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Shoud I get a Macbook air now or wait until July
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Most are suggesting end of the first quarter - march-ish - to may-ish.
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/0...xt-macbook-air-and-pro-models-due-around-may/
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/2...ine-with-new-15-inch-model-coming-in-1q-2012/
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/0...xt-macbook-air-and-pro-models-due-around-may/
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/2...ine-with-new-15-inch-model-coming-in-1q-2012/
It is impossible to tell when the next models will come out but if you can wait until July 2012, I would definitely wait. For this generation of MacBook Airs (the ones with SSD that debuted in October 2009), there was a 9 month gap between the July 2010 model and the previous model.
You seem to be able to wait a full 12 months so one would assume there is a much higher chance of release within a 12 month window.
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Do u want it now or are u wanting to wait till refresh then wen refresh comes u may aswell wait till next refresh ;-)
Do u want it now or are u wanting to wait till refresh then wen refresh comes u may aswell wait till next refresh ;-)
Probably as soon as Intel releases their Ivy Bridge ULV processors (U-Series Core i5/i7).
Right now they are planned for a May 2012 release. You should have the choice between 1.8 GHz and 2.0 GHz CPUs with 3D transistors, up to 2x the graphics performance, dual external display support, possibly better battery life and maybe USB 3.0 support.
SSD prices will also have gone down by then and all models could have twice the current storage at the current price.
Right now they are planned for a May 2012 release. You should have the choice between 1.8 GHz and 2.0 GHz CPUs with 3D transistors, up to 2x the graphics performance, dual external display support, possibly better battery life and maybe USB 3.0 support.
SSD prices will also have gone down by then and all models could have twice the current storage at the current price.
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I don't expect perfect english in these fora, but come on. Make a slight effort.
^^^
Wait for the new model with Ivy Bridge. IB isn't a huge step up from Sandy Bridge for desktops, but it's a huge step up for notebooks/ultrabooks because of the GPU performance.
I for one do not want to wait but cannot afford it.
If you can afford it, sounds like you should be able to afford it again once new one come out(with little additional money and sale of current one)... so I say go for it now and enjoy the goodness now and enjoy it again when new one come out.. Why not???
If you can afford it, sounds like you should be able to afford it again once new one come out(with little additional money and sale of current one)... so I say go for it now and enjoy the goodness now and enjoy it again when new one come out.. Why not???
option 1.
if you need it now or in the near future, then buy now.
by the sounds of it, the first half of 2012 should see new look MBPro's, thus I doubt there'll be a new Air released at the same time …
unless …
the new look MBPro's are sufficiently look-alike to the Air in which case expect Ivy Bridge Airs too.
that said, Apple may drop the 13" MBPro if favour of Airs and upscale the new-look MBPro's in the 15" and 17" screen sizes
it's all speculation and rumor anyway, so I'd go with option 1
if you need it now or in the near future, then buy now.
by the sounds of it, the first half of 2012 should see new look MBPro's, thus I doubt there'll be a new Air released at the same time …
unless …
the new look MBPro's are sufficiently look-alike to the Air in which case expect Ivy Bridge Airs too.
that said, Apple may drop the 13" MBPro if favour of Airs and upscale the new-look MBPro's in the 15" and 17" screen sizes
it's all speculation and rumor anyway, so I'd go with option 1
A little analysis that I did.
I bought my first Mac - a Macbook Air 11" in February. It was the time I got a new job and I wanted to give myself a little reward on the spot.
I'm kind of a hardware freak and I can't stand to have last years model, so when the Sandy Bridge models came out, I bought a 13" Ultimate in early August.
I kept the 11" for a while as I loved the small form factor and preferred if for some situations like going to the cafe, but after a while I realized it was really silly having two Airs so the 11" had to go.
I just sold it, took a big hit on the price, but I figured that it cost me $50/month in depreciation to own the 11".
With this in mind, I'm perfectly happy to spend $50 a month and always enjoy the latest technology. That's why I've decided to upgrade every year, simply because the resale on Macs are so good. I had no trouble selling mine on eBay in one week.
So, no matter what I think you could buy one now and reasonable expect to sell yours and upgrade later if you felt the need to.
The key is to keep your machine in perfect condition. People love the beauty of these machines and a scratch or dent can take hundreds off of the value. I'd also avoid Apple Care as you won't recover the value and you are covered the first year anyway.
I bought my first Mac - a Macbook Air 11" in February. It was the time I got a new job and I wanted to give myself a little reward on the spot.
I'm kind of a hardware freak and I can't stand to have last years model, so when the Sandy Bridge models came out, I bought a 13" Ultimate in early August.
I kept the 11" for a while as I loved the small form factor and preferred if for some situations like going to the cafe, but after a while I realized it was really silly having two Airs so the 11" had to go.
I just sold it, took a big hit on the price, but I figured that it cost me $50/month in depreciation to own the 11".
With this in mind, I'm perfectly happy to spend $50 a month and always enjoy the latest technology. That's why I've decided to upgrade every year, simply because the resale on Macs are so good. I had no trouble selling mine on eBay in one week.
So, no matter what I think you could buy one now and reasonable expect to sell yours and upgrade later if you felt the need to.
The key is to keep your machine in perfect condition. People love the beauty of these machines and a scratch or dent can take hundreds off of the value. I'd also avoid Apple Care as you won't recover the value and you are covered the first year anyway.
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My bad lol If you see my other posts you will see its a one off. Whats a fora? This question gets asked like every other day explaining the erratic reply apoligies to all for my terrible English
doktordoris said:
My bad lol If you see my other posts you will see its a one off. Whats a fora? This question gets asked like every other day explaining the erratic reply apoligies to all for my terrible English
My understanding, the Ivy bridge won't add too much processing power but if you are into graphics for whatever reason (most people's graphics needs centre around gaming) then I would wait because the ivy bridge processor will be a marked improvement on the current generation sandy bridge. But...having owned both the 2010 and 2011 incarnations, I would have to say neither leave a lot to be desired on processing power and I, for one, haven't noticed much of a difference in the 2011 not having a dedicated GPU. But then again, I am not a gamer. If you need a laptop buy it now. Besides, as others suggested, you can sell it in May and get most of your money back!! Good luck.
I'd wait if you absolutely need any of the following:
Because those features are most likely for an Ivy Bridge Air.
However I don't think there will be anything that really needs the CPU or GPU increase that heavily. It's only one-fifth to one-third of an increase. It's hard to imagine any use case that would really not work one-fifth slower (and be worth waiting 6 months for).
However the USB 3.0 I can see to be a serious improvement. With the current USB 2.0 you're limited to 40MB/s off any external drive unless you spend a fortune on a Thunderbolt drive.
With USB 3.0 you can get an external drive for cheap and have nice and fast speeds off it. If you are going to rely on external storage a lot it might be worth the wait.
Mind you, it is by no means certain that the Ivy Bridge air will come in June, and that it will feature USB 3.0 or those speed increases. It's all speculation (but a fair guess considering the Ivy Bridge release date and specs).
Personally I'd go for a refurb now, and just resell it once the Ivy Bridge ones come out. The resale value on a refurb will probably be a bit better than on a new one.
- A 20% CPU increase
- A 30% GPU increase
- USB 3.0
Because those features are most likely for an Ivy Bridge Air.
However I don't think there will be anything that really needs the CPU or GPU increase that heavily. It's only one-fifth to one-third of an increase. It's hard to imagine any use case that would really not work one-fifth slower (and be worth waiting 6 months for).
However the USB 3.0 I can see to be a serious improvement. With the current USB 2.0 you're limited to 40MB/s off any external drive unless you spend a fortune on a Thunderbolt drive.
With USB 3.0 you can get an external drive for cheap and have nice and fast speeds off it. If you are going to rely on external storage a lot it might be worth the wait.
Mind you, it is by no means certain that the Ivy Bridge air will come in June, and that it will feature USB 3.0 or those speed increases. It's all speculation (but a fair guess considering the Ivy Bridge release date and specs).
Personally I'd go for a refurb now, and just resell it once the Ivy Bridge ones come out. The resale value on a refurb will probably be a bit better than on a new one.
If it's on it's last legs then replace it now unless it's not on it's last legs.
If you really don't need it now, then wait. Only you can answer the question, not us.
Another benefit is the battery life improvement. I've seen it speculated we'll see increases of at least an hour. Not huge and Haswell or converting to ARM will likely be more significant, but significant nonetheless.