Considering a MBA 13" and need advice on spec and student discount

[jawad7]

Hi all,

Been glancing over some threads and think I'm ready to take the plunge and get a MBA. I'm currently running a MacBook (silver one like MBP before they renamed them) - it's a 2.4ghz, 2gb and 250gb HD.

I only really use my machine for email, internet browsing, iTunes ripping, photos, ripping movies, photos, skype, etc. Wouldn't consider myself a heavy user like movie rendering, programming at all - just your basic tasks!

Want the 13" with 256gb as I could do with the space but not sure if I need to upgrade the processor or RAM at all to 2.13 and 4gb respectively? It just seems that all these things are slowly adding up! Would I be alright with the basic one 1.86ghz and 2gb?

Also - one final questions. A friend of mine in the US is a teacher at a school and coming over to the UK - what kind of education discount would they get in the US? I got them to check but it's just coming with $50 off on the education website. If they called up I'm sure it's something like between 10-15% off?

Thanks for all your help guys!

[DannySmurf]

Originally Posted by jawad7

Want the 13" with 256gb as I could do with the space but not sure if I need to upgrade the processor or RAM at all to 2.13 and 4gb respectively? It just seems that all these things are slowly adding up! Would I be alright with the basic one 1.86ghz and 2gb?

Works just fine for me. I'm coming from a 2.53 13" MBP with 4GB and I'm not really noticing much actual difference because of the drop in memory. The processor does start chugging a little bit sooner than my old one when it's working hard, but not so much that I'd consider it a hardship.

[jawad7]

Thanks for the info. Anyone know if I'm streaming HD video from like youtube/bbc iplayer would there be any issue with the 1.86 and 2ghz?

Anyone know about what the student discount is for a school teacher in the US? Friend coming over and may get them to get it for me. They're saying it's just $50 but surely it must be more than that.

[hcho3]

The question of 2GB ram is really depends on two things.
How are you going to use it?
How long do you keep your laptop?

If you are student, the Ram upgrade costs your like 90 dollars after student discount. I would only recommend getting 4GB ram, but if you are not going to keep your laptop more than 3 years, then you are okay without it. I just don't know how 2GB ram will perform on OS lion. We shall see.

[hcho3]

Originally Posted by jawad7

Thanks for the info. Anyone know if I'm streaming HD video from like youtube/bbc iplayer would there be any issue with the 1.86 and 2ghz?

Anyone know about what the student discount is for a school teacher in the US? Friend coming over and may get them to get it for me. They're saying it's just $50 but surely it must be more than that.

It's 50 dollars for students/teachers or w/e.
I would suggest wait for Black friday to see if they offer 100 dollars off. But, it is not always. MBA 11 inch is selling very well.
No you won't have issue with HD video on 2GB ram.

[rockyroad55]

Getting the maxed out version saves you $70