Of course, as well as trying to guess the future I am just as dangerously trusting that my old faithfuls (2006 mini mac and 2007 iMac) will continue to flawlessly provide optical drives, archive storage, scanner and some other things via Tiger, vm/windows via SL, while the Air with ML gives me access to things they can't, such as iBook author, Pages, and the things that will sync with iPad. So, the plan is, the Air will be a bridge from my old dinosaurs to some magnificent retina beast that will do all the Air and iPad don't, or don't completely, such as music and art apps on the iPad. I've had lots of macs since my first Classic, and I've never been as uncertain as I am now about upgrading. Hmmmmm.
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Air:128 or 256?
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If you don't have the money to get the 256, but worry about your older computers, get the 128gb. I've been using my '11 13" with 128 for almost a year now and have no regrets. In fact, the benefit to only have limited space was the fact that it forced me to clean house and pull all sorts of unused and ancient files/emails/photos/songs onto my external drive. I also regularly move files over now and have about 50gb of free space. When I go below this amount, I'll move stuff over again.
I think it totally depends on if you plan on storing media (songs, pictures, movies) on the computer. If you do (or if you plan on using Bootcamp) go with the 256. If not, it is pretty hard to fill up a computer with more than 128GB of programs. I bought the 11.6" when it first came out and the largest option was 128GB which I got. Nearly two years later, I still only use about 39GB (which includes MS Office and a bunch of programs but no media). Like others have said, I put my media on my home computer (a 15TB Drobo) and use my iPad if I want to watch something or look at photos. It seems like a waste of $300 if you aren't going to use it.
I am thinking of getting a new 11.6" to get ThunderBolt, USB3 and a faster processor and more memory (trying to justify it to myself) and I not even considering the 256GB.
I am thinking of getting a new 11.6" to get ThunderBolt, USB3 and a faster processor and more memory (trying to justify it to myself) and I not even considering the 256GB.
These are mostly my reasons, to get thunderbolt, usb3, faster processor, and ML, and portability. I think I will go for 128. I think the Air is a great machine and, with iPad, will take care of my needs, using dell 2412 with it when desk-bound. I hope my next purchase will be a retina iMac! I ve been very tempted by the rMBP, but there are too many downsides to this first gen model for me, including price. I could afford it, and can afford 256 for the Air, but I don't want to spend more than I have to with retina revolutions likely next year and while my old computers are still fine ... Even my ancient eMac and MacBook, given to friends, are still chugging along with Panther!
About those downsides to the rMBP ... I have decided on the Air as laptop because I don't want to spend 3grand on a laptop, being more prone to damage, loss, theft than a desktop, especially when it is supposedly unrepairable. And I don't want to work on a 15 inch screen at my desk and can't see the point of closing the lid on that beautiful screen and running it through a lower res bigger screen. And the Air with iPad in one not too heavy bag are ideal IMO for mobility, and great also for working at home in locations other than my desk.
I think I'll start another thread, as this has SSD question has gone further into system planning.
I think I'll start another thread, as this has SSD question has gone further into system planning.
Since you now own two SSDs I wouldn't call it a waste of money. In fact you can turn it around to having saved money. Even if they would never release a new envoy, you'd then have a 128GB SSD to sell off as a used part and that would likely more than make up for the extra.. $19? you had to pay for the OWC 240GB SSD
Though I have to disagree about 128GB being the deal breaker for light bootcamp use. Err, well it will totally depend on person to person, of course.
I have bootcamp on my 128GB drive. I made the minimal 20GB drive for that and set up MacDrive (write access to the HFS-partition) in case I need to put a big file somewhere and I happen to be logged into Windows.
I have about 5GB space free on the windows partition and that is with file and folder compression turned on, a 4GB big game installed and the page-file set to 320-512MB. By default it's way bigger.
In an administrator's command prompt one should write "powercfg -h off" to switch off the hibernation file (4/8GB saved) but in my case it seemed to be turned off at install already.
True, it depends on the user. My use in bootcamp is only to play games, and each game takes as much as 4-10gn nowdays, so i better have 240gb. So i partition my disk equally both form ml and windows 7.
After market SSD drives with the correct connections for the mid-2012 MacBook Air are available now, but not cheap - see: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Air_2012
I went with 128 as, with others, I have a desktop and iPad for media storage and consumption.
The air's storage is one thing that isn't entirely set in stone once purchased. My plan is to grab a nifty minidrive and some micro sd flash storage to augment any additional need of space I might have as I get into the life cycle of the air.
The air's storage is one thing that isn't entirely set in stone once purchased. My plan is to grab a nifty minidrive and some micro sd flash storage to augment any additional need of space I might have as I get into the life cycle of the air.
128GB.
I wanted it but then again it's not like I had a choice, it was the only model showing up in kijiji (aka eBay).
It's my only Mac and coming from a 1TB iMac (24" Mid-2007) that I sold to buy my Air, it's hard. I'm down to 50GB.
I have an LTE (aka 4G), Samsung Galaxy S3, 80GB Dropbox account and 32GB BlackBerry PlayBook which sort of helps. I'm even thinking about buying 1TB Western Digital My Passport for long trips.
I wanted it but then again it's not like I had a choice, it was the only model showing up in kijiji (aka eBay).
It's my only Mac and coming from a 1TB iMac (24" Mid-2007) that I sold to buy my Air, it's hard. I'm down to 50GB.
I have an LTE (aka 4G), Samsung Galaxy S3, 80GB Dropbox account and 32GB BlackBerry PlayBook which sort of helps. I'm even thinking about buying 1TB Western Digital My Passport for long trips.
256 GB, definitely. Not only for the increased capacity, which should be essential if you ever plan on running Windows through Bootcamp and maybe playing a few games, but also because it's a Samsung drive with much faster write speeds for noncompressible data.
How likely is it that the next MacBook Air refresh would include 256 GB in the base 13"?
I'm currently on the 2008 MacBook Air with 64 GB SSD. I have to sacrifice a lot to work with this amount of space. I feel like I could manage with 128 GB, but it still wouldn't be completely comfortable. I'm hoping that if I switch to a new MacBook Air with 128 GB, I could upgrade to a bigger drive down the road when SSD prices become cheaper. SSD prices are dropping, but since the MacBook Air uses a proprietary connection, would they be less likely to follow the trend?
I'm currently on the 2008 MacBook Air with 64 GB SSD. I have to sacrifice a lot to work with this amount of space. I feel like I could manage with 128 GB, but it still wouldn't be completely comfortable. I'm hoping that if I switch to a new MacBook Air with 128 GB, I could upgrade to a bigger drive down the road when SSD prices become cheaper. SSD prices are dropping, but since the MacBook Air uses a proprietary connection, would they be less likely to follow the trend?