Mba 11"

[cathlabnurse]

I have a MBP, but am looking at getting the MBA 11" to tag along with me for doing school work, etc. (Don't be fooled, I am not a young-un, I am a Granny and yes I am in school )

They have two to choose from 2 gb and 4gb and the flashdrive is smaller on one than the other. Can't remember off top of my head right now what size.

What are your thoughts on which one to get.....

Blessings !

 

[risc]

Definitely get the 4GB model. You can always add more storage to a Air, but you have no chance to add RAM in the future.

 

[SDColorado]

I would also say get the 4GB model, you are far less likely to regret getting more than you might need, than you are to regret getting less than you might need. Particularly since you can't upgrade it later.

 

[NikFinn]

It depends on what you plan on using it for. I get by just fine with the base model with 2GB of RAM and the 64GB SSD as I only use my MacBook Air for browsing the web, and taking notes with Pages.

 

[M-5]

Which MacBook Pro do you have? It might be possible to sell your MacBook Pro and use the money to upgrade a new Air or for accessories.

Depending on what your needs are, the Air will probably perform better than your current Pro, and you could just purchase an external monitor if the screen size is what concerns you.

I would max-out the RAM since you can't upgrade this later in the future on the current Airs, and I'd also get at least a 128GB SSD and possibly upgrade to the 250 GB SSD.

The i7 processor upgrade is probably not worth it unless you're frequently doing processor-intensive tasks where you would like to save some time in rendering etc.

 

[Caliber26]

It depends on what you plan on using it for. I get by just fine with the base model with 2GB of RAM and the 64GB SSD as I only use my MacBook Air for browsing the web, and taking notes with Pages.

I agree. If you plan on keeping your Macbook Pro and you're only going to use the Macbook Air for preparing documents, taking notes, emailing, web-browsing, and other basic tasks, the base model (64GB SSD - 2GB RAM) will suffice you plenty.

If you are getting rid of your MBP and plan on making the MBA your primary machine, then, yeah, go for the 128GB model. Maybe even consider the 13" model. I plan on selling, both, my 11" MBA and my iMac and buying the top of the line 13" MBA.

 

[happyslayer]

If money is not a huge issue, then get the one with 4gb RAM. As to the hard drive, 64GB will be fine for most email, docs and school work type stuff. Get the bigger HD if you plan to store lots of music and video on the Air.

Probably the best model would be the 1199.99 MBA 11" with 1.6GHz Core i5, 4GB RAM and 128 SSD. It's usually available in stores and is a good all around machine. I owned it for a little while (about a week) and realized that I needed more HD space to run Windows 7 Pro 64bit & Windows XP Pro as well as OSX and all my apps (needed Windows for work) so I upgraded to the "Ultimate" model with 256GB HD and Core i7 (this CPU is a bit overkill for what I do, but it was available in store at the time without ordering.)

That's my two cents. Good luck with whatever MBA you choose!

 

[Sonhascome]

I too would go with the 4gb macbook air, should be quicker for longer

 

[Xikum]

It really does depend what your doing. Yes, 4 GB of RAM is nice, but if your not going to use it, it means noting but a hole in your wallet.

Consider what you are using the machine for. Are you just going to be browsing online/writing essays on pages (or MS office)/emails/etc? If so, then 2 GB is more than enough.

There is no point throwing money at something if your not going to use it to that potential. Apple charge ridiculous amounts of money for RAM upgrades, so you should really be careful about whether its actually of any benefit to you.

People on here really do over-exaggerate about how quick technology becomes out of date. I still own a very old Lenovo ThinkPad which uses 512 MB of RAM, a single core 1.6 GHz Celeron and an incredibly old hard drive. Yet, it is still perfectly usable for word processing and browsing the web. If a computer does what you need it to do now, it will do that task in 5, even 10 years time as long as the computer itself isnt broken.

 

[Anastacio]

Wow, now Xikum have made me doubt again.
I'm about to head out and buy a MacBook Air 13" in one hour, but only because people keep telling me, I no doubt should get one with 4GB of RAM.

And now I am afraid 2GB is not enough for now. I only write reviews and news stories as part of my job in Pages and then upload it our website. I only check out the mail, news through the Reeder app, tweets through the Twitter app and chat with different kind of Messengers. Sometimes all of it at once, with at least 10 tabs open i Chrome, only because I need to remember the news stories.

Is 2GB enough?

PS: I had a Samsung NC10 with 2GB of RAM running Windows XP before it died last month, and I were real happy with it.

 

[bmacir]

Wow, now XikumIs 2GB enough?

The more the better. You won't regret having that extra 2gb even for simple tasks.

 

[Anastacio]

Alright. It'll be my main computer but next year I'm buying the iMac 27" and then the Air will become secondary. It'll have to last me at least 4 years.

 

[Xikum]

Wow, now Xikum have made me doubt again.
I'm about to head out and buy a MacBook Air 13" in one hour, but only because people keep telling me, I no doubt should get one with 4GB of RAM.

And now I am afraid 2GB is not enough for now. I only write reviews and news stories as part of my job in Pages and then upload it our website. I only check out the mail, news through the Reeder app, tweets through the Twitter app and chat with different kind of Messengers. Sometimes all of it at once, with at least 10 tabs open i Chrome, only because I need to remember the news stories.

Is 2GB enough?

PS: I had a Samsung NC10 with 2GB of RAM running Windows XP before it died last month, and I were real happy with it.

If you have the money, then 4 GB is significantly better than 2 GB. If you run 10 tabs/messenger/twitter/mail/Pages all at the SAME time, then 4 GB would benefit you.

However, I have an older 2010 MBA with 2 GB RAM, and I browse Safari with numerous tabs open+run MS Office+iTunes and iCal all at the same time with no problems.

I personally think you would benefit from 4 GB, but you would survive on 2 GB without any significant hitches. So up to you if you want to spend your hand earned cash! You may also want to ask one of the Apple store workers what they think, but be careful that they may give you a biased opinion just to make you spend more. But hey, worth a try.

 

[cedwhatev]

No matter what, buying an Air is going to be pricey... my advice is to go all out and get what you want. 4GB of RAM with 128SSD. Do it. Don't think about it. Just do it.

 

[Abazigal]

You may also want to ask one of the Apple store workers what they think, but be careful that they may give you a biased opinion just to make you spend more. But hey, worth a try.

I don't think they give you inaccurate advice to sell more, but rather, they prefer to err on the side of caution and sell you a more powerful machine than you might need, rather than risk you being dissatisfied with your purchase later on and then coming back to blame them.

Seriously, just look at the majority of the advice here. Most of them are along the lines of "Just max out on the upgrades, you can't go wrong." I am not saying all of them are wrong, but I feel it makes it difficult to sift out the instances when it really is more useful to get a more powerful machine.

 

[wrinkster22]

It depends. I would not max out the device but I think getting 4gb of ram would be nice. Especailly if you plan on keeping the device for a long time.
Hers is more reading:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/apple-mac-os-x/534710-macbook-air-2gb-vs-4gb-ram.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101113011957AAQcdfe
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110725192058AAKI0Xq
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080615154247AAWcERm

 

[johnhurley]

I have a MBP, but am looking at getting the MBA 11" to tag along with me for doing school work, etc. (Don't be fooled, I am not a young-un, I am a Granny and yes I am in school )

Go for 4 gb of ram and as much SSD storage (disk storage) as you can afford.

 

[nexsta]

Don't get fooled by this crazy "you need 4gb ram! people" 2gb is perfectly fine for your tasks. If you have another machine 64gb ssd can also be enough for your needs.

 

[Anastacio]

I bought e MacBook Air 13" (4GB RAM, 128GB SSD) one hour ago. It's actually kinda wonderful. I have already noticed the rainbow wheel a little bit, so I think I'm glad I went for 4GB. I'm running Twitter app, Reeder app, more than 10 tabs on the Internet, streaming music to iTunes from the Mac Mini and having max 3 Pages documents open at a time, while chatting in two different Messengers.

Thanks for the advice and different opinions and views here, has been real helpful.

Now, back to the Mac!

 

[Xikum]

I don't think they give you inaccurate advice to sell more, but rather, they prefer to err on the side of caution and sell you a more powerful machine than you might need, rather than risk you being dissatisfied with your purchase later on and then coming back to blame them.

Seriously, just look at the majority of the advice here. Most of them are along the lines of "Just max out on the upgrades, you can't go wrong." I am not saying all of them are wrong, but I feel it makes it difficult to sift out the instances when it really is more useful to get a more powerful machine.

Yep, thats a better way of looking at it. Your right.

Don't get fooled by this crazy "you need 4gb ram! people" 2gb is perfectly fine for your tasks. If you have another machine 64gb ssd can also be enough for your needs.

I agree. People here just seem to say "max it out! just do it! dont think about it!". Why should people just hand over thousands of pounds/dollars without even thinking about it? That is a huge amount of money, especially for a computer, and everybody should question if they really need any upgrades-because for one, Apple charge alot of money for upgrades, and secondly, not alot of people actually need them.

Apple ships 2 GB systems for a reason; because 2 GB is enough for alot of users. People who seem to think that you NEED 4 GB or your system is irrelevant just dont seem to know enough.

 

[M-5]

I have the MacBook Air 11" with 4GB of ram, and I've noticed that I'll have to quit Safari about once a day and re-open to free up ram, or else I'll continue getting the beach ball, or my Safari tabs will keep refreshing.

And this is with 4GB of Ram, so I don't even want to imagine me running with 2GB of Ram. Sure I'll have pages open, or iTunes, Spotify, and Mail; but I know it's only Safari causing this large usage in Ram because when I quit those other programs my ram will only free-up a little bit, whereas after quitting Safari I'll end up with most of my ram back.

Again, this only happens to me when I've been using Safari for a few hours without quitting and have been watching movies on Netflix, etc.

 

[entatlrg]

I bought e MacBook Air 13" (4GB RAM, 128GB SSD) one hour ago. It's actually kinda wonderful. I have already noticed the rainbow wheel a little bit, so I think I'm glad I went for 4GB. I'm running Twitter app, Reeder app, more than 10 tabs on the Internet, streaming music to iTunes from the Mac Mini and having max 3 Pages documents open at a time, while chatting in two different Messengers.

Thanks for the advice and different opinions and views here, has been real helpful.

Now, back to the Mac!

Hello fellow Dane (my family comes from Kolding) for what you're doing you'll be glad you have the 4gb ram, should be perfect!

 

[hfg]

The real reason Apple has a 2GB RAM Air is so they can advertise a low price for the entry-level model. Granted, some people can make do with that limited amount of RAM, but it is pretty tight with the new operating systems.

The 4GB RAM upgrade price on the Air is actually pretty reasonable for an Apple product upgrade, although you can't directly compare since there are no 3rd party upgrades.

I would certainly advise getting the 4GB model as the additional cost is pretty low given what you are spending for the computer and the fact you can't upgrade later. If you purchase from some of the on-line vendors, you could probably save enough through their minimal discounts and no sales tax to cover the additional cost of the memory.

 

[mac jones]

The real reason Apple has a 2GB RAM Air is so they can advertise a low price for the entry-level model. Granted, some people can make do with that limited amount of RAM, but it is pretty tight with the new operating systems.

The 4GB RAM upgrade price on the Air is actually pretty reasonable for an Apple product upgrade, although you can't directly compare since there are no 3rd party upgrades.

I would certainly advise getting the 4GB model as the additional cost is pretty low given what you are spending for the computer and the fact you can't upgrade later. If you purchase from some of the on-line vendors, you could probably save enough through their minimal discounts and no sales tax to cover the additional cost of the memory.

Well maybe. Most likely so people who are broke have more of a chance
( a lot of broke people these days )

Having said (blurted) that, I have been watching my 'Ram meter' and 2GB seems to be ok for about 5 web pages open at once. So in other words, you sort need to watch this as if you go over the limit it's going to get slow, and most people (almost all) won't have clue whats going on.

If your technical it's better, I would think as you can 'finesse' it a bit.

I don't know.

 

[johnhurley]

I have the MacBook Air 11" with 4GB of ram, and I've noticed that I'll have to quit Safari about once a day and re-open to free up ram, or else I'll continue getting the beach ball, or my Safari tabs will keep refreshing.

Have you applied latest updates? The latest version of safari helps on ram usage at least for many people ... more fixes probably on the way.

It may be not popular but rebooting from time to time also may be useful.

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The real reason Apple has a 2GB RAM Air is so they can advertise a low price for the entry-level model. Granted, some people can make do with that limited amount of RAM, but it is pretty tight with the new operating systems.

Yup ... guess the bad analogy is just because one might be able to squeeze into an old pair of jeans does not mean they will be comfortable to use for very long.