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Buying Advice: New MacBook Air vs Old MacBook Air

post #1 of 7
11/18/08 at 1:45pm
Thread Starter 
Hi Gang. This is a simple straight ahead question. I travel for business a lot. I spend a bunch of my life on a plane. I want a small notebook. Netbooks aren't right, and I think weight matters a ton.

The Rev A of the MBA is available for $1194 at MacMall. The new MBA is $1744. (I know that there is a religious war about ports, etc and the relative merit of the new MacBook, but I have been wanting an Air for months, and want to buy one.) So here is my question:

Is the Rev B $650 dollars better?

The 40G extra storage would be very nice. But I am more concerned about speed. Is the new incarnation significantly faster? I saw a YouTube video that seemed to indicate that it was, but I'd rather have a more first hand report...

So, is Rev B worth $650 more?
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post #2 of 7
11/18/08 at 4:09pm
Based on what you'd be doing with it? No, it is not 33% faster. If you were trying to do stuff that was graphics card intensive, I would say yes.
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post #3 of 7
11/18/08 at 4:45pm
Depends on what you wanna do with your Mac Air. For me it was worth the wait and the extra expense to get the mac air (I do software development and carry my air on my shoulder all day, has never missed a beat). If your just writing word documents and creating powerpoint presentations, I doubt that you'll notice the difference. Any more than that I suspect you might notice that the OS is slightly snappier on the new model than the old model. Other than that I don't think there is that much difference.

I've never had a problem managing on just 1 usb port (others may differ). You shouldn't feel the 40G pinch unless you have ALOT of document/presentation/spreadsheet files ;-)
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post #4 of 7
11/18/08 at 4:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by keantan View Post

Depends on what you wanna do with your Mac Air. For me it was worth the wait and the extra expense to get the mac air (I do software development and carry my air on my shoulder all day, has never missed a beat). If your just writing word documents and creating powerpoint presentations, I doubt that you'll notice the difference. Any more than that I suspect you might notice that the OS is slightly snappier on the new model than the old model. Other than that I don't think there is that much difference.

I've never had a problem managing on just 1 usb port (others may differ). You shouldn't feel the 40G pinch unless you have ALOT of document/presentation/spreadsheet files ;-)

Here is my daily use:
  1. Email
  2. Powerpoint
  3. Spreadsheet
  4. Word
  5. General Web Browsing
  6. Windows: Quickbooks and Webposition Gold
I do watch a lot of Hulu when I am traveling...will I run into the dreaded one core overheating?
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post #5 of 7
11/18/08 at 9:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by timkilroy View Post

Here is my daily use:
  1. Email
  2. Powerpoint
  3. Spreadsheet
  4. Word
  5. General Web Browsing
  6. Windows: Quickbooks and Webposition Gold
I do watch a lot of Hulu when I am traveling...will I run into the dreaded one core overheating?

Just get the new one. If you bought the old one you'd always wish you bought the new one. You'll forget the $650 soon enough. If you can wait, get the Rev B from refurb in a few weeks or so.
:-D * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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:-D * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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post #6 of 7
11/22/08 at 5:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sandau View Post

Just get the new one. If you bought the old one you'd always wish you bought the new one. You'll forget the $650 soon enough. If you can wait, get the Rev B from refurb in a few weeks or so.


I agree. I have the original MBA - it will do everything that you need to do - but if you like to watch Hulu/YouTube and then combine that with iChat or word documenting you are over doing it for the original MBA. For me, I know what the flaws are for the rev. A MBA but from what I read the rev B MBA is better. I say go with sandau.
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post #7 of 7
12/2/08 at 7:13am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ewizzle View Post

I agree. I have the original MBA - it will do everything that you need to do - but if you like to watch Hulu/YouTube and then combine that with iChat or word documenting you are over doing it for the original MBA. For me, I know what the flaws are for the rev. A MBA but from what I read the rev B MBA is better. I say go with sandau.

I just read the minireview over at Engadget, and it seems pretty clear to me that Rev B is the winner, regardless of price...

Now all I need to do is to decide if I should spring for the SSD version?!? Does anyone have thoughts on that?

Thanks for all of your help!
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