Looking to buy 11" MBA for wife - questions

[Boyd01]

I think you will be fine with 4gb also, but it won't do any harm to get 8gb if you can afford it. The solid state disk (SSD) is really fast on these machines. When there isn't enough RAM available, the operating system swaps data to the SSD. On a computer with a spinning magnetic hard drive, this is a huge performance hit. On the MBA, you won't even be aware this is happening.

I had a 2011 4gb MBA and ran lots of powerful software like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Filemaker Pro, Vectorworks, Photoshop. I'm sure swapping was taking place but I wasn't aware of it. I now have an 8gb MBA and the user experience isn't a whole lot different.

As I mentioned, I just got a base model refurb MBA for a family member. It's replacing a 7 year old MacBook with only 2gb RAM. I'm sure she will be fine for another 6 or 7 years as her needs are very modest (mail, web, word processing).

As far as SSD size… only you can answer that. The SSD is upgradeable (can be removed) but there are no 3rd party replacements availabe. For almost two years we have been promised they're coming "real soon now"…. go figure.

 

[balamw]

B&H Photo, MacMall and probably other places stock the 8gb models.

You are correct, however the reason I phrased it that way was that the OP was asking about mass market Bricks and Mortar stores. Mail order or from a specialty store
is quite a different beast. (B&H isn't at the local mall.)

You won't get an 8GB box at Best Buy and even at Apple it may be shipped to store.

B

 

[imaccooper]

Ill put another vote in for the base model air. In fact i am about to make the same purchase for my wife who is also a teacher and minus being a grad student sounds rather similar in computer usage to your wife. The 4 GB is truly all you will need as the computer will most likely be out of date before you need more RAM than that. As was mentioned earlier, the hard drive size is a personal question. I have a 128 SSD in my air and it is barely half full. The only thing that will make me consider a 256 is the potential for my wife to want to download movies and or songs onto it. Still, it should not be a problem and it is now so easy to grab a huge external drive that I wouldn't worry about it at all. That leaves you with a base model air. The only thing I would suggest is taking her to store so she can hold the 11 and the 13 together. I got the 13 because i thought i would want it for papers, but i honestly wouldn't mind a bit if i only had the 11. This is really a personal thing and your best bet is to let her hold both and let her tell you (then buy from somewhere with a return policy so you can switch when she changes her mind ).

 

[tgara]

I have an 11-inch MBA that I use when I travel. My main computer is a supped-up 27-inch iMac. Among the MBAs, the base hardware configurations should be able to easily handle what your wife needs to do.

The issue I would consider carefully is the screen size. The 11-inch can be small for some, especially if you are working with multiple PDFs or Word documents for example. I use the Spaces feature to keep multiple documents open on different screens to compensate for the smaller screen, but since it is my travel computer, its acceptable. The other advice given is good: have her look at and play with both the 13 and 11 inch models, keeping in mind what documents and apps she's actually going to be working on.

 

[ewils19]

I purchased a base 2013 11" air in February for the same usage as your wife will have. I have a 15 inch PC and was tired of lugging it to class and internships, etc. I do have to write a lot of research papers for my degree as well and find that the 11 inch works fine for that. The adjustment to OS X was easy for me.

I do sometimes like to use an external monitor for writing papers but it's not necessary.

You can probably get the educational discount from best buy, but right now that's only $50 off I think.

 

[flur]

I'm a writer, so I spend extended amounts of time looking at text on a screen, and the 11" MBA is my go-to computer for writing. I recommend going for the memory upgrade to 8gb - you could be fine with 4gb, but you will likely need to replace the machine sooner than you would if you went with 8gb, and you can't change it later.

Since your wife is a grad student and a teacher, she will qualify for educational pricing for Office 365 - 79.99 for 4 years. That will get her all the office apps she needs for her computer, unlimited OneDrive storage, and the office apps for her ipad (if she has one).

I came to Mac from a Win7 machine, and had no trouble converting to the Mac OS. IMO it's more similar to Win 7 than it is different.

 

[maverick22]

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

My sister-in-law brought up a couple of concerns. She has a Macbook & doesn't how to re-name a folder on the desktop. I surely hope this is possible.

She also said something about digging to find a certain folder, it opens up "several" and can be a pain. I'm not sure exactly what she's talking about.

I hope my wife, as she often does, does not run into any OS annoyances and regrets getting a Mac.

 

[mortenandersen]

As a writer looking at text over time - how is the MBA screen?

I'm a writer, so I spend extended amounts of time looking at text on a screen, and the 11" MBA is my go-to computer for writing. I recommend going for the memory upgrade to 8gb - you could be fine with 4gb, but you will likely need to replace the machine sooner than you would if you went with 8gb, and you can't change it later.

Since your wife is a grad student and a teacher, she will qualify for educational pricing for Office 365 - 79.99 for 4 years. That will get her all the office apps she needs for her computer, unlimited OneDrive storage, and the office apps for her ipad (if she has one).

I came to Mac from a Win7 machine, and had no trouble converting to the Mac OS. IMO it's more similar to Win 7 than it is different.

How is your experience over longer time periods with looking at (reading, writing, editing) text on a MBA 11 screen? Readability? Contrast? Blurred image because of not-retina? Too small text?

And is it possible to use the ENTIRE/full screen real estate to be filled with text, not having these ugly unneccessary columns on the left and right side of the screen, with a somewhat limited text area in between?

 

[Cmd-Z]

Sisters ... ugghh!

She has a Macbook & doesn't how to re-name a folder on the desktop. I surely hope this is possible.

Of course it is, sounds like operator error. Keeping folders on the desktop says a bit about her style ... much cleaner to keep things organized where they belong.

She also said something about digging to find a certain folder, it opens up "several" and can be a pain. I'm not sure exactly what she's talking about.

Sounds like either she's looking at spotlight search results where she gets a lot of hits on a key word, or she's opening a zip file, or ????

 

[maverick22]

Just saw that the 11" 4gb will be on sale for $779.99 at Best Buy Black Friday! Sounds like a great deal right?

 

[Meister]

Just saw that the 11" 4gb will be on sale for $779.99 at Best Buy Black Friday! Sounds like a great deal right?

That's what I told you. Get it and enjoy

 

[balamw]

I hope my wife, as she often does, does not run into any OS annoyances and regrets getting a Mac.

She probably will run into some annoyances, but given all the reactions to Windows 8 it will still be about the same there too. Both have lots of trackpad gestures that can be triggered by folks unused to them at seemingly random times and will take some getting used to.

Renaming a file is easy, on the desktop or not. Here's one way of many. Click on the file's icon to select the file. Click on the name. Type a new name.

Another. Select the file. Then hit Command I to pull up the file information window. Click on the name and type a new one.

We can't really comment on the digging one as you have not been able to describe it clearly.

Finder, which is Apple's file manager for Mac is quite different than Windows Explorer, and takes some getting used to as your Windows Explorer workflow won't translate over exactly.


----------

And is it possible to use the ENTIRE/full screen real estate to be filled with text, not having these ugly unneccessary columns on the left and right side of the screen, with a somewhat limited text area in between?

This is usually a function of the editor software you are using. Most give you a zoom to text width option and can hide the ribbon or other stuff on top of the screen.

Remember that even non retina, the MBA11 has a higher resolution screen than most Windows boxes of similar size from a few years back.

B

 

[capathy21]

Just saw that the 11" 4gb will be on sale for $779.99 at Best Buy Black Friday! Sounds like a great deal right?

Yes that's a great deal! Go for it.

 

[flur]

How is your experience over longer time periods with looking at (reading, writing, editing) text on a MBA 11 screen? Readability? Contrast? Blurred image because of not-retina? Too small text?

My experience has been good, but... When I first got the machine I felt the font looked fuzzy. IMO Apple does not render fonts as well as MS on non-retina screens (and it was my first Mac). I took it into the local Apple store and asked them if something was wrong with it. The guy took it in the back to perform some tolerance tests on it, and brought it back saying the screen was within tolerances. Thing is, he did something when he was back there--changed a setting--and I don't know what he did. The font smoothing option, which is usually a check box, had a dash in it. Maybe someone here will know what he did?

In any case, the text felt sharper to my eyes. And over the two years I've had it, I've never felt like my eyes were getting tired with too much time in front of it, or that the font was too small or blurry. Contrast has been great. Retina is sharper, absolutely, but I've been very happy with my experience with my MBA. IMO, it's a trade-off, since Apple isn't yet offering a super-portable form factor with a retina screen. I'm willing to trade a little screen sharpness for the decreased strain on my shoulder when toting it around.

Also - I'm not running Yosemite. The font form and options vary based on the OS, so it'd be good to test out an MBA in-store. YMMV, of course.

And is it possible to use the ENTIRE/full screen real estate to be filled with text, not having these ugly unneccessary columns on the left and right side of the screen, with a somewhat limited text area in between?

If she's using MS Word, there's reading view, which puts two pages on the screen at once, and draft view, which gets rid of the page format. For dedicated writing, I prefer Scrivener, which is a separate application often used for writing long form stuff (novels, dissertations, etc.). Scrivener lets you make the "page" as wide as you want for drafting, so you can definitely fill the screen with words, or fill the screen with a section for words and a separate section of notes and research. When something is complete, Scrivener let's you compile it for Word in the standard .doc and .docx formats that are usually used in the education field.

 

[motrek]

My experience has been good, but... When I first got the machine I felt the font looked fuzzy. IMO Apple does not render fonts as well as MS on non-retina screens (and it was my first Mac). I took it into the local Apple store and asked them if something was wrong with it. The guy took it in the back to perform some tolerance tests on it, and brought it back saying the screen was within tolerances. Thing is, he did something when he was back there--changed a setting--and I don't know what he did. The font smoothing option, which is usually a check box, had a dash in it. Maybe someone here will know what he did? ...

Don't know about the font smoothing option but the reason why OS X text looks fuzzy/blurry vs. Windows text is because Microsoft has a bias to align the vertical lines of letters with pixels on the screen. So if you have an 'l' (lower case L), Windows might shift it some to the left or right so it aligns with one column of pixels, whereas OS X will render it in the location where it's "supposed" to be, so it might end up straddling two columns of pixels to varying degrees.

It's kind of a question of style and preference, i.e., do you want your text to be pixel-aligned even if it means the letters are rendering in the wrong places, or do you want the font to be rendered as intended even if it means some blurryness?

 

[tiartrop]

1) I'm sure 4GB RAM will do, but in case we want to use it for more in the future, is a 6GB MBA even available?

I wouldn't worry about the ram, my 2011 MBA with 4gb is snappier compared to my newer Mini with 8gb ram. SSD is fantastic.

2) How is the screen after long use (being non-Retina and only 11")? Sometimes she is up typing and researching until midnight or later. Would the retina be much easier on the eyes?

For light reading and browsing, 11" is more than sufficient, but I did find back then when I was doing my essays/reports (I bought this MBA because I started postgrad study), my eyes would get really tired after a few hours, the screen is kind of small, though I think somehow I adjusted to it now. If it's gonna be her main computer, I'd suggest go with the 13" one, not sure if the Retina would help, it's just the matter of size.

4) We have not used Apple OS on a computer. We have iphones and an ipad. Will the adjustment take very long from Windows to Apple's OS?

You'll adjust immediately. OS is very user friendly, especially if you've used iPhone and iPad too.

5) any other important factors you all can think of? Does the 11" MBA sound fitting?

Does she need to travel a lot? I love my MBA because it's really lightweight, but recently I had it as my main computer while I was overseas for a year and it posed a couple of problems (although most Macbooks will have these problems now): 1) Small hard drive space, you'll probably need to carry an external hd, 2) No LAN port, some places in Asia don't offer wifi yet, and the university I attended has old buildings made out of stones that practically blocked wifi signal! 3) It gets bent and scratches easily, thanks to it's lightweight aluminium material, I'm careful with my gadgets but somehow I still managed to get a dent on the lid.
So the Macbook itself is great, but you might want to be prepared to carry a few more accessories.


Overall though, I love my MBA 11".

 

[maverick22]

My wife never travels in terms of having to take it on an airplane, hotel use, etc. Now she will take it around a lot (from room to room, from our house to her parents' house or my parents' house, possibly school).

She will be using MS Word often. I hope there are no problems viewing, accessing, editing old MS word documents. I hope .pdf files also pose no problems.

We will have to go to the store and have her check out the screen on the 11" better. I would say the most she has been on it at one time is about 3 hours. I know she will love the overall size/weight of the 11". Hopefully the non-Retina will be okay as well.

I really want to get it for her on Black Friday, but she mentioned she'd rather have more time to make a decision and when we're not spending so much (holiday time).

Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

[imaccooper]

I understand taking some time as that is always smart, but it is also a good idea to check out all of the adds to see what discounts you can get. Some of them can be rather substantial. As far as viewing word documents and PDF's you will have no problem. I believe someone mentioned it already but the while the retina is pretty to look at, she will be just fine without it. It sounds like you are leaning toward the 11 in model which is a great computer. I would suggest looking around over the next week at all the adds and pulling the trigger on one. I guarantee that you wont regret it.

 

[maverick22]

I understand taking some time as that is always smart, but it is also a good idea to check out all of the adds to see what discounts you can get. Some of them can be rather substantial. As far as viewing word documents and PDF's you will have no problem. I believe someone mentioned it already but the while the retina is pretty to look at, she will be just fine without it. It sounds like you are leaning toward the 11 in model which is a great computer. I would suggest looking around over the next week at all the adds and pulling the trigger on one. I guarantee that you wont regret it.

Yeah, it's funny, this is for her, yet I think I want it more for her than she does herself haha! She keeps up with our finances better than me though. If she's in no rush to get it right now I guess we'll wait. I just would have to see that she does indeed want this one later, and we end up paying $899 instead of $779 (Best buy's BF price). I think the "fear of the unknown" also has her a little worried. She hasn't had enough time to play around with her sister's Mac, and my wife gets easily frustrated with change when it comes to technology.

If we wait too long, heck, a newer Air might be out. Is Apple supposed to release a newer Air this spring/summer?

 

[Boyd01]

I just would have to see that she does indeed want this one later, and we end up paying $899 instead of $779 (Best buy's BF price).

Then just get the Apple refurb, where the everyday price ($769) is already $10 cheaper than Best Buy on Black Friday…. http://store.apple.com/us/product/GD711LL/B/refurbished-macbook-air-14ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5

 

[maverick22]

Then just get the Apple refurb, where the everyday price ($769) is already $10 cheaper than Best Buy on Black Friday…. http://store.apple.com/us/product/GD711LL/B/refurbished-macbook-air-14ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5

Thanks for the link.

I am leaning towards Best Buy because:
1) we might get to use the student $150 coupon
2) BestBuy points
3) interest-free for 18 months (things are kind of tight as we are paying for my wife's grad school on our own rather than doing a student loan)

 

[motrek]

Then just get the Apple refurb, where the everyday price ($769) is already $10 cheaper than Best Buy on Black Friday…. http://store.apple.com/us/product/GD711LL/B/refurbished-macbook-air-14ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5

I would avoid ordering from anywhere online if the prices are at all comparable. Best to get it from somewhere where you can return it easily like Best Buy.

I got my 2014 MBA from Best Buy a few months ago. The first one I got had a slightly crooked screen. I was able to swap it in-store for a different one with no problems. Would have been much harder to do this had I bought online.

 

[flur]

If we wait too long, heck, a newer Air might be out. Is Apple supposed to release a newer Air this spring/summer?

There's a rumored retina version that's supposed to be out spring/summer. I'm betting it will be out in June as that's usually when the MBA refresh happens. BUT, it's been rumored for over a year now, and the rumored release date has been repeatedly pushed out (it was originally last summer), so, take that rumor with a grain of salt.

 

[Boyd01]

Yeah, it's funny, this is for her, yet I think I want it more for her than she does herself haha! She keeps up with our finances better than me though..

Proceed with caution then…. You want it more than her? She is apprehensive about switching to the Mac? You can't afford to buy it outright? You will drag her to Best Buy on Black Friday?

Why not just stand down, have a happy Thanksgiving and let nature take its course? There will another sale on another day.

 

[maverick22]

Proceed with caution then…. You want it more than her? She is apprehensive about switching to the Mac? You can't afford to buy it outright? You will drag her to Best Buy on Black Friday?

Why not just stand down, have a happy Thanksgiving and let nature take its course? There will another sale on another day.

Well, she is very frugal, which is a good thing. She doesn't like to spend a penny on anything. We have the next 9 days off, and she can play around on her sister's Mac to see if she likes it or not.

We can afford it, my wife would just rather put it off. I won't be dragging her to Best Buy--I'll just go myself.We're going to have a great Thanksgiving. I won't be standing in any lines. I'll go when everything dies down.