MacBook Air purchase, now or later.

[Martylaa]

I am desperate to buy a new MacBook Air, seeing as my own laptop has finally gone to a better place. It will be great because I will be travelling a lot over the next 2 years, however it will be used for emails, surfing, bit of downloading photos and some basic photo-editing.
Only want the 11" version but should I get it maxed out with 4GB or 2 GB Ram, will be looking for at least 128GB SSD, ori am hearing a new version is imminent, should I wait?

 

[jlblodgett]

Can you not wait ONE (1) week?

Chances are decent that an updated (newer processor) MacBook Air will be released within a week.

 

[Menge]

If you have to, then buy now. If you can wait one week, then wait. Buy after June 6th.

 

[Martylaa]

Can you not wait ONE (1) week?

Chances are decent that an updated (newer processor) MacBook Air will be released within a week.

Yes I could wait 1 week, if it's deffo the date it changes lol.
What about my usage should I get 4GB Ram then and 128 SSD?

 

[PraisiX-windows]

Yes I could wait 1 week, if it's deffo the date it changes lol.
What about my usage should I get 4GB Ram then and 128 SSD?

According to the rumours the new MBA will be released in june/july, so if you can wait that long, you should.

For your usage 2gb of ram would be enough I'd think, but if I was you I'd get 4.

Lion, the new version of OS X it rumored to be released in june/july as well, so by all means, if it's possible for you, wait till they both release

 

[NurJahan]

Can you not wait ONE (1) week?

Chances are decent that an updated (newer processor) MacBook Air will be released within a week.

Within a week?? During WWDC week? I sure hope so....

 

[MacJones]

It's not a guarantee but you could buy now and then return it when the new one comes out if you're still within the return period.

 

[bowlerman625]

I would get 4gb of ram and 128gb SSD.
There is no guarantee of a new model in a week. The current MBA would probably suit you fine.

 

[Sporkinator]

A week!?

And to think I just bought a 13" MBA 4 days ago. I've heard about this June/July refresh but within a week?! Where did you hear that?

 

[Eggtastic]

wait.

I am in the same boat, well sort of. I have been dying to upgrade my late 06' MBP but make the transition worth the cost. I felt that although the MBP redesign was nice, it wasn't enough to justify selling my machine. Now that my needs are realized, the MBA is a perfect fit for me. With the update imminent, ill just have to be patient a few more weeks.

I have the same uses as you. I would still get the maxed out model just to "future proof" somewhat. After all this still is a costly machine. I hope they do more than internal upgrades (such as an HD facetime camera, more battery life, and hopefully BL keys).

Good luck.

 

[KylePowers]

And to think I just bought a 13" MBA 4 days ago. I've heard about this June/July refresh but within a week?! Where did you hear that?

Yeah, that's misleading. Apple's WWDC is in a week (June 6th, I think). But from what I've heard (read?), there isn't supposed to be any new hardware announced. Though, they will be talking about Lion, so who knows what we may find out.

Nonetheless, late June/early July is within the month... if you knew already, why'd you buy so soon?

 

[Sporkinator]

I actually didn't know until after I had it. Wish I had researched a little more, at least i'm still within the return period. Definitely on the fence about returning for the refresh! From what you said it sounds like there may not even be a guarantee for refreshed hardware? There's been a lot of talk about the Sandy Bridge conversion, and though I like the sound of that I don't necessarily like the sound of an integrated GPU that is presumably not going to outperform the current 320M setup since Sandy Bridge may not support OpenCL.

They sort of explain it here:
http://gigaom.com/apple/macbook-air-update-rumored-but-apple-could-skip-sandy-bridge/

 

[glen e]

I bought a 2gb 11" about a month ago and could not wait as I needed it on the road for some conferences. Do I wish I could have a new update? Yes... but I've been here before, and the unit I have works perfect for what I do. Would like to do an OWC upgrade and may do later but for now, 64 is fine. The only thing I have that takes up good space is tunes and they are on my phone.

I'm an office user and not a video maker or something processor intensive. Very happy with what I have, and works well for me...

 

[Abstract]

The 11" MBA is fast, and you won't notice any difference in performance if all you're doing is running Office and doing some basic photo editing.

 

[endhalf]

Yeah, that's misleading. Apple's WWDC is in a week (June 6th, I think). But from what I've heard (read?), there isn't supposed to be any new hardware announced. Though, they will be talking about Lion, so who knows what we may find out.

Nonetheless, late June/early July is within the month... if you knew already, why'd you buy so soon?

At 6th at the start of WWDC, there should be keynotes where Apple can announce new Airs or for example tell people about new iPhones. They do that to keep the heat up. If they won't announce it at 6th, there is no chance they will announce new Air at WWDC since the rest of WWDC is just about programming and stuff like that. I hope they do something about Airs just as MB...

About original question:

If you can wait, then wait. Why would you buy MBA right now when after week, you can buy either better one (with better processor and possibly bigger ram) or the old one for less money? Waiting is the only logical thing you can do right now, if you can (meaning if you don't really need MBA right now)

 

[trip1ex]

Yes the current base model 11" MBA has enough power for basic tasks. I found it to be responsive when using the internet, email, and iphoto with a 35gb photo library.

I wouldn't buy a new MBA today though for close to list price because new ones are due out in the next month or two.

I would look at the refurbs on Apple's site or buying used from a reputable source if you need one today.

 

[Abstract]

At 6th at the start of WWDC, there should be keynotes where Apple can announce new Airs or for example tell people about new iPhones. They do that to keep the heat up.

Apple has a history of announcing products well ahead of time (say 6th of June), and announcing a release date of 1, 2, sometimes 3 months later.

Just because something is announced does NOT mean it'll be available in June, or even July.

 

[endhalf]

Apple has a history of announcing products well ahead of time (say 6th of June), and announcing a release date of 1, 2, sometimes 3 months later.

Just because something is announced does NOT mean it'll be available in June, or even July.

Sure... But as I recall with iPhones, you could buy your new iPhone 4 within 1-2 weeks from announcing, em I right? And even if they would set the selling date to end of summer, I don't see why any1 should buy old HW when new HW is behind a corner (even if that means 1-2 months waiting, you know for sure what's comming).

 

[Martylaa]

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I'll wait for now and see what happens at WWDC, if I have to wait 2-3 months then i'll buy one now from somewhere, been offered a 6 month old 11" 1.6 ghz 128 SSD MacBook air for £800. Tempted if I knew the new one was out in a few months time.

 

[pandamonia]

Apple has a history of announcing products well ahead of time (say 6th of June), and announcing a release date of 1, 2, sometimes 3 months later.

Just because something is announced does NOT mean it'll be available in June, or even July.

i would say the opposite is actually true

 

[Hankster]

The new MBA probably won't be available right after next week's event. It'll be at least several weeks to a month after.

 

[c3m]

Apple has a history of announcing products well ahead of time (say 6th of June), and announcing a release date of 1, 2, sometimes 3 months later.

Just because something is announced does NOT mean it'll be available in June, or even July.

Apple has a history of announcing iPhone and iPad ahead of time.

Apple tends to release their Mac on the same day as the announcement.

 

[Bob Coxner]

News stories today are saying supplies of existing models are drying up. That always strongly implies a new model will be released soon.

Some very interesting tidbit rumors in 9 to 5 Mac today. http://www.9to5mac.com/69889/new-op...d-intel-for-upcoming-macbook-airs/#more-69889

MacBook Air supplies are seriously constrained ahead of a summer update, meaning the guessing game is on. Two seemingly unrelated announcements from Intel and Sandisk today help paint a better picture of what the new hardware might bring. First up, Intel at the Computex show previewed a pair of new capabilities of a revised Sandy Bridge chipset, a likely candidates for the Air. We’re talking new Rapid Start and Smart Connect technologies, per this MacWorld report:

Intel’s Rapid Start Technology allows for faster turn-on by writing the PC’s application state to a dedicated flash drive. By doing this, the PC can quickly reload to its that state without rebooting, even if the battery is removed and then reinserted. The other feature, Intel’s Smart Connect Technology, updates content continuously on the PC while it’s in standby mode. The PC will periodically “wake up” and check for e-mail and other information like Twitter posts, and then fall back to standby mode.

The second-generation Sandy Bridge chips that incorporate both the Rapid Start and Smart Connect technology will be available by the end of this year. While it’s dubious that the MacBook Air refresh, which is coming soon, would incorporate the new Sandy Bridge silicon, remember that Apple usually gets early access to unreleased hardware from Intel weeks – sometimes even months – ahead of the rest of the industry. Moving on to the second announcement, DigiTimes reported that SanDisk earlier today launched new solid state drives for ultra-thin notebooks and tablets, dubbed the U100 series and the i100 series, respectively.

===========

We can hope! Amazing tech that you could take the battery out, put it back in, and still immediately get back to where you left off.

 

[Kavrocks]

And to think I just bought a 13" MBA 4 days ago. I've heard about this June/July refresh but within a week?! Where did you hear that?

I would suspect the people who are saying wait a week are saying it because they expect the Back To School promotion to be started by then and not because there will be a refresh within a week.

 

[endhalf]

Bob: Damn that is amazing! I just hope we won't be dissapointed by actuall refresh...