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Bad experiences

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philipwikborg

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 9, 2013
7
0
Alright, so here is the deal. I, unlike most people, have not been a satisfied Mac customer. I have had a 2012 13" i5 with 8 gigs of RAM, which I opted for after reading countless threads in here, where pretty much everybody had the opinion that 8 gigs was a no-brainer.
I won't go into the full story, but I can tell you two things; the computer was a pain from the beginning. It had various problems with lagging when web browsing, incredibly slow import speeds in iMovie etc. etc. And, the customer service is the worst I have ever experienced in my life. Every time I brought it in, they simply refused to accept that the piece of crap they had sold me for 1500 $ (happy EU citizen) was slow as a snail.
Last month my computer got stolen, and I am now forced to buy a new Mac, since my school requires it.
I am now once again, against my will, settled on a new MacBook Air, since I am a student, and pretty much all I do is web browse, write papers, download and watch movies, and also play some football manager (didn't do that on my other MacBook Air).
Now, can anybody give me some advice, my previous computer taken into consideration. Should I still opt. For 8 gigs etc..
 
philipwikborg said:
Alright, so here is the deal. I, unlike most people, have not been a satisfied Mac customer. I have had a 2012 13" i5 with 8 gigs of RAM, which I opted for after reading countless threads in here, where pretty much everybody had the opinion that 8 gigs was a no-brainer.
I won't go into the full story, but I can tell you two things; the computer was a pain from the beginning. It had various problems with lagging when web browsing, incredibly slow import speeds in iMovie etc. etc. And, the customer service is the worst I have ever experienced in my life. Every time I brought it in, they simply refused to accept that the piece of crap they had sold me for 1500 $ (happy EU citizen) was slow as a snail.
Last month my computer got stolen, and I am now forced to buy a new Mac, since my school requires it.
I am now once again, against my will, settled on a new MacBook Air, since I am a student, and pretty much all I do is web browse, write papers, download and watch movies, and also play some football manager (didn't do that on my other MacBook Air).
Now, can anybody give me some advice, my previous computer taken into consideration. Should I still opt. For 8 gigs etc..
Click to expand...

your school requires that you purchase an Apple computer?
 
DisplacedMic said:
your school requires that you purchase an Apple computer?
Click to expand...

Yes, all text books etc. are on the computer. They want everybody to run the same OS to avoid complications I think. We don't use any other physical materials for our studies
 
philipwikborg said:
since I am a student, and pretty much all I do is web browse, write papers, download and watch movies, and also play some football manager (didn't do that on my other MacBook Air).
Now, can anybody give me some advice, my previous computer taken into consideration. Should I still opt. For 8 gigs etc..
Click to expand...

If thats all you need the computer for, get the i5 4gb, 128gb. It will be super portable and more than powerful enough for all the above. And the battery life is good enough to last all day at college / school.

If you really want to save money you may be able to get a refurb 2013 MBA quite soon, maybe within a month? Although the education discount is pretty generous also.
 
I have the 4Gigs, i5, 128 gig 2013 MBA ''13 and I have nothing but good things to say about it.

The battery life is phenomenal, and it performs great. I am in my junior year of college and this will definitely be great for writing papers, web browsing, and playing the occasional games. I highly recommend this computer for school.

I'm super sorry about your shotty customer service though. I live in PA and the Apple customer support have been nothing but kind and helpful to me. I've never had a bad experience with anyone that works with apple. Must just be the area in which you live:(
:apple::apple::apple:
 
DEFINITELY go for 8GB RAM.

You can't change your mind later because it is permanent. 4GB should be fine as well, but why ever worry about conserving RAM when 8GB will always be enough.

It will be handy for running Windows/Linux as well.

Best $100 investment imo.
 
AXs said:
DEFINITELY go for 8GB RAM.

You can't change your mind later because it is permanent. 4GB should be fine as well, but why ever worry about conserving RAM when 8GB will always be enough.

It will be handy for running Windows/Linux as well.

Best $100 investment imo.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not going to be running anything other than OSx, and as i stated, my previous expriences have not exactly been that 8 gigs exceeded the speed of light...
 
4GB will be more than sufficient for your needs. I've got a 2013 with 4GB RAM and the performance difference compared to my 2011 hard disk based mac mini is noticeable (but, not life changing).
 
philipwikborg said:
Well, I'm not going to be running anything other than OSx, and as i stated, my previous expriences have not exactly been that 8 gigs exceeded the speed of light...
Click to expand...

Then you need a minimum of at least the i7 upgrade. In all honesty, the MBA isn't that great for video editing/importing which perform much better with more cores. My 'Obsolete' (thanks to a fellow forum member who called all Ivy Bridge macs obsolete) quad-core rMBP 15 feels close to twice as fast than my 2013 MBA 11 i7/8/256 machine when importing DSLR movies and RAW files. You're expecting a 15 watt CPU to outpower a 45+ watt CPU. We're probably 2-3 generations -if ever- away before you're going to see quad core in a MBA

Here's some benchmarks from Anandtech:
56099.png

56100.png
 
:(

Long story short, there is not a single mac or any laptop on this filthy planet i.e. earth where you will be able to find a machine that DOES NOT get HEATED up :( :( the difference being the air doesn't burn your leg !
 
:eek:

Not always the 'fault' of the computer when things lag. If you are a constant internet person...the actual connect speed comes into play. Example: I pay the thieves at Time Warner to have a 30gps download speed. But, low and behold on many (most?) evenings the locals suck up the cable abilities with their long distance and endless contacts with faraway families and friends. I'm talking what must be the India/Paki capital of the U.S. I feel like I live in 'New Mombai'...these H1B visa yokels are 'tech savvy' and are online endlessly. Couple that with Chinese capitalists who manage half the local properties for rich Chinese land owners back in good old Beijing. In summary.....'speed' can depend on more than one factor.
 
philipwikborg said:
Well, I'm not going to be running anything other than OSx, and as i stated, my previous expriences have not exactly been that 8 gigs exceeded the speed of light...
Click to expand...

Lol you found 8gb to be slow and you want to get 4gb of ram. I have 8gb and yes it slows down when using iphoto for me. Get the highest specs you can afford.
 
617aircav said:
Lol you found 8gb to be slow and you want to get 4gb of ram. I have 8gb and yes it slows down when using iphoto for me. Get the highest specs you can afford.
Click to expand...

Well I do have the money, but being a high school student, I'd rather spend the 150$ the upgrade costs in my country on cheap beer, than another 4 gigs of RAM, if I'm not REALLY going to be needing them... ;)
 
philipwikborg said:
Well I do have the money, but being a high school student, I'd rather spend the 150$ the upgrade costs in my country on cheap beer, than another 4 gigs of RAM, if I'm not REALLY going to be needing them... ;)
Click to expand...

I would go with 8gb. It will last you longer.
 
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