I guess Apple really did something right, I bought a new Macbook Air

[JoeG4]

Well, the 2013 model anyway. After a student discount, and what I think I should be able to get for my 2011 air, it's going to be a great deal for an upgrade in the end.

Granted, it looks exactly the same. The palm rest feels smoother, more like my old PowerBook G4 did. yay! Everything else though, geez. On the plus side: more battery life, a faster SSD, and USB 3.0 ports. I like that!

Still feels awkward going from one apple laptop to a new one that's almost identical.

 

[kramjam]

I'm sure you're going to love the increase of battery life, enjoy your new machine! I just purchased my 2013 13" MBA with the 4GB/256GB at a real insane discount (wish I could of ordered an 8GB CTO but wasn't possible.) Coming from a fully loaded mid 2011 fully loaded 27" iMac, it's definitely a big change - hoping this machine will work for everything I do until a Broadwell rMBP or MBA

 

[JoeG4]

I agree with you on that 8gb/256! That would have been pretty sweet. I saw the 256gb model for $200 more, and as much as I'd like the extra disk space I just don't feel like it's worth $200 lol. I can live with an external if I really need it.

 

[Ann P]

Congrats on your new purchase! I'm thinking about buying one today. It's a safe bet that they won't be refreshed again this year right?

 

[mad3inch1na]

Congrats on your new purchase! I'm thinking about buying one today. It's a safe bet that they won't be refreshed again this year right?

No. The Apple update cycle is based mostly on the Intel refresh cycle. Broadwell will be released Q3 this year, or a quarter behind schedule. Last year, when haswell was released, the MBA's got the first haswell processors. Apple will probably have broadwell processors by the start of fall. I can't imagine a 2015 Broadwell MBA, because the 2015 processor will be on the same die size, allowing for a June release of the 2015 MBA with that processor. If they don't update in 2014, Apple will not have a Broadwell MBA, which is unlikely. The most likely event is Apple releasing a new MBA 6 months from now right before the holiday season, lining up their update so it isn't too close to this update, but not too close to the next update. I would hope for it to be earlier, but that is not likely.

Since there hasn't been a major update on one of their flagship computers this year, this is most likely just a mid-cycle update because of the broadwell delay. Marketshare typically drops off before expected updates, and since many people know that the MBA has a release date of around June, they would have taken a pretty big hit this year when people stopped buying MBAs before June. They manage to cut losses by releasing an updated version during the slump, and dispell any thoughts of an iminent release in June, so consumers will not worry about buying a MBA. This wasn't the 2014 MBA, it was just a minor update to maintain sales during the late-cycle slump.

Edit: Just to clarify, this is all speculation. There is a chance that Apple updates at the beginning of 2015, or completely skips Broadwell and waits until next June for an update. A fall 2014 release is just more likely.

Matt

 

[Agent69]

I agree with you on that 8gb/256! That would have been pretty sweet. I saw the 256gb model for $200 more, and as much as I'd like the extra disk space I just don't feel like it's worth $200 lol. I can live with an external if I really need it.

That's why I went with the 128GB, although I did splurge for 8GB of RAM. I intend to keep this machine for three to fours years, so I figured I'd better get it now.

 

[JoeG4]

Agent69, getting 8gb ram is way more important if you're going to pick one or the other and have that choice. The SSD is on a little card and eventually someone will sell the larger size ones as a part. The RAM on the other hand is soldered on! But i'm sure you already knew this

 

[mad3inch1na]

Agent69, getting 8gb ram is way more important if you're going to pick one or the other and have that choice. The SSD is on a little card and eventually someone will sell the larger size ones as a part. The RAM on the other hand is soldered on! But i'm sure you already knew this

I'm in no way disagreeing with your post, because RAM can be very useful, but a RAM upgrade isn't always the best option. I own a late 2010 MBA with 2GB of RAM, and it is running strong. If you planned on doing professional work on the machine, I'm sure it would perform poorly. For watching movies, playing video games (portal 2, league of legends), web browsing, and writing, it runs without a hitch. For over 3 1/2 years, those tasks haven't taken up any more RAM, and it is still blazing fast. Most consumers will not use more than 1-2GB of RAM ever, and with the advent of SSDs, paging to RAM is significantly less important than it was with HDDs.

Here is my argument for getting a bigger SSD. The larger the disk size, the faster it performs to a significang degree. You can look up tests on tomshardware or anandtech, but for cost/performance value, 256GB is arguably the sweetspot. Not only will the system run faster in general, but if you do page to the SSD, it will handle it better. For a typical consumer, an SSD is most likely the best upgrade. Sure, the SSD is technically upgradable, but PCIE flash is very expensive, and down the line, external storage is probably a better investment for the hassle and cost of upgrading. As of right now, if you are a consumer and have an SSD based computer on Mavericks, 2GB is the most RAM you will need right now.

If you are a professional user, the sky is the limit for RAM, and I am sure you know what you need for your system. A RAM upgrade could very well be the best upgrade for you. For the average consumer, RAM is no longer the holy grail of computing parts. Especially for mid level GPU/CPU systems, 3-4 years down the line most consumer tasks will be bottlenecked by other parts if you have 4GB of RAM. YMMV, and I'm sure the system you bought will sustain you for many years to come. I used to think RAM was the one and only upgrade until I got a MBA. It is a great computer and I'm sure you will love it.

Matt