Currently have a Mid-2013 MBA. Love it but would be nice to have a retina display. Is it worth upgrading now or waiting for the Broadwell? I would go 15in since I rather have a bigger display for a Retina device.
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rMBP Now or Wait For Next Refresh
- Thread starter BlackMamba14
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With the next generation of Intel chips delayed I don't think you'll see anything until summer/fall of 2015 at an event. It's possible that they could quietly update it in the spring, but I doubt it.
I have a current generation and can assure you it's no slouch.
I have a current generation and can assure you it's no slouch.
Depends on what you have now and if it meets your needs. I'm using a Mid 2009 13". Going from a Core 2 Duo with a physical hard drive to a i7 with an SSD is going to be significant. I'm looking forward to upgrading before the end of the year.
It's the base 13in MBA. It's great for most things I do. Only thing is obviously the screen density and sometimes really has to work to do any video editing. Whats your experiences with the current rMBP battery life?
I have the current 13 rMBP and battery life is very good, I can get about 7h of normal usage.
The screen is pretty nice, too but I actually see it more as a gimmick.
Sure it is a lot sharper than the old one, but the MBA already has a slightly higher resolution than the non retina MBPs had.
Before I upgraded, I never felt like my display wasn’t sharp enough and now that i have the retina display, I don’t even notice it anymore, I basically only id during the first week of using it.
So if you are looking at an upgrade, personally I would wait since the processors now aren’t much faster than the ones in you MBA which isn’t exactly old anyways. I wouldn’t update just for the better screen.
The new generation of intel chips however will be a substantial upgrade, I expect to see battery life to surpass 10h with these new processors.
I just purchased a Refurb 15" RMBP late 2013 with 16gb ram and 512ssd and core i7 2.3ghz for only $2039. Hell of a deal on what was the highest end 15" less than 5 months ago before the 2014 came out. For what i was gonna pay for a base model iMac 5k i got the higher spec MBP and ordered a samsung 4k display from amazon.
I have the same question as the OP except I'm looking to go from an early 2011 15 in MBP to a 15 in retina. My current machine is running ok other than the hard drive, which is making noises on startup that make me think it may die soon. Other than that, the machine is just a bit slow and lags sometimes when performing basic tasks. Is this a good time to upgrade? I've already upgraded the RAM in my current machine so no room for improvement there.
I have been working for past year or so in a job that requires me to provide on call engineering support a few times a month and the lack of power on my home machine has started to become frustrating. So I'm definitely looking for a performance boost. But I am also craving a retina screen. After using on on an iPhone and an iPad for years, the screen on my Mac just doesn't look as nice. I guess I've about made up my mind to pull the trigger on a new machine but I'm curious if you guys think there is a compelling reason to wait one more cycle. If nothing new is coming until summer/fall though, I seems to me now is about as good a time as any to upgrade.
I have been working for past year or so in a job that requires me to provide on call engineering support a few times a month and the lack of power on my home machine has started to become frustrating. So I'm definitely looking for a performance boost. But I am also craving a retina screen. After using on on an iPhone and an iPad for years, the screen on my Mac just doesn't look as nice. I guess I've about made up my mind to pull the trigger on a new machine but I'm curious if you guys think there is a compelling reason to wait one more cycle. If nothing new is coming until summer/fall though, I seems to me now is about as good a time as any to upgrade.
As others have said, if you're happy with your MBA then why change?
Call me crazy but I for one sometimes get jealous of MBA owners because of how thin their laptop is. I know the rMBP is thin for what it is, but still.
But let me tell you, I've had a rMBP for over a month now and I still gawp at how crisp the screen is. External monitor support is another thing but that's a Mac-wide issue so I'll leave that there...
Call me crazy but I for one sometimes get jealous of MBA owners because of how thin their laptop is. I know the rMBP is thin for what it is, but still.
But let me tell you, I've had a rMBP for over a month now and I still gawp at how crisp the screen is. External monitor support is another thing but that's a Mac-wide issue so I'll leave that there...
I agree. It seems that nowadays people have to buy it right now, that waiting is not worth it, but hey, if you still can work with it, why change it right now?
Personally, and as a MBP 13" 2010 owner with a damn C2D, I'll wait to the Skylake release, just because my mac still works decently and because Skylake will be a massive step forward, so I don't see waiting for Broadwell or upgrading now to Haswell worth it.
Pull the trigger if your need a new Mac. It's been 3 months since the update, Broadwell is looking delayed, and the 15" rMBP is a beast anyway.
Haha I did pull the trigger about 2 hours ago. Setting up my new rMBP right now. So much faster than my old machine and that screen is amazing!
Thanks for the input though!