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The "I just bought/ordered/got/shipped my new/refurb MBA" thread, [Merged]

S

Serrat

macrumors newbie
Jun 13, 2013
27
0
Oslo, Norway
Pulled the trigger on a i5/8/256 on thursday evening. Have been holding off in order to see what was gonna happen with the rMBP, but after taking some trips to the local store and checking out the screen, I honestly cannot see that big of a difference. And as I'm not into photo/video editing either, it was no point waiting for a heavier and more expensive machine.

Just crossing my fingers for Samsung screen now. Can't wait to ditch out win8, one year has been more then enough!
 
bambooshots

bambooshots

Suspended
Jul 25, 2013
1,414
2,891
Serrat said:
Pulled the trigger on a i5/8/256 on thursday evening. Have been holding off in order to see what was gonna happen with the rMBP, but after taking some trips to the local store and checking out the screen, I honestly cannot see that big of a difference. And as I'm not into photo/video editing either, it was no point waiting for a heavier and more expensive machine.

Just crossing my fingers for Samsung screen now. Can't wait to ditch out win8, one year has been more then enough!
Click to expand...

To be honest, I couldn't either.

It's just one of those things that some people want to nitpick about and maybe find a reason to hate Apple.
 
bambooshots

bambooshots

Suspended
Jul 25, 2013
1,414
2,891
Finally did it...well almost.

After a long and grueling workweek, I made up my mind and decided to make the switch to Apple and pick up an MBA. After working ten hours on Saturday, I made my way down to Highland Village in Houston to check things out, which was about an hour and a half drive. Highland Village was chosen because it was an actual standalone store and therefore I didn't have to wade into the crowd that are ever present at a mall, even on 8pm on weekends.

I was actually approached very quickly and ended up being tended to by a very helpful employee. He was a pretty cool guy and not at all pushy or snotty or huffy. I'm not sure why some reviews say that service is bad but it may be a purchase vs. repair sort of deal.

Anyway I did finally pick out the MBA 13" i7/8GB/512GB after beating around the bush. I mean, spending that kind of coin should make anyone (well, us mortals that work on the clock) pause and reconsider their decision. Retails for $1849 but thanks to the Education discount it was $1749. It was pretty cool that they have someone from upstairs bring down to goods.

Since I was buying this on credit, with Apple's Barclay Card, and taking advantage of their financing offer, I began considering another purchase. I ended up, after beating around the bush for much longer, asking for an iPad mini 16GB silver/slate. It's intended to be a gift for someone...but when she began arguing with me and pissing me off when she called on my drive back home, it makes me seriously reconsider gifting something like this, well, anything, to her.

It's been a while since I've spent that much in one transaction. It may have been that I was way too tired to do much after getting home last night (3 hours round trip) but after hauling my ill gotten gains into my apartment, I decided to hold of on tearing into either boxes, the i7/8/512 MBA or 16GB iPad mini, until later after another ten hour shift at work today, maybe to make absolutely sure I want to make this switch/make sure these items are worth the $2300+ they'll cost after I'm done with everything; I intend to also pick up some accessories like the Smart Cover and maybe the Thunderbolt->Gigabit Ethernet, some kind of sleeve for the MBA, and an Apple USB Smart Drive.

Long read, but a lot has been going through my mind. I'm sure most of you though "TL;DR" but hey, I had fun researching the product and and wanted to share it with you guys.
 
teffers

teffers

macrumors regular
Jun 23, 2013
137
10
United Kingdom
Great post Bambooshots :)

I know the feeling when you intend to do something nice for someone and they inadvertently talk you out of it without even knowing lol.

@ Serrat - don't worry too much about the screen, now I've applied the colour profile I really like the LG, at least for me I can't really tell much difference with the Samsung.
 
B

bomp

macrumors member
Sep 19, 2012
40
0
I have the LG with the custom profile and a friend has the Sammy.

I much prefer the LG, it looks sharp and crisp in comparison.

Also recommend this bundle

http://stacksocial.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=820c8324c8d125df5a73a0bb3&id=8effe7a82b&e=65fc611490
 
B

bomp

macrumors member
Sep 19, 2012
40
0
teffers said:
Might give that bundle a try - thx - especially as I was considering Parallels for £45 on it's own.
Click to expand...

It expires in just over 9 hours!!

Parallels, typinator and boom are amazing, so is snag it ;-)

Instant delivery too
 
CJM

CJM

macrumors 68000
May 7, 2005
1,582
1,168
U.K.
teffers said:
I'm in the UK too. Placed my order for the same config on Thursday 18th July - just had it delivered today 26th July.

So 8 days from order to delivery for me.
Click to expand...

Ah, that's interesting. So, mine dispatched on the 27th, but it says estimated delivery is the 6th, which is quite some time, really.
 
E

ErikJN

macrumors newbie
Oct 23, 2007
9
0
My i7/8/256 estimated delivery just got bumped from Aug 5th to Aug 1st! Hoping it'll stay that way, so I can play with my new machine this weekend.
 
AXs

AXs

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2009
515
2
As a student, why on Earth would you spend $2300 of what you don't have on something that you don't really need?

You are putting yourself in debt over an entry level Apple computer?

That makes no sense whatsoever. That too, going for the ultimate?

Go return it and get yourself a base 13" aiir with discount for about $1000.

Then buy an external 1TB passport harddrive with usb 3.0 support for about $100

Don't forget about Applecare... which you haven't bought yet. About $250 there.

Get a case and accessories another $150 (dont buy Apple's superdrive). BAM, you're already at $1500. Maybe you can drop another $100 to double RAM especially if you're going to use it for 4-5 years.

So for $1600 you're set on a 13" i5/8/128 with 1TB passport storage, 3 years warranty, a case/sleeve, and essential cables

Return the ipad mini too because it's basically getting refreshed in a month, and next month you will see crazy discounts from stores trying to unload last years products.

Or, return it, and buy a google nexus 7 which is coming out in less than a week. It has a waaay superior screen, four times the Ram, and the latest Android 4.3. The 16gb would cost you only 229bucks. Drop another 40bucks and get 32gb wifi. Get the Chrome cast for another $35 so your friend can wirelessly stream hd videos to their tv.

32gb Nexus 7 and chromecast will cost you $300.

So all in all you have now spent $1,900 for 2 superior future-proofed products with all required accessories and warranty.

Get help nexus7 wrapped, and take her out for $100 dinner and thank her for being there for you. Good people in life is more precious than what any credit card can buy.

So all in all, $2000 of money that you will have to pay back, but $2000 of well spent money that will make you and yours satisfied in your home tech-wise for years.
 
teffers

teffers

macrumors regular
Jun 23, 2013
137
10
United Kingdom
CJM said:
Ah, that's interesting. So, mine dispatched on the 27th, but it says estimated delivery is the 6th, which is quite some time, really.
Click to expand...

Mine kept an estimated delivery date of 30th July right up until the morning of the 26th, which was when it was delivered. If I hadn't have been prepared for it being early by tracking it on http://expox.expeditors.com/expo/ExpoReport/SQGuestDetail.jsp I would have missed it.
 
C

chrille

macrumors newbie
Jul 27, 2013
5
0
I can see that a lot of you know on what flight and where it's heading etc right now. Where do you see all those details, i cant find it :( lol, i'm updating the site every 5 min...

Shanghai, China 07/29/2013 5:40 P.M. Departure Scan
07/29/2013 4:52 P.M. Origin Scan
China 07/29/2013 12:12 A.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS
 
F

Frost17

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2011
149
22
Picked my base model Air up a few days ago for the last few years of college, absolutely love it.

I have a fairly large music library on CD's and I'm looking to rip a few to the MBA. Are there many differences between the external burners? I was contemplating picking up the Apple SuperDrive, but are there cheaper alternatives that are still as reliable?
 
M

m98custom1212

macrumors 6502
Jul 20, 2013
287
1
Toledo, Ohio
Frost17 said:
Picked my base model Air up a few days ago for the last few years of college, absolutely love it.

I have a fairly large music library on CD's and I'm looking to rip a few to the MBA. Are there many differences between the external burners? I was contemplating picking up the Apple SuperDrive, but are there cheaper alternatives that are still as reliable?
Click to expand...

yes and far cheaper.

I picked up thunderbolt to hdmi and thunder bolt vga adapter for $15 shipped.
 
bambooshots

bambooshots

Suspended
Jul 25, 2013
1,414
2,891
AXs said:
As a student, why on Earth would you spend $2300 of what you don't have on something that you don't really need?

You are putting yourself in debt over an entry level Apple computer?

That makes no sense whatsoever. That too, going for the ultimate?

Go return it and get yourself a base 13" aiir with discount for about $1000.

Then buy an external 1TB passport harddrive with usb 3.0 support for about $100

Don't forget about Applecare... which you haven't bought yet. About $250 there.

Get a case and accessories another $150 (dont buy Apple's superdrive). BAM, you're already at $1500. Maybe you can drop another $100 to double RAM especially if you're going to use it for 4-5 years.

So for $1600 you're set on a 13" i5/8/128 with 1TB passport storage, 3 years warranty, a case/sleeve, and essential cables

Return the ipad mini too because it's basically getting refreshed in a month, and next month you will see crazy discounts from stores trying to unload last years products.

Or, return it, and buy a google nexus 7 which is coming out in less than a week. It has a waaay superior screen, four times the Ram, and the latest Android 4.3. The 16gb would cost you only 229bucks. Drop another 40bucks and get 32gb wifi. Get the Chrome cast for another $35 so your friend can wirelessly stream hd videos to their tv.

32gb Nexus 7 and chromecast will cost you $300.

So all in all you have now spent $1,900 for 2 superior future-proofed products with all required accessories and warranty.

Get help nexus7 wrapped, and take her out for $100 dinner and thank her for being there for you. Good people in life is more precious than what any credit card can buy.

So all in all, $2000 of money that you will have to pay back, but $2000 of well spent money that will make you and yours satisfied in your home tech-wise for years.
Click to expand...

Would you like to tell me what car I should drive, also?
 
AXs

AXs

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2009
515
2
The new E300 Hybrid is a lovely drive at only $120,000...since you asked so nicely. :D
Not sure if Bacrlays will finance for that though...

Your money, your debt, your game. My advice remains the same.

I'm gonna royally F Off now. Good luck paying it off. ;)
 
R

RiverDonkey

macrumors newbie
Jan 15, 2012
11
0
Copenhagen, Denmark
So happy with my new Macbook Air!

As a part of a job switch, i was given the will to buy whatever new work computer i wanted. At my previous job i had a rMBP 13", which i was happy with, but the switch from a cMPB 15" to the rMBP, made me realize how much portability means to me. I am currently studying my BA. in computer science, so i am the fly a lot, from home to school to work, so i have been graving for a even more lightweight computer for some time.

So this friday my new Macbook Air 13" arrived, i went down to the new office after work (I have my day one at the new office, the first august, so currently still at the old office), and went home. I haven't had my Air for long, but i have installed all my apps (Emacs, Alfred, iTerm2, Divvy, Spotify and a whole lot of more crap), still a got to say, this machine is absolutely amazing!! It is literally saying 17H battery, while writing this! (http://cl.ly/image/2e1i3h3z1n3t)
Also i am very surprised over how cool this machine runs, even when i fire up Team Fortress 2, the fan don't exceed 4500RPM.

This is a vast improvement over my previous machine, of course that is totally subjective, but this makes for a perfect work machine!

Just wanted to share my experience, maybe it will help other :).
 
bambooshots

bambooshots

Suspended
Jul 25, 2013
1,414
2,891
SO!

I finally opened it up. I'm on a work related training trip and this thing so far is very convenient in regards to weight and size. Very different from what I'm used to, though!

But man, it may be the fact that I'm on day 25 of 34 days of consecutive work, but I'm getting a headache trying to grasp my head around the new OS.

What's the learning curve for OS X? Can anyone point out any good guides to learning OS X quickly and effectively?

I sure hope I can learn this OS and figure out how to use it effectively, as I like everything else about the computer (hence me buying this vs other Windows-based PCs).
 
S

SusanK

macrumors 68000
Oct 9, 2012
1,676
2,655
bambooshots said:
SO!

I finally opened it up. I'm on a work related training trip and this thing so far is very convenient in regards to weight and size. Very different from what I'm used to, though!

But man, it may be the fact that I'm on day 25 of 34 days of consecutive work, but I'm getting a headache trying to grasp my head around the new OS.

What's the learning curve for OS X? Can anyone point out any good guides to learning OS X quickly and effectively?

I sure hope I can learn this OS and figure out how to use it effectively, as I like everything else about the computer (hence me buying this vs other Windows-based PCs).
Click to expand...


http://www.amazon.com/Switching-Mac...keywords=switching+to+mac+OS+X+missing+manual


Hope this helps.
 
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