Need advice for evaluating Open Box MBA before buying

[rmp71701]

I didn't realize this thread would get such a discussion going on system specs. Who knew...

Jury is still out for me on what to do. I'll say this - if BB didn't have the coupon plus the open box deal on a cheap latest version MBA, then I would likely not even consider the lower RAM. I realize its near-heretical to talk 4GB, but part of me wants to at least see if it is sufficient for my needs, at least for a couple of years. For $800, I don't mind this gamble. Again, if in 2 years I am not able to adequately run the programs i want on the MBA & need to ditch it, I'll feel I've gotten my moneys worth. Plus by then, I have a feeling my kids are going to need their own basic computer to learn on, so I'll just give the MBA to them and buy a new MacBook Pro at that point.

By the way, I never asked: do you all think $800 is a pretty good deal for latest MBA base model? (leaving aside points about RAM and advisable minimum specs)

 

[RedCroissant]

I didn't realize this thread would get such a discussion going on system specs. Who knew...

Jury is still out for me on what to do. I'll say this - if BB didn't have the coupon plus the open box deal on a cheap latest version MBA, then I would likely not even consider the lower RAM. I realize its near-heretical to talk 4GB, but part of me wants to at least see if it is sufficient for my needs, at least for a couple of years. For $800, I don't mind this gamble. Again, if in 2 years I am not able to adequately run the programs i want on the MBA & need to ditch it, I'll feel I've gotten my moneys worth. Plus by then, I have a feeling my kids are going to need their own basic computer to learn on, so I'll just give the MBA to them and buy a new MacBook Pro at that point.

By the way, I never asked: do you all think $800 is a pretty good deal for latest MBA base model? (leaving aside points about RAM and advisable minimum specs)

Are you sure it's the latest MBA that's also being sold through Apple? If it is the exact same model with the new CPU, then yes that's a very good deal since you would have to pay $950 through the education store for it.

If it's not the same model as the one currently being sold, then I would say no because the new Haswell in the MBA provides the comparable performance if a little bit better than it's predecessor and much longer battery life.

 

[rmp71701]

Are you sure it's the latest MBA that's also being sold through Apple? If it is the exact same model with the new CPU, then yes that's a very good deal since you would have to pay $950 through the education store for it.

If it's not the same model as the one currently being sold, then I would say no because the new Haswell in the MBA provides the comparable performance if a little bit better than it's predecessor and much longer battery life.

Yep. It's the MD760LL/A. $800 after coupon and taxes. If I bought one through the apple education or refurb store, I still have to pay taxes on top of their best pricing. So quite a difference.

 

[RedCroissant]

Yep. It's the MD760LL/A. $800 after coupon and taxes. If I bought one through the apple education or refurb store, I still have to pay taxes on top of their best pricing. So quite a difference.

Well then if you're fine with the 4GB RAM and SSD size, then do it. $150 off of Apple's price is pretty awesome.

 

[rmp71701]

Update: Well I pulled the trigger & got the 2013 MBA 13" base model through Open Box at Best Buy.

Went with this one mainly because I had this $150 coupon burning a hole in my pocket that expires in a few days. Plus manager gave me another $50 off. Final price after taxes: $754.

Computer had a tiny minor scratch near trackpad. Everything else looked good. Matching Serial Numbers, etc.

My wife has an appointment with Genius Bar later today for them to give it a good looking over. May go ahead and ask them to wipe it and reinstall OS to make sure computer is clean.

 

[RedCroissant]

Update: Well I pulled the trigger & got the 2013 MBA 13" base model through Open Box at Best Buy.

Went with this one mainly because I had this $150 coupon burning a hole in my pocket that expires in a few days. Plus manager gave me another $50 off. Final price after taxes: $754.

Computer had a tiny minor scratch near trackpad. Everything else looked good. Matching Serial Numbers, etc.

My wife has an appointment with Genius Bar later today for them to give it a good looking over. May go ahead and ask them to wipe it and reinstall OS to make sure computer is clean.

Well congratulations! I hope you enjoy using it.