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van2010rulz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 13, 2010
152
2
Hi! I hope it's okay for me to repost this here. I asked the same question in Buying Tips and I didn't get any response.

Basically, Apple has a 2014 MBA 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD in the refurbished store. I would be getting AppleCare for it as well. The difference between a new 2015 with the same specs and AppleCare is about $225 dollars. Is the new model worth the extra cash?
 
Hi! I hope it's okay for me to repost this here. I asked the same question in Buying Tips and I didn't get any response.

Basically, Apple has a 2014 MBA 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD in the refurbished store. I would be getting AppleCare for it as well. The difference between a new 2015 with the same specs and AppleCare is about $225 dollars. Is the new model worth the extra cash?

That's up to you. It will have slightly better battery life for "normal" tasks and significantly better battery life for heavier loads.

I believe it also has a new version of Thunderbolt but I'm sure you can find all the differences listed somewhere online.
 
That's up to you. It will have slightly better battery life for "normal" tasks and significantly better battery life for heavier loads.

I believe it also has a new version of Thunderbolt but I'm sure you can find all the differences listed somewhere online.

Thanks motrek. The new model also has a ssd that's 2x faster than the 2014 model. Transfer rates would be much better. Budget isn't a huge concern but saving some money would be nice. Ideally, this laptop would last about 4 years. If this was Skylake it would be a much harder decision, but such a small revision is making me question.
 
Thanks motrek. The new model also has a ssd that's 2x faster than the 2014 model. Transfer rates would be much better. Budget isn't a huge concern but saving some money would be nice. Ideally, this laptop would last about 4 years. If this was Skylake it would be a much harder decision, but such a small revision is making me question.

The faster SSD is basically irrelevant. If you're not copying huge files around you couldn't possibly notice the difference.

And even if you are copying huge files around, where are you copying them to/from? Presumably something that's not nearly as fast as your internal SSD.
 
well one thing that could be valuable to you is that the 2015 models have a much better GPU. they can even run a 4K monitor at 60 Hz. you probably won't notice the faster SSD, or the newer processor.
 
Motrek, that's true. I probably wouldn't notice the difference. The main port that I'll be using is USB 3 so that will probably bottleneck the transfer speeds.

Khabboub, I didn't know that the MBA supported 4k at 60hz. That's actually a good thing to factor in. However, I think that 1080p will suit my needs for awhile.

Looks like I'll be picking up a refurb. With the savings I could probably pick up a nice monitor if I wanted to. Thanks to both of you!
 
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