Have original 11" Ultimate. Should upgrade to new 11"?

[Hankster]

(Anyone have old MBA 11" and upgraded to new MBA 11"?)

I bought the MacBook Air 11" Ultimate when it first came out. I love the size, weight and battery life. The only issue I've had, and it's small, is the letter "A" on the keyboard has begun to chip away (almost like the paint has been chipped off).

My primary use for this machine is for work: browser, Office, iTunes, Quickbooks and I'll have a Twitter app on. These are all low processing programs, so it's not like I'm running programs that slow my machine down. I do however use PhotoShop off and on and it's very slow. Another reason I'm looking at this is because I want to run Windows 7 (have to for work). I've heard he's easier to do this work the newer MBA.

I know the newer MBA 11" is much faster than the original MBA 11". Is there anyone has had the old one and upgraded? Reasons and was it worth it? Also, if you upgraded from the 11" to the 13" please chime in.

Appreciate the feedback.

 

[iKIKO]

(Anyone have old MBA 11" and upgraded to new MBA 11"?)

I bought the MacBook Air 11" Ultimate when it first came out. I love the size, weight and battery life. The only issue I've had, and it's small, is the letter "A" on the keyboard has begun to chip away (almost like the paint has been chipped off).

My primary use for this machine is for work: browser, Office, iTunes, Quickbooks and I'll have a Twitter app on. These are all low processing programs, so it's not like I'm running programs that slow my machine down. I do however use PhotoShop off and on and it's very slow. Another reason I'm looking at this is because I want to run Windows 7 (have to for work). I've heard he's easier to do this work the newer MBA.

I know the newer MBA 11" is much faster than the original MBA 11". Is there anyone has had the old one and upgraded? Reasons and was it worth it? Also, if you upgraded from the 11" to the 13" please chime in.

Appreciate the feedback.

well, my dad has the 2010 11 air, the one with the 1.6 c2d 4g ram and 128 ssd. and i have the new one, the one with the i5 1.6, 4g ram, 128 ssd, and talking of speed diference, i can only see it when im doing some intensive task, or doing some video encoding. now by the other hand, the backlight keyboard, i love that, and my father seems to miss it too on his air. the battery seems to last a little longer on the new one too i5. maybe bacause it has less cycles, i don't know.

if you have the 2010, may be it doesn't worth to change it for an i5 (newer one) unless you need that extra things that the new one has.

if you need them, and if you can aford it the do it, you wont regret anyway

 

[Bear]

If the unit is still under warranty/AppleCare, they should be able to do something about your A key.

It sounds like the current Air would be better for you, or if you can hold on 2 to 4 months (most likely) the next Airs should be out. However, if you need the performance now, go for it.

 

[jmoore5196]

I had a 2010 "ultimate" 11" and then upgraded late last year to a 2011 model with the i5 processor. I was addicted to the backlit keyboard, and that was my primary reason for upgrading. In running CS5 applications, however, I notice that the new model is indeed quite a bit snappier.

I was happy with my 2010 but thought it overpriced at the time. The 2011 model is a "sweet spot" machine for me; it can do heavy lifting when I need it done, but it's the ideal size - and price point - for me to carry around on a daily basis. That may be an incremental improvement on the 2010 model, but for me, it was worthwhile.

 

[Jobsian]

If you don't do too much heavy lifting, definitely stick with your current 2010 model.

They're both similar and stunning pieces of hardware. The 2011 has a considerably beefier CPU, not very noticeable in 'everyday' tasks. It seems to fare slightly worse in battery, graphics and seems to have slightly more heat/noise issues, not sure if it's to do with the 2011's model having 17W TDP CPU and the 2010 model having a 10W CPU (plus the separate Nvidia chipset).

If you're just an average user, I'd bear with the A-key problem and await a real upgrade in the 2012 model.

 

[KPOM]

I had both models, and while the 2011 is definitely faster (particularly for tasks like photo editing) and has the backlit keyboard, at this point, I'd see if Apple would fix the A key for you and keep it for a little while longer. We should have a new version this summer, perhaps to coincide with the Mountain Lion launch (or maybe even sooner), and it should have a better battery life, better graphics, and a modestly faster CPU than the current version. It may also have USB 3.0.

 

[bcaslis]

The other thing with the 2011 is that you can get it with both the i7 processor and 256GB SSD. Just as fast and capable as the 13" but smaller.

 

[JAT]

If you're just an average user, I'd bear with the A-key problem and await a real upgrade in the 2012 model.

At this point you should wait anyway. Apple is a great company to skip a generation.

 

[calvol]

Wait till the 2012's come out this summer, should run a lot cooler and have better battery life. It's not long now.