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Worth pulling the trigger on a 2008 MBA for ~700?

A

auveeb

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 18, 2012
5
0
Hello all, this is my first post here. I've been a lurker for quite some time, finally got around to joining.

OK, so here's the story. I'm a college student with a white unibody macbook (2.26ghz, 4gb ram, ssd). I love it, but it's a little too bulky/heavy for my taste. I'm thinking about picking up a macbook air to lug around from class class and to my internship.

I found a seller willing to sell a 13" Macbook Air (2008) with a 1.86ghz C2D, 128GB SSD, and 2GB ram for about $700. Is this a good deal? I know the i5s are out, but I don't need a beast of a processor - just good battery life and something light. Plus they are on the expensive side.

Thoughts are very welcome :)
 
aziatiklover said:
no get yourself a 2010 mba for that price even tho I sold my 2008 for $700 a year and half ago.
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Can you point me in the right direction? I cant find anything in that price range for teh 2010, 2011 models. I did however just find a 2009 for ~580.
 
The Apple refurb store has a good deal on the 11 inch and 13 inch from 2010. $799 for the 11 inch and $899 for the 13 inch if you are able to spend a little bit more its a much better deal.
 
Do not buy a MacBook Air that isn't a 2010/2011 model. The other models really are terribly unreliable; they were Apples first attempts at something completely new, and they did suffer a lot of drawbacks for their thinness/weight.

However, they managed to really refine the art of portable laptops with the 2010/2011 models, and these really are the only MBA's worth buying. You could wait a few months till Ivy Bridge comes out, and that would further reduce the prices a little.
 
The old ones were terrible in terms of performance. Even with the SSD. Because the case got hot, they automatically throttled the clock speed down. Anandtech compared the 2009 and 2010 model with the same CPU and the 2010 was much faster. (Check the 2010 Air review on their site, it's in there somewhere).
 
If good battery life is important to you, don't go for any MBA before 2010/2011 - those have about twice the battery life of the older ones. If you can live without keyboard illumination and don't need the speediest processor, currently the 2010 model should be your preferred choice! 2011's have about 0,5 to 1 hour less battery live, though still in the range of 7-9... (depending on your usage profile).
 
I just sold my 2010 Macbook Air 11.6" Ultimate for $700 on craigslist, so I would say you are getting totally ripped off.
 
doctorandrew said:
I just sold my 2010 Macbook Air 11.6" Ultimate for $700 on craigslist, so I would say you are getting totally ripped off.
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I agree. I bought an 11'' 4/128 for just over $900 at Best Buy. It was an open box, but the battery cycle was only 1. Spend an extra $200 and get the latest.
 
jstntch said:
I agree. I bought an 11'' 4/128 for just over $900 at Best Buy. It was an open box, but the battery cycle was only 1. Spend an extra $200 and get the latest.
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The ones being mentioned are 11" - I need a 13" which I cant find within my price range.
 
I've had every MBA iteration since the inception of the line, and I heartily agree: $700 is too much. $500 is too much.

Save the money and wait, if you have to, to find a used 2010 at a price you can afford. The amount you're ready to spend for "old tech" will feel like a small fortune when you can no longer operate in the headspace of the old machine, or when the 2GB of RAM is too confining.
 
I'd have to agree with everyone else, the MBA 2008/'09 models weren't the best of products Apple has introduced. You're better off paying a little more money to get a reliable 2010/'11 refurb.
 
no 2008 purchase in 2012.. period.. no matter what.. (unless they are offering DIRT cheap)
 
the oldest laptop i would buy would probably be 2years old max. and for that price it is definitely not worth it, also consider finding a model with 4gb ram as nowadays that is recommended to have.
 
auveeb said:
The ones being mentioned are 11" - I need a 13" which I cant find within my price range.
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I'd consider a white UB Macbook before an Air pre 2010, they are pretty cheap these days and 13". Also the 11" has a better resolution than a 2008 air so screen estate is better on the 2010/11 11" , just something to think about.
 
To put it into perspective, I sold my late-2008 1.86GHz 128GB SSD MacBook Air for $800 in November 2010.
 
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