Macbook Air 13 2011 or 2014 i5

[SlothDemon]

Basically, I need a macbook for school. But I can't afford a brand new one. So I'm getting one off eBay. My question is should I get the 13" air from 2011 or 2014. The 2011 has a better CPU, Core i7, but the 2014 one is obviously newer, faster SSD, newer CPU, more updates i presume and stuff like that. The 2014 is more expensive by about £60.

 

[drapacioli]

To be perfectly honest, those two CPUs are basically the same in terms of power use and basic specs, but the newer i5 performs better with single-threaded applications. Both are decent dual-core processors with hyperthreading though, so you won't see any differences in regular use. I would just go for the newer one, it's seen less use and has slightly newer tech, so it will probably have a longer life than one that's already 3 years old. Also, the integrated GPU in the i5 is better than the one in the older i7, which is two generations older.

 

[garrettk4]

Why not buy directly from apple? They have a financing program. I bought the 2013 macbook pro model i5, 8gb ram 256gb ssd. I had 18 months 0% interest to pay it off. Payments were pretty low at 120/mo.

 

[SlothDemon]

I can't do 120 a month because I'm 15, nearly 16, I have no job and a brand new one with the same spec is nearly £300 more. The one I'm looking at is the 128gb one, 4gb ram, i5, That'd be £849 on Apple and. £630 ebay refurb