MacBook Air Update: Underwhelming, But Price Cut and Sales!
There have been so many rumors swirling about the MacBook Air, from high definition "Retina" displays to a 12-inch redesign, that it'd be hard not to be disappointed by an update to Apple's cheapest ultraportable laptops.
Even still, meh. Earlier this week, the Cupertino-based company, with no fanfare whatsoever, quietly updated its MacBook Air lineup with this change: a 0.1GHz speed increase. This is like someone giving you $1.58 instead of $1.55. This is like being promised candy and getting a single jelly bean. This is like every single year for the Kansas City Royals.
But, on the bright side, Apple did slash prices by $100, leading to even bigger discounts on last year's now totally obsolete models. (Yes, that is sarcasm.)
The 'Update'
Last year's update was huge. Though the shell of the laptops and the screens stuck with the aging status quo, the processor bump alone (to Intel's Haswell chips) meant you'd get all-day battery life. This year? You'll get a tenth of a gigahertz on the base model, with similar minor bumps for the rest of the models, reports The Verge.
There is a $100 price cut throughout the line, plus the older models are typically going for $50 less than that. For stores with student discounts, like Best Buy, a buyer with a .edu email address can get the base model MacBook Air for as little as $650, an insane price for a great laptop.
Buy Now?
Our gut feeling? This is a way to push the last few shells out of the door before a second update, later this year. There have been too many leaks of prototype fanless, thinner, 12-inch models, with high definition displays, for nothing to come of it. (Not to mention that every other major Apple product, from iPads to iPhones to iMacs, contains a pixel-packed, high definition "Retina" display.)
That being said, you'll never find a new MacBook for this cheap. Even if this is an inventory blowout, and a new model shows up at the end of the year, you're probably looking at the near-$1,000 price tag for previous years' base models. If you can stand a less-than-HD display, now is the time to pick up a MacBook on the cheap.
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