8gb RAM in new Air ¿Are they worth?

[eme42]

I ordered a new Air custom configured with 8Gb RAM. I had to cancel the order by phone because of problems with my credit card 🙁, but then I had the opportunity to talk them by phone and the guy at the apple store told me he didn't recommend 8gb RAM for this machine, arguing they are "too many" for the kind of tasks the Air can perform (specifically considering the processor). He recommended me the Pro 13'', but I don't see a big difference in processor specs.

What do you believe? I would use the machine for photoshop and light video processing and I would need to execute virtual machines with linux and maybe windows. My partner would use it for web development (java, etc)

I don't want a 15'' Screen. Definitely the options for me are the Air or the MBP 13''

thanks in advance for your help

 

[driveparty]

It's impossible to have !too many! RAM, and those 8Gb is just OK for intensive browsing with 10-30 tabs, music listening, and so on. In addition, you must keep in mind that video memory in MBA and MBP 13 is reserved from the main memory, and it's amount is up to 384Mb, so you've got 8Gb - 384Mb for other system needs.

Overall performance of the MBA and MBP 13 is almost the same (see GeekBench results for both machines), so their "genius" advice about MBP 13 isn't quite adequate.
The only MBP 13 advantage over MBA is it's "upgradability" of the hard drive and memory up to 16GB, but if you agree with MBA flash storage amount, and you've got no memory hungry tasks, like professional image or movie editing, you would be fully satisfied with the current MBA performance.

 

[eme42]

I also didn't bought the "too many RAM" argument, but thought that being an "Apple guy" meant that he had first-hand knowledge of hardware strengths and limits.

Thanks for your answer!!