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saintforlife

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 25, 2011
1,046
329
How does the 1.86 GHz with 4GB stack up against the Ultimate? Where could one see a performance gap between the two machines. Also is there any speed difference between the 128 and 256 gigs SSD?
 
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I doubt most users could tell any difference from processor speed. I used a 1.86 with 4 GB RAM and a 256 drive and thought it was excellent.
 
No speed difference between 128 and 256 Gb. Small speed increase when going to 2.13 GHz.

Actually the 128GB drives being used right now are faster as they switched manufacturers. There is a thread about it somewhere.

I would recommend checking out the refurbished MBA with 4GB RAM for $1189. Incredible deal with same great MBA and warranty. They show up in the refurbished section of Apple.com a few times per week but go quick.
 
I bought the refurbished one for $1189 yesterday. I missed it last week when I waited a day to make up my mind and it was gone the next day. This time I was not going to miss it :) I can't wait for it come.
 
Would you see a difference in performance between the two when you do "intense web browsing", iTunes, stream Netflix, use MS Office or run Windows using VMWare or Parallels?
 
There would be a slight difference in CPU usage, meaning the ultimate will be less in use since it's more powerful. But again, only a slight difference.

For me, I only bought the ultimate configuration because the refurb store never has any models with 4gb ram and 256gb ssd without the upgraded processor. I was thinking of going for the 4gb/128gb configuration but I decided to opt for the higher capacity, and it was a good enough price so I jumped on it.
 
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