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Quick questions about Air

C

carpo23

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 13, 2014
2
0
Hi, I want to buy a new ultrabook and i found that with my student discount I can afford a MBA 13'', 128 GB SSD, i5 and 8 GB RAM. I can't get much storage 'cause of my budget. I have some questions before I make this little investment:

It is a good idea to buy an air now? I don't want it to lose too much value with time, but at the same time I need now an ultrabook and i can get it with a good discount

I'm studying IT and i'll use it for coding, and maybe sometimes i'll have to use Windows. It is a good idea to have some VM's on a USB 3.0 storage and copy them on my ssd when i need them?

With my discount I have a 70 euros apple store card, that I think to use with this item to store data and maybe Windows VM, you guys think it's ok? link: http://tinyurl.com/kmlkj9r

Final question, i'm starting thinking that 8 gb or ram are essential now for a future sell and for virtualize. Am i right? 'cause saving 100$ is good anyway

Thanks for your time :)
 
capathy21

capathy21

macrumors 65816
Jun 16, 2014
1,418
617
Houston, Texas
carpo23 said:
Hi, I want to buy a new ultrabook and i found that with my student discount I can afford a MBA 13'', 128 GB SSD, i5 and 8 GB RAM. I can't get much storage 'cause of my budget. I have some questions before I make this little investment:

It is a good idea to buy an air now? I don't want it to lose too much value with time, but at the same time I need now an ultrabook and i can get it with a good discount

I'm studying IT and i'll use it for coding, and maybe sometimes i'll have to use Windows. It is a good idea to have some VM's on a USB 3.0 storage and copy them on my ssd when i need them?

With my discount I have a 70 euros apple store card, that I think to use with this item to store data and maybe Windows VM, you guys think it's ok? link: http://tinyurl.com/kmlkj9r

Final question, i'm starting thinking that 8 gb or ram are essential now for a future sell and for virtualize. Am i right? 'cause saving 100$ is good anyway

Thanks for your time :)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say 8GB is "essential," but if you plan on regularly running VM's, it wouldn't be a bad idea. That being said, ram isn't really the hard limit it once was now that Mac OS memory compression is so good. 4GB acts more like 6-7 and 8GB is more like 10-12. If the 100 difference is crucial, the 4GB will be fine. If you can, go ahead with 8GB.

If you need an Air now, then buy now and be happy. There will always be a newer model around the corner.
 
Dweez

Dweez

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2011
1,248
10
Down by the river
For what it's worth, I got 8 gig in my 2013 MBA just so I could allocate 4 gig to a corporate Windows 7 VM. At times I also run an Ubuntu with 2 gig allocated, and the MBA never skips a beat. 6 gig for VMs, Mail running, 20 tabs open in Chrome, and iTunes most of the time. Yes it does swap, but the SSD is fast enough that it's not noticeable.

"Now" is always a good time to buy an MBA. :) And running VMs from the USB 3 drive should run pretty well, if you choose that route vs copying the VM to local storage.
 
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