Strategy question: when should Apple release the next Air?

[ghileman]

good thoughts around the board.

just to clarify, my question was meant to elicit a 'when should apple release rev E' (in terms of apple's own best interests) rather than a 'when should someone buy' response, which the macrumors buying guide seems to do a pretty good job of answering:

https://buyersguide.macrumors.com//

i agree with the posters who said it makes sense for apple to hold off some but not too long on Rev E. if they go with sandy bridge then i'd be shocked if they waited until pre-Xmas (Nov.) 2011. releasing Rev E by summer or the Sept.-ish timeframe sounds about right. but i also wouldn't put it past apple to start the leak machine or release Rev E a lot sooner.

it was interesting to see how Rev D was pitched like an entirely new product, almost as if the previous gen Airs had never existed. when something is positioned as "new" it's a little easier to justify a quick refresh, maybe quietly alongside macbook/macbook pro refresh expected soon.

an eight month wait from the Rev D release in Oct. 2010 would put the Rev E release in May, just four months away.

 

[DenisK]

You can't buy every refresh. Its buying into the game. This last update was the first REAL change since the machines came out in 2008 or so. All the others were small this was a big change. Thats when to buy.

I think I will wait this one out. While the 15 MBP with Matte and high res option screen looks very sweet to me (I see it in my dreams), I am just tired of lugging around all that chunk, sorry! Having had and really enjoyed using non unibody 15 MBPs (whose silver keyboard design in my humble opinion is light years better than the current black island style keyboards) and a black MB, for now I guess I will just keep my nose down till I see what I really like, stick with my 12 year old TP 570E for portable needs, it still works, just no youtube videos on it, big deal.
The rule is still the same: you get what you pay for: you pay more (for a mac or a Thinkpad) and it works longer and sells better after (well, TP's in all honesty depreciate way faster than macs, as all the pcs should, but just not as fast as the crap from Dell)