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When to buy

Z

Zebrakatten

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 3, 2016
28
2
Hi,
I'm planning on buying a MBA 13 soon. I'm going to use it for university.
Where I'm buying it it currently cost 1250$ (University discount)
Would you recommend waiting till September to see if a new version comes out/the price drops or just buying now?
Would it be worth it to consider a MBPr(1600$)? I'm only going to be using the laptop for word and light programmers (I'm studying languages and communication, not very heavy demands)
The MBP would have to seriously improve something for me as I would have to borrow money for that one.
Refurb is not really a thing here except for old models (2012-2013)
 
Zebrakatten said:
Hi,
I'm planning on buying a MBA 13 soon. I'm going to use it for university.
Where I'm buying it it currently cost 1250$ (University discount)
Would you recommend waiting till September to see if a new version comes out/the price drops or just buying now?
Would it be worth it to consider a MBPr(1600$)? I'm only going to be using the laptop for word and light programmers (I'm studying languages and communication, not very heavy demands)
The MBP would have to seriously improve something for me as I would have to borrow money for that one.
Refurb is not really a thing here except for old models (2012-2013)
Click to expand...
When does university start up for you? It'd probably be good to have the machine when the semester starts, if not a little while beforehand so you can get familiar with using OS X/macOS if you're new to it.

As far as what you plan to do with the machine, the 2015 MBA can more than handle those needs for several years to come.
 
It starts on September first. I have an iPad I can use in a pinch but no other laptop. I'm only as familiar with Mac as you get with iPad and iPhone so it would be great to have some time. At the same time I would hate to buy one just for a completely new version to come out a week or two later
 
I understand how you feel. I'd be frustrated if a new version came out almost immediately after I purchased a device. So far I haven't heard of any suggested dates for a September release. But to be honest I haven't been following them too much recently.

Thankfully you'll be more than covered by last years, or even the previous years model. I had recommended a 2015 MBA to my friend in graduates school for a master's in communications. She's been thrilled with it so far.
 
Thank you for your advice. The buyers guide says 'don't buy' on the air but can that be counted upon if they don't update air anymore?

A related question: would it be at all worth it for me to upgrade the cpu and/or storage? So far I'm planning on just using the cloud and my 1tb external hard disk but does anyone have experience with this?
 
I believe that's the basic MacBook Air 13"
  • 1,6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5-processor
  • Turbo Boost up to 2,7 GHz
  • Intel HD Graphics 6000
  • 8 GB memory
  • 128 GB PCIe-based flash
The upgrade would be:
  • 2,2 GHz dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3,2 GHz (~180$ extra)
Or
256 Gb PCIe-based flash (241 extra)
 
Zebrakatten said:
Hi,
I'm planning on buying a MBA 13 soon. I'm going to use it for university.
Where I'm buying it it currently cost 1250$ (University discount)
Would you recommend waiting till September to see if a new version comes out/the price drops or just buying now?
Would it be worth it to consider a MBPr(1600$)? I'm only going to be using the laptop for word and light programmers (I'm studying languages and communication, not very heavy demands)
The MBP would have to seriously improve something for me as I would have to borrow money for that one.
Refurb is not really a thing here except for old models (2012-2013)
Click to expand...

For not heavy demands at University buy a Macbook. Retina screen, skylake processor, longer life battery (MBA is DOA).
 
dj23andMe said:
For not heavy demands at University buy a Macbook. Retina screen, skylake processor, longer life battery (MBA is DOA).
Click to expand...

The MacBook is crazy expensive compared to the Air and I honestly don't see it as being in any possible way better, they don't even claim that it has longer battery life than the air? According to the apple website the MacBook has 10 hours while the air 13 has 12 hours.
If I'm going to spend 1600$ on a computer I might as well buy the pro.
 
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Zebrakatten said:
The MacBook is crazy expensive compared to the Air and I honestly don't see it as being in any possible way better, they don't even claim that it has longer battery life than the air? According to the apple website the MacBook has 10 hours while the air 13 has 12 hours.
If I'm going to spend 1600$ on a computer I might as well buy the pro.
Click to expand...

Best I surmise. No new MBA or MBP till mid-September more likely mid Oct. Because Tim Cook tipped his hat and said next product announcement will be from Apple's new HQ media center (which does not open before mid Sept).
 
Best? I'm not sure what you mean? What do you think I should do? Buy the MBP? Or the Air? Wait?
 
If you need one for school you'll need one before the new ones are released by the looks of it.

If you want the air then go for it it's unlikely to get anything new worth having this year, if ever.

I personally would get the pro (refurbished could give you a better saving) the retina screen is always worth it's especially for text it's like reading print, has far better viewing angles and far less glare all great for college use.

Something like this is exactly what you need, oh and don't bother with the i7 upgrade on smaller notebooks they are still all dual core and provide very little performance benefit ( 3-5% that will not be noticed unless you are really maxing out your machine which you won't at all with your use case).

This is a fairly good deal on a pro

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/F...-27ghz-dual-core-intel-i5-with-retina-display

B&h photo has some good MacBook deals

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1137882-REG/apple_z0rm_mjy321_12_macbook_early_2015.html

As do Apple

http://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook
 
I don't know if I can afford the pro, right now I just barely have the money for the air, it would really have to make a large difference in battery, power and such / screen isn't as important for me as the other things.
Refurb is not really something which is done where I live. I've been keeping an eye on the refurb page and there haven't been a single one available at any point where I've looked since February. I can't buy from USA as I need a Danish keyboard and they're a lot more expensive in Denmark.
When do you think they will come out? If it's in September I can wait but any later than that and I would just have to buy now.
 
Zebrakatten said:
I don't know if I can afford the pro, right now I just barely have the money for the air, it would really have to make a large difference in battery, power and such / screen isn't as important for me as the other things.
Refurb is not really something which is done where I live. I've been keeping an eye on the refurb page and there haven't been a single one available at any point where I've looked since February. I can't buy from USA as I need a Danish keyboard and they're a lot more expensive in Denmark.
When do you think they will come out? If it's in September I can wait but any later than that and I would just have to buy now.
Click to expand...


If you are buying anywhere but the US then you should state that in your question advice can be very different depending on where you buy. I live in the uk but give advice here based on the US as that's the majority.

If you don't care about the retina my advice is pointless, just get the air at the cheapest price you can.
 
I'm sorry, I didn't consider the differences other than refurb not being available. Retina would be nice but I don't really care about it more than that.
The other advantages of the pro does not make it worth if if retina doesn't matter?
 
Zebrakatten said:
I'm sorry, I didn't consider the differences other than refurb not being available. Retina would be nice but I don't really care about it more than that.
The other advantages of the pro does not make it worth if if retina doesn't matter?
Click to expand...

For your use case probably not, reading and writing documents and web browsing any machine made in the last 5 years will be fine. Hell an iPad Pro could probably fulfill your needs fine with a Bluetooth keyboard.
 
Zebrakatten said:
Best? I'm not sure what you mean? What do you think I should do? Buy the MBP? Or the Air? Wait?
Click to expand...

Although your usage would suggest the Air is fine, wait until the announcement next month. {on the basis that if there is a new Air, you could get that, or a discount on the current model.}
(Having studied languages a decade ago, all you need is pages, free iCloud and reasonable access to google translate to check your word lists.)
You may find that there maybe something compelling in the new announcement, or enjoy the discount.

In any case, you could easily scan handwritten notes to your iPad while you wait and see what's new.
 
Okay, Thank you very much. I think I will try to wait till early or mid September for any possible announcements and then buy an air based on whatever happens then :)
 
I wouldnt buy one at full price now, considering that AAPL has not updated to the latest processors. If I really had to buy a laptop - I would opt for a refurb or a used model. I would even consider a cheap Windows 10 model until Apple does upgrade, hopefully in the not too distant future.
 
I most definitely can't afford to buy some cheap computer to tide me over until a new one comes out and, as I believe I've mentioned, refurb isn't as common in Denmark and the only 2015/2016 model I've managed to find was only about 100-150$ off a new and then I don't want to buy used (this was also not Apple selling a refurb but another company)
 
Then I'd go for the 13" MBA. If you save all movies on a external disk (and anything else that takes up huge amounts of space), you might get by with 128GB. Though that's really not much. 256 is much better.

You might want to start saving for Apple Care. You can buy Apple Care up to one year after the purchase of your device - but you must register it no later than a year after the purchase. Not a single day.

Aftermarket SSD upgrades aren't cheap either, when they are available at all. Apple uses proprietary PCIe SSDs that no one else produces or sells (I think OWC is starting to sell some, but you'd have to import them to Denmark and it wouldn't be worth the effort IMO). You can sometimes get salvaged ones from aliexpress etc.

BTW: virtually no refurbs here in Switzerland - but due to low VAT, electronics is cheaper than anywhere else in Europe (mostly).
 
So you suggest getting that upgrade? I have thought of it myself and if it's really worth it then I'll do it. I'll find the money somehow though I think it's crazy how expensive that upgrade is (240$/181£/233franc on a ~1250$ machine)
Yeah... Refurb isn't a thing and we have high VAT so if it weren't for the keyboard (we need æøå) then we could buy a laptop cheaper pretty much anywhere
 
Zebrakatten said:
So you suggest getting that upgrade? I have thought of it myself and if it's really worth it then I'll do it. I'll find the money somehow though I think it's crazy how expensive that upgrade is (240$/181£/233franc on a ~1250$ machine)
Yeah... Refurb isn't a thing and we have high VAT so if it weren't for the keyboard (we need æøå) then we could buy a laptop cheaper pretty much anywhere
Click to expand...

For your writing use case at University. ~499$
https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/05/hp-chromebook-13-review-2016/

Everything Macbook like except for no local file system for installing local apps. Google docs works fine offline.
 
dj23andMe said:
For your writing use case at University. ~499$
https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/05/hp-chromebook-13-review-2016/

Everything Macbook like except for no local file system for installing local apps. Google docs works fine offline.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your suggestion but I'm not looking for advice on choosing another computer, I have chosen MacBook.
I need a Mac or a Windows computer because I have to use certain programmes for classes and exams and they are, so far, not available for chromebooks.
Anyway, the cheapest available where I live, as far as I can find, is only 240$ cheaper than the MacBook. And I don't really think it seems worth that price(over 1000$).
 
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