MBA 128 SSD, 8 GB RAM. How long should it last?

MacPat333 said:

I am actually working on my living room table (daily for 3-6 hours) every day. The only time when I am not using my computer that long a day is when I am on vacation for 2-4 weeks a year. But even then I use it for 1-2 hours a day if I get the time to.


Why should you not remove the battery if possible? This is what has been preached for years as the battery gets overcharged! I hae been told by hundreds of people over the years that if you don't need to run your laptop on battery, take it out and run it with the power cable to save the battery and increase the life of the same!

Did something change over the years? Or is this an Apple thing?


Let me get this straight, if I am at home I should keep it plugged in all the time?

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Yes, when at home you should be plugged in all the time with one exception - you should use a MacBook on batteries once a month. Most people do that naturally so they have nothing to worry about, but if your MacBook is on your desk all the time, you should unplug it once a month.

Removing the battery on a MacBook has many disadvantages. One, the battery is part of the case, so your case is open and dirt and dust can come in. Second, if you are in an area where electricity is problematic, the battery nicely fixes this. Third, it is possible that for a short time (say half a second when the hard drive or DVD drive starts up), power usage exceeds what the power supply will supply. No problem when you have a battery. And because of that, Apple reduces the speed and therefore power usage of any MacBook when the battery is removed.

On a MacBook, the batteries will definitely not overcharge. Charging a battery is very carefully controlled by some chip that's in the battery; it will charge quickly when the battery is empty, slow down when it's 80% full, and stops when it is full.

So if a MacBook is on the living room table, you should plug it in if you can; it is not a big deal if you don't sometimes, but you should try to do it most of the time. Six hours on battery means one of the 1000 charges is gone. So you run out of charges in close to 3 years if you do this daily, but it takes 10 years if you forget to plug in twice a week.

CoMoMacUser said:

I bought a 2012 MBA and went with 8 GB for the same reason. My 2008 iMac is still going strong, so I'm confident that my MBA will last at least four years. The extra RAM is insurance against OS and software bloat.

On the HD side, I went with 128 GB because with so many free and inexpensive cloud-storage services out there (e.g., Dropbox), I don't think HD space will ever be a problem. Of course, if you need to store a bunch of videos and music locally, that's a different story.

Hope that helps.

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Keep in mind that Dropbox actually use internal space to store in the cloud.

Mrbobb said:

A expensive Mac doesn't last longer than a budget pc. Apple has no magic.

The propensity for a long lasting laptop depends on whether u tend to always want run the latest, but more power consuming, software.

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Seriously?

I don't think that could further from the truth. A budget PC, like a $300 unit, is built with the cheapest components. They may use components that others have rejected, displays are a good example. They are often put together without the quality control of more expensive units as well. I honestly don't know how you could think this to be true.

gnasher729 said:

Yes, when at home you should be plugged in all the time with one exception - you should use a MacBook on batteries once a month. Most people do that naturally so they have nothing to worry about, but if your MacBook is on your desk all the time, you should unplug it once a month.

Removing the battery on a MacBook has many disadvantages. One, the battery is part of the case, so your case is open and dirt and dust can come in. Second, if you are in an area where electricity is problematic, the battery nicely fixes this. Third, it is possible that for a short time (say half a second when the hard drive or DVD drive starts up), power usage exceeds what the power supply will supply. No problem when you have a battery. And because of that, Apple reduces the speed and therefore power usage of any MacBook when the battery is removed.

On a MacBook, the batteries will definitely not overcharge. Charging a battery is very carefully controlled by some chip that's in the battery; it will charge quickly when the battery is empty, slow down when it's 80% full, and stops when it is full.

So if a MacBook is on the living room table, you should plug it in if you can; it is not a big deal if you don't sometimes, but you should try to do it most of the time. Six hours on battery means one of the 1000 charges is gone. So you run out of charges in close to 3 years if you do this daily, but it takes 10 years if you forget to plug in twice a week.

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So even when it's fully charged (green light) I should just keep it in, when I'm at home? I take it with me 2 times a week, but I'm also home a lot. Is the best thing just to let it show the green light constantly when being home, and run on battery when actually needed?

I bought a 2012 128GB 8GB air. I expect it to last around 5 years. I have a 2006 macbook pro which is still going but very tired and no longer works as a laptop due to dead keyboard and tired battery (its on its 3rd battery I think, as well as burning through one power supply, one fan and it had a new disk drive (didn't fail, just upgrade).
I expect to change the air battery at least once in the 5 years, probably change it around the 2-3year mark. I expect the SSD to wear out as well but these are replaceable. I hope there will be some competition on the aftermarket SSD front when it comes to it.

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Mrbobb said:

A expensive Mac doesn't last longer than a budget pc. Apple has no magic.

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There is nothing special about the components that go into them, although sometimes they are at the higher quality end of the spectrum. An SSD or hard disk is just as liable to fail in a mac as a PC. However, and its a big however, the design and quality of construction make a huge difference to the lifespan. My 2006 laptop is still going (ok its not perfect) but its been dropped, drowned and abused. At work, we haven't had a single PC laptop last longer than 2 years, most last just over one. They just aren't as well put together in general. Even things like thermal design impact on how long the machine lasts.

PC batteries also used to be much more prone to failure, no significant difference in the parts but perhaps apple pay more for quality?

when you say last 4 years, what do you mean?

Physically MBA will last since the uni-body design is very solid. Technology wise it will last too but it depends on what you use your computer for.

Do you play game?
How much do you store on your computer?
What will you do?

an i5 will be fast enough for at least 4 years unless you game or do heavy editing. I think the 8GB is a must. The 128GB could be fine but really depends on what your doing. Will your store massive amounts of music and video on it? If your asking whether your should take 8GB Ram or 128GB HD take the Ram.

To be honest if your looking for the computer to last 4 years which is a huge amount of time when it comes to technology I'd do with the MBP.

it seems your budget is $1300? Maybe try going refurbished

Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.9GHz Dual-core Intel i7
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1280-by-800 r
8GB (
750GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive
Intel HD Graphics 4000
$1270

or get the 128SSD version for $1360

or

if you really want a MBA you could get this refurbished

Refurbished MacBook Air 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i7
13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900
8GB memory
256GB flash storage
720p FaceTime HD camera
Intel HD Graphics 4000
$1450

coldjeanzzz said:

I've read that you can upgrade the SSD on the new MBAs right?

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Correct, you can upgrade them.

coldjeanzzz said:

For a $1300 laptop I would like for it to be solid for a decent amount of time rather than start to get bogged down after only 1.5-2 years.

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Is it mainly for internet use, email, school or work papers, etc... Do you have other Apple products that you could connect it too, iPads, iPhone, iPod Touches, that make iCloud appealing to you.

I just bought a MBA 13" 128 GB SSD 4 GB RAM about 10 days ago, make sure you get the screen you are comfortable with, I got the 13" as the 11" was just too small for my personal use, and it looks like you are smart going with the 8 GB RAM. And it is so light it is unbelievable. As far as the storage I have a 500 GB external drive, iCloud accounts, and got 25 GB free of Microsoft Skydrive when they had an upgrade promotion when they first launched the product! I also like the fact that the more I can purchase in the Mac App store, for one it should have been tested and therefore just work on the MBA or the App should state it won't if it's for a MBP, etc... and I can delete whatever app I don't use often and redownload anytime I want to use it, thus saving even more space (I also do this for my iPad's, iPhones, and soon iPad Mini Cellular model.

If say for instance you only needed the programs that came with it, Safari, Email, iMovies, iPhoto, Messages, Garage Band, etc... If you did a clean install in the future it would be as fast or close to it as when you bought it brand new. But I reload all my systems about every 6 month's to a clean state. But I am just weird that way and actually enjoy the restore to factory or clean install to get rid of weird files from things I download and then trash. Just remember in the end all of them are electronic components, and like a car there is no 100% guarantee!

And you also pay for the Apple Customer service at that price, which should be worth a lot, or it was for me! And I think you can purchase the Apple Care sometime before your year warranty is up. I have to check on this myself!

Good luck future MBA owner! It's a fantastic device! And I love the backlight keyboard too!

coldjeanzzz said:

I don't game anymore, I don't store that much stuff on my system except music which I don't expect to exceed 30 GB so I think the 128 GB should be enough. I've read that you can upgrade the SSD on the new MBAs right?

The only thing I don't like about the MBP is the weight and the thickness. I take my laptop to school every day and have to walk A LOT around campus. My current laptop is damn near 7 lbs and the MBP, while lighter, is still 4.5 lbs. Combined with my books and everything it's a pain lugging my background around all day. I think the MBA is less than 3 lbs and is really thin so it would be nice not having that burden.

Also are you sure about that refurbished MBA you mentioned? The one I'm looking at on the website is like $1900 but it comes with a 512 GB SSD. I don't see the specific one you are talking about.

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You'll be quite happy with a base model 13" air. Spring for the extra 4gb's of ram is probably a smart move for some future-proofing. Going for a bigger ssd is probably not even the best way to spend your money, given your current needs. If you have an external drive, you can just keep little used files stored on that. I even split out my iTunes music collection, so that I only keep those songs I'm listening to on a regular basis - same for iPhoto, where I continually push older images off to my external drive.

I think most people who carry around their computer life on their computer don't really need to do so (and probably shouldn't). It's like the junk drawer everyone has. Sure, there are things in there that aren't junk, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't clean it out regularly.

When I switched from my 240 gb (with 230mb's of files) MBP last year, I was able to dump all but about 50gb's of content onto my external drive and I'm now at just over 70gb's used of my 128gb ssd. When I hit 80, I dump older stuff, whether I need to or not, just as a habit of keeping up with cleaning out older files.

coldjeanzzz said:

I don't game anymore, I don't store that much stuff on my system except music which I don't expect to exceed 30 GB so I think the 128 GB should be enough. I've read that you can upgrade the SSD on the new MBAs right?

The only thing I don't like about the MBP is the weight and the thickness. I take my laptop to school every day and have to walk A LOT around campus. My current laptop is damn near 7 lbs and the MBP, while lighter, is still 4.5 lbs. Combined with my books and everything it's a pain lugging my background around all day. I think the MBA is less than 3 lbs and is really thin so it would be nice not having that burden.

Also are you sure about that refurbished MBA you mentioned? The one I'm looking at on the website is like $1900 but it comes with a 512 GB SSD. I don't see the specific one you are talking about.

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The MBA i7, 8GB, 256GB is gone, they move fast. I would keep going back to the site each day, it's worth the wait.

I have an iMac from 2007, about to have its 5th or 6th (Can't really remember. Thats how long it lasts) birthday this December. Its still running smooth and surprisingly, upgrading to ML made it a tad bit faster. I purchased a MBA just to keep it company so I can have another machine to rely on and a portable.

I would say minimum 3 years .. after that maybe in 2015 there will be some huge advancement in chips, battery and a retina display for Air. Then many will consider the upgrade for all those faster and sharper stuff.