8GB Ram on Air refresh?

[dave343]

Do you think it's possible Apple might increase the base Ram from 4gb to 8gb with the upcoming refresh for the 11 & 13? When was the last increase to the base ram... back in 2012...? 4GB is starting to get long in the tooth even for base.

 

[cruisin]

Not really. The 13 inch Pro still has 8 GB while the 15 inch Pro had the upgrade to 16 GB. So the Air would have the same ram as the Pro and I do't see it happening.

 

[Steve121178]

Do you think it's possible Apple might increase the base Ram from 4gb to 8gb with the upcoming refresh for the 11 & 13? When was the last increase to the base ram... back in 2012...? 4GB is starting to get long in the tooth even for base.

Highly unlikely for the Air's.

 

[RedTomato]

I'm so glad I got the 8GB on my 2013 Air. With the fast SSD, it's an utter beast - I don't think I've really stretched it yet.

(I don't have time for intensive games much as I love them, so I avoid installing them)

 

[Brian Y]

The Air is still considered to be consumer-line. so I doubt it'd come with 8GB as standard. Most consumers will be fine with 4GB.

 

[Meister]

Very unlikely.

 

[ixxx69]

Do you think it's possible Apple might increase the base Ram from 4gb to 8gb with the upcoming refresh for the 11 & 13? When was the last increase to the base ram... back in 2012...? 4GB is starting to get long in the tooth even for base.

I don't know if it will be with a "minor" refresh, but 8GB will be standard sooner than later, if for no other reason than market pressure, and the cost difference won't make sense to deal with so many configurations when 16GB becomes an option.

Some folks around here are so caught up with whether 4GB is enough technically, that they ignore the larger marketplace. Apple doesn't get too caught up in the specs race, but it can't completely ignore it either - even most lower end computers come with 8GB now, especially in the US$1,000 range. Just a quick look at Dell, and almost all of their computers over $600 come with 8GB.

 

[Meister]

I don't know if it will be with a "minor" refresh, but 8GB will be standard sooner than later, if for no other reason than market pressure, and the cost difference won't make sense to deal with so many configurations when 16GB becomes an option.

Some folks around here are so caught up with whether 4GB is enough technically, that they ignore the larger marketplace. Apple doesn't get too caught up in the specs race, but it can't completely ignore it either - even most lower end computers come with 8GB now, especially in the US$1,000 range. Just a quick look at Dell, and almost all of their computers over $600 come with 8GB.

DELL is running windows.
Samsung phones come with 3gb and the iPhone still with 1gb.
does its own thing and for a good reason.

 

[ixxx69]

DELL is running windows.
Samsung phones come with 3gb and the iPhone still with 1gb.
does its own thing and for a good reason.

It doesn't matter what it's running, it's "8GB".

Putting aside whether the iPhone/iPad should have more RAM, for the time being, phones specs don't matter in the marketplace. I can recall the specs of every computer I've used since I started buying computers 30 years ago. I don't even have a clue what the GHz clock is on my iPhone, and it would have been a guess on the RAM, and my 5S is either an A6 or an A7 or something like that... there hasn't been any point in keeping track since I don't have a "CHOICE" when it comes to purchasing an iPhone.

 

[Meister]

It doesn't matter what it's running, it's "8GB".

From my experience, memory management is much worse under windows.
I am not surprised that their computers need 8gb.

That said, of course eventually all specs will go up, but I think that the next mbas will have a different emphasis. mainly battery and size.
they will keep 4gb ram as standard, downgrade the cpu and upgrade the gpu for the retina display.

 

[joshlalonde]

So in other words the Air will no longer be a good ultrabook... I surely hope they don't downgrade the CPU. I like being able to play games on my laptop without it throttling every 5 seconds. One of the reasons I didn't buy the Surface Pro 3.

Anyways, back on topic.. If anything, I think 6GB would be good. Currently my MBA uses 1.5GB for VRAM (shared), but that's a good balance. Now add more than 2x the pixels and suddenly it might not be so good anymore..

8GB though? Nah.

 

[vertisync]

Do you think it's possible Apple might increase the base Ram from 4gb to 8gb with the upcoming refresh for the 11 & 13? When was the last increase to the base ram... back in 2012...? 4GB is starting to get long in the tooth even for base.

4GB is plenty for the average user, why make them pay for something they don't need?

 

[motrek]

So in other words the Air will no longer be a good ultrabook... I surely hope they don't downgrade the CPU. I like being able to play games on my laptop without it throttling every 5 seconds. One of the reasons I didn't buy the Surface Pro 3.

Anyways, back on topic.. If anything, I think 6GB would be good. Currently my MBA uses 1.5GB for VRAM (shared), but that's a good balance. Now add more than 2x the pixels and suddenly it might not be so good anymore..

8GB though? Nah.

I have a Mac Mini with 4GB and it's driving a 27" 2560x1440 display which is basically the resolution of a retina MacBook. Works fine.

I don't know how to tell how much memory is being allocated to the GPU but I would expect it's dramatically less than 1.5GB.

Notice that the first 27" iMac (2009) had 256MB of video RAM and that was fine for driving its 2560x1440 display.

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4GB is plenty for the average user, why make them pay for something they don't need?

While I agree that the average user certainly doesn't need 8GB of RAM, technology marches on.

The factories that make memory chips will keep upgrading and there will be a point when putting 4GB of RAM in a machine is more expensive than putting 8GB of RAM in it, simply because of supply-and-demand.

So I have no doubt that 8GB will soon be standard on Macs. Maybe not by the end of this year but it wouldn't surprise me if it happened next year. We've been at 4GB for a few years now already.

 

[vertisync]

While I agree that the average user certainly doesn't need 8GB of RAM, technology marches on.

The factories that make memory chips will keep upgrading and there will be a point when putting 4GB of RAM in a machine is more expensive than putting 8GB of RAM in it, simply because of supply-and-demand.

So I have no doubt that 8GB will soon be standard on Macs. Maybe not by the end of this year but it wouldn't surprise me if it happened next year. We've been at 4GB for a few years now already.

If a manufacturer needs to stop putting a lesser amount of RAM into a computer for the reasons you state, then I see no issue.

The issue I have is with the end user not wanting the manufacturer to put that lesser amount of RAM in for no other reason than they think their opinion is better than other peoples.

It doesn't hurt the OP that I have a choice of 4GB of RAM, so why should he want that option taken away?

I just hate the attitude that some people have of "I don't need it so no one else should have it either".