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Wait for Ivy Bridge??

C

calganelle

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 6, 2012
37
2
I know a lot of places have this - but I can't find a situation similar to mine. I'm in the process of buying a Macbook Air right now. I'm eyeing the 13'' 1.7 GHz 256 GB 4 GB model. However, I've been reading a lot about how the MBA upgrade should be soon, and will have Ivy Bridge. I also know if I keep waiting, I'll never buy one, as the cycle is neverending...however... I don't want to buy this high-end model, and then have a newer, more powerful and long-lasting model come out just a month later.

Is the MBA I'm thinking of purchasing good enough? Basically, will the upgrade even matter very much? If so, I don't want to wait months before I get one, as I'm sans-laptop right now.

I'll use the MBA for my day to day use, as well as some minor photo editing, video making, etc...but not by any means a crazy amount, nor is it part of my job or anything like that.
 
Will it matter for you? No. Will it be a nice upgrade? Yes. Will the current MBA be outdated by mid-summer? Yes. By buying it now, you'll basically be giving up USB 3.0... so ask yourself, is waiting a few months for USB 3.0 worth it?
 
Don't mean to sound like a complete newbie but, what's the advantages of UBS 3.0?
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Will it matter for you? No. Will it be a nice upgrade? Yes. Will the current MBA be outdated by mid-summer? Yes. By buying it now, you'll basically be giving up USB 3.0... so ask yourself, is waiting a few months for USB 3.0 worth it?
Click to expand...

Except no one but Apple knows if they will include USB 3 in the update.
 
Hmm yeah...not having a laptop for school when I don't even know when it'll come out is not a good look, just to get an upgrade that I won't necessarily need. I'll just take my chances and wait for the inevitable next upgrade when I need it :cool:
 
calganelle said:
Hmm yeah...not having a laptop for school when I don't even know when it'll come out is not a good look, just to get an upgrade that I won't necessarily need. I'll just take my chances and wait for the inevitable next upgrade when I need it :cool:
Click to expand...

You definitely get less bang for your buck if you buy one now.
 
applefanDrew said:
I'd be willing to bet it would be July. They seem to be going to yearly updates for everything including Mac's now.
Click to expand...

Ah, way too late for me... I'd like to say I can be laptop-free for 3 months but that's being way too optimistic. I'll probably feel bad in July and get over it for the next couple of refreshes. Maybe now I'll just get the i5 seeing as how the stuff I'll be doing on my MBA will be fairly simple... :confused:
 
Batt said:
Except no one but Apple knows if they will include USB 3 in the update.
Click to expand...

Any no one but Apple knows if they will ever release an updated macbook air ;)

USB 3 is part of the chipset that Apple will be using (assuming the next Macbook Air uses an intel CPU). So unless Apple is going to intentionally cut out USB from the next revision of the MBA, there's no reason why it wouldn't be there.
 
I always tell people that technology will always come out with newer things, so the best rule is if you need it, just buy it. However, I find that with Apple products, I am never happy unless I'm able to buy the latest product at the start of the refresh cycle for it...I made the mistake of not expecting a refresh with my first Powerbook, and then a week later the updates came, and I felt ripped off forevermore...I know that if it were me, I would wait. Enjoy your time away from a computer for a bit, enjoy the outdoors:)
 
If you have a laptop at the moment I would wait until the next gen. MBP/MBA arrives. I would buy a new MBP or MBA when the cycle begins. I expect better processors, a new unibody design for the MBP (possibly a merger of MBA's and MBP's), higher resolution displays (at least for the MBP models), more graphic power etc.

I think it worth waiting for few months...
 
Batt said:
Except no one but Apple knows if they will include USB 3 in the update.
Click to expand...

Ivy Bridge comes standard with USB 3.0 on all chipsets, so unless Apple gets rid of USB ports entirely or makes their own custom chipset (which would be WAY more expensive than just using the already made ones), USB 3.0 will be there. And since I dont see Apple getting rid of USB anytime soon as that would be corporate suicide (not to mention completely screw over all MBA owners that have iPhones/iPads/iPods), its a near certainty USB 3.0 will be present on all Ivy Bridge products from Apple.
 
I always buy Apple's products when it first launch. I'd wait for it unless you can't live without the MacBook.
 
Thanks for all the input everyone.. but... I'm definitely typing this on my new MBA now. I'll have to suffer when the summer rolls around, but this is basically more than I could ever need in a laptop. I'll tie myself over by promising to get the new upgrade when this one gives out, whenever that is! :)
 
Congrats on your new MBA. I bought a refurb 11'' in Jan and don't regret it one bit. Enjoy your beautiful machine.
 
applefanDrew said:
I'd be willing to bet it would be July. They seem to be going to yearly updates for everything including Mac's now.
Click to expand...

What about the MBP from last year? Updated 2 times - once in February and once in October. Apple doesn't have a set release date, be it yearly, quarterly, biannually, or otherwise. Apple releases products when Apple wants to.
 
/user/me said:
What about the MBP from last year? Updated 2 times - once in February and once in October. Apple doesn't have a set release date, be it yearly, quarterly, biannually, or otherwise. Apple releases products when Apple wants to.
Click to expand...

Yea starting this year it seems like Mac hardware will begin 1 year cycles. OS X, iOS, iPhone, iPad...all 1 year cycles. Macs are next. Especially as they begin unifying the MBP and MBA
 
applefanDrew said:
Yea starting this year it seems like Mac hardware will begin 1 year cycles. OS X, iOS, iPhone, iPad...all 1 year cycles. Macs are next. Especially as they begin unifying the MBP and MBA
Click to expand...

Hopefully, but all those products have been about one year from inception. Their computers have been all over the place, generally clumped towards the beginning or the end of the year. I think that there's something to be said that they're moving to one year cycles, i'm just merely stating the fact that until apple decides that's what they want to do, and it's made evident in release cycles, it's anyone's bet.
 
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