Keep pre-price-hike 13” M5 Air 24GB/1TB or wait for MacBook Ultra/M6 Oled Pro/Air?

[SpaceJello]

I got my hands on a pre-price-hike 13” MB Air 24GB/1TB.
It is in Canadian French, but can easily be switched to English with keycap replacements etc.

Should I keep this or wait for next gen MB Air/Pro/Ultra? I would like an OLED screen. 😁 The current RAM and SSD is good. I can always get more storage elsewhere.

I have a Mac mini M2 pro 16GB/512G, but for most of my daily workload, I use the iPad cause of portability. But if the MB stays, it will be a daily driver as well.

I do graphics and video, and want to use the new Mac laptop for that. (As iPad is still not as good yet).

I wouldn’t do heavy video/3D rendering on the MB, but will use the Mac Mini for all that. I don’t mind the slower pace.

I love the MB Air 13” portability and I can always hook it up to another monitor if needed.

Should I keep this laptop or wait for next gen? I am not sure whether the expected ultra and M6/M7/Air design and screen changes would be better suited for long term. And price wise…..is it going to keep this price increase for long?

 

[throAU]

Keep what you have, current indicators are that the current memory and storage price issues are not going to be going away in 2027 - I certainly would not bank on M6 being any more affordable than current machines and may in fact be worse due to DRAM and SSD supply constraints.

one source, selected at random:

Memory prices will stay “crazy” through to at least 2027: Gartner

PC shipments likely to drop sharply this year thanks to the ongoing inflation of memory costs.

www.crn.com.au

 

[dizmonk]

I got my hands on a pre-price-hike 13” MB Air 24GB/1TB.
It is in Canadian French, but can easily be switched to English with keycap replacements etc.

Should I keep this or wait for next gen MB Air/Pro/Ultra? I would like an OLED screen. 😁 The current RAM and SSD is good. I can always get more storage elsewhere.

I have a Mac mini M2 pro 16GB/512G, but for most of my daily workload, I use the iPad cause of portability. But if the MB stays, it will be a daily driver as well.

I do graphics and video, and want to use the new Mac laptop for that. (As iPad is still not as good yet).

I wouldn’t do heavy video/3D rendering on the MB, but will use the Mac Mini for all that. I don’t mind the slower pace.

I love the MB Air 13” portability and I can always hook it up to another monitor if needed.

Should I keep this laptop or wait for next gen? I am not sure whether the expected ultra and M6/M7/Air design and screen changes would be better suited for long term. And price wise…..is it going to keep this price increase for long?

I would definitely keep it. I grabbed my M5 about a month before the price hikes. I'd love more memory but these prices are not going down for quite a while. New Apple products are and will continue to increase in price.

 

[outlawarth]

Keep it without a doubt.

You mention the iPad - I tried making it my main device for months. The little annoyances and “work arounds” just kept adding up until I finally got an MBA. Wish I had done it sooner.

 

[JPack]

Keyboard layout is the only thing. You can't replicate an actual U.S. keyboard layout even by replacing caps. If you can live with the weird layout, keep the computer.

M6 won't be too different from M5. It's the M7 that expected to be a major shift.

 

[MacCheetah3]

Some recent(-ish) articles on the subject:

MacBook Air With OLED Display is Still Years Away

Apple is planning to launch a MacBook Air with an OLED display, but it won't come for several years after the MacBook Pro is updated with OLED screen technology. We're not going to see an OLED MacBook Air until at least 2028, according to Bloomberg. Large, high-quality OLED displays are...

www.macrumors.com

The $4,300 MacBook? Gurman Claims Apple Planning "MacBook Ultra" with OLED and Face ID for 2026

For months, the Apple rumor mill has been churning with whispers of a complete overhaul for the MacBook Pro. Since the last major design shift arrived

www.laptopscheck.com

A touchscreen MacBook no longer sounds far-fetched, here's what to expect

Every credible touchscreen MacBook Pro rumour, including OLED display, expected release date, M-series chip rumours, pricing and design changes.

www.macworld.com

The OLED MacBook You Actually Want Is Still a Year Out

You won't get next-generation performance with your next-gen MacBook display. At least not until 2027.

gizmodo.com

Another blow for MacBook Pro fans — Apple could follow price hikes with some frustrating M-series chip delays, new report claims

Apple might delay the MacBook Pro’s M7 Pro and M7 Max chips until 2027, a new report claims.

tech.yahoo.com

The point is… Be careful relying on rumors, especially the inflated hype.

 

[1BadManVan]

So long as you're good with the keyboard, I would definitely keep your current M5, the value of the next gen is going to be very poor

 

[outlawarth]

So you are in Canada. Did you by chance buy it at Costco? You might have some luck calling their customer service to arrange for an English unit swap at the price you purchased it at.

 

[SpaceJello]

So you are in Canada. Did you by chance buy it at Costco? You might have some luck calling their customer service to arrange for an English unit swap at the price you purchased it at.

I got it from Amazon during Prime days just when the price hike happened.

It was part of the AppleCare bundle. I selected English keyboard but the system automates to the opposite no matter what. I tried with customer service… and filed a ticket on the website “error”.

That’s been a week, and the error is still here. Take it for whatever it means.

I am ok with the French keyboard. It won’t be the US English version but I can change it to the UK/International English version. It’s not that much different, just the “enter” key looks different with a key moved from one key row to another.

 

[SpaceJello]

So long as you're good with the keyboard, I would definitely keep your current M5, the value of the next gen is going to be very poor

Yah I checked the option, the keys aren’t as different. If it was a European French keyboard, that would have been a lot more different.

 

[SpaceJello]

Some recent(-ish) articles on the subject:

MacBook Air With OLED Display is Still Years Away

Apple is planning to launch a MacBook Air with an OLED display, but it won't come for several years after the MacBook Pro is updated with OLED screen technology. We're not going to see an OLED MacBook Air until at least 2028, according to Bloomberg. Large, high-quality OLED displays are...

www.macrumors.com

The $4,300 MacBook? Gurman Claims Apple Planning "MacBook Ultra" with OLED and Face ID for 2026

For months, the Apple rumor mill has been churning with whispers of a complete overhaul for the MacBook Pro. Since the last major design shift arrived

www.laptopscheck.com

A touchscreen MacBook no longer sounds far-fetched, here's what to expect

Every credible touchscreen MacBook Pro rumour, including OLED display, expected release date, M-series chip rumours, pricing and design changes.

www.macworld.com

The OLED MacBook You Actually Want Is Still a Year Out

You won't get next-generation performance with your next-gen MacBook display. At least not until 2027.

gizmodo.com

Another blow for MacBook Pro fans — Apple could follow price hikes with some frustrating M-series chip delays, new report claims

Apple might delay the MacBook Pro’s M7 Pro and M7 Max chips until 2027, a new report claims.

tech.yahoo.com

The point is… Be careful relying on rumors, especially the inflated hype.

Guess the OLED is still a ways out 🤣

 

[SpaceJello]

So you are in Canada. Did you by chance buy it at Costco? You might have some luck calling their customer service to arrange for an English unit swap at the price you purchased it at.

I wish I did with Costco. I should check if Costco still has any on sale.

 

[snipr125]

If you want an OLED screen then either get an iPad Pro M4/M5 (they are amazing) or use an external OLED monitor with your MBA M5.

 

[JPack]

So you are in Canada. Did you by chance buy it at Costco? You might have some luck calling their customer service to arrange for an English unit swap at the price you purchased it at.

I doubt Costco would agree because it's an entirely different SKU and model #. In Canada, the French keyboard models go on sale all the time because nobody really wants them. There's a few extra keys and others repositioned that ruins the typing experience.

 

[outlawarth]

I doubt Costco would agree because it's an entirely different SKU and model #. In Canada, the French keyboard models go on sale all the time because nobody really wants them. There's a few extra keys and others repositioned that ruins the typing experience.

Good point. I would be annoyed by a layout other than English I think (nothing against French or other languages).

 

[m1maverick]

I wish I did with Costco. I should check if Costco still has any on sale.

At least ask. Let them tell you no, don’t say no for them.

 

[Acronyc]

I got it from Amazon during Prime days just when the price hike happened.

It was part of the AppleCare bundle. I selected English keyboard but the system automates to the opposite no matter what. I tried with customer service… and filed a ticket on the website “error”.

That’s been a week, and the error is still here. Take it for whatever it means.

I am ok with the French keyboard. It won’t be the US English version but I can change it to the UK/International English version. It’s not that much different, just the “enter” key looks different with a key moved from one key row to another.

I've always had US English layout keyboards, but when the M4 Air came out, Amazon Germany had a sale on the Sky Blue 24 RAM / 512 storage variant. I picked it up, but the only problem was the keyboard was the German layout.

After some investigation, I found out that this is essentially the same key placement as the ISO English layout. I got a set of replacement keycaps and turned my Air's keyboard into a ISO English layout.

It took a little bit of time for me to get used to the different shaped return key and the shortened left shift key (this was the biggest adjustment as I always use the left one and never the right one). But, now I'm very used to it and can switch between this and my other keyboard layouts without a problem.