Should i wait or pull the plug now??

[Yizhimao]

I've been thinking a lot about which laptop i should get for my university which starts in august... Since the MBP just got updated, it was really tempting for me to get it.. However, I was deeply disappointed by the graphics card of the 13" MBP... Among all the MBPs, I'd fancy the 15" higher end because it's the only graphics card which I'd buy.. But for what it's worth, I don't think I'll be fully maximizing it's potential.. Then, I started to check out my bro's MBA 13" ultimate.. I'm in love with it.. Btw, I'd probably do a lot of school related stuff and a lil gaming like SC2 or perhaps the upcoming Diablo 3.. Anyways, back to my bro's 13" ultimate.. It has everything I look out for in a laptop... Portability, high res screen, gaming and freakishly light!! It just gives me confidence that the upcoming 2011 MBA will be just as great or even better.. So here's my qn: Should I wait for the new 2011 MBA or get the 2011 MBP 13" base??


P.S: My only hope is that Apple doesn't input the Intel 3000 HD graphics into the new MBA...

 

[chico123]

Definately Wait.

I have the new macbook air 13" and it is amazing.
I had the macbook pro 13" 2010 -2009 - 2008.
I have sold the old gen and bought the newest model everysingle time.

But now I moved on to the macbook air..
when I had the pro I thought it was an amazing computer and it really was. It did everything I needed it to and it was very compact and perfect for my needs..

BUT Then, I moved on to the new airs..... omg.!!? it felt like losing 30 pounds of weight on me. The new airs were so light that I would never go back to using the 13" pros.. I am so used to my air that when I touch a 13" it feels bulky and it feels fat?, for the lack of a better term.

If you buy the pros now, it will still be good, but wont be better then the new airs..


Think about it this way. say a new air came out today. What will you buy?
IF you would buy the pros. then buy the pro. if you would buy the air. wait for it to come out
the answer to the question above shows what you really want and I say you should get what you want.

I also play light gaming such as sc2. and will play diablo3 if it comes out.
and am in college. I probably need the comp for the same reasons you do/

I will get the new air if it comes out too. btw

just in case anyone asks (to explain my reason for buying the newest gen every single time
you have to do the math
say a computer's life expectancy is 5 years. In 10 years you will use 2 computers.
you will also buy apple care about 100$ each both times.

so for the case of macbook pro 1100+1100+100+100 -360(selling the 2 free ipod for 180each) = $2040 for 10 years + 2 free printers.

But lets say that you bought and sold each year.
you will generally have pay $100 to $120 a new computer after having sold the old generation and the free ipod it comes with. (from my experience)

so for the case of macbook pro 1100+120 +120 +120 +120 +120 +120 +120 +120 +120 = 2180 + 10 free printers

ALSO at the end of that 10 year period the first example person will have a 5 year old computer with him but the second example person will have the current generation computer with him. In addition for the 10 years the 1st person will not be covered by warrenty for 4 years of the 10 year period while the second person will be covered for all of 10 years by the warrenty.

There is also the time component to all this which might be pricy for non savy people but i generally sell my comp in less than a week... You also get the feeling of using a new generation of everysingle year. it feels great. Having the lastest technology available feels better than amazing..

that is my reason,

 

[tom vilsack]

i would get todays air...as you said,im also worried about next one having intel 3000

 

[chico123]

watever apple decides to put in the new airs wont matter that much.

The new airs will be better than the current air contrary to watever other people may think.

the numbers of the GHz or watever might be lower but its not the numbers that counts its how the computer performs. and the newest one will perform better than the current air.

NO doubt. dont worry. waiting is a biatch but still worth it. You will know what i mean if you decide to wait. When you buy the comp after waiting such a long time.. the feeling is very exciting.

 

[Yizhimao]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148a)

Thanks guys!! You really reaffirmed my belief I'm really in love with the MBA.. I believe it's worth every penny.. Haha.. Anyways, looks like I gotta make do with my bro's old laptop for the time being.. I'm seriously hoping apple don't screw the upgrade this time by putting the intel 3000 hd graphics in the MBA '11((

 

[HiddenGem]

Return MBA or Repair old 2007 MBP 15"

I have to decide whether to keep my MBA 13" Ultimate or return it by today, or repair my old MBP 15" (keyboard and trackpad stopped working).

If I repair MBP 15 (4GB Ram, 160Gb HD), I would sell it, prob get upto £400 I think. Or return MBA and carry on using MBP until next MBA refresh on there is a MBA 15".


Any suggestions?

 

[iVeBeenDrinkin']

I have to decide whether to keep my MBA 13" Ultimate or return it by today, or repair my old MBP 15" (keyboard and trackpad stopped working).

If I repair MBP 15 (4GB Ram, 160Gb HD), I would sell it, prob get upto £400 I think. Or return MBA and carry on using MBP until next MBA refresh on there is a MBA 15".


Any suggestions?

I can guarantee there will not be a MBA 15". The whole Idea of the MBA is minimalism, and eliminating what isn't necessary. Maybe, someday, there will be a 15" MBA, but not anytime soon. Hopefully, by the end of the year when the MBA is upgraded, it will have improvements in the CPU, GPU, and bumps in memory...maybe even lighter.

 

[Yizhimao]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8C148a)

I have to decide whether to keep my MBA 13" Ultimate or return it by today, or repair my old MBP 15" (keyboard and trackpad stopped working).

If I repair MBP 15 (4GB Ram, 160Gb HD), I would sell it, prob get upto £400 I think. Or return MBA and carry on using MBP until next MBA refresh on there is a MBA 15".


Any suggestions?

Transaction ID: MUeNETS7616520110318
Date: 18/3/2011
   
I think you gotta ask yourself what do you need your laptop for... Frankly speaking the current MBA 13" ult is very good.. Unless you need the extra real estate of the 15" for designing etc, I'd say sell your 15" and keep your 13" MBA..

 

[iNotion]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8F190 Safari/6533.18.5)

My MBA is my 1st laptop only because I know what I want for a laptop.
It have to be light, beautiful and powerful for it's size.
If I need a ultra powerful computer that can do almost everything, I would have gone for a desktop (Mac pro)

 

[fishmd]

Why in the world would you wait if you need a new laptop now? People here are just assuming that a new one will be released in October, but there is no guarantee this will be the case at all. In fact, if you look at how long it took Apple to refresh it the last time, a refresh probably won't happen at the end of this year.

And even if it does, so what. You can sell it and get the new one. Buy one now from the refurb store and save a couple hundred bucks and then sell it when the new one comes out if it ends up being that much better. And if it is not that much of an improvement, then you can keep the one you get now, which will be a great machine.

 

[KPOM]

It's almost certain that the next MacBook Air will have a ULV Sandy Bridge chip with the Intel HD 3000 IGP. If it's good enough for the MacBook Pro, in Apple's mind, it will be good enough for the Air. Since the 13" Pro got the 2.3GHz Core i5 and 2.7GHz Core i7, I suspect that the Air will get the 1.5GHz or 1.6GHz Core i7, though the 13" might get the 2.1GHz or 2.3GHz Core i7.

If you plan to do gaming, and if the Core 2 Duo is enough power for you, I'd suggest just pulling the trigger and getting one now. The Intel HD 3000 performs about on par with the NVIDIA 320m in OS X and low-detail gaming on the 13" Pro, but is slower for Windows gaming and medium or high detail graphics. The HD 3000 IGP that goes into the Air will likely be slower than the one that goes into the Pro (since the ULV Core i7's IGP operates at 350MHz-500MHz vs the 650MHz that the chip that's in the 13" Pro).

 

[YMark]

I can guarantee there will not be a MBA 15".

Unless you're Steve Jobs, you can't guarantee squat.

 

[HiddenGem]

Could it get a Facetime HD camera or a screen with better colour gamut?

 

[Biscotti]

Are you sure you want to pull the plug?

or maybe pull the trigger?

Just askin....

 

[matelot]

you mean "pull the trigger" ?

 

[xispec]

I would have waited. Since you are pursuing in higher education, you could wait till May/June when they push out the free iPod promotion for students. I have decided to wait for this as I have been searching around CL, Apple Refurbish store and have been tempted many times. Personally it doesn't matter if they change the graphics in next update, I plan on using the MBA for web browsing and watching videos.

 

[jamesryanbell]

I LOL'd at "pull the plug" instead of "pull the trigger" in the thread title.

 

[Scottsdale]

I don't believe there will be an update before your school starts. I think Early 2012 when Ivy Bridge chips are available is when Apple will bump them. Apple has almost zero reason to update them now as they're the hot seller. Apple proved that it isn't the CPU that makes the computer with the MBA.

You even stated the reason not to want a SB MBA, the Intel IGP. Everyone pushing for SB is ignoring the obvious problems there. Losing Nvidia's 320m is far more of a loss than the CPU gains justify. If Apple could use the Nvidia's 320m with SB it would be a no brainer, but Intel has to play dirty so it can sell the chipsets too. In addition the SB IGP runs at lower clock speeds in the low and ultra low voltage CPUs used in the MBA, so it's not the same IGP result as even the 13" MBP shows.

I think you know you want the MBA ultimate but you're just seeking validation, and I for one am happy to recommend the 13" MBA to all that want a 13" Mac notebook. It is simply more "Pro" than the 13" MBP. The only reason you could wait is to hope SB updates come and you could get an Nvidia-based MBA on clearance for a nice savings...but if you will use it now just buy it and enjoy.

 

[FX4568]

We are totally in the same boat Im going to college this fall and I also do gaming such as SC2 hahahah.
Well, heres my decision after roaming the Macrumor forums for a while:
Wait until July or August to get my MBA.
Why? Because
1. The pro's are an overkill probably. If I ever need something as powerful as the pro I probably would rather buy a desktop.
2. Mobility is a key, since we will be in college and dorms, the few pound difference between the pro and the air is huge.
3. you get an ipod
4. You still have some time before college starts to test the Air, but also it is not too far from college days where you will get bored of it

For scottsdale, I do support the idea of a Nvidia 320m chip until ivy bridge, but the true problem is that since the Air has been such an amazing seller in the months, wouldnt apple run out of core2duos? Even if they hate SB, they will be FORCED to switch since the quantity of supplied core2duos fall short on the demand of MBAs?

 

[Yizhimao]

First off, I'd like to apologise if I used the wrong term for the thread title.. I meant to say "pull the trigger".. Hahaha

Back to the topic... I'm in no hurry to get a laptop now... I'm just waiting for school to start so I can start using the educational discount.. But yeah, like what scottsdale said, I guess I just need some justification to buying the MBA 13" ultimate.. It's the best MBA i've seen so far IMHO.. It sort of gave me high hopes about the upcoming 2011 MBA update.. I wouldn't mind if they don't push for better GPU, just don't put the Intel 3000HD graphics... I've read too many stories on how crappy it is... Why can't Apple ever do a decent upgrade for any of their 13" laptops??? In 2010, they updated the GPU but retain the C2D processor.. This year, they did the opposite.. Improved the 13" MBP with the i' series but downgraded on the GPU... Wth man Apple.. Seriously???

 

[donster28]

... Why can't Apple ever do a decent upgrade for any of their 13" laptops??? In 2010, they updated the GPU but retain the C2D processor.. This year, they did the opposite.. Improved the 13" MBP with the i' series but downgraded on the GPU... Wth man Apple.. Seriously???

It's all about balance my friend. Leave it to the Apple engineers to give you a stable and capable combination. No matter if you buy now (like I did) or wait later, you will get a portable machine that's more capable than anything out there. Peace.

 

[matelot]

whatever you do....

DO NOT PULL THE PLUG TAGGED "INTERNETS"

 

[lshirase]

I don't believe there will be an update before your school starts. I think Early 2012 when Ivy Bridge chips are available is when Apple will bump them. Apple has almost zero reason to update them now as they're the hot seller. Apple proved that it isn't the CPU that makes the computer with the MBA.

lol no. apple will be forced to update the air to keep it up to par with competition.

+sales = +pressure on apple to keep it a hot seller for as long as possible.

 

[old-wiz]

The timing for an update on MBA will depend to a certain extent on how long Intel will sell them the C2D chips.