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Buy 2011 MBA or wait for the refresh?
- Thread starter pandamonia
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One could iron it too I guess.
Anyway, after seeing these updates, I decided to wait for the Xeon MBAs which will most likely arrive later this decade.
Anyway, after seeing these updates, I decided to wait for the Xeon MBAs which will most likely arrive later this decade.
I meant the Brandy Hell generation of Haswellian Xeons, not the abysmal current ones, which are hardly fast enough to work with TekstEdit (special character implementation up to the fifth order of genominal suckitude).
*****, should go to bed.
As I've said on here for months, the change from C2D to Sandy Bridge is a jump of 4 cycles for intel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Tick_Tock Penryn -> Nehalem -> Westmere -> Sandy Bridge
That is also a full 2 (argueably 3) generations of chips.
That kind of jump RARELY happens. If you wait for an ivy bridge MBA you are talking about a 1 cycle improvement... a die shrink of Sandy Bridge. That will get you between 5%-15% gains in performance. People are saying that the Sandy Bridge Air is anywhere from 100% to 150% faster than the last generation! Litterally the ONLY reason you would wait for the next generation Air is if you don't need the current one, or can't afford it.
I had a need for a new computer since about Feb 2011 and passed up the MBA knowing a summer release of a SB Air would be tremendous for the reasons above. That rationale for waiting (to get 100%-150% peformance gains) doesn't hold anymore for the nex generation.
That is also a full 2 (argueably 3) generations of chips.
That kind of jump RARELY happens. If you wait for an ivy bridge MBA you are talking about a 1 cycle improvement... a die shrink of Sandy Bridge. That will get you between 5%-15% gains in performance. People are saying that the Sandy Bridge Air is anywhere from 100% to 150% faster than the last generation! Litterally the ONLY reason you would wait for the next generation Air is if you don't need the current one, or can't afford it.
I had a need for a new computer since about Feb 2011 and passed up the MBA knowing a summer release of a SB Air would be tremendous for the reasons above. That rationale for waiting (to get 100%-150% peformance gains) doesn't hold anymore for the nex generation.
True. The OP was being facetious. Apple has raised the bar with the last two upgrades, and has gotten some people's expectations up to unreasonable levels. The Rev D, while it used the same Core 2 Duo processors, added a decent IGP, and a faster SSD. The real innovation was the price drop, though. The Rev E brings the CPU up to par and eliminates the final objection that mainstream buyers have ("why buy a computer with the same CPU that my notebook from 2006 had?").
People are disappointed by the Intel HD3000, but the Air was never a gaming machine, and neither was the base MacBook (the 9400m and 320m were never speed demons). Previous IGPs from Intel were absolutely awful, so Apple stuck with the Core 2 Duo a full 18 months after most others ditched it. The Sandy Bridge chip at least has an IGP that is acceptable for daily use for mainstream customers other than gamers. Ivy Bridge will be a bit better, but only incrementally so. The main advantages may be slightly better power management (with the smaller die and less heat), but it's like the leap from the Rev B to the Rev C, or from last year's 15" MacBook Pro to this year's. It will be necessary to keep pace with what's current on the market, but that's all.
Ill be very honest right now.
As much as i want a new Air today.
I could wait for a real HD screen in the 11" and also the DX11 GPU in Ivybridge.
OR a 2012 AMD fusion chipped 11" would also be good. bit more rounded performance than intels gpu/cpu combo
Message from a Troll:
People that buy the recently launched MBA's are suckers, the new version will come with a much better processor, 8 GB RAM and 512 SSD, it also can be charged within a half hour due to the new battery technology, and Thunderbolt will be a thing of the past.
Ending message from a Troll.
The reality is there will always will be a newer thing in technology, buy what you need at the moment, in a couple of years time, these machines will be obsolete.
Take for example the explosion of pictures and movies, if you get a semi pro DSLR and shoot in raw, you won't have enough disk space and processing power with the current set up. You will need to daisy chain the GPU, Display and Storage, that becomes an expensive exercise and you cannot take it with you, why not get an iMAC or even the new mini and create another environment?
Sigh...We and our cherished toys...
People that buy the recently launched MBA's are suckers, the new version will come with a much better processor, 8 GB RAM and 512 SSD, it also can be charged within a half hour due to the new battery technology, and Thunderbolt will be a thing of the past.
Ending message from a Troll.
The reality is there will always will be a newer thing in technology, buy what you need at the moment, in a couple of years time, these machines will be obsolete.
Take for example the explosion of pictures and movies, if you get a semi pro DSLR and shoot in raw, you won't have enough disk space and processing power with the current set up. You will need to daisy chain the GPU, Display and Storage, that becomes an expensive exercise and you cannot take it with you, why not get an iMAC or even the new mini and create another environment?
Sigh...We and our cherished toys...
