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MacBook Air Ultimate

bambooshots

bambooshots

Suspended
Original poster
Jul 25, 2013
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I've been a lifetime Windows user and may make the switch to Apple's Macs as I don't have the inclination to get acquainted with Win8 and also it seems like the quality of Apple's notebooks are usually higher than most manufacturers.

That said, I'm on a tight time line and would like to be able to pick up a Macbook Air by the end of this week. I wanted to get an i7/8/256 but that needs to be BTO and won't get here in time. However, Apple Stores do usually carry the next upgrade up, the top of the line, "Ultimate" i7/8/512 but of course that's $300 more.

Does anyone here have the Macbook Air Ultimate (i7/8/512)? Was it worth it? Was it worth it to you? If you could do it again would you pick something else? I am a student so I suppose the cost would be $1750 (1850-100) plus tax and whatever accessories I wanted to buy.

Of course it'd be helpful to list what my uses would be: Schoolwork, light gaming: SCII/HOTS, Diablo 3, older Source games (never finished HL2 or any of the sequels). It'd basically be my general computer. I'm pretty mobile and the only reason I don't bring my current 15.4" Sager2090 is because it's old and slow and there's no battery life and the laptop and all the ancillary gear like power brick weighs in at about another 8-10 pounds to whatever it is I'm carrying.

Anyway, sorry if the post seems long and rambling.

Thanks for all your insight.
 
I honestly find the Macbook Air's are better to get the base model.

They are primarily portable, but assuming you can live with the 128gb I don't think its worth your money spending extra because they are still designed as a bare bones computer.

If you are wanting to game on it have a look at the Macbook Pro, its basically the same prices as a 13 inch air and has significantly better specifications
 
Crazy talk to get bare bones. The MBA can be your one and only computer. In that case running out of disk space is a drag. I've had 256gb 2011 and can get by on space but only if the pictures and digital music is off and only use one VM.

I'm going for the 512 this time. I've considered the ultimate but worried about heat/noise so I'll BTO a 13/8/515/i5. If I was pressed for time I'd walk out with an ultimate today.

In any case you want 8gb memory so the ultimate may be your only choice if pressed for time.
 
bambooshots said:
Does anyone here have the Macbook Air Ultimate (i7/8/512)? Was it worth it? Was it worth it to you? If you could do it again would you pick something else? I am a student so I suppose the cost would be $1750 (1850-100) plus tax and whatever accessories I wanted to buy.
Click to expand...

An MBA ultimate is overkill for your uses. However, since your primary requirement is you need it immediately, you do not have a choice, so asking people's opinions about it is irrelevant. You'll get whatever your local Apple or Best Buy store has in stock.
 
bambooshots said:
I've been a lifetime Windows user and may make the switch to Apple's Macs as I don't have the inclination to get acquainted with Win8 and also it seems like the quality of Apple's notebooks are usually higher than most manufacturers.

That said, I'm on a tight time line and would like to be able to pick up a Macbook Air by the end of this week. I wanted to get an i7/8/256 but that needs to be BTO and won't get here in time. However, Apple Stores do usually carry the next upgrade up, the top of the line, "Ultimate" i7/8/512 but of course that's $300 more.

Does anyone here have the Macbook Air Ultimate (i7/8/512)? Was it worth it? Was it worth it to you? If you could do it again would you pick something else? I am a student so I suppose the cost would be $1750 (1850-100) plus tax and whatever accessories I wanted to buy.

Of course it'd be helpful to list what my uses would be: Schoolwork, light gaming: SCII/HOTS, Diablo 3, older Source games (never finished HL2 or any of the sequels). It'd basically be my general computer. I'm pretty mobile and the only reason I don't bring my current 15.4" Sager2090 is because it's old and slow and there's no battery life and the laptop and all the ancillary gear like power brick weighs in at about another 8-10 pounds to whatever it is I'm carrying.

Anyway, sorry if the post seems long and rambling.

Thanks for all your insight.
Click to expand...

Go to b and h and get whatever you want?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983539-REG/apple_z0p0_md7613_13_3_macbook_air_notebook.html here is the one you want and in stock....
 
I can tell you that I just received my 11" Air last week and I bought it upgraded with 8gigs and 256 SSD. For me that was a good upgrade where I don't feel trapped with low specs and potentially running out of disk space in the future.

My MacBook will serve as a work computer, along with a secondary home computer. I've had it less than two weeks, but so far I'm very happy with it!

Good luck with your decision, and I don't think you'll miss Windows once you've made the change.
 
lol. It cost me the same for an i5/8/256 here... You guys in the states are lucky.

But at this point, OP has to pay only $200 more for a bump to 512gb.

Personally though, rather buy a time machine ac 2tb rather than bump up to 512gb.

But each to his own.
 
I have the ultimate... even though it is a secondary machine. This is a dual duty machine for me (both personal and work)... and for basic usage, would consume about 200GB (and growing). However, there are times that I want to go higher than that... particularly when I am traveling on a "photo heavy" trip. I shoot RAW so photos can take a lot of space. If I add video, then things get large very fast.

Since I buy my computers to last 5 years (I buy a new one for myself every year, and then waterfall my 1 year old to a family member)... the machine will get a good long life.

One more thought... SSDs perform best when there is empty space.

I was on the cusp... and probably could have gone either way. I decided going larger was prudent for my uses. In the end... I just do not have to worry about managing space.

/Jim
 
If you want the 8/256, order it online, and pay the extra money for the faster shipping. I ordered mine (from Eastern Canada), and it came from China in 6 days.
 
bambooshots said:
Does anyone here have the Macbook Air Ultimate (i7/8/512)? Was it worth it? Was it worth it to you? If you could do it again would you pick something else? I am a student so I suppose the cost would be $1750 (1850-100) plus tax and whatever accessories I wanted to buy.
Click to expand...

Answered in order:

- Yes I do
- Yes
- YES

- Had the Macbook Pro line been updated with Haswell processors at the same time, I would have considered them as well. Having a discrete GPU is something I've been used to.

But they weren't, and I wasn't happy with the idea of getting last year's tech. I also had projects coming up where a newer laptop quick would really help things, so I went with the fully souped-up MBA. I have absolutely no regrets, and I'm actually preferring the much lighter, smaller form factor. And I've been pleasantly surprised with the integrated GPU.


I upgraded from a 2010 MacBook Pro 15-inch, which gets hot enough to fry an egg, ramps up fans like a wind tunnel, and starts glitching out video like crazy when watching Flash videos on the web browser. Meanwhile the new MBA barely makes a sound, stays rock solid and doesn't heat up at all. that pretty much sells it for me.
 
m98custom1212 said:
or go to b and h (don't pay tax if you live outside New York) and get it in one day if you do overnight shipping
Click to expand...

That is an idea, however, if bought from a third party retailer there are no incentives like education pricing nor APP store credit, correct?
 
I was in a similar boat and wanted the same set up as you described. I didn't feel like ordering and waiting and I prefer to pay cash rather than use a CC.

I ended up just getting the Ultimate and I'm not unhappy that I did.

I really didn't need the 512 or the 256 for that matter as my previous 128s were sufficient. But as time moves on and my storage becomes larger I felt I needed at least the 256.

If you've got the funds I doubt you'll regret it. I don't.
 
Got almost the Macbook Air Ultimate (i7/8/256)?

Got almost the ultimate, except for the 256gb instead of 512. I got the 11".

I am very happy with it. I was really looking for something really portable. I had to review both the 11 and 13 several times. I decided for the 11.

Got the i7 and 8Gb of RAM because all my previous mac lasted for 5-6 years easily so I want to be as much possible ready for the next 2-3 years of OS updates.

SDD size is not as critical since I use a lot DropBox with 125Gb for which I only sync working documents. Other files I just get them when need them.
 
bambooshots said:
Does anyone here have the Macbook Air Ultimate (i7/8/512)? Was it worth it? Was it worth it to you? If you could do it again would you pick something else? I am a student so I suppose the cost would be $1750 (1850-100) plus tax and whatever accessories I wanted to buy.

Of course it'd be helpful to list what my uses would be: Schoolwork, light gaming: SCII/HOTS, Diablo 3, older Source games (never finished HL2 or any of the sequels). It'd basically be my general computer. I'm pretty mobile and the only reason I don't bring my current 15.4" Sager2090 is because it's old and slow and there's no battery life and the laptop and all the ancillary gear like power brick weighs in at about another 8-10 pounds to whatever it is I'm carrying.
Click to expand...

Get the i5/8/256 BTO and save even more money. The i7 is a waste of money for gaming, because the bottleneck is the Intel GPU, not the CPU.

----------
scaredpoet said:
Answered in order:
- Had the Macbook Pro line been updated with Haswell processors at the same time, I would have considered them as well. Having a discrete GPU is something I've been used to.
Click to expand...

But the 13 rMBP doesn't have a discrete GPU?
 
I just thought I'd throw in my two cents. I had the base Air with upgraded 8gb of ram initially. Due to some errors on the part of Apple I was upgraded to the Ultimate Air so I have experience using both models.

I barely notice a difference between the two units if I am to be completely honest with you. For most real world use like browsing and web processing you won't be able to tell them apart. I have yet to hear the fan on my i7 turn on.

I would say for gaming and heavy use perhaps the Ultimate might be better suited to your usage. However 9 times out of 10 I would say get the base with upgraded RAM.
 
thomas99 said:
They are primarily portable, but assuming you can live with the 128gb I don't think its worth your money spending extra because they are still designed as a bare bones computer.
Click to expand...

There are MANY on here who would take great exception to that comment (myself included). The Air is not some crappy net book or Chromebook. An Air of today is pushing the performance of the MBP's of just a couple of years ago. Would you call them "barebones"?

I run Aperture on my 2012 MBA and it performs better than on my 2008 iMac. People on here report running CS6, FCX, Aperture, music production software and Autocad fine. What is "bare bones" about that?.
 
mattferg said:
Get the i5/8/256 BTO and save even more money. The i7 is a waste of money for gaming, because the bottleneck is the Intel GPU, not the CPU.

----------



But the 13 rMBP doesn't have a discrete GPU?
Click to expand...

No it does not.
 
thomas99 said:
I honestly find the Macbook Air's are better to get the base model.

They are primarily portable, but assuming you can live with the 128gb I don't think its worth your money spending extra because they are still designed as a bare bones computer.

If you are wanting to game on it have a look at the Macbook Pro, its basically the same prices as a 13 inch air and has significantly better specifications
Click to expand...

Wrong the MBA actually has better graphics than both the 13" rMBP and MBP. True the 15" rMBP has better graphics but then you're talking about $2200+..
 
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