Haswell Air vs. Ivy Bridge Air - worth waiting for?

[KPOM]

Will an Ivy Bridge Air really only be a few months out? Probably another five or more, maybe even eight, right? Or am I off? And even then, is the performance really that much better? The only thing that would get me to upgrade, most likely, is an increase of RAM to 8GB. Otherwise, perhaps raw benchmarks may prove to be lots better but I don't do enough super resource intensive tasks to probably notice. The most intensive stuff is probably just compiling code, which I suppose wouldn't be that much improved - anyone know if that is the case?

The biggest improvements with Ivy Bridge are lower power consumption (from the 22nm process) and significantly better graphics performance (including support for OpenCL, DirectX11, etc.). Haswell is the next major CPU architecture and promises even lower power consumption. Intel is talking 24-hour battery life or 10 days in a special standby mode that still checks e-mail, etc. periodically.

I have the Sandy Bridge version and plan to hold out until the Haswell version in 2013. I don't game, so Ivy Bridge's advanced IGP has less appeal to me.

 

[Acorn]

we will all die when the planets line up in 2012 so you should buy now

 

[colourfastt]

Having a 2010 MBA Ultimate, I decided to skip Sandy Bridge because I don't really need more processing muscle.

I will ONLY buy Ivy Bridge if there are new real improvements other than simply processing muscle: 8gb RAM, thinner bezel around the screen, etc. If not, I will skip Ivy Bridge too.

I have an 09 Rev C and have no plans to "upgrade" from it for at least another 5 years. It has more than enough power to do all I ask of it.

 

[orfeas0]

Hey guys I have a question too.
Should I buy the macbook air 11" i5, 11" i7, 13" i5, 13" i7 or the mbp 13" i5 or i7?
Or should I wait for ivy bridge? Please help me!
/s

 

[mopatops]

Hey guys I have a question too.
Should I buy the macbook air 11" i5, 11" i7, 13" i5, 13" i7 or the mbp 13" i5 or i7?
Or should I wait for ivy bridge? Please help me!
/s

The 15" base MBP should suit your needs perfectly

 

[vitzr]

Having decided to skip the Sandy Bridge Air, and with the next gen Ivy Bridge Air just a few months out, I'm now wondering whether it's worth holding out for the Haswell Air?

https://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/13/intel-previews-low-power-haswell-processors-for-2013/

It all depends on the needs you have presently. If you already have a computer that's doing the job you need done, then waiting is not an unreasonable choice.

Conversely if you are running a computer that is beginning to be a problem, it would not be a bad idea to replace it as you see fit.

Personally I'm all set for now with my 13" 2011 MBA, yet I do plan on buying the Haswell equipped model upon it's release.

The 10W reduction in power consumption, means a much cooler running, longer lasting laptop.

 

[xraydoc]

Hey guys I have a question too.
Should I buy the macbook air 11" i5, 11" i7, 13" i5, 13" i7 or the mbp 13" i5 or i7?
Or should I wait for ivy bridge? Please help me!
/s

17" MBP. No substitute. Don't delay. The 11" MacBook Air is a child's toy. An expensive netbook, nothing more.

 

[ghileman]

The 10W reduction in power demands that Haswell offers, will go a long ways towards helping reduce operating temps. Heat is the enemy of electronics, so anything that reduces it, is welcome.

This is my big hesitation with the current Sandy Bridge line -- the current Air still gets too hot for my tastes. And whether or not Ivy Bridge will make a significant noticeable improvement is unknown at this point.

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the Dental Bridge CPU?.

hilarious!

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I don't game, so Ivy Bridge's advanced IGP has less appeal to me.

Me neither. I wonder if my Rev. B Air can make it to Haswell...

 

[ghileman]

well well

AnandTech has the following to say about Ivy Bridge:

"A more efficient chip built using lower power transistors should positively impact battery life and thermal output."

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4830/intels-ivy-bridge-architecture-exposed/6

If there is a big drop in heat and a nice bump in battery life, plust a 60% improvement in graphics, then ivy bridge could be a nice bump from sandy. I imagine Apple would also include USB 3.0 with the the next Ivy Bridge Air.

 

[old-wiz]

By the time Haswell Airs are released, Intel will have announced a successor that's even more powerful and consumes less energy.

Excellent point! Once you start skipping a generation because the next generation is faster, uses less power, etc then you get stuck in a specifications hunt and you can wind up never buying a computer since there is always something newer coming along "soon".

 

[spacepower7]

AnandTech has the following to say about Ivy Bridge:

"A more efficient chip built using lower power transistors should positively impact battery life and thermal output."

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4830/intels-ivy-bridge-architecture-exposed/6

If there is a big drop in heat and a nice bump in battery life, plust a 60% improvement in graphics, then ivy bridge could be a nice bump from sandy. I imagine Apple would also include USB 3.0 with the the next Ivy Bridge Air.

Which will not be released till next summer or fall. Why post about getting a computer a year from now?

Buy one now and sell it for a little less next year. The amount of money you will lose is probably less than $1 a day. Is it worth $1 a day to use (or rent, implying selling in a year) a 2011 computer now?

BustBuy is willing to give me $536 for my 2006 MacBook (with upgrades) for a trade-in. My total cost with upgrades was less than $1400. if my math is working, that's less than $0.75 a day. That's pretty darn cheap.

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I'm skipping the Sandy Bridge Air as well because its heat profile is too "peaky" with the current implementation of TurboBoost, ramping from 800MHz to 2900MHz for brief periods. It's kind of a poor man's way to increase performance at the expense of heat and battery life. My next Mac will be an Ivy MBP, and thereafter a Haswell Air.

Wow, too peaky and a poor man's implementation of turboboost. Do you want to be the enlightened one to tell Intel that they are poor? It's bleeding edge tech, please teach them how to do it better.

No soup for you

Please go join the windows 8 crowd dreaming of the future rather than living in the present. What can your PC (Mac) do for you today?

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Why not wait for Intel's upcoming Golden Gate Bridge or even better, the Dental Bridge CPU?

There might even be a more efficient Todd Bridges or Jeff Bridges CPU (note the extra "s" after the Bridge).

Woooooo

Watcha talkin about Willis?

Jeff Bridges will rock Todd Bridges, skip the Todd bridges platform altogether

 

[dzigg]

I don't game that much but just to be safe I'm keeping my MBA in pristine condition for high resale value if it needed to be sold to buy ivy bridge..

If the performance of ivy bridge is not that significant, I'll skip it for haswell..

 

[Bob Coxner]

I'm happy with Sandy Bridge but the rumor that Ivy Bridge will be capable of 24 hours battery life on an MBA is certainly intriguing.

 

[KPOM]

I'm happy with Sandy Bridge but the rumor that Ivy Bridge will be capable of 24 hours battery life on an MBA is certainly intriguing.

That won't be until Haswell, which may run at at 10W TDP (with the ability to scale down). Ivy Bridge should be a noticeable improvement, however.

 

[KohPhiPhi]

Do you guys think there will be a form facelift on the next generation (Ivy Bridge) of MBAs? I'm more specifically thinking of a reduction of the bezel around the screen. That in itself could shave 1 inch off the current size, and I would certainly buy into that!

I'm more keen on seeing that type of improvement than on CPU muscle. Quite frankly, current i5 and i7 are plentiful for what 95% of MBA users need. A 8gb RAM upgrade would be welcome though.

 

[driftless]

I am not trying to hijack this thread but the thread has me thinking about when Apple might offer some upgrades prior to the Ivy Bridge/Haswell Air releases. I am thinking specifically of the 8GB RAM. That would be a very useful interim upgrade, at least for me. Maybe some minor changes when the rumored 15" laptop is released?

 

[calvol]

I am not trying to hijack this thread but the thread has me thinking about when Apple might offer some upgrades prior to the Ivy Bridge/Haswell Air releases. I am thinking specifically of the 8GB RAM. That would be a very useful interim upgrade, at least for me. Maybe some minor changes when the rumored 15" laptop is released?

If Ivy is delayed till Q2 or later, there might be a refresh of the refresh in December, with 8GB/512SSD option. I think the next big change to the Air will queue off the new MBP design elements. I'm hoping better cooling.

 

[adnoh]

 

[driftless]

If Ivy is delayed till Q2 or later, there might be a refresh of the refresh in December, with 8GB/512SSD option. I think the next big change to the Air will queue off the new MBP design elements. I'm hoping better cooling.

It would be interesting to see what Apple brings out. 8 GB (and better cooling) would sure make the wait for the Haswell Air processor to be more pleasant.

 

[riveting]

This generation MBA is already a big leap forward in CPU speed compared to 2010 model, we have been in the core 2 duo age for like 5 years, and finally something much faster, so I think it is a pretty good time to buy it now.

 

[Bob Coxner]

Retina Display with Ivy Bridge?

http://9to5mac.com/2011/09/20/intels-ivy-bridge-chips-could-enable-macs-to-support-4k-resolution/

The Verge’s Vlad Slavov notes that Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge chips will be 60 percent faster than the Sandy Bridge platform, but the biggest news is support for display resolutions up to 4096-by-4096 pixels and OpenCL. The silicon also features a Multi Format Codec engine which supports 4K QuadHD video on YouTube and is speedy enough to decode multiple 4K video streams at once.

 

[ryan.apham]

Ivy League - yes.

Ivy Bridge Air - only you can answer yourself. If not, we have to see another thread in 2 years time by the same person asking if he had skipped Sandy Bridge Air, Ivy Bridge Air and Haswell Air, should he go for a Sandwich Air.