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New MBA 2011 with support up to 8GB RAM?
- Thread starter Iskender
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Keep in mind that even if the chipset supports 8GB, it's possible you won't be able to get one with that much. The current MBAs don't have upgradable RAM on them. The RAM is soldered into the motherboard!
The above poster is right but then Apple loves to sell us RAM which is so overpriced its unbelievable.
I don't think they will but would be the one reason I would upgrade from a 2010 to a 2011.
All I think we'll see if the SB processor and thunderbolt port. Maybe slightly better battery life due to the processor, and maybe a bigger SSD offering. Nothing there compelling enough to upgrade for me but 8gb of ram would hook me.
All I think we'll see if the SB processor and thunderbolt port. Maybe slightly better battery life due to the processor, and maybe a bigger SSD offering. Nothing there compelling enough to upgrade for me but 8gb of ram would hook me.
If that happens, and god forbid they offer a backlit keyboard again, I will finally jump in. I've used both the first and second gen MBA's. The 2nd/current gen did so many things right from glass trackpad to new hinge design but C2D in 2010 is/was laughable, but I understand why they went that route. I chose to wait for the CPU update and hopefully TBolt port makes it in as well. Should make for a very nice machine to replace my aging MBP.
If you need 8GB of RAM that bad that you'd be willing to crack open an MBA, unsolder the memory, solder new memory, and void the warranty, you are much better off with a MBP. IMHO. 
Sorry for the stupid question, but does just having 4Gigs of RAM on the Air's really matter with the SSD drives on them?
I mean, I can understand if you're doing complex Photoshop assemblies or major Final Cut Pro projects on these things...but doesn't the virtual scratch disk RAM kick in when you run out of system memory?
I mean, the OS starts off-loading parts of the system RAM onto the disk when it's getting full, yes? On systems that have traditional drives on them, I can see this being a problem due to the speed of the drive. But with SSD's, this should be much much faster. Much faster than even a 10,000 RPM disk drive. Yes? Or am I way off base here?
Also, is this still the way OS X operates? With Lion does it do some other memory management than the old UNIX scratch disks?
I mean, I can understand if you're doing complex Photoshop assemblies or major Final Cut Pro projects on these things...but doesn't the virtual scratch disk RAM kick in when you run out of system memory?
I mean, the OS starts off-loading parts of the system RAM onto the disk when it's getting full, yes? On systems that have traditional drives on them, I can see this being a problem due to the speed of the drive. But with SSD's, this should be much much faster. Much faster than even a 10,000 RPM disk drive. Yes? Or am I way off base here?
Also, is this still the way OS X operates? With Lion does it do some other memory management than the old UNIX scratch disks?
MBP is too heavy and ugly
Heavier, yes, ugly? The Air is virtually an anorexic Pro. Neither is ugly.
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These things arent meant for anything intensive. If you intend to use them for something that needs more than 4GB RAM then you are looking at the wrong product really.
OKay, didn't really answer the question though. Is the virtual memory, when it needs to go to that, better on these SSDs? Probably didn't answer it because it IS a stupid question...one of those "DUH" moments for me I guess.
I've used my Macbook Pro now for 3 years and it only has 4 gigs of RAM. It's handled pretty much everything I've thrown at it including playing games like WoW and doing some (albeit lite) 3D work. Now and then though, yes, it does seem to slow down when doing intense work due to it running out of RAM. Not a lot, but it happens. I have the stock 5,600 RPM drive in it though. I would have to think that stepping up to an i7 on the 13" Air with 4gigs of RAM and an SSD would handle everything I do now with no problems. Or I could be wrong.
If I were doing complex 3D work or video editing or some of my old Photoshop assemblies, then yeah, I'd want a more powerful machine. But these air's have to be more than just $1500 web surfers and lite email machines.
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Yes. It is much better. I have the 2009 Air, and originally had the miserable little 4200RPM iPod HDD in it for the first year or so. The moment that I would start swapping, the entire machine would instantly slow down and would become rather miserable to use (keep in mind that this is when Airs only came with 2GB of RAM). I upgraded it a year or so ago to an OWC SSD, and it is a brand new machine. I use my Air for 'intense things' as people say, and I generally don't notice any slowdown on it until I hit double the amount of swap that I have RAM. It's really quite nice nowadays