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New to Mac and looking for some advice on buying a new Mac

G

GTAmissions1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 20, 2013
12
0
Hello:

I was looking into the Macbook Air since the Macbook Pros and the new Airs are very expensive, so I decided to go to refurbished to save on costs.

Here are some of my questions.

Is it worth buying a refurbished Macbook Air with 4 GB of RAM or should I be looking for 8 GB instead?

Will the new Mavericks software work on a Macbook Air with 4 GB or would I have to use 8 GB of RAM? The Twitter @TheAppleSupport said "It will run" which seems this is a fake Twitter account not associated with Apple.

Since I prefer a wired connection, do I have to buy the attachment which is the USB to the ethernet cable attachment in order to have a hard wired connection?

Just looking for some opinions because I am very intrested in getting a Macbook Air, but don't want to try and make too many sacrifices.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,486
43,410
GTAmissions1,
Welcome to MacRumors and soon to be a new Mac owner :)

GTAmissions1 said:
Is it worth buying a refurbished Macbook Air with 4 GB of RAM or should I be looking for 8 GB instead?
Click to expand...
Since the ram is soldered onto the logic board, my advice is to go for the 8gb model, whether that's refurb or new.

Will the new Mavericks software work on a Macbook Air with 4 GB or would I have to use 8 GB of RAM?
Click to expand...
Since Apple is currently selling new Haswell MBAs with only 4gb they will most certainly be able to run Mavericks. Apple wouldn't be selling a newly released laptop that was unable to run their soon to be released OS.

Since I prefer a wired connection, do I have to buy the attachment which is the USB to the ethernet cable attachment in order to have a hard wired connection?
Click to expand...
You'll need Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter which retails for 29 bucks.

My opinion is the MBA is sweet machine but given the ram is non upgradeable I'd look towards the 8gb. You may not need the extra ram now, but chances are down the road you will.
 
LeandrodaFL

LeandrodaFL

macrumors 6502a
Apr 6, 2011
973
1
Friend, nowadays the right move is to always maximize memory, so go for 8GB.

I also recomend not buying any ethernet adapter, simply buy a wireless router. I feel you may be afraid of experimenting with wi-fi, but its very simple nowadays and also very secure
 
C

Calady

macrumors newbie
May 16, 2013
12
0
San Francisco, CA
I recently purchased the 13" MBA 4/128/i5 from the refurb store. I don't do any heavy tasks, just web browsing, emails, watching Netflix etc and I don't see 4GB being a problem at all. Yes, it would be nice to have 8GB RAM but depending on what you do, you may not need it. Plus, I don't believe any of the cheaper refurb models they sell are 8GB, so you would have to order the new custom built MBA to get the extra RAM.

Skip the 8GB so you can put that money towards accessories like a bag or keyborad cover, maybe even some apps.
 
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