What route to take: hard drives, ram and too many options

Weerez935 · Jan 2, 2013, 01:15 AM

So my wife and I have our share of apple products:
Apple TV ( just got)
MacBook 2010 unibody
MacBook Air 2009 (gifting to her mother)
iPhone 4S
iPhone 3S
MacBook Air 2011
Also have a hp g70 that may turn into a digital picture frame or htpc.

I want to upgrade the macbook and 2011 air.
Specifically on the MacBook my wife does not do any intensive task. She takes pictures and I've been showing her some basic editing.
90% of what she does is Internet browsing.
I was planning on upgrading her ram to 8gigs, I'm doubtful she will see a difference in 8 and 16 for what she does. The real turmoil is with the hard drive. 1tb hdd 7200 for 69$ or 133 for a smaller 128 gig ssd. She doesn't care much about speed but I want to give it a face lift.

Now for my air I can't decide between a lacie 128 thunderbolt ssd or an owc internal 180 plus dock (with original 64 gigs).

Spink10 · Jan 2, 2013, 04:02 AM

I highly doubt the RAM will help based on the programs your wife uses. HD or SSD - If she uses it primarily for media (pictures) the SSD may fill up fast - use external? She probably wont notice much of a difference. But if cash isn't tight go for it!

Weerez935 · Jan 2, 2013, 10:05 AM

Thanks for the advice.
I think I'm going to get her the ram and 1tb harddrive. It's only 100$ or so and it comes with the enclosure for her 320 gb hd which would be nice for me.

Jan 2, 2013, 01:15 AM	#1
Weerez935 macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2012	What route to take: hard drives, ram and too many options So my wife and I have our share of apple products: Apple TV ( just got) MacBook 2010 unibody MacBook Air 2009 (gifting to her mother) iPhone 4S iPhone 3S MacBook Air 2011 Also have a hp g70 that may turn into a digital picture frame or htpc. I want to upgrade the macbook and 2011 air. Specifically on the MacBook my wife does not do any intensive task. She takes pictures and I've been showing her some basic editing. 90% of what she does is Internet browsing. I was planning on upgrading her ram to 8gigs, I'm doubtful she will see a difference in 8 and 16 for what she does. The real turmoil is with the hard drive. 1tb hdd 7200 for 69$ or 133 for a smaller 128 gig ssd. She doesn't care much about speed but I want to give it a face lift. Now for my air I can't decide between a lacie 128 thunderbolt ssd or an owc internal 180 plus dock (with original 64 gigs).
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Jan 2, 2013, 04:02 AM	#2
Spink10 macrumors 68020 Join Date: Nov 2011	I highly doubt the RAM will help based on the programs your wife uses. HD or SSD - If she uses it primarily for media (pictures) the SSD may fill up fast - use external? She probably wont notice much of a difference. But if cash isn't tight go for it! __________________ cMBP 2012 15" 2.7, 8GB, Samsung 830 256GB, 650M 1GB, Hi-Res AG / MBA 2011 11" 1.6, 4GB, 128GB SSD / iMac 2011 27" 2.7, 12GB, 1TB HD, 6770M 512MB / iPhone 5 16GB / iPad 4 16GB / Time Capsule 2TB
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Jan 2, 2013, 10:05 AM	#3
Weerez935 Thread Starter macrumors regular Join Date: Dec 2012	Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to get her the ram and 1tb harddrive. It's only 100$ or so and it comes with the enclosure for her 320 gb hd which would be nice for me.
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