8GB vs 4GB on new Haswells?

[pickaxe]

See title. Lately I've been off the loop about hardware requirements.

The fact that the RAM is soldered to the board in the Air makes me thing 8GB might be a good idea, but will it be noticeable in real world usage? (read: light gaming, no professional graphic work)

edit: also going to do some Windows virtualization and/or emulation.

 

[enisala]

Also have a question. Is 8 gb is necessary for occasionally Parallels?

 

[lshirase]

Get the 8GB.

 

[HiDEF]

is 8GB really that crucial? I was told yesterday that the base model will suffice.

 

[sick z33]

The virtualization may hog up some memory. I would do the 8GB honestly.

 

[HiDEF]

The virtualization may hog up some memory. I would do the 8GB honestly.

I'm out of luck cause BB only carries the base model. Oh well.

 

[sick z33]

I'm out of luck cause BB only carries the base model. Oh well.

Same here, I was bummed about that. Apple Store does carry the ultimate model with I7 and 512 SSD but its at 1849$.

 

[radiohead14]

def go with 8 if you're gonna be using Bootcamp with light gaming

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Windows virtualization eats up memory, so..

 

[HiDEF]

def go with 8 if you're gonna be using Bootcamp with light gaming

No gaming for me but I might still stick with the base model.. We'll see. If you've been following previous threads, I mentioned that I recently purchase an iPad 4 (still under my 15 days) and I picked up the MBA yesterday to test out BUT I haven't opened it. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to keep the iPad or the MBA.. decisions, decisions.

 

[RightMACatU]

A basic Windows VM needs at least 2MB of RAM. Do the math from there

 

[ApplNat]

8gb will allow you to load up tons of applications if that's your preferred working method. Plus if you want to run a OSX and Win8 at the same time, you can.

 

[WesCole]

If you run any virtual machines, the more RAM you have, the better. I have 8GB on my Air and iMac and I can easily max that out encoding a movie, running a few OS X apps, and having my Win 7 VM up.

 

[kap09]

Same here, I was bummed about that. Apple Store does carry the ultimate model with I7 and 512 SSD but its at 1849$.

Wish one near me had one! I'm still waiting on mine to ship

 

[marioman38]

Compressed Memory in OS 10.9 should help reduce RAM requirements, but if you use a VM a lot, then I could only recommend 8GB. I've been on 4GB for 3 years now and have never felt the need for more

 

[HiDEF]

Wish one near me had one! I'm still waiting on mine to ship

Call and confirm cause BB had stock yesterday in my area (Miami)

 

[SlovakApple]

Definitely 8GB. If you want to virtualize a second OS, even more so. Those 100$(?) are better spent in that way then let's say doubling the SSD capacity.

 

[HiDEF]

man, after reading all these responses, I'm starting to regret the 4GB

 

[B...]

man, after reading all these responses, I'm starting to regret the 4GB

8GB is for VMs and video editing, things like that. But it is definitely not required for more simple uses, like email and internet.

 

[Yixian]

there is also no benefit to 8gb over 4gb in gaming for this machine, none at all.

 

[Bear]

there is also no benefit to 8gb over 4gb in gaming for this machine, none at all.

That would depend on the game in question. Some games do benefit from having more than 4GB.

 

[radiohead14]

there is also no benefit to 8gb over 4gb in gaming for this machine, none at all.

depends.. won't 8GB in Bootcamp result in higher FPS?

 

[Yixian]

depends.. won't 8GB in Bootcamp result in higher FPS?

The general consensus is that there is no benefit to anything more than 4gb of RAM, and that's coming from the hardcore PC gaming community who stress over every frame per second, so I decided not to bother.

Someone mentioned that the Turbo BTO option results in a 100Mhz higher clockspeed on your HD 5000, not sure if that's true but would actually improve your gaming a tad, although you could quite easily overclock by 300-400Mhz on the standard edition anyway (in Windows ofc). We're talking 1-5fps difference here really, iGPUs don't benefit much from overclocking.

 

[Shaun.P]

A basic Windows VM needs at least 2MB of RAM. Do the math from there

When you say basic, do you mean Windows 3.1?

 

[Mike5]

is 8GB really that crucial? I was told yesterday that the base model will suffice.

And you were told rightly so: the 4GB model will suffice. For now.

But soon enough you will regret not getting 8GB. Here is the story:
- For years the amount of available memory has been the single most often pointed out bottleneck (if you are low on that resource). Increasing memory is the most economical way of improving the performance of your machine. As you cannot add more memory on MBAs yourself, you should cough up for as much as you can afford when buying MBA.
- Doubling your memory from 4GB to 8GB makes your machine more future-proof both in case of releases of newer versions of current software, as well as updates to OS. Also, it slows down its depreciation in value, making it more sought after on the market, whenever you will want to sell it.
- If you want some "light" gaming - play Solitaire. Most modern games are slow and difficult to play on the Air, despite decent hardware in it. Apart from few noble examples of good programmingship, games are not really flying on Airs. I use X-Plane flight simulator and it is not as fast as you woud expect from average Win game.