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Mslittlebookowl

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 14, 2013
34
0
My 6 year old HP Envy 17 is dead. I need a new laptop for the next 2 1/2 yrs. my budget as a student isn't high so I'm considering the base level 2015 MacBook air, I can get it for $750 after education discount since its on sale from best buy. Would the 4gb memory , 128 gb be enough for me? I have a external hard drive some where around if needed. I'm an accounting and management major. I usually use my laptop to browse, homework, online research, write papers, take notes, and Netflix. I do like to open quite a number of tabs simultaneously. I also have an iPad air, I'm afraid I might hate the non retina since Im coming from that. I really want the MacBook pro with retina but is it worth it to really tight financially for that? I'm thinking when I get a full time job when I graduate, I ll upgrade it then, so this needs to last for maybe the next 2 years plus though.
 
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motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,634
312
My 6 year old HP Envy 17 is dead. I need a new laptop for the next 2 1/2 yrs. my budget as a student isn't high so I'm considering the base level 2015 MacBook air, I can get it for $750 after education discount since its on sale from best buy. Would the 4gb memory , 128 gb be enough for me. I have a external hard drive some where around if needed. I'm an accounting and management major. I usually use my laptop to browse, homework, online research, write papers, take notes, and Netflix. I do like to open quite a number of tabs simultaneously. I also have an iPad air, I'm afraid I might hate the non retina since Im coming from that. I really want the MacBook pro with retina but is it worth it to really tight financially for that? I'm thinking when I get a full time job when I graduate, I ll upgrade it then, so this needs to last for maybe the next 2 years plus though.

I think it'll be fine, but if you don't like it, doesn't Best Buy have a fairly liberal return policy?
 
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akimoriRyuuji

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2015
115
84
Don't let anyone talk you into the RAM nonesense. Buy what you can afford. If you can afford to upgrade its storage, then do that. 128GB isnt alot, but it will last you if you buy portable, external storage. Or use the cloud. Dropbox will be your friend.

I upgraded my SSD to 256GB and I'm loving my Macbook Air :) I do programming on it, take notes in conjunction with my iPad, play medium-intense games (Skyrim, League of Legends, Minecraft..) and most other things I do on my iPad.
To clarify, I dual boot Windows 10 on bootcamp. I would happily get rid of Windows but my course is Windows-based.
 

MacBoook160

macrumors 6502
Feb 9, 2011
301
53
I have something more fully loaded, but honestly, I think this will be perfect for your needs, and will last even beyond your two plus year needs, especially if you have additional hard drive capacity somewhere. Great price, too!
 
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Thrifty1

macrumors regular
Nov 21, 2009
215
27
That will work very well for you in college. If you need extra storage buy a small USB thumb drive. I bought one on sale last week that barely sticks out from the side of my MacBook Air. Sandisk 128gb was on sale for $29.99 and a great way to have extra storage for iTunes, iPhoto, etc.

Another way to drop the cost is to take advantage of the Apple Back to School deal. Get Beats headphones for free. Valued at $200 so maybe you could sell them on eBay for $75-$100.

Enjoy your new MacBook!!!
 

akimoriRyuuji

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2015
115
84
That will work very well for you in college. If you need extra storage buy a small USB thumb drive. I bought one on sale last week that barely sticks out from the side of my MacBook Air. Sandisk 128gb was on sale for $29.99 and a great way to have extra storage for iTunes, iPhoto, etc.

Another way to drop the cost is to take advantage of the Apple Back to School deal. Get Beats headphones for free. Valued at $200 so maybe you could sell them on eBay for $75-$100.

Enjoy your new MacBook!!!
Or keep em and listen to some sick beats. I wish that promotion was there when I bought mine just last fall.
 

DavidLynch

macrumors 6502a
Apr 9, 2015
753
233
I have an upgraded model now, because I need it for work, but I was using the base model before that and it is more than adequate. Hell, I was using a 2011 MBA with 2GB ram before that and my major issues were battery life and USB 2.0, not the lack of ram. Throw your media on to an external or in the cloud if you're running out of space and you'll be fine.
 

Splitbolt

macrumors regular
Jun 18, 2015
129
10
I think it will be fine for you. I use a base model 13" 2014 MBA and love it. I usually have it connected to an external monitor, though. Night and day difference having lots of screen real estate.

The non retina Macbook Air has a spectacular display.
This is completely false. I know some people don't mind the poor display on the Air's, but for someone to call it "spectacular" is mind boggling.
 
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Flow39

macrumors 68000
Sep 7, 2014
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I bought a 2015 13" rMBP for school this year (Computer Science) with the upgraded 256 GB SSD. The extra 128 GB really is helpful because I keep a lot of stuff on my computer compared to storing it in the cloud. Like others have said, you can live with 128 if you use the cloud for a large amount of storage. The RAM could be a problem if you plan on using this as your daily computer for 2 years or more. 8 GB will be ideal for lasting for 3-4 more years, so if you can upgrade RAM, do it.
 

akimoriRyuuji

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2015
115
84
I bought a 2015 13" rMBP for school this year (Computer Science) with the upgraded 256 GB SSD. The extra 128 GB really is helpful because I keep a lot of stuff on my computer compared to storing it in the cloud. Like others have said, you can live with 128 if you use the cloud for a large amount of storage. The RAM could be a problem if you plan on using this as your daily computer for 2 years or more. 8 GB will be ideal for lasting for 3-4 more years, so if you can upgrade RAM, do it.

Nah, 4GB of RAM will be okay for more than 4 years, not just 2.
It's only necessary for people planning on using software that requires more RAM. Photoshop, VMs, etc.

Trust me. Also, can't agree more; the extra SSD space will be greatly appreciated.
 
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Flow39

macrumors 68000
Sep 7, 2014
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Nah, 4GB of RAM will be okay for more than 4 years, not just 2.
It's only necessary for people planning on using software that requires more RAM. Photoshop, VMs, etc.

Trust me. Also, can't agree more; the extra SSD space will be greatly appreciated.

Haha, maybe my CS studies clouded my thinking because I need VMs/IDEs open all the time. I'd still recommend a RAM upgrade it if at all possible, but storage really is the #1 upgrade I always make on my devices. If I had to choose between upgrading SSD or RAM, I'd go SSD every time.
 

MacBoook160

macrumors 6502
Feb 9, 2011
301
53
Haha, maybe my CS studies clouded my thinking because I need VMs/IDEs open all the time. I'd still recommend a RAM upgrade it if at all possible, but storage really is the #1 upgrade I always make on my devices. If I had to choose between upgrading SSD or RAM, I'd go SSD every time.

I agree. I'm glad to have the RAM I have, but the SSD (for me!) was non-negotiable. 'Course, I should also be more responsible about culling out my files...I'm bad about that.
 

Splitbolt

macrumors regular
Jun 18, 2015
129
10
It really depends on what the user is doing. Ever since I quit downloading movies 10+ years ago, I haven't used more than 60GB of storage on any computer I've owned, and that's mostly the OS and programs. For me, a 256GB hard drive would be a huge waste of money, so would more than 4GB of RAM.

I assume that money may be tight for a college student so it's important that the OP takes into consideration his/her uses.
 

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,634
312
Haha, maybe my CS studies clouded my thinking because I need VMs/IDEs open all the time. I'd still recommend a RAM upgrade it if at all possible, but storage really is the #1 upgrade I always make on my devices. If I had to choose between upgrading SSD or RAM, I'd go SSD every time.

If somebody's going to use VMs then I would say they should get 8GB RAM.

I'm surprised you had to use VMs to do CS though. It seems like most CS programs are unix* based and you should be able to run all the unix dev stuff natively on OS X.


* I use the word "unix" loosely of course.
 

MacBoook160

macrumors 6502
Feb 9, 2011
301
53
You're right, of course, Splitbolt. And I'm impressed, I have to say. I'm clearly a hoarder! I'm less dependent on the Cloud and such, as I should be. I keep it all on my SSD. And external back-up.
 

ocabj

macrumors 6502a
Jul 2, 2009
548
202
If somebody's going to use VMs then I would say they should get 8GB RAM.

I'm surprised you had to use VMs to do CS though. It seems like most CS programs are unix* based and you should be able to run all the unix dev stuff natively on OS X.


* I use the word "unix" loosely of course.

I did my CS degree in the late 90s, and most people worked in Linux after the first quarter. That being said, given the advances in development tools, I would definitely do a lot of work in VMs if I were a CS major now, simply to have the ability to rebuild the development environment (e.g. Vagrant + VirtualBox).
 

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,634
312
I did my CS degree in the late 90s, and most people worked in Linux after the first quarter. That being said, given the advances in development tools, I would definitely do a lot of work in VMs if I were a CS major now, simply to have the ability to rebuild the development environment (e.g. Vagrant + VirtualBox).

I would like to hope that a CS program today isn't materially different than the one I did in the 90s too, i.e., that you learn how computers work and the theories behind programming. I could have done my degree using TextEdit and a command-line build chain. In fact that's what I did most of the time. :)
 

akimoriRyuuji

macrumors regular
Jun 28, 2015
115
84
As a side-note, I'd like to point out that it's not impossible to run a VM on 4GB of RAM. In fact, it works quite well from my experience.
 
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Meister

Suspended
Oct 10, 2013
5,456
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On my rmbp I have 8gb and with the most demanding things I do (Lr raw, large panorama HDRs) the dual core is always the bottle neck, never ever ram.

Try the heal-tool on a massive raw file and watch the cpu go through the roof and lag to occur.
 
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