Pretty well actually, just thought id show anyone worrying about 2gb Ram that it runs very well I've attached a screenshot to prove how well the base MBA handles Ram.
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2011 Macbook air 11" 2gb ram how well can it handle multiple apps?
- Thread starter adamtj11
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The SSD helps a lot in this case.
Where did you get your air from out of interest ?
Apple online store, had the best offers free printer and 75 euro gift card for Apps and 12% discount. CompuB hadn't even gotten them in yet(last friday when i ordered)
Yeah I rang around on launch day and the day after to see if I could track any down in the country but to no avail.
Snotty guy at CompuB in Limerick tried to convince me that new machines were USA only and that "if they had upgraded to i5 & i7's he would know!"
I just hung up and ordered online instead myself. Though I'm still waiting for delivery because I ordered the i7 11" model.I didn't get the printer (hadn't realized there was free printer off) but did order the €75 euro gift card as well.
Yeah I rang around on launch day and the day after to see if I could track any down in the country but to no avail.
Snotty guy at CompuB in Limerick tried to convince me that new machines were USA only and that "if they had upgraded to i5 & i7's he would know!"
I didn't get the printer (hadn't realized there was free printer off) but did order the 75 euro gift card as well.
CompuB have some awfully trained staff for the most part, one time my friend was buying a MBP and he brought his student id to get discount and the guy working in there said "I'm too lazy to go and get it" what kind of impression does that leave
They are probably trying to get people who aren't in the know to buy the 2010's and not know any different because they advent got any new airs in yet.USA only? thats just ridiculous you don't even have to like Apple or even computers to see the ridiculousness of that. I missed the printer option first off but rang apple and asked if i could still avail of the offer and they told me to order separately and they would give me the printer rebate in a good will gesture so that was nice of them.
Nice! So the 2GB version is enough for normal work like browsing. music, movies and office. Good to know!
Easily the SSD makes the RAM less significant than say in a Hard Drive based machine, just to prove that it is the 2gb of Ram MBA here is another screenshot.
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How does it work really? Just pages out to the SSD? Also, would love to see a screenshot with Activity Monitor if you'd be so kind
How does it work really? Just pages out to the SSD? Also, would love to see a screenshot with Activity Monitor if you'd be so kind
nearly 300mb free and 330mb inactive so still 630mb of ram ready to be used
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I received my base 11" today and it handles all of my applications with ease and doesn't seem to struggle like my white unibody macbook did. I am very pleased that I did not have to upgrade to the 4GB/128GB model. Now the extra $200 can be spent on other Apple gadgets
I received my base 11" today and it handles all of my applications with ease and doesn't seem to struggle like my white unibody macbook did. I am very pleased that I did not have to upgrade to the 4GB/128GB model. Now the extra $200 can be spent on other Apple gadgets
Im almost trying to make mine have to sweat on purpose just for the sheer purpose of trying to find its limits, and so far its the fastest PC or Mac I've used regularly.
Cool, please show us the page outs at the same time. 1.25 gb or RAM is taken after boot for me. I'm paging out with 4GB, It's a shame they don't allow 8 - my mba is probably going back (for many reasons not just ram, but that's a big one)
Ahh, so here it is. thanks.
1.4 gb of page outs. that answers the question of whether 4gb is worth an upgrade. Having a bunch of apps open and doing nothing is not really a good test.
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sorry but for the extra $200 to get double the storage and double the ram anyone who buys the base air is foolish. Normally for $200 apple would give you a insignificantly better cpu. In this case they take the storage up to a usable level and the ram up to a usable level, its a key upgrade imo
sorry but for the extra $200 to get double the storage and double the ram anyone who buys the base air is foolish. Normally for $200 apple would give you a insignificantly better cpu. In this case they take the storage up to a usable level and the ram up to a usable level, its a key upgrade imo
I disagree but each to their own
not everyone can afford $200 more whenever the base model does most tasks fine.
Yep thanks for the screen! In practice though what happens is that the moment you truly begin using the app the memory it needs will rise, at the moment of the shot the memory levels for each of the apps were just as minimum as it would get (they were simply open, not actually being put to their intended use). It's still great that you have RAM left after that though. A more realistic scenario would be to have Chrome with 6-7 tabs open, iTunes, and some Office doc thrown in there. I guess that would stress the RAM a bit.
Regardless though and because of how SSDs work, when the OS is out of physical RAM it uses the SSD as virtual RAM and given the speeds of this drive, you don't notice the otherwise laggy system you would have if you owned an average HDD with 10MB/s write tops. So while the system might run out of RAM, the SSD kicks in and the difference shouldn't be all that noticeable. Ideally though one should aim at having as fewer page outs as possible so as to get the most out of their setup. Off topic I know, but as a way of comparison, my 8GB laptop has 2MB page outs and 36GB page ins. Granted, 8GB is probably a bit too much for the 'light user'. Unfortunately RAM in the MBAs is not user upgradable otherwise one could just buy two 4GB sticks for a little less than $70!
Personally speaking though, I've owned this MBP for a few months now and I could never go back from the 8GB I put in it. The 13" comes with 4GB and that's as far as an Air can handle at this point in time. Next year with Haswell CPUs we will see 4GB as an entry level (about time, really)... and if I follow my logic we could assume 8GB RAM upgrades in next year's Air will be a reality. The price, however, will be out of this reality
Thanks for the input Adam
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Yep thanks for the screen! In practice though what happens is that the moment you truly begin using the app the memory it needs will rise, at the moment of the shot the memory levels for each of the apps were just as minimum as it would get (they were simply open, not actually being put to their intended use). It's still great that you have RAM left after that though. A more realistic scenario would be to have Chrome with 6-7 tabs open, iTunes, and some Office doc thrown in there. I guess that would stress the RAM a bit.
Regardless though and because of how SSDs work, when the OS is out of physical RAM it uses the SSD as virtual RAM and given the speeds of this drive, you don't notice the otherwise laggy system you would have if you owned an average HDD with 10MB/s write tops. So while the system might run out of RAM, the SSD kicks in and the difference shouldn't be all that noticeable. Ideally though one should aim at having as fewer page outs as possible so as to get the most out of their setup. Off topic I know, but as a way of comparison, my 8GB laptop has 2MB page outs and 36GB page ins. Granted, 8GB is probably a bit too much for the 'light user'. Unfortunately RAM in the MBAs is not user upgradable otherwise one could just buy two 4GB sticks for a little less than $70!
Personally speaking though, I've owned this MBP for a few months now and I could never go back from the 8GB I put in it. The 13" comes with 4GB and that's as far as an Air can handle at this point in time. Next year with Haswell CPUs we will see 4GB as an entry level (about time, really)... and if I follow my logic we could assume 8GB RAM upgrades in next year's Air will be a reality. The price, however, will be out of this reality
Thanks for the input Adam
well said!! three programs active with chrome having 5 tabs open, im already eating 2.68gb of ram.
had 2gb of ram in my 2010 air. wasn't too bad. SSD made up for it but when it choked, it choked hard. those 2 gigs would really bite me in my ass sometimes.