Q: 2015 or 2014 i7 13" new air purchase (boot camp and speeds)?
i am looking to buy a i7 air to replace a mid 2009 MBP and was hoping to get a top of the line model. i have been reading up on macrumors and they seem to recommend the i7 processor with the 2015 being the 13" model being the fastest read write capability. originally i had thought to go with the 11" but i need whatever speed i can get. i plan to get the 512 GB storage with 8 GB RAM.
i can't really realistically lug around the MBP line any more and i have a Mac Pro desktop that i can use at work.
the issues i have are that this is replacing a mid 2009 MBP which despite putting in 8 GB of RAM is not a well performing machine. (1) i know in the air that i will have to load much less software but i am not sure if i need to worry about anything else. (2) i also am not totally clear about whether i can get a 2014 or 2015 and how to tell these models apart if i am buying refurbished. (3) i ALSO would very much like to leave open the option of loading WINDOWS 7 with boot camp.
can anyone help me know how to distinguish between 2014 vs. 2015 on these issues (and /how/ to best identify them) as well as whether the specs below would be a good selection?
i think in part i am trying to determine if i need to get a 2014 model which does not seem to have the speed bumps that the 2015 offer but i am under the impression that the 2015 may not be able to load boot camp(or is this just for the new macbook line?!).
also, the geekbench scores from my current laptop (http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/847027) show 2614 and am wondering how the new AIR would compare to this with the 2015 13" rating at 6251 and the 2013 rating at 5477 (couldn't find the 2014).
thanks for any help with these issues.
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Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Air 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
Originally released June 2013
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution
8GB memory
512GB flash storage
720p FaceTime HD camera
Intel HD Graphics 5000
Originally released June 2013
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution
8GB memory
512GB flash storage1
720p FaceTime HD camera
Intel HD Graphics 5000
MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), mid 2009 13" 2.53 core2duo 8 GB RAM
Posted on May 7, 2015 10:39 AM
The Refurbished section of the online store tells you exactly what model the Macbook Air is:
Refurbished 13.3-inch MacBook Air 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
Originally released June 2013
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution
8GB memory
512GB flash storage
720p FaceTime HD camera
Intel HD Graphics 5000
That's a 2013 model. since the 2015 models have just been released, its unlikely you'll find a refurbished unit so soon.
As to bootcamp, all of them support Bootcamp just fine, its just the support for the Windows versions you can run on them that has changed.
The New bootcamp only supports Windows 8 and above now.
You can always run Windows 7 in a virtual machine such as Parallels or Virtualbox
Also unless you plan on doing serious heavy HD video editing and processing, read write Hd capability will not play much of a role in day to day tasks.
As to performance, there are many factors that go into it. such as age, loaded apps, running processes etc... Simply adding RAM to a machine may not make it faster.
Regular maintenance like removing unwanted processes and not installing things like MacKeeper usually make a computer run smoother.
Posted on May 7, 2015 11:47 AM