I'm sad to say its going back...

ZBoater

ZBoater

macrumors G3
After 24 straight hours of messing with my new 2012 MBA, I decided its going back.

It is an amazing machine, don't get me wrong. But as a 2011 MBA owner I was already 90% of the way there. The extra RAM, SSD space, and video card are very nice, but at the end of the day not worth so much more money to me.

I had a bit of a hard time getting all my VMs to work right, and while I was almost there (Ubuntu I still can't upgrade and XP developed a 45-60 second boot lag that came out of nowhere), I couldn't help but appreciate my trusty old MBA sitting there just being perfect. I had them side by side doing all sorts of tests, and the VMs were loading almost at the same time. I couldn't appreciate any performance difference, and for a $1400 upgrade expense, that's just not acceptable.

The USB 3.0 is niiiiiiiiice. I'm most sad to see that go. I guess I'll break down and get a Thunderbolt portable external drive when they come out. I am spoiled now.

The 2011 MBAs took too big of a hit in the used market in too short a time. I think I'll hang on to it and see what the 2013 model brings.

The MBA is an amazing piece of hardware. Glad I jumped on the bandwagon.
 
ZBoater said:
But as a 2011 MBA owner I was already 90% of the way there.
Click to expand...
That's usually the case. You don't see much of a change from year to year. I've been holding off upgrading for a few years so its a bigger difference for me.

Enjoy your 2011 MBA, you have it the way you need it, no harm in keeping what works for you :)
 
The upgrade from last years model is really only incremental. Everything is just a little bit better. I can understand why someone upgrading from a 2011 wouldn't be super impressed.

In my case I'm upgrading from an '09 13" MBP. I already installed an SSD in my MBP which extended it's life greatly, so even in my case I'm not expecting to great an increase in performance. What I am looking forward to is the thinner form factor, the USB 3.0, and the slightly higher res screen (1440*900 vs 1280*800).
 
Interesting...makes sense...I'm fully convinced that my upgrade from an 2011 is totally foolish and won't see real game changing gains for the ms office work I do....but it's a hobby, some guys spend more than this on golf so I have no problem with it...Sold the old 4g/128 for $900 so the hit to a 8g/128 is not bad...
 
Nice thread.

I was trying to send you a private message but it looks that is not an available option in this forum.

I have some doubts, and looks that you may be able to give me some clues about it.

Do you use windows/Linux into virtual machine? I'll want to do the same, no heat problems? runs smooth ?.. were did you store it, internal or external? is not too much space? ... you thing that the problems in mba2012 will be serious problems with virtual machines?.. never had a shut-down for heat problems?



( I really didn't want to make an off-topic, sorry for that )
 
I can see why you might think that. I wonder how many people could really tell the difference between the 2011 and 2012 models in a "blind" test.

Good for you of identifying what value it needed to have to keep it over what you own.

I picked up a 13" 2012 MBA yesterday as an upgrade from a 2010 model. With double the RAM (4 GB now) and the new processor there is a huge difference.

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vodkaPT said:
Nice thread.

I was trying to send you a private message but it looks that is not an available option in this forum.

I have some doubts, and looks that you may be able to give me some clues about it.

Do you use windows/Linux into virtual machine? I'll want to do the same, no heat problems? runs smooth ?.. were did you store it, internal or external? is not too much space? ... you thing that the problems in mba2012 will be serious problems with virtual machines?.. never had a shut-down for heat problems?

( I really didn't want to make an off-topic, sorry for that )
Click to expand...

I am running a 2012 MBA with 4GB RAM right now and all evening I have had a Windows 7 VM running in the background installing and configuring things (lot's of activity). At the same time I'm using Spotify, editing a document in MS Word and using Safari like this. The fan isn't running that I can hear and I can't tell the VM is even going except that it is on the second monitor.

Really big difference over a pre-2011 MBA model like the ones I had before. Worth buying to try...and return it if you aren't satisfied.
 
wharzhee said:
Do you use a 13 or 11? And how does the size feel for you?
Click to expand...

I use the 13", and for the size is perfect. Slim enough to go anywhere, but screen and keyboard/palm rests big enough to be comfortable.

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vodkaPT said:
Do you use windows/Linux into virtual machine? I'll want to do the same, no heat problems? runs smooth ?.. were did you store it, internal or external? is not too much space? ... you thing that the problems in mba2012 will be serious problems with virtual machines?.. never had a shut-down for heat problems?
Click to expand...

I have Windows 7 running in Bootcamp and on a virtual machine (VM). I also have several VMs I use for testing and goofing around (Windows XP, Windows 98, DOS 6.22) and Ubuntu 11.10. I also have a OS X Lion VM but I had to move it off my SSD because I started to run out of space.

They run silky smooth, all of them. No heat problems, no lag, nothing. I store them on my SSD for that reason. I think the problem with the 2012 is that Parallels (which is what I use for VMs) needs to put out an update.
 
I got a 13" MacBook Air yesterday and it's also a huge jump for me since I was still using a 2008 MacBook. so the difference for me is huge. It's ultra fast compared to my old machine and an absolute pleasure to use.

I'd imagine in your case though the difference really wouldn't be worth it. Maybe if there is a 2012 13" retina MacBook Pro it would be more worth it.
 
ZBoater said:
The 2011 MBAs took too big of a hit in the used market in too short a time. I think I'll hang on to it and see what the 2013 model brings.

The MBA is an amazing piece of hardware. Glad I jumped on the bandwagon.
Click to expand...

This. I was tempted to sell my 11" to get a new 2012 model, but I just can't justify Spending over $2,200 when I just spent $1,700 just 10 months ago. Thought about selling to get the new one, but even then the hit would be too great because of how low the used prices have gone.

Oh well, holding out for a retina air now.
 
for 1 year time, you will not get much difference. Maybe geekbench score is higher but in real life situation it doesn't have big effect.

It is big effect for someone like me. I've survived using photoshop cs3-cs5 using mbp early 2008. That new MBA is approximately 2.5x faster than my current mbp. Now that's what you call an upgraded :D although I still can't decide. New MBP is 4x faster than my current mbp :(
 
I agree. I moved from a 2011 13" MBP, and I don't see any difference between them once everything is loaded and running. No perceptible difference between the 2011 and 2012 MBA either. But, it is a nice machine, and I am glad I changed to get the portability. Pricewise, I just about broke even after selling the MBP.

If I had a 2011 MBA, I wouldn't upgrade. It's not worth it, even for 3.0 :)
 
ZBoater said:
The USB 3.0 is niiiiiiiiice. I'm most sad to see that go. I guess I'll break down and get a Thunderbolt portable external drive when they come out. I am spoiled now.

The 2011 MBAs took too big of a hit in the used market in too short a time. I think I'll hang on to it and see what the 2013 model brings.
Click to expand...
I sold my 2011 Air in preparation for a 2012 model specifically for USB 3.0.

IMO, Thunderbolt is a bust in that nobody would guess that 2yrs later there would be so very very few TB peripherals and such high high pricing. And even the peripherals we were promised (hubs, adapters etc) are gigantic, loud and ugly. While on the other hand USB3 is widely available on almost every HDD out there with no additional cost. I still like TB because its a very versatile port, but when it comes to hard drives then I'm done waiting.
 
I understand it. But the asymmetrical fan in the new MBA is amazing though :) Personally, I'll go for the latest model, it wouldn't make sense for me to buy a last year's model after several months of waiting for Apple to refresh the MBA lineup.
 
KittyKatta said:
I sold my 2011 Air in preparation for a 2012 model specifically for USB 3.0.

IMO, Thunderbolt is a bust in that nobody would guess that 2yrs later there would be so very very few TB peripherals and such high high pricing. And even the peripherals we were promised (hubs, adapters etc) are gigantic, loud and ugly. While on the other hand USB3 is widely available on almost every HDD out there with no additional cost. I still like TB because its a very versatile port, but when it comes to hard drives then I'm done waiting.
Click to expand...

As an owner of a 13" MBA I can say the faster SSD does make a difference. It's fast and the graphics should improve though that'll probably take Intel a bit to get their graphic drivers in order (OpenCL support and whatnot)

Thunderbolt isn't a bust. Is wasn't meant to take off and suddenly eradicate all other connection standards. It's nice to have though because peripherals will come down in price.

The thing to realize is that there is NOTHING that will give you 10Gbps cheaply.

10g NIC are still in the range of multiple hundreds
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106043


Did people "really" think they were going to get 10g products at USB pricing?
 
Sell your old model and then you'll only be spending a few $100 dollars for the latest machine.

I'm currently thinking about selling my 13"MBP for a 13"MBA but I'm not sure if I want to buy the new model or just try to get a good price for the previous generations MBA.
 
I sold my 11'' MBA (1.6, 128, 4) for $850 on CL after initially paying $1100 and picked up the 11'' 2012 MBA (2.0, 256, 8) for $1650 after edu discount.

As a mobile warrior and a developer who - as my primary machine - relies on it for a living, I didn't hesitate at all to upgrade. The extra HD space was essential and USB 3.0 was a major plus considering I run a lot of VM's off external drives.

Throw in twice the RAM, faster processor, faster drives, and reports of anecdotal battery life improvement have me sleeping easy with my decision to upgrade.

... Now if it would only arrive already.
 
*shivers* on possible software glitches due Ivy Bridge / HD4000, not to mention future Mountain Lion upgrade...

I sold my 2011 13" for 399€ below purchase price to go for the current 2012 model, solely for the extra RAM to run Virtualbox VM's (hopefully) without blue screening so often. Most expensive RAM purchase in my life!
 
ZBoater said:
After 24 straight hours of messing with my new 2012 MBA, I decided its going back.

It is an amazing machine, don't get me wrong. But as a 2011 MBA owner I was already 90% of the way there. The extra RAM, SSD space, and video card are very nice, but at the end of the day not worth so much more money to me.
...

The MBA is an amazing piece of hardware. Glad I jumped on the bandwagon.
Click to expand...

These are both great points, and ones that I came to understand as well when I was looking at the cost of selling my 2011 13" and getting a 2012 13". While there are upgrades, I just don't know that I would really experience a big enough difference to justify the cost in upgrading. The 2011 MBA is just an awesome machine.

I think a more exciting thing to spend my money on will be the 13"MBP Retina...if that actually comes out in October as some rumors have suggested. Of course, I may need to take out a second mortgage to purchase it. :eek:
 
Thanks for posting your experience. Glad I took a pass at the upgrade. Waiting for my new OWC drive instead. I agree, USB 3.0 is the biggest feature for 2011 owners, but not worth the cost of admission.
 
Where the HECK are the TB-USB3.0 adapters? It's been over a year and NO ONE has even bothered in trying to make one. Right now, it's the only major item that's making me 'itch' for a 2011-2012 MBA upgrade. I'm starting to wonder if Apple won't 'certify' one as that will remove some impetus for upgrades?

The upgrade treadmill only really works well if you purchase the lower end models. As the resale value difference between the base configs and upgrades aren't even close to the original price gap, those of us who got the higher-end models are going to take a blood-bath in going from the 2011-2012 models.
 
magbarn said:
Where the HECK are the TB-USB3.0 adapters? It's been over a year and NO ONE has even bothered in trying to make one. Right now, it's the only major item that's making me 'itch' for a 2011-2012 MBA upgrade. I'm starting to wonder if Apple won't 'certify' one as that will remove some impetus for upgrades?
Click to expand...

Thunderbolt is an open standard that PCs are starting to adopt (albeit slowly). If someone is out there with a solution, they can get it out without Apple having to "approve" of it (provided they can write a decent driver).

Note, though, that Apple selling a $29 Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter ought to have sent a message to certain peripheral manufacturers (I'm looking at you, Belkin) that Thunderbolt isn't an open license to overcharge.
 
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