4GB vs. 8GB RAM Macbook Air

[jicon]

I'll say this..... Five years ago I bought a 2009 MacBook Pro with 4GB, and a 7200rpm 512gb hdd. Last year, it really felt like it needed help. Long boot times, slow start up of apps... Running dev version of Yosemite was a very sloppy slope downhill. Longer boot times, close to a minute. Just slow.

So, I did two things in June... Swapped out the DVD burner for a ssd, and another 4gb of RAM

I started by installing mountain lion on the ssd, and very,very fast. Holy cow. Very low memory use, well under 2gb.
Upgraded to Mavericks, and though it booted quickly, I easily passed 4gb of RAM... But given I'm not pressing 7gb, I'm fine for now.

I'm not putting Yosemite on the ssd until official release, and though boot up is still slow on the hdd, it is less than a minute boot, and doesn't lock up like it did on 4gb. There will likely be a bit of a memory hit when the next OS hits, maybe more next year. Any machine, an Air or Pro, I'd be maxing that RAM at purchase.

Now, most of the memory use has been Chrome, and though Safari is quite fast, living outside the US almost necessitates use of the Hola plug in.

 

[Meister]

Upgraded to Mavericks, and though it booted quickly, I easily passed 4gb of RAM... But given I'm not pressing 7gb, I'm fine for now.

mavericks will occupy however much ram you give it. ML didn't do this. It doesn't mean you exceeded 4gb.
This has been discussed on this forum at naseum, too.

Try VPN one click instead of hola. It's much faster and doesn't require chrome!

 

[capathy21]

My wife has 8GB rMBP and she struggles with free memory with so many tabs opened on chrome at the same time

This is complete and utter nonsense. I have a 4GB rMBP. Currently have 15 chrome tabs open, app store, Spotify, mail, iMessage, iPhoto, and Word and my memory pressure is comfortably in the green.

That's why when I see that people are still buying stuff with 4GB of RAM without the option of upgrade later - this is insane.

A lot of us are insane then. I don't even max out what I have, why would I waste money buying more than I need when I will just get a new machine in a few years anyway?

There are many of us who do not use things like Lightroom or PhotoShop. We have no use for more than 4GB of ram, period. It just isn't debatable. Your usage sounds like you definitely need 8 and that's why that option exists.

No one has memory issues on an 8GB model due to a browser. Something is clearly wrong with your wife's computer.

 

[ABC5S]

mavericks will occupy however much ram you give it. ML didn't do this. It doesn't mean you exceeded 4gb.
This has been discussed on this forum at naseum, too.

Try VPN one click instead of hola. It's much faster and doesn't require chrome!

^^ What he said. Apple even mentioned this but unfortunately many have not read up on the information and than make the mistake in giving wrong information on a forum.

 

[ilikewhey]

8gb is certainly unnecessary for a macbook air's use.

the demographic that buys macbook air, most likely i would assume, will be using them note taking, browsing, and other light task, attempting photo editing there and MAYBE some light video editing.

that being said, i have 16gb on my desktop pc, the only time i barely exceeds more than 8gb is when i have 15 tabs on chrome open, 4 of them being youtube/netflix and such. and either battlefield 4 or watchdog playing. that is the only time i need 8gb.

so for you to exceed 4gb on a 13inch macbook air. i think you're buying the wrong model, perhaps you should look into a 13inch pro.

 

[jicon]

mavericks will occupy however much ram you give it. ML didn't do this. It doesn't mean you exceeded 4gb.
This has been discussed on this forum at naseum, too.

Try VPN one click instead of hola. It's much faster and doesn't require chrome!

Thanks for the software recommendation. I'll need to check it out.

I'm very well aware of Mavericks change in memory management, but I'll point out in my experience that it and Yosemite have been quick to suffer with minimal use of email, chrome iTunes and a few Office apps on 4gb. It chugs on my hardware, a core2duo 3.06ghz running on the dedicated graphics card. If I was to buy a new machine, I'd not even bat an eyelash thinking about topping up the RAM, especially on hardware without dedicated graphics memory.

 

[joshlalonde]

Thanks for the software recommendation. I'll need to check it out.

I'm very well aware of Mavericks change in memory management, but I'll point out in my experience that it and Yosemite have been quick to suffer with minimal use of email, chrome iTunes and a few Office apps on 4gb. It chugs on my hardware, a core2duo 3.06ghz running on the dedicated graphics card. If I was to buy a new machine, I'd not even bat an eyelash thinking about topping up the RAM, especially on hardware without dedicated graphics memory.

Again, screenshot or it didn't happen.
I do not have that experience, but I'm also running a new MBA that I bought a few weeks ago.

 

[getover]

In 2015, If you think that 4gb Macbook air is enough for you it should be. But please dont argue about 8g or 4g cause nowday we have 8 and 16gb standard notebooks . So dont felt sorry if u bought 4gb and try to protect it at all costs ! cause its just as you need it but not the best.

 

[motrek]

In 2015, If you think that 4gb Macbook air is enough for you it should be. But please dont argue about 8g or 4g cause nowday we have 8 and 16gb standard notebooks . So dont felt sorry if u bought 4gb and try to protect it at all costs ! cause its just as you need it but not the best.

Of course 4GB isn't the best, nobody said it was.

Just because other laptops are coming with 8GB standard doesn't mean people need or use that amount of memory. That's a ridiculous argument.

 

[Meister]

In 2015, If you think that 4gb Macbook air is enough for you it should be. But please dont argue about 8g or 4g cause nowday we have 8 and 16gb standard notebooks . So dont felt sorry if u bought 4gb and try to protect it at all costs ! cause its just as you need it but not the best.

Congratulations to resurrecting one of the classic ram threads

 

[joshlalonde]

In 2015, If you think that 4gb Macbook air is enough for you it should be. But please dont argue about 8g or 4g cause nowday we have 8 and 16gb standard notebooks . So dont felt sorry if u bought 4gb and try to protect it at all costs ! cause its just as you need it but not the best.

Sigh.

 

[qcmacmini]

8gb > 4gb

 

[joshlalonde]

8gb > 4gb

Wasting your money < Saving your money

 

[qcmacmini]

Wasting your money < Saving your money

No you misunderstood, 8GB > 4GB, it was a mathematical statement.

As in 4 x 2 = 8, 8 > 4

 

[joshlalonde]

No you misunderstood, 8GB > 4GB, it was a mathematical statement.

As in 4 x 2 = 8, 8 > 4

So was mine?
+{n}$ > -${n}

 

[Harzion]

Sorry for interrupting the arguing , but I find myself in a situation similar to OP. I can have the base air 13 with 256gb ssd and 4gb ram at 860€ (refurb) and the upgraded to 8gb ram at 1093€ (new). I'm a light user with 10 safari tabs at max, torrents, Office and movies/series..
My only concern is the windows virtualized desktop with Citrix..

 

[sracer]

Sorry for interrupting the arguing , but I find myself in a situation similar to OP. I can have the base air 13 with 256gb ssd and 4gb ram at 860€ (refurb) and the upgraded to 8gb ram at 1093€ (new). I'm a light user with 10 safari tabs at max, torrents, Office and movies/series..
My only concern is the windows virtualized desktop with Citrix..

If your are going to use virtual machines locally stored and running on the MBA, then 8GB is almost a must-have. If you're remotely connecting to a system, then 4GB should be fine.

 

[qcmacmini]

Sorry for interrupting the arguing , but I find myself in a situation similar to OP. I can have the base air 13 with 256gb ssd and 4gb ram at 860€ (refurb) and the upgraded to 8gb ram at 1093€ (new). I'm a light user with 10 safari tabs at max, torrents, Office and movies/series..
My only concern is the windows virtualized desktop with Citrix..

My advice is that if you will rarely need 8GB, which it sounds like it's the case, it's certainly not worth an additional €233.

I was in a situation where the upgrade cost me €70, because I bought during a sale, there was even the possibility of a refurb and the new machine worked out cheaper.

I don't care what anyone says in this thread, 8GB Ram for €70 extra is a no brainer, unless you are the most basic of users.

 

[Harzion]

If your are going to use virtual machines locally stored and running on the MBA, then 8GB is almost a must-have. If you're remotely connecting to a system, then 4GB should be fine.

Yep, I'm remotely connected.. Then I should be fine I guess. Hope to squeeze at least 4 years out of that machine. At the moment I'm using a late 2008 MacBook unibody with 8gb and running fine. Temptation to max the ram is big, but there's nothing like that on the refurb store at the moment and my MacBook is almost at the finish line (fell quite a few times..)

 

[Izsec]

New guy here..

I'm a bit confused. Reading the thread which appears to have started in 9/14 and now replies today as well. If I log into the Apple store and want to configure a Mac Air with 8GB vs. 4GB and all else remains the same, it looks like the upgrade is 100.00 not 200.00 as stated earlier in this thread. Was it at one time 200.00 and Apple reduced the price?

I can understand the debate if it's 200.00 but at 100.00 it almost seems like a no-brainer to do the upgrade especially on a unit that you have no option to upgrade in the future.

I'm debating whether to get a 11" now or wait to see what the 12" model looks like. No thunderbolt and a single USB port would be a deal breaker for me.

Best,

David

 

[qcmacmini]

I'm a bit confused. Reading the thread which appears to have started in 9/14 and now replies today as well. If I log into the Apple store and want to configure a Mac Air with 8GB vs. 4GB and all else remains the same, it looks like the upgrade is 100.00 not 200.00 as stated earlier in this thread. Was it at one time 200.00 and Apple reduced the price?

I can understand the debate if it's 200.00 but at 100.00 it almost seems like a no-brainer to do the upgrade especially on a unit that you have no option to upgrade in the future.

I'm debating whether to get a 11" now or wait to see what the 12" model looks like. No thunderbolt and a single USB port would be a deal breaker for me.

Best,

David

The comparison above was for a refurb 4GB vs CTO with 8GB. Hence the big price difference.

 

[Izsec]

The comparison above was for a refurb 4GB vs CTO with 8GB. Hence the big price difference.

I understand now. I guess I need to read the "fine print" a little more closely. Thanks for clearing that up.

Best,

David