Which second hand air??

[Korbin]

So at this stage I have a early July deadline for a notebook. I plan to wait until the last minute, however, if the current trend continues I'm considering going to a second hand air.

Below are the options I'm currently considering:

2.13/1.86 128 SSD

1.8 64 SSD and use the potential price difference and go to runcore

Use my head other than my heart and get the 13 inch MBP stock.

Background:

I have a Mac mini with a 23 inch screen at home, this purely to be mobile for study/work device.

 

[PowerGamerX]

So at this stage I have a early July deadline for a notebook. I plan to wait until the last minute, however, if the current trend continues I'm considering going to a second hand air.

Below are the options I'm currently considering:

2.13/1.86 128 SSD

1.8 64 SSD and use the potential price difference and go to runcore

Use my head other than my heart and get the 13 inch MBP stock.

Background:

I have a Mac mini with a 23 inch screen at home, this purely to be mobile for study/work device.

Study and work, and have a home machine? Sounds like the MBA is for you. (I'd personally go with the Rev B or C, A's are notorious for overheating)

 

[Scottsdale]

Do not buy the original MBA under any circumstances... even if it's 1/3 the price of the v 2,1 MBA.

You should be concerned with the following...

1. Absolutely must be concerned with and buy one with Nvidia GPU
2. The SSD is an essential component if you're going to use it as your primary Mac. The 4200 rpm HDD is very slow, and spinning beach balls from hell are a common problem associated with it.
3. The 2.13/1.86 GHz is going to be more capable for a longer period of time

I would say don't buy an MBA if it cannot be one with an Nvidia GPU and 128 GB SSD. From there, 1.86 and 2.13 GHz are strongly preferred over a 1.6 GHz. In the long run, you're going to have a capable computer for longer with a 2.13 GHz CPU. The 1.86 is currently completely capable, but the 2 GHz threshold is important now and will be more so in the future.

Good luck.

 

[Chundles]

If it has an 80GB HDD or 64GB SSD, RUN AWAY.

Those things are god-awful, I mean, truly god-awful.

If it's got a 120GB HDD or 128GB SSD then they're OK - they're the ones with the 9400M graphics and won't shut down a core and slow to a crawl watching oh, a low res Youtube clip.

EDIT: Unless you really don't mind just having one USB port and the extra 700g is a massive big deal, the 13" MacBook Pro is a waaaaaay more capable machine, especially as a primary computer.

 

[gwsat]

EDIT: Unless you really don't mind just having one USB port and the extra 700g is a massive big deal, the 13" MacBook Pro is a waaaaaay more capable machine, especially as a primary computer.

That's the dilemma all right. The new base 13 inch MBP is both much more powerful and much cheaper than the current MBA. Better yet, its RAM is upgradable to 8Gb and it will accept as big an SSD as your finances are big enough to handle. But the physical beauty of the MBA, compared to that of the 13 inch MBP, is as the beauty of a Porche 911 is to that of a Hyundai sedan. The 13 inch MBP also weighs 50 percent more than the MBA.

I have agonized over this issue for weeks. A few weeks ago, I finally decided to forego the MBP for the moment and wait and see what kind of an upgrade was made to the MBA. If, as most seem to think, even an upgraded MBA will have no more than 4Gb or RAM and it will not be upgradeable, I will still be on the bubble. It's a tough decision, it really is.

 

[Korbin]

thanks for the replies, and the advice on the 1.8, somehow I got it into my head that it was a Rev B... that saved me some potential headaches!

What is annoying me at the moment, is second hand 2.13/1.86 SSD airs are going for at least a couple of hundred dollars more than a new stock 13 inch MBP.

Would a happy compromise be a Rev B standard HDD version upgraded to Runcore?

At the very least I need to try and get one with an extended warranty if I am going to have it long term.

Any suggestions on where to buy, other than eBay, for second MBAs in Australia?

 

[jdechko]

Don't know your budget, but how about buying a refurbished one from Apple? They seem to have quite a few different models online--Revs A, B & C, both with HDD and SSD. With regards to your warranty question, all of them come with the standard Apple warranty, and you can purchase complete Apple care on them.

I'm sure you could find them for cheaper elsewhere, but you might have to sacrifice on model, quality, cosmetics or warranty.

 

[halledise]

thanks for the replies, and the advice on the 1.8, somehow I got it into my head that it was a Rev B... that saved me some potential headaches!

What is annoying me at the moment, is second hand 2.13/1.86 SSD airs are going for at least a couple of hundred dollars more than a new stock 13 inch MBP.

Would a happy compromise be a Rev B standard HDD version upgraded to Runcore?

At the very least I need to try and get one with an extended warranty if I am going to have it long term.

Any suggestions on where to buy, other than eBay, for second MBAs in Australia?

http://store.apple.com/au/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=OTY2ODY3Nw

each comes with full warranty too

this'd be my pick:
http://store.apple.com/au/product/FB940X/A?mco=MTA4MzI1NzA

throw in a copy of Snow Leopard and iWork 09 and you're good to go

 

[thinkdesign2]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) Sprint PPC6850SP)

The store.apple.com refurb web page states that refurbs are sold with whatever operating system they were originally made with. (And I confirmed that at an actual store, because I had read on M.R. that a refurb would ship with the latest O/S.)

I wonder, what O/S would the 1.86 Ghz 120ssd 'Air' ship with? Since the operating systems aren't neccessarily synched to hardware revisions... I guess some refurbished models might even come with either of 2 O/S's... depending on how early or late it was manufactured?

The store salesman looked at the Apple refurb site, the $1,349. 1.86ghz SSD model... and said that it would have an old O/S and so an older version of iLife, and if I paid to add iWork even that would be the older version if iWork.

After receiving the refurbished Air, I can then buy an upgrade to the current O/S, and pay extra to upgrade to the current iLife and iWork and Office for Mac.

I left the store not very clear on -- if I didn't spend for all the upgrades -- what difference would it make for my usage?

What functionality would I be missing?

If I don't feel sure that I know the answer to that question... then the refurbished ones (except maybe the refurbished 2.13 ghz with it's small 13% off) -- for me, fade away as options. Which now favors - going with the new $1,799. SSD model.

Once you add software and accessories... that 13% discount on the refurbed 2.13 Air is actually an even tinier % off on the whole package.

My question is: If I got the 1.86 SSD refurb for $1,349., what functionality would I be missing? (Besides -- a bit of chip speed, a 37 vs. 40 watt battery, and they don't throw in one of the adapter dongles)?