably throw some extra ram in it anyway (8 Gb). What are your opinions?

Thanks

 

[burnout8488]

MacBook Air prices from Apple haven't dropped. Also, you can't upgrade the ram, it's soldered on. Buy a higher-spec model to get more ram.

There's a chance they'll get a spec bump sometime before the Haswell 2013 refresh later in the year, but I don't believe the price will go down. $999 for the 11" is their bottom line, and always has been for laptops.

BestBuy recently had a $200-off sale on MBAs, however. Look for sales, I don't think that will be the last time they go on sale. I got my base 13" for $1079 after tax.

 

[KylePowers]

If you plan on gaming, even if it's light, I'd recommend just waiting for Haswell. GPU improvements are supposed to be quite impressive.

But, we probably won't see any Haswell updates (from Apple at least), until late summer/Fall... so it could be a long wait =\

 

[xShane]

Apple has recently cut the price on most MacBooks and I have considered getting a new one for a long time. Right now I have the 13 " pro from 2010, but I love the look and feel of the Air. Should I get it now with the cheap price or wait till the new ones come out, probably in the summer with retina display. My requirements are good battery life, portability and I am playing some light games like counter strike and football manager. I will probably throw some extra ram in it anyway (8 Gb). What are your opinions?

Thanks

Unless you need it now, then wait.

 

[mathiasfre]

MacBook Air prices from Apple haven't dropped. Also, you can't upgrade the ram, it's soldered on. Buy a higher-spec model to get more ram.

There's a chance they'll get a spec bump sometime before the Haswell 2013 refresh later in the year, but I don't believe the price will go down. $999 for the 11" is their bottom line, and always has been for laptops.

BestBuy recently had a $200-off sale on MBAs, however. Look for sales, I don't think that will be the last time they go on sale. I got my base 13" for $1079 after tax.

On Apple online store you Can customize your computer and put 4 more GB of ram in it

 

[Hungry&Foolish]

Check the refurbished.

 

[chrisrosemusic1]

If you need it now then buy one and if you can wait another 6 months see what the summer refresh brings.

Haswell GPU's will have improvements but the CPU boost is likely to be 10% or less.

Counter Strike runs just fine on a HD4000 so you won't need any better.

 

[burnout8488]

On Apple online store you Can customize your computer and put 4 more GB of ram in it

Read the beginning paragraph of my post again

And yes, light and even medium heavy gaming (just don't max the quality settings) should work great on HD4000. It's really quite decent for integrated graphics.

 

[JoeRito]

Get it while its less expensive ( I won't ever say "cheap"). Newest gen models only have 3-5% better performance anyway.

 

[Rileh]

I would buy the current model now as it will be significantly cheaper than whatever is announced next sacrificing only a small performance boost.

 

[elppa]

The general rule: if you are asking, that means you should wait. As others have indicated akthough Haswell won't have greatly improved CPU performance the GPU will be greatly improved. And there will be battery life improvements as well.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Wait, Haswell goodness is coming, just wait