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I'm thinking of getting a MacBook Air

eeqlaehuje

eeqlaehuje

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2015
25
4
Hey guys, I've been reading the post for a week now, and decided to ask a question. Now I know I'm new, so I hope I'm not asking something trivial and annoying for you all. Anyway, here it goes.
Currently I have a Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro (2.2 Ghz i5, 4GB RAM) running Mountain Lion, but I'm considering upgrading to something more portable, and I thought what is better than MacBook Air 11". So, I've already read that 1.7 i7 upgrade would decrease the battery life, so I'm not really considering it. What I might do is to get 8 GB of RAM, but I'm not really sure if I need it or not, at most I run Firefox, VLC and uTorrent at the same time. Would you recommend me getting the 8GB or would 4 be just enough? I also want to upgrade the OS when new ones release. I'll be paying a good amount of money and I don't want to spend it on something that might not run new OS in a few years.

Also, I've read that Apple might downgrade the CPU on 24th, so should I buy while it's still 1.4 i5, or at least wait until they've made the announcement? I don't care about the 12" Retina MBA. Also, this computer will be my primary computer.

Again, sorry if this kind of questions were asked for hundreds of times, and also I'm sorry if I messed up the writing, English isn't my first language.
 
Last edited:
eeqlaehuje said:
Hey guys, I've been reading the post for a week now, and decided to ask a question. Now I know I'm new, so I hope I'm not asking something trivial and annoying for you all. Anyway, here it goes.
Currently I have a Early 2011 13" MacBook Pro (2.2 Ghz i5, 4GB RAM) running Mountain Lion, but I'm considering upgrading to something more portable, and I thought what is better than MacBook Air 11". So, I've already read that 1.7 i7 upgrade would decrease the battery life, so I'm not really considering it. What I might do is to get 8 GB of RAM, but I'm not really sure if I need it or not, at most I run Firefox, VLC and uTorrent at the same time. Would you recommend me getting the 8GB or would 4 be just enough? I also want to upgrade the OS when new ones release. I'll be paying a good amount of money and I don't want to spend it on something that might not run new OS in a few years.

Also, I've read that Apple might downgrade the CPU on 24th, so should I buy while it's still 1.4 i5, or at least wait until they've made the announcement? I don't care about the 12" Retina MBA. Also, this computer will be my primary computer.

Again, sorry if this kind of questions were asked for hundreds of times, and also I'm sorry if I messed up the writing, English isn't my first language.
Click to expand...

#1 -- 4GB is more than enough for running that stuff

#2 -- 4GB will be enough for OS upgrades for some time to come. Current required amount of memory is still "only" 2GB.

#3 -- If Apple refreshes the current models, it won't be with slower CPUs. They will use Broadwells, which will be a little faster and use somewhat less power than the current Haswells in MBAs. You can decide if it's worth waiting or not. If Apple reworks the entire MBA line and releases a 12" retina MBA (as many have predicted) then it might have a slower "Core M" CPU.

#4 -- Your English is good.
 
motrek said:
#1 -- 4GB is more than enough for running that stuff

#2 -- 4GB will be enough for OS upgrades for some time to come. Current required amount of memory is still "only" 2GB.

#3 -- If Apple refreshes the current models, it won't be with slower CPUs. They will use Broadwells, which will be a little faster and use somewhat less power than the current Haswells in MBAs. You can decide if it's worth waiting or not. If Apple reworks the entire MBA line and releases a 12" retina MBA (as many have predicted) then it might have a slower "Core M" CPU.

#4 -- Your English is good.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much! You've been very helpful!
 
I pulled the trigger on my 13" MBA and researched both 11" & 13" b/c both are lighter than my MacBook Pro 15" 2.5GHz 2008. I chose the 13" b/c it was a $100 difference for what I needed. I'm glad I selected the 13" b/c of the screen size. I had the 1st MBA with 80GB and the same 13" screen, I'm kinda stuck on the number. I just bought an iPad Mini after trying to use a free Elipse 7" tablet from Verizon, and really hated the smaller screens...I say go BIG! IMHO :cool:
 
I have ipad air 2 and thinking of switch to mb air 11.

It is almost as portable as ipad for me.

I have ipad mostly for fun at home and writing at work.

I would use mb for writing but also for photo edit in lightroom. Is it enough for working with bunch of 20mb raw files, browsing and writing if I take base model of mb air?
 
Kapybarus said:
I would use mb for writing but also for photo edit in lightroom. Is it enough for working with bunch of 20mb raw files, browsing and writing if I take base model of mb air?
Click to expand...

I've run Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign CS6 on MBAs with both 4Gb and 8Gb. You definitely want the 8Gb —4Gb is noticeably less responsive. For the amount of money you'll be dropping on the laptop, spend the extra on RAM now because you can't upgrade after purchase.
 
Thanks for the replies, I'm now considering 11" 128 gb with 4 gb of ram. It's roughly $1100 here including tax. On the other hand, I can install an SSD and an additional 4 gb of ram to my current early 2011 mbp for just $270, but I can't really carry it since it's 2 kg. It's gonna be a though choice.
 
Oh, by the way does anyone know a way of using the Apple Remote with the MBA? I've read that recent models don't have IR sensors.
 
eeqlaehuje said:
Oh, by the way does anyone know a way of using the Apple Remote with the MBA? I've read that recent models don't have IR sensors.
Click to expand...
The macbook air never had an IR sensor to my knowledge.
You can use your iPhone as a remote via bluetooth.

----------
Jim Campbell said:
I've run Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign CS6 on MBAs with both 4Gb and 8Gb. You definitely want the 8Gb —4Gb is noticeably less responsive. For the amount of money you'll be dropping on the laptop, spend the extra on RAM now because you can't upgrade after purchase.
Click to expand...
He is only using Lr.

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Kapybarus said:
I have ipad air 2 and thinking of switch to mb air 11.

It is almost as portable as ipad for me.

I have ipad mostly for fun at home and writing at work.

I would use mb for writing but also for photo edit in lightroom. Is it enough for working with bunch of 20mb raw files, browsing and writing if I take base model of mb air?
Click to expand...
The base model will work just fine.
 
You can use the Apple remote with a dongle and Mira software.. the dongle allows for IR receiver..check twistedLemon . com
You can get a Satechi bluetooth remote.
And yes, they original MBA had the ir receiver. Sad that they dropped it.

eeqlaehuje said:
Oh, by the way does anyone know a way of using the Apple Remote with the MBA? I've read that recent models don't have IR sensors.
Click to expand...
 
Guys I have another question for you. I know it's not ideal running Parallels with just 4 gb ram, but since I will be using it rarely and only for excel, do you think it would cause any any problems?
 
No, you won't have any problems.
When I faced the same dilemma what office software to use, I decided to get MS Office for Mac. It works very well, no problems at all at least in my case and no Parallels needed.
 
Thanks a lot guys! I have decided not to wait and get the 11" base model.
 
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