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travod

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 10, 2013
172
68
Off to college this fall and though my Late 2008 Unibody Macbook is still kicking, the battery is totally gone and it feels completely bogged down (and very little GB left). Regardless, it's time to get a new one.

What I'll use it for:
Lots of web surfing, YouTube, streaming movies etc, essays, and perhaps the occasional Portal 2 gaming.

I was really looking forward to just getting whatever the new MBP was going to be, but naturally Apple has ignored my prayers, so I'm thinking of the new MBA 13".

Actual questions:
1. RAM - how much and why? My Macbook now has 4GB and plays Portal pretty well (well, haven't played in ages). Will 8 GB make it run smoother? It did pause somewhat often.
2. Processor - I'm having trouble understanding why they would downgrade the standard GPU to 1.3 Ghz from 1.7. Should I upgrade that for my usage? Does it matter?

*Example of slowness: I'm watching a live stream from E3 and iStat is saying that I'm using around half of the CPU (it's 2.4 ghz) and if I do the four finger swipe it freezes for a second.
 
Last edited:

barrk

macrumors member
Aug 22, 2012
58
0
I'd go with the 8gb RAM

as for the processor, it does say 1.3ghz but if it needs to use more than that it will automatically scale up (up to 2.6 I believe). The SSD, Haswell processor, and Intel 5000 graphics will make it much much faster than your 2008 macbook pro.
 

Mr. RPG

macrumors 6502a
Sep 21, 2012
566
0
I'd wait for benchmarks and the BTS promo before you choose (this is what I am doing).

Air is nice.. but that display... There are many many many tablets and phones with a higher resolution and better quality display that are much much much cheaper.
 

Jedi Master

macrumors regular
Read

Off to college this fall and though my Late 2008 Unibody Macbook is still kicking, the battery is totally gone and it feels completely bogged down (and very little GB left). Regardless, it's time to get a new one.

What I'll use it for:
Lots of web surfing, YouTube, streaming movies etc, essays, and perhaps the occasional Portal 2 gaming.

I was really looking forward to just getting whatever the new MBP was going to be, but naturally Apple has ignored my prayers, so I'm thinking of the new MBA 13".

Actual questions:
1. RAM - how much and why? My Macbook now has 4GB and plays Portal pretty well (well, haven't played in ages). Will 8 GB make it run smoother? It did pause somewhat often.
2. Processor - I'm having trouble understanding why they would downgrade the standard GPU to 1.3 Ghz from 1.7. Should I upgrade that for my usage? Does it matter?

*Example of slowness: I'm watching a live stream from E3 and iStat is saying that I'm using around half of the CPU (it's 2.4 ghz) and if I do the four finger swipe it freezes for a second.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7058/2013-macbook-air-pcie-ssd-and-haswell-ult-inside
 
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