Did I make the right decision with the MBA specs?

[TorontoSS]

Hello - I ordered my Macbook Air yesterday. And since I've got three weeks to wait for it, what does that mean?

I can obsess about whether I ordered the right machine!
I am a normal user, not at all a pro user. I use word, excel, look at photos, not major editing. Browse internet. I am coming from a late 2013 Macbook Pro 13 inch with 8GB ram and 256GB space and a 2.4 processor. The computer still runs great but some of the OS features aren't compatible with the mac now. My husbands (non apple) computer is running super slow. It's got a faster processor than mine but 4GB ram. I assumed more ram doesn't help now, but may help in 3-4 years.

The MBA I ordered is: i5/16/256.

It's the same price as the i5/8/512.

I'm happy to spend that amount (well not very happy but I'm happy for that to be my budget). My current usage on the 2013 MBP shows that i'm not pressed for memory. The activity monitor shows the memory usage pressure is "green". I have about 110GB of space left on my 256. I am going to start from new on the MBA so I figured storage will be less of an issue (iMessages seems to take up a big chunk of it). So this is a long winded way of asking:

Was I correct in going for 16GB of RAM over the 512 space? I figured for longevity (I've had this current one for 6 years now) this would be a good idea because whilst I wouldn't need it now, I may in 4 years.

Thanks for letting me obsess just a bit!

 

[IngerMan]

It sounds like from your information you would be fine ordering i5/8/256. That’s what I ordered.

my thinking was I have had both Apple 8gb and 16GB ram and memory pressure was never an issue for my usage. Apple does very well with its software for ram Usage, if you have more ram it will use more. The only reason I would get 16GB is if I was going to run Windows VM often.

I’ve been using less then 140GB of SSD for some time, I have the option to off load photos in the cloud if I needed more storage, I don’t see pushing 200GB of SSD for a long time. We have many devices in my family and I use the family share plan 200GB for $2.99 a month. It backs up all our photos, iMessage and documents. It runs seamlessly as you would expect from Apple.

in all I wanted to spend as little as possible so if I want to trade in, in a few years I won’t take a big hit, it’s always an option. In fact my new MBA is costing me $9.00, I’m trading in my 2017 15” MBP 👍

the main thing is your peace of mind. its your decision and that will be the correct one 😉

 

[TorontoSS]

I think you’re right actually. You’ve clearly made a smarter move give your upgrade is costing $9. Mine is not.

I also use iCloud for £2.49 and I think I could use other storage effectively if needed.

I don’t think I’ll need 16gb ever. I’ll live with the decision however.

 

[mtneer]

Unless you anticipate your use case dramatically ramping up from Word, Excel, Browsing - you could have gone with the i3/256 and saved some cash. So, unless you were hard up for cash, your machine is more capable, so you’re good.

 

[rambo47]

I like the idea of maxing out the RAM. It's never a mistake and may be the single biggest move to future-proof your MBA. I also like the i5 instead of the i3. Versatility even if you don't use it now. My old MBA from 2010 has a 256GB SSD and it's nowhere near full. Unless you're managing a lot of images or video files a larger SSD is meaningless. 256GB is still a huge amount of storage space.

 

[deeddawg]

Most folks who need 16Gb ram already know why they need it.

kind of a “if you have to ask you probably don’t need it” thing

Won’t hurt anything to spend the extra $200 but for the usage you describe it’d pretty much just be wasted money.

Also sounds like upgrading from 256GB would be wasted money in your usage. you already have lots of empty space, and there’s zero value to adding even more.

 

[ctjack]

I am coming from a late 2013 Macbook Pro 13 inch with 8GB ram and 256GB space and a 2.4 processor.

Hi! Just to make things more clear: new base i3/8gb/256gb Air is twice more powerful than your previous laptop.
CPU wise it is also more powerful in a single core performance than MBP 16. So you would be good even with i3.
The only thing where i5 makes sense - gaming, video exporting.

I figured for longevity (I've had this current one for 6 years now) this would be a good idea because whilst I wouldn't need it now, I may in 4 years.

In 4 years, you will be better of by selling current base Air for lets say $300-$500 and end up buying new base AIR for $1000. So you spend $500 more in 4 years, but also will get updated internals.
You can't future proof your device. Because MBP 13 2019 came out year ago, and it beat in CPU performance MBP 15 inch from 2015 and 2016. So those guys who bought 15 inch in 2016 couldn't future proof themselves enough, when the base MBP 13 now beats them all except GPU.
=======================
Just order i3/8gb and make yourself happy by saving $300+tax on that.

Personally me taxing a lot RAM with Lightroom and video editing, and i can't see myself pushing more than 8gb. It is pretty ok with that.
But I am only editing 100 RAW from 24MP Sony in Lightroom, and do color graded video edits. No problems with 8gb.
So if i did 500 RAW photos at once and also used special effects in Adobe After Effects in my video edits, then i would definitely consider 16gb of RAM. But now I am planning to get 8gb anyway.

 

[rambo47]

I told myself that getting the 2.13GHz processor was ensuring future resale value for my MBA. That was in 2010 and I'm still using it. Resale value: nil.

You make a good point about spending more for adding value. Buy what you need right now and maybe a year down the road. But looking for resale value on tech is a fools errand. I've played that fool far more often then I care to admit to myself. It's been a handy justification for up-selling myself but it's never gotten me anything in return.

 

[SkiHound2]

I certainly don't think you made a poor choice. If you have 8gb now and memory pressure is green, you probably don't NEED 16gb. The operating system does make efficient use of ram. Even browsers can use a lot of ram if you have a lot of tabs open; Chrome is well known for using a lot of resources. 256gb should be fine too. What takes a lot of space are things like high megapixel photos (especially in raw format), video files, etc. I'm a statistician and my work computer has a 245gb HD. I have years and years of data files and still have a quite a lot of free space. OTOH, I'm a photographer and I like to keep recent images on my SSD because it's faster. I can eat up a lot of space fast. The system only takes about 35 ish gb. If you use Time Machine the operating system will store snapshots on your hard drive if space is available. They can make it appear you are using lots of storage. But macOS will manage that storage. I've thought of buying a Macbook Air and for my intended uses I think 256gb would be more than sufficient. Because of the Covid-19 situation I've not been doing any traveling. And frankly, I suspect it'll be awhile before we'd feel safe traveling. So my real "need" for one right now is pretty minimal. But I'd probably do the same specs you ordered.

 

[TorontoSS]

Thanks everyone for your insights and for letting me obsess a little bit. I sometimes think it's part of the whole mac experience.

I note some of you believe my specs are fine and some of you have noted that I have gone overboard. I know deep down inside that the ones who told me not to get 16gb ram are correct. I don't actually need it, particularly for my usage.

I also know I won't get much resale value out of the extra I'm spending now. The best resale is generally with the base levels.

That being said, I'm just going to stick with it and hopefully love my gold MacBook Air.