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ANOTHER 4GB vs 8GB thread...

JerTheGeek

JerTheGeek

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 15, 2014
1,993
487
Hello everyone.
Apple is replacing my Air and I am wondering I should pay o upgrade the RAM, or if the store doesnt let me pay to upgrade the RAM I am wondering if the 4GB will be okay.
Here is my usage:
I am a homeschooled high-schooler and I use my laptop for web browsing, emailing, listening to music in iTunes, managing my photo library, in iPhoto (no photo editing of any kind, just importing and viewing and organizing). For school I write reports and stuff in Pages, take notes, and use the dictionary and calc for school. In addition to this I make YouTube videos in iMovie every two weeks or so, for my YouTube channel (nothing too professional, I have less than 150 subscribers). I also do the occasional home movie. Since I'm homeschooled, I won't be carrying it with me every day, and it will be used almost exclusively at home (however I dont need a desktop because I like using it in bed and around the house).

Basically I want to know if I can get by with 4GB. I am currently using a 2013 i5, 4GB, 13' Air and it does fine; except sometimes with iMovie it stutters a bit. That is why I was thinking about 8GB.
So....will I be fine with 4GB as I have now, or should I get the 8GB?
 
You were given advise on this very same question over and over again on your other threads. Don't need to continue starting new threads.
 
JerTheGeek said:
Hello everyone.
Apple is replacing my Air and I am wondering I should pay o upgrade the RAM, or if the store doesnt let me pay to upgrade the RAM I am wondering if the 4GB will be okay.
Here is my usage:
I am a homeschooled high-schooler and I use my laptop for web browsing, emailing, listening to music in iTunes, managing my photo library, in iPhoto (no photo editing of any kind, just importing and viewing and organizing). For school I write reports and stuff in Pages, take notes, and use the dictionary and calc for school. In addition to this I make YouTube videos in iMovie every two weeks or so, for my YouTube channel (nothing too professional, I have less than 150 subscribers). I also do the occasional home movie. Since I'm homeschooled, I won't be carrying it with me every day, and it will be used almost exclusively at home (however I dont need a desktop because I like using it in bed and around the house).

Basically I want to know if I can get by with 4GB. I am currently using a 2013 i5, 4GB, 13' Air and it does fine; except sometimes with iMovie it stutters a bit. That is why I was thinking about 8GB.
So....will I be fine with 4GB as I have now, or should I get the 8GB?
Click to expand...

Since you have already used the 4GB, you know how it handles your usage. Other than iMovie, nothing you plan on doing would ever require more than 4GB. If you have the funds, and think you will be doing more in the future with iMovie, you may go ahead and get the 8GB. If you are tight on funds, you'd be fine with the 4GB.
 
JerTheGeek said:
Basically I want to know if I can get by with 4GB. I am currently using a 2013 i5, 4GB, 13' Air and it does fine; except sometimes with iMovie it stutters a bit. That is why I was thinking about 8GB.
So....will I be fine with 4GB as I have now, or should I get the 8GB?
Click to expand...
i doubt iMovie stutters because of lack of memory. You could check this by opening the activity monitor when it lags. If pressure is green it's not ram related. Computer performance is not just dependent on ram.

Since you seem really anxious about this I would recommend getting 8gb just for your peace of mind.
 
"ANOTHER" is an understatement!

We will all be so happy when you make your final choice. I do not think there has ever been so much about what has been answered before.:D

What will you do when that horizonal line shows up on your new device?:eek:
 
Meister said:
i doubt iMovie stutters because of lack of memory. You could check this by opening the activity monitor when it lags. If pressure is green it's not ram related. Computer performance is not just dependent on ram.

Since you seem really anxious about this I would recommend getting 8gb just for your peace of mind.
Click to expand...

I won't be getting 8GB. Since the store already said they can't do it, I'll just take 4GB and be happy :D:D:D:D

I did check the activity monitor while doing iMovie and while plugged in to my external monitor. It stayed in the green. I had a previous project that I scrolled though and played back and pretty much just played around with, and it didn't seem to stutter that much. RAM seemed fine from activity monitor, and CPU seemed ok too, wasn't going too high. And since I'm just doing it every two weeks in iMovie its not a big deal at all. 4GB it is then!

----------
Newtons Apple said:
"ANOTHER" is an understatement!

We will all be so happy when you make your final choice. I do not think there has ever been so much about what has been answered before.:D

What will you do when that horizonal line shows up on your new device?:eek:
Click to expand...

It wont be on this new one cause I believe the line is related to the 2013 Airs. If it does show up, it is an OS glitch that Apple needs to fix.
 
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