Who's gonna bite the new MBA on first day?

[katyoshi]

As title says...Im fixed on a ultimate 13" for myself. I want a bigger screen than the 11". Although I'll be out of grad school in august, I want something slim that i can easily travel with than with the current 2009 15" mbp that I have and something with better performance than my current computer, also something that can fit much easier in most of the bags I have as a dude... In terms of using it at home, I'll have a large apple cinema display with apple peripherals .

Ok so another question is, would you just wait till others buy them and wait a few weeks for reports of issues?

 

[Kyllle]

I wouldn't worry about waiting for the issues to be sorted out if you want it now.

If you have problems with it, you get 2 weeks to return it, which is plenty of time to check that everything works well.

I doubt you'll have any problems anyways though, so just buy it when you want to.

 

[katyoshi]

Sounds pretty logical I guess! I'm also wondering if it'll make more economical sense to just get a new/refurbished latest iMac with a new MBA and sometimes use the iMac as a display for my MBA or just get the 27" ACD?

 

[onthecouchagain]

I'll be waiting until near the start of the semester. I'm thinking mid-late August.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

My answer to your first question is no, and to your second question, possibly, maybe, yes.

For my part, I never, never, never, buy a newly released product when it is first launched. Advertising tells you little, only what the manufacturers want you to know (and want).

Instead, I wait a few weeks for actual customer feedback - to see what the plusses are, how buyers like the product, what they have to say about it, and, of even greater importance, what the minuses are, and especially, what glitches have appeared and what the manufacturer (in this case, Apple) is doing to address them. Then, and only then, when the early teething problems have been sorted out, will I consider making a purchase.

Cheers

 

[Y34RZ3R0]

Amazon-Only

If they're selling them on Amazon.com first day, then absolutely. I'm a big fan of that free 2-day shipping.

 

[radiohead14]

i'm gonna wait until the reviews are in.. which most likely will be available on day one.. so yup.. i'll prob be at the 5th ave ny store then.

 

[urkel]

Chomp!

 

[gman901]

I'll wait to see the benchmark comparisons.

 

[tbobmccoy]

I'll bite only if I can buy a max RAM model from the Apple Store. With my education discount, I should have a break on the price.

 

[ECUpirate44]

I want a 15" air so bad. I have no use for the SuperDrive.

 

[nissan.gtp]

I'm planning to get a 13, 4GB, undecided on disk size, have to see what comes out.

I really need it by 7/23 ....

 

[KPOM]

Given that it's not expected to be a major redesign, and that each generation has improved on the heat issues, I wouldn't be too worried about buying one when they are released. Apple is VERY good about replacing the units under warranty (I had the wake-from-sleep freezing issues).

I'll probably wait to see what kind of discounts MacMall has on the new units. If it's similar to the discounts on the existing models, I'll probably pull the trigger on an 11" Ultimate.

 

[OrlandoTragic]

I just really hope ultimate configurations will be available at retail stores on Thursday.

 

[katyoshi]

I doubt they'll have ultimate configurations in store...at least here in Hawaii anyway. Not sure about other states.

 

[Krevnik]

Chomp!

Indeed. I've been looking at moving my laptop to an Air for a while now. I'm just waiting on the refresh to buy.

 

[SteelWheel]

If the retail stores have maxed out configurations available on Day 1, I might go for it (11" model). Normally, my approach is to wait a bit--not so much because of the reviews (I know I want one, and given what we already know, there is little that might appear in a customer review or teardown report that might dissuade me), but because the release of so many new Mac products at once (MBA, probably Mac Pro, possibly the Mini and MacBook as well) in addition to releasing Lion all on the same day is likely to turn into such a huge cluster****. Remember when the iPhone app store was rolled out the same day as the iPhone 3G? Or even the original iPhone with activation via iTunes--over a weekend, with AT&T being no help at all?

My usual MO is to wait for the "x.x.1" release on any OS, so that the more obvious bugs are worked out--even more so with Apple, since they play stuff so close to the vest, that the early adopters often are de facto beta testers. So if that means waiting until September or so, I might not mind.

 

[FieldingMellish]

Ones stuck into buying right away are recent MBA buyers unaware of a refresh and who want to exchange for a refresh.

 

[bob99]

I'll be buying it on the first day.

I'm going to get the 13" ultimate. The only thing that might stop an in-store purchase is if 8GB RAM is a BTO option. In that case, I'll order it online and refresh UPS.com every ten minutes until it's delivered

I haven't owned an air before, I'm going to pick up the superdrive, since for $79 I figure it will at least be useful occasionally. Then again, I've got an iMac at home, so maybe that will handle my DVD ripping needs.

 

[OrlandoTragic]

I'll be buying it on the first day.

I'm going to get the 13" ultimate. The only thing that might stop an in-store purchase is if 8GB RAM is a BTO option. In that case, I'll order it online and refresh UPS.com every ten minutes until it's delivered

I haven't owned an air before, I'm going to pick up the superdrive, since for $79 I figure it will at least be useful occasionally. Then again, I've got an iMac at home, so maybe that will handle my DVD ripping needs.

I'm in the same boat as you, and I wouldn't recommend getting a SuperDrive. I thought the lack of an optical drive would be a big deal at first but I literally never needed it once on my MBA.

Also, do you think 4GB models will be available in-store?!?
I just wish I knew the specs agh.

 

[katyoshi]

I'll be buying it on the first day.

I'm going to get the 13" ultimate. The only thing that might stop an in-store purchase is if 8GB RAM is a BTO option. In that case, I'll order it online and refresh UPS.com every ten minutes until it's delivered

I haven't owned an air before, I'm going to pick up the superdrive, since for $79 I figure it will at least be useful occasionally. Then again, I've got an iMac at home, so maybe that will handle my DVD ripping needs.

I was sort of looking into the a SuperDrive as well. However, sometimes I have second thoughts about the SuperDrive since I'm also looking into a new iMac that I could use as a remote cd drive while at home. When traveling, I'll just have to hope the software I want is in the Mac app store, which is almost all the software I use. The only thing I could think of using an external drive for is movies. Then again, I'll just buy blu-ray movies that include the digital copies! Much simpler and less time consuming than ripping it for me personally. ...

 

[trondah]

Dude I've been hitting refresh on the Applestore and Macrumors front page since last week. I'm not sure what it is, because I had every generation of MB/MBP since they were released but the Air just got me drooling. I'll be ordering an 11" ultimate as soon as they are available. I've used the 2010 11" and no way I'm going back to 13" again.

 

[rayyu882]

I'm interested in the 11" refresh but I have no need to buy one right away. My 2010 13" MBP still kicking well. Likely to wait for some reviews and check one out physically at the store then decide.

 

[katyoshi]

Dude I've been hitting refresh on the Applestore and Macrumors front page since last week. I'm not sure what it is, because I had every generation of MB/MBP since they were released but the Air just got me drooling. I'll be ordering an 11" ultimate as soon as they are available. I've used the 2010 11" and no way I'm going back to 13" again.

Why wouldn't you go back to 13"? Just wondering. Another thing that kinda bothered me about the 11" was the hinges were looser so the screen would easily fall forward or back compared to the bigger 13".

 

[PaulDoFish]

Maybe me.. Going to be my first Mac. Still deciding between the Pro and the Air.

I'll be going to the apple store on release day to play with the Air a little. If I like it more than my sisters' MBPs then I'll take it