Help Needed - Is the new MBA suitable for me?

[Ksk55]

Hi there,

First of all; I have no knowledge whatsoever within computers, hardware etc. so bear with me if the questions are silly

I'm borrowing a MBA 2011 at the moment, since my Macbook Pro from 2017 was stolen last week. Therefore, I need a new computer, and I thought the new MBA 2018 would be a good choice, however after reading all the threads in here, I'm not quite sure.

I work as a consultant within online marketing, and I'll need a computer that won't slow down while I have 20-25 tabs open at the same time with 3 Word documents, 1 Excel Sheet etc... You get my point. Further, I would appreciate if it didn't sound like an aircraft when handling more than 10 tabs in Chrome at a time.

I'm not doing any video editing, I'm not gaming and I'm not using Photoshop or anything like that. I might be using Photoshop for smaller tasks in the future, but at the moment I don't intend to use such "heavyer" programs.

Since all our systems are set up to work with Mac, I'm only interested in buying an Apple computer - but will the new MBA 2018 be suitable for me, or should I look at the MBP instead?

If the MBA 2018 is good enough - which specs should I have? Upgrade to 16 GB ram for example?

Hope you are able to help - and thanks for all the great content in here!

 

[princ2]

MBA 2018 with even base config and 8GM of RAM will be suitable for your needs - for just Word, Excel and lots Chrome tabs you shouldn't experience any hiccups. They might start occurring once you open stuff like FCPX, LR or PS additionally.

You'll be good trust me, even if swapping occurs you most likely won't notice it.

 

[Falcon80]

I think 16GB will definitely help!

 

[Gravydog316]

I think of the MBA as a good school computr, not really a good work one (especially with lots of tabs,)
(but it's more portable,
& really, as with all computers, the more memory, the better, (memory > processor, as a rule)
well, how does the MBA work for you now?

 

[Ksk55]

I think of the MBA as a good school computr, not really a good work one (especially with lots of tabs,)
(but it's more portable,
& really, as with all computers, the more memory, the better, (memory > processor, as a rule)
well, how does the MBA work for you now?

The MBA works fine, however it's an old one (2011) and as soon as I put a bit of pressure on it, the fans starts acting crazy. But the performance is actually good.

When you say memory, is it the SSD-storage or is it the e.g. "8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory"? Sorry for the (probably) stupid question, haha
[doublepost=1542014398][/doublepost]

MBA 2018 with even base config and 8GM of RAM will be suitable for your needs - for just Word, Excel and lots Chrome tabs you shouldn't experience any hiccups. They might start occurring once you open stuff like FCPX, LR or PS additionally.

You'll be good trust me, even if swapping occurs you most likely won't notice it.

Thanks! Sounds good.

 

[Barna Biro]

I think of the MBA as a good school computr, not really a good work one (especially with lots of tabs,)
(but it's more portable,
& really, as with all computers, the more memory, the better, (memory > processor, as a rule)
well, how does the MBA work for you now?

Saying it's not a work computer is silly. The new Air's performance is comparable to the 1st gen 13" Macbook Pro. I can totally understand a debate on whether the asking price is reasonable or not for what it brings to the table in 2018, but wheter it's a suitable work machine or not has only to do with that "work" means to the person in matter. I develop enterprise level software for a living and i develop all kind of web, mobile and desktop apps in my spare time with some light photo editing/retouching and graphic design whenever needed and I find the new MBA more than capable for my personal and my work needs alike (sure, could I shave off some minutes from my build times with a beefier machine? definitely... is that really mandatory/a deal breaker? not for me... but for others with different workflows and project setups, sure, perhaps the MBA would not be enough... but saying it's not really a work computer is simply an inaccurate generalization).

I'd also vouch to get the 16GB memory version *if* possible. The office suite can be quite a memory hog and so are today's browsers with how they manage multiple tabs. That being said, 8GB should most likely also be enough for your needs for the vast majority of times (without the need to first close certain unused/uneeded apps in order to free up some memory to perform a specific task).
[doublepost=1542017427][/doublepost]

When you say memory, is it the SSD-storage or is it the e.g. "8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory"? Sorry for the (probably) stupid question, haha
[doublepost=1542014398][/doublepost]

Yes, he meant "8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory"

 

[Ma2k5]

MBA 2018 with even base config and 8GM of RAM will be suitable for your needs - for just Word, Excel and lots Chrome tabs you shouldn't experience any hiccups. They might start occurring once you open stuff like FCPX, LR or PS additionally.

You'll be good trust me, even if swapping occurs you most likely won't notice it.

Going by some reviews, you may end up getting some slow downs using many tabs on a browser, more so on certain popular websites. Browsing is seen as a low resource task but I would say you are more likely to get slow downs with a browser than most day to day apps.

 

[princ2]

Going by some reviews, you may end up getting some slow downs using many tabs on a browser, more so on certain popular websites. Browsing is seen as a low resource task but I would say you are more likely to get slow downs with a browser than most day to day apps.

Well, that really depends on what sites will be used exactly, that is really individual. Another aspect is what is actually running in the background - is it just Dropbox? Or lots of stuff which adds up, like Adobe CC agent?

If you open 30-40 tabs with lots of stuff and messy code (which most of modern sites have, unfortunately...) yes you can experience small-medium hiccups.