Is 4GB RAM enough for the Macbook Air?
- Thread starter keshavbk
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Meister
Suspended
he means $240. There is special offers on the base models that you cant get on the BTO.
But will that carry over to the next three years? I understand the whole SSD and RAM coupling to make it insanely fast even after you max out the RAM but will that happen in 2017, too?
capathy21
macrumors 65816
Yes you will be fine. Paying 240 more for just 4GB of additional ram would be a complete waste of money.
----------
What happened with it? It was making my rMBP warmer than a stove until I installed flash blocker. Now my machine runs cool but it still drains my battery faster than Safari.
ioannis2005gr
macrumors 6502
If you need something new and fast in 2017, you have to sell yours around Christmas 2016 (as higher as you can) and order a new one in 2017 (probably a 4k display model those days)....that's life!
PS: Someone might think....it's similar to 'marriage concept' .....!!!!
If you need something new and fast in 2017, you have to sell yours around Christmas 2016 (as higher as you can) and order a new one in 2017 (probably a 4k display model those days)....that's life!
PS: Someone might think....it's similar to 'marriage concept' .....!!!!
Well I think I'll try and get the 4GB RAM model now, and when I go to college in 2017, I'll upgrade to whatever's new at that time. But from what I hear, the base 13" Macbook Air will last me at least 3 years without any issues.
ioannis2005gr
macrumors 6502
I guess it will run perfectly for more than 3 years ...but can you buy the three year extension warranty for a refurbished Mac?
I'm going to buy a new 13" MBA BTO (with 8 GB RAM upgrade) along with the 3-year warranty plan. I will try to keep it for at least 5 years....
I'm going to buy a new 13" MBA BTO (with 8 GB RAM upgrade) along with the 3-year warranty plan. I will try to keep it for at least 5 years....
Hmm maybe I'll do that idk. However after three years, I'd probably wan't to upgrade anyway.
capathy21
macrumors 65816
This exactly...
If you get maxed out ram to "future proof," by the time 3-5 years has passed, your processor, battery, and other internals will be very dated and the extra ram will do very little good. Buy the machine you need now. Tech has plateaued and what works for you now, will work for you in 2 or 3 years.
I guess I've made up my mind, then. Thanks to everyone for their advice. I'll get the base model Macbook Air 13".
ioannis2005gr
macrumors 6502
Maybe it's cheaper to buy a replacement battery. In my opinion, most of recent processors can run smoothly even for 7-8 years...pci-e ssd is a brand new technology, it will take 4-5 years for something very new....in conclusion, a 2014 BTO MBA can run for at least 5 years with minor service.
Probably, display technology is going to be a matter for replacement ...not the performance....
capathy21
macrumors 65816
Maybe it's cheaper to buy a replacement battery. In my opinion, most of recent processors can run smoothly even for 7-8 years...pci-e ssd is a brand new technology, it will take 4-5 years for something very new....in conclusion, a 2014 BTO MBA can run for at least 5 years with minor service.
Probably, display technology is going to be a matter for replacement ...not the performance....
Yea you would probably be fine for at least 4 years on system performance but I'd also say that for the base model unless the users needs drastically change.
The display is pretty much exhausted at this point. Even if they don't do retina in the next MBA, they really need to go to an ips display.
Meister
Suspended
You named the problem
I tethered my rmbp to my ipad and tried to uploaded images to photobucket.
My fans started spinning superfast and my rmbp got egg-fry-hot.
This seems to only happen with chrome. Since then no chrome for me anymore!
brdeveloper
macrumors 68030
4GB is the new 2GB which made 2010 Macbook Air prematurely obsolete. By the way, do you know someone who still uses his/her 2010 2GB MBA? If you were buying one just for browsing with Safari, it would be ok. Also, Chrome is a buggy browser these days. Firefox surpassed it in terms of bug tracking and solving.
Meister
Suspended
my local
store only has the 2010 2gb on display. What gives you the idea that they are obsolete?
capathy21
macrumors 65816
According to your comparison, it will be 2018 by the time the 2014 4GB model is obsolete (not taking into consideration the memory management advances in newer versions of OSX).
A 2GB 2010 Air still suffices for things like web browsing, Spotify, Word, iTunes etc. In fact, I was doing all of those things on a 2007 Mac Book Core 2 Duo with 1GB of ram fairly easily. Multitasking was a pain, but that being said, the 2010 MBA with 2GB of ram can still perform these tasks much better than a 2007 MB.
At worst, the 2014 4GB model will become "obsolete" in 4 to 5 years. Again, by that time, the other components of the machine will be well aged, meaning that extra ram won't really do much good.
In comparison, if the OP were to tuck away that 240, and in 3 years sell his 2014 MBA, he could put that 240 with what he sells his 2014 for, and get an entire new machine which is much smarter IMO than only future proofing one component of the machine.
JPamplin
macrumors 6502
this has been talked about since time in memoriam.
4GB is plenty for typical use. 8GB is better for these reasons:
4GB is plenty for typical use. 8GB is better for these reasons:
- More RAM means less wear on the SSD
- 8GB is better if you want to run VMWare
- 8GB is better if you have LOTS of apps / tabs open
- 8GB will use a lesser percentage of total RAM for video
- Mac OS is faster overall with more RAM
capathy21
macrumors 65816
VMWare does benefit from 8, as does heavy video/photo editing. With basic to medium use, there is no speed difference between 4 or 8 GB of ram.
flowrider
macrumors 604
If there is a lot of virtual memory/disc swapping going on, more RAM will will in fact be faster.
Lou
capathy21
macrumors 65816
Right, that's why I prefaced that by saying "with basic to medium use" in which I meant, browsing, writing documents, maybe a few apps open but nothing intensive. More ram will definitely increase the systems speed when working in certain programs or with a considerable amount of multi tasking.
For example, right now I have 5 Chrome tabs going, Spotify, Mail, iPhoto and Word open and I am no where near swap or even full green on memory pressure with a 4GB model. I would notice zero difference if I had 8Gb of ram with my current usage.
ioannis2005gr
macrumors 6502
I agree. Especially, the first and the last reasons....it will only increase my total cost at about $100...remember, I cannot normally upgrade it later, if I change my mind....
Last edited:
capathy21
macrumors 65816
What we are looking at in the OP's case is a difference significantly higher than 100 dollars. It's much easier to go with 8GB when the difference is only 100 dollars, but when it's 240(a quarter of the machine's entire cost just to have 4GB extra ram), it then becomes rather silly to spend 240 on 4GB of ram for "just in case."
There are so many good deals to be had on base models through Best Buy and other sources, it really makes no sense to even contemplate purchasing a 4GB model through Apple. So in theory, unless someone is actually paying Apple full retail price for a base model Air, the difference will always be more than 100 due to all of the other avenues in which a 4GB model can be obtained.
This of course only Applies in the U.S.
Yotsuba
macrumors regular
I have an 11-inch Mid 2012 MacBook Air with 4GB RAM and a 64GB SSD. My only complaint is with the small SSD. I've seen no negative impact on performance or anything and everything that I do on my 17-inch MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and a 2.2GHz Core i7 can be done on the Air. I will eventually replace the 64GB SSD with a higher capacity unit from Other World Computing, but until then, I'll continue to use my 128GB USB 3.0 flash drive.
Meister
Suspended
You can't upgrade the cpu later and upgrading the ssd is not reasonable either.