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Since the announcement of new hardware at WWDC my friend Michael at MacFilos has been twisting much like me over over the new options. Our big dilemma has been to upgrade our MacBook Air’s or go for the new Retina MacBook Pro.
I still have not seen the new screen yet and perhaps that is a good thing. Michael actually dared to go in an see it in all it’s loveliness. But in the end he decided that upgrading his 2010 model would be the better solution for him.
[Updated: Things change ! ]
While this may seem like a silly thing to fret over it is an important decision. You want to love the machine. You plan on holding on to it for sometime. There are days when you live in front of it. It really needs to be an extension of you because so much of what we do is on the computer.
I have 13“ MacBook Air that I love. It has been a workhorse for me and have no complaints. I originally opted for the larger air because I did not have an external display. Four months ago I purchased a 27” Thunderbolt display to augment my home office setup. With that purchase under my belt I feel I can have the best of both worlds now in terms of a home setup and extreme portability. I have been waiting a few months now for the processor upgrade to the Intel Ivy Bridge chipset. I was thrilled when the update was announced. Personally I did think that a retina screen would make it to the 11“ air due to the size relative to the new iPad. But in retrospect it makes sense purely from economical point of view. The Air is priced very aggressively and I think the cost would have had to increase by a couple of hundred dollars. Apple also has a history of putting the newest technology on their flagship 15” MacBook Pro.
I have also heard that there are several applications not looking as good until they are “retina-fied”. Of course this is to be expected with the new release.
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But I prefer to not have to hope that my favorite application will get updated in the mean time.
I know the Air will get the Retina, probably 12 months from now. I am fine with that and will consider selling this one and purchasing a retina air if and when it becomes a necessity. For now I lean toward the BTO 11” Air. Thursday I will go to my local store and the real test will happen then !
