When would you say is the best time to purchase a new mac?

[GKDAIR]

I have a 2011 Macbook Air, and it still runs amazingly great, but my Applecare warranty will expire next year, and I'm slowly running out of harddrive space on my Macbook, and I was thinking of upgrading to an Imac.

3 years seems a little too short to be upgrading a device, but I'll be going from a macbook air to an imac. Is that enough of an upgrade to justify getting a new computer?

I'm not too educated when it comes to specs, I mean I'm not an idiot, but is there some place where I can look up just how powerful the new imacs are versus my own macbook air, I mean I'd be getting the 2014 imac, but the 2013 is a good starting place.

 

[And]

I have a 2011 Macbook Air, and it still runs amazingly great, but my Applecare warranty will expire next year, and I'm slowly running out of harddrive space on my Macbook, and I was thinking of upgrading to an Imac.

3 years seems a little too short to be upgrading a device, but I'll be going from a macbook air to an imac. Is that enough of an upgrade to justify getting a new computer?

I'm not too educated when it comes to specs, I mean I'm not an idiot, but is there some place where I can look up just how powerful the new imacs are versus my own macbook air, I mean I'd be getting the 2014 imac, but the 2013 is a good starting place.

The answer is very simple. Can you do what you need to do on the air? If the answer is 'no', then you should look to get a new device. If the answer is 'yes' then you don't need to get a new computer.

 

[bjet767]

I have a late 2010 MBA and an i7 processor, 8 GB memory & 1.5 TB HD desktop. While the desktop is far faster the the MBA I tend to use the MBA a whole lot more because it is portable.

Personally I would buy a bigger after market HD for your 2011 first and then decide if you want to be tied to the desktop via an iMac. Of course they sure look good and stylish.

(OWC, Other World Computing, makes great HD and memory improvements for the various macbook products).

 

[MyMac1976]

I have my personal 2008 Dell, and 2009 17" they're used every day. My daughter uses a 2007 MacBook everyday, and my wife and a 2011 MacBook Pro she uses everyday. My '09 has the backlight issue which I'll get fixed all do the job that they need to do.

If your HD is to small get a HD or buy an external or get a dropbox account or other online storage.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The short answer to your question is whenever you think that you need (rather than simply want) a new computer.

My own personal timescale is between two to three years, and is dictated by the time span of Applecare (which I have always had on all of my Apple computers), rather than technological changes. Sometimes, of course, the two overlap.

In any case, I am not as obsessed by technological breakthroughs, or improvements, as some on these threads, although I do read what has happened and am aware of improvements.

However, after almost three years, I noticed that my 2010 MBA was slowing down, beach balls were appearing more often, the SSD drive was becoming uncomfortably full, and the Applecare was approaching its end of warranty. Taken all together, I decided to buy a new computer this past summer.

In essence, the time to change is when the computer you have no longer meets your needs comfortably.