macbook air 13 vs 11 and 4gb vs 8gb ram

[Boyd01]

Honestly, the keyboards on my 13" and 11" MBA seem just the same to me. Maybe the 11" is smaller or different in some way, but I never really noticed and the transition was instant for me. I am a fast touch typist, and I made just as many mistakes on the 13" as I do on the 11"

The physical size of the screen isn't much of an issue for me, but the dot pitch is definitely finer and that took some getting used to. In some software and on some websites, the small text is really tiny. I think my biggest issue was Apple Mail. It was just too small for me when I used the same settings as my 13" so I changed font sizes in the prefs and now it's fine. I use pinch/spread zooming more often in Safari too.

Really, you need to figure this out for yourself. I know it can be tough, but I have seen enough of these threads (and there are a LOT of them here) to know that there just isn't any consensus about which size is better. I guess that's why they make two different models.

 

[yosemit]

I used to work on a 13" occasionally and now I'm using a 11". No sensible keyboard difference to me, but again I didn't use the 13" often.

Definitely no "huge sacrifice" from 13" to 11". IMO, for checking email, reading most web pages, and working on PowerPoint, the two are about the same. It makes some difference when working on a large spreadsheet. For programming (for which the larger screen the better), again not much difference because both are very small when compared to a 24"-plus. 11" vs 13" is like 4GB vs 8GB: It does make a sensible difference for some programs, but for many it doesn't.

PS I think 4GB is good enough for almost all daily programs. If one runs virtual machines, then 8GB always makes a difference.

I use my 2011 MBA 13" alot when I am sitting in bed propped up against my legs but how am i going to get an 11" to try at home before i make my decision.

Also heard that the travel on the keyboard of the 11" is worse or less than the 13" is that true?

Finally, do you really notice a huge sacrifice in reading text on screen with the 1.4" difference between the 11 and 13?

 

[jbs-horn]

I have a mid-2013 11" MB Air and a mid-2012 13" MB Pro. I do not have a 13" MBA, but I suspect that the 13" MBP keyboard is similar. I just measured the keyboards of both. The distance between the left edge of the caps lock key and the right edge of the return key are identical. There's extra space outside the keyboard for the MBP, but the keyboards themselves are equivalent (not identical because the power key on the MBA replaced the eject key on the MBP).

I've had considerable experience on small computers dating back to an IBM ThinkPad 500 sub-notebook as well as a couple of Acer Chromebooks. The smaller than standard keyboards were useable, but shifting back to a full-sized keyboard was a challenge. The worst of all was the Logitech Ultralight Keyboard Case for my iPad 2. I just could not learn to type productively on that one, which has small keys packed in closely together. In contrast, the 11" MBA is a revelation, just another computer with a good keyboard that happens to fit in a very small space and have a small screen.

I don't especially challenge any of my computers. The 11" MBA would suffice for pretty much everything I do, except it doesn't have an optical drive.

I used to work on a 13" occasionally and now I'm using a 11". No sensible keyboard difference to me, but again I didn't use the 13" often.

Definitely no "huge sacrifice" from 13" to 11". IMO, for checking email, reading most web pages, and working on PowerPoint, the two are about the same. It makes some difference when working on a large spreadsheet. For programming (for which the larger screen the better), again not much difference because both are very small when compared to a 24"-plus. 11" vs 13" is like 4GB vs 8GB: It does make a sensible difference for some programs, but for many it doesn't.

PS I think 4GB is good enough for almost all daily programs. If one runs virtual machines, then 8GB always makes a difference.

 

[nith900]

That's not a good comparison whatsoever. An ssd is fast don't get me wrong but ram is much faster. 1600mhz ram is 12800 (1600x8)mbs vs 700 of an ssd. U would need ram in the double digits (85ish MHz) to be the same speed of a 700mbs ssd. Personally 8gb would be a much better choice since you spending a good amount of money and would probably want to use it for a long time.

 

[Meister]

That's not a good comparison whatsoever. An ssd is fast don't get me wrong but ram is much faster. 1600mhz ram is 12800 (1600x8)mbs vs 700 of an ssd. U would need ram in the double digits (85ish MHz) to be the same speed of a 700mbs ssd. Personally 8gb would be a much better choice since you spending a good amount of money and would probably want to use it for a long time.

this is obviously correct. RAM is worlds faster than storage. And l-cache is worlds faster than ram.
In real life usage however the faster ssd and OSX memory management makes the much faster RAM less important.

 

[joshlalonde]

Comes in.
Sees RAM thread.
Takes tylenol.

I will say this once. 4GB, for normal usage (defined by NOT running VMs, multiple Adobe programs), is fine for now and the foreseeable future.

If you need to run lots of intensive programs, get 8GB. Possibly a MacBook Pro.

If you fit into the 4GB demographic, do not get 8GB just to 'future-proof' your machine unless you have tons of money to throw around and don't mind wasting your money.

Good luck. Don't quote me and argue. I don't care. You're wrong.

 

[capathy21]

Good luck. Don't quote me and argue. I don't care. You're wrong.

Can I quote you to tell you this statement is awesome?

 

[nith900]

The funniest part of that is if you later on realized you want to use a new program that uses 64bit. You either handicap the performance severely because you were cheap to spend another 100 or so dollars on more ram. Meaning after spending over a thousand dollars a great machine you ll end up either giving up using that software or have to upgrade over the simplest yet very important part of your system.
Also telling me I'm wrong based on your opinion doesn't hold any substance to it whatsoever. I could say I'm the greatest person in the world and everyone else is wrong if they say otherwise. Just doesn't have any substance.

 

[capathy21]

The funniest part of that is if you later on realized you want to use a new program that uses 64bit. You either handicap the performance severely because you were cheap to spend another 100 or so dollars on more ram. Meaning after spending over a thousand dollars a great machine you ll end up either giving up using that software or have to upgrade over the simplest yet very important part of your system.
Also telling me I'm wrong based on your opinion doesn't hold any substance to it whatsoever. I could say I'm the greatest person in the world and everyone else is wrong if they say otherwise. Just doesn't have any substance.

No one is spending over a thousand dollars on a base model Air. Best Buy constantly has sales and Apple refurb store has refurbished base model Air's for under 800 dollars. When you compare those to an 8GB model, that difference is not 100, it's more like 300. At that point, you are paying 300 dollars to double your ram which is insane. It has been proven that the vast majority of users will be just fine on the 4GB base model now and in a couple of years. Get out of the old spinning hard drive mentality where ram is everything, and realize that these Mac base models blaze through most everything you throw at them.

If you need 8GB to sleep at night then buy the 8GB. The rest of us get the exact same usage out of our 4GB models and have plenty of extra money as well.

 

[nith900]

I don't know how much macbook is in us since I live in Canada but it was only 999 for a macbook air with 8gb ram i5 from best buy. And considering our dollar is around 10% below the us dollar that's around 900 us. So 100 for the increase is still reasonable. And ram usage increases easily as time goes through. There was a point in time where bill gates said we d never need more than 256 kB and look where we are now 16 times that. And as operating systems and other programs become more powerful more user friendly with better gestures and other stuff you ll end up using more ram.

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Nowadays 8 GB seems to be the sweetspot . its not overly expensive but it will handle pretty much everything you really need to throw at it. And assuming you want to continue to use the air for a while would make sense to aim for that.

 

[talmy]

There was a point in time where bill gates said we d never need more than 256 kB and look where we are now 16 times that.

Just a quibble: Bill Gates is mis-quoted as saying nobody need more than 640kB (the maximum RAM in an IBM PC). And 4GB is actually more than 6000 times larger than 640kB.

 

[joshlalonde]

I don't know how much macbook is in us since I live in Canada but it was only 999 for a macbook air with 8gb ram i5 from best buy. And considering our dollar is around 10% below the us dollar that's around 900 us. So 100 for the increase is still reasonable. And ram usage increases easily as time goes through. There was a point in time where bill gates said we d never need more than 256 kB and look where we are now 16 times that. And as operating systems and other programs become more powerful more user friendly with better gestures and other stuff you ll end up using more ram.

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Nowadays 8 GB seems to be the sweetspot . its not overly expensive but it will handle pretty much everything you really need to throw at it. And assuming you want to continue to use the air for a while would make sense to aim for that.

It costs way more than that in Canada. Here in Ontario, it cost me $1,150 for a 256SB SSD MBA 13". With taxes, it came to $1,300.

It's about $100 cheaper for everything in the states.

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Can I quote you to tell you this statement is awesome?

lol, had a headache already. didn't feel like arguing with someone XP

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The funniest part of that is if you later on realized you want to use a new program that uses 64bit. You either handicap the performance severely because you were cheap to spend another 100 or so dollars on more ram. Meaning after spending over a thousand dollars a great machine you ll end up either giving up using that software or have to upgrade over the simplest yet very important part of your system.
Also telling me I'm wrong based on your opinion doesn't hold any substance to it whatsoever. I could say I'm the greatest person in the world and everyone else is wrong if they say otherwise. Just doesn't have any substance.

RAM has little to do with performance. Also, correct me I'm wrong, but most OS X apps are already 64-bit usually?

It doesn't hold much substance, no. But again, I don't really care.

Anyways, you're not going to max out your RAM running a well-made piece of software. If the software is not well made, I'm not going to run it anyways. (For example, Chrome)

4GB RAM is enough for most people. If you need to run a multi-GB RAM eating piece of software, chances are that you don't fit into that demographic. So your argument is invalid.

 

[2984839]

The funniest part of that is if you later on realized you want to use a new program that uses 64bit. You either handicap the performance severely because you were cheap to spend another 100 or so dollars on more ram. Meaning after spending over a thousand dollars a great machine you ll end up either giving up using that software or have to upgrade over the simplest yet very important part of your system.
Also telling me I'm wrong based on your opinion doesn't hold any substance to it whatsoever. I could say I'm the greatest person in the world and everyone else is wrong if they say otherwise. Just doesn't have any substance.

An application's performance is not going to be handicapped at all (much less severely) simply because it is a 64 bit application and you have 4 GB of RAM. A 64 bit application is capable of using more than 4 GB. That does not mean it must. You certainly would not have to give up using it or upgrade your system.

 

[li21]

Running windows 8 in a virtual box GM which has in it office, some work apps and cyberlink Powerdirector for windows video editing. Will use for video production and rendering large mp4s

Do I need 8gb? Or is 4gb enough?

 

[nith900]

For video editing rendering, I would 100% recommended higher ram. Being able to keep all your footage and or sound files in the ram makes it much faster and seem less.

 

[Meister]

Running windows 8 in a virtual box GM which has in it office, some work apps and cyberlink Powerdirector for windows video editing. Will use for video production and rendering large mp4s

Do I need 8gb? Or is 4gb enough?

For VMs and video editing I would get at least 8.

 

[Traverse]

For a casual user, 4GB is fine. This is especially true for systems with Mavericks and higher. Look how 2007 computers with 2GB of RAM are getting current OSes. They may not run them extremely well, but that will be more due to GPU and HDD.

However, if you ever plan on running Windows as a VM you will need 8GB.

 

[Duckit]

I feel like 13" is the best combination between portability and screen real-estate. Everyone will tell you to upgrade to 8GB of RAM, but I just purchased a 13 inch model with 4GB of memory and the machine runs like a dream! Unless you plan on doing heavy work, 4GB should be fine for most people.

 

[macs4nw]

I feel like 13" is the best combination between portability and screen real-estate. Everyone will tell you to upgrade to 8GB of RAM, but I just purchased a 13 inch model with 4GB of memory and the machine runs like a dream! Unless you plan on doing heavy work, 4GB should be fine for most people.

I realize this is an older resurrected thread, but fwiw, I totally agree. In my opinion the $100 upgrade diff from 4GB to 8GB of memory is better spent to go from 11" to 13", also a $100 diff, everything else being equal.

In addition to the larger screen size, the 13" MBA also gives you the SDXC card slot and over 30% longer battery life. But for those wanting the 11" for portability's sake, for most casual users there's absolutely nothing wrong with the base 1.4/4GB/128GB model at $899.

Better yet, get it at the refurb store for $769 (today) with full warranty and return privileges.

 

[Writergirl824]

I have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro that has 4gb and was told that I need to upgrade to 8gb In order to run Yosemite. I haven't upgraded to Yosemite yet, I still only have mountain lion I think. I was planning on doing that because I wasn't planning on buying a new MacBook for a long time. But my cat knocked it off the desk and shattered the screen so now it is a desktop. It runs ok, but my internet browsers don't do well. I wish it had the newest OS on it but I was scared to upgrade because I have heard horror stories with this model.

So I've been looking at MacBook airs. I want to keep it for a long time, so eventually will it no longer be able to run a new OS if it is just 4gb much like my 2010 MacBook Pro? So in that case would 8gb be better? I don't want it to not be able to support a new OS In 5 years.

Also I realize all this about my MBP could be completely wrong. I just read a bunch about about yosemite with that model, and getting more memory etc. I'm not very literate when it comes to macs.

I realize this is an older resurrected thread, but fwiw, I totally agree. In my opinion the $100 upgrade diff from 4GB to 8GB of memory is better spent to go from 11" to 13", also a $100 diff, everything else being equal.

In addition to the larger screen size, the 13" MBA also gives you the SDXC card slot and over 30% longer battery life. But for those wanting the 11" for portability's sake, for most casual users there's absolutely nothing wrong with the base 1.4/4GB/128GB model at $899.

Better yet, get it at the refurb store for $769 (today) with full warranty and return privileges.

 

[motrek]

I have a mid 2010 MacBook Pro that has 4gb and was told that I need to upgrade to 8gb In order to run Yosemite. I haven't upgraded to Yosemite yet, I still only have mountain lion I think. I was planning on doing that because I wasn't planning on buying a new MacBook for a long time. But my cat knocked it off the desk and shattered the screen so now it is a desktop. It runs ok, but my internet browsers don't do well. I wish it had the newest OS on it but I was scared to upgrade because I have heard horror stories with this model.

So I've been looking at MacBook airs. I want to keep it for a long time, so eventually will it no longer be able to run a new OS if it is just 4gb much like my 2010 MacBook Pro? So in that case would 8gb be better? I don't want it to not be able to support a new OS In 5 years.

Also I realize all this about my MBP could be completely wrong. I just read a bunch about about yosemite with that model, and getting more memory etc. I'm not very literate when it comes to macs.

Unfortunately it sounds like you were fed a line about your MacBook Pro.

The memory requirement for Yosemite is 2GB. So you can definitely run it with 4GB.

How much memory you need depends on what software you run and what you do with it. Most people should be fine with 4GB for the next 5 years. But if you give us some insight into what you do with your computer, we can give you better recommendations.

 

[Writergirl824]

I write, so I use Pages and I have scrivener as well. I put a ton of pics on there, I recently transferred 40k pics to an external hardrive and deleted them off. I occasionally watch movies and listen to music, and of course YouTube and surfing the web. Um skype, too. I'm not sure if I have other software on there? Sorry im horribly illiterate with computers lol. I just want it to last a long time lol.

Right now my internet browsers aren't working well with mountain lion. And I'm seeing a lot more rainbow wheel with everything, whether I'm using the internet or just have pages up and writing.

Unfortunately it sounds like you were fed a line about your MacBook Pro.

The memory requirement for Yosemite is 2GB. So you can definitely run it with 4GB.

How much memory you need depends on what software you run and what you do with it. Most people should be fine with 4GB for the next 5 years. But if you give us some insight into what you do with your computer, we can give you better recommendations.

 

[motrek]

I write, so I use Pages and I have scrivener as well. I put a ton of pics on there, I recently transferred 40k pics to an external hardrive and deleted them off. I occasionally watch movies and listen to music, and of course YouTube and surfing the web. Um skype, too. I'm not sure if I have other software on there? Sorry im horribly illiterate with computers lol. I just want it to last a long time lol.

Right now my internet browsers aren't working well with mountain lion. And I'm seeing a lot more rainbow wheel with everything, whether I'm using the internet or just have pages up and writing.

Can you run Activity Monitor, go to the Memory tab, and take a screen shot and post it here? That should give you/us some idea if you are running out of memory.

 

[talmy]

I write, so I use Pages and I have scrivener as well. I put a ton of pics on there, I recently transferred 40k pics to an external hardrive and deleted them off. I occasionally watch movies and listen to music, and of course YouTube and surfing the web. Um skype, too. I'm not sure if I have other software on there?

Can you run Activity Monitor, go to the Memory tab, and take a screen shot and post it here? That should give you/us some idea if you are running out of memory.

While waiting for the OP, I did this on a 5 year old 11" MBA, the first generation of the 11", which has the minimum 2GB RAM and 64GB SSD. Far less than the current systems, but note that we've been using it for five years productively. Note also that it is running El Capitan, the next OS, not even Yosemite.

I launched Scrivener and Pages on documents, started iTunes, and Safari on this website. No Skype on this system. Then I ran Activity Monitor, went to the memory tab and made a screen shot:

Yes, there is memory pressure, but I'm not out of memory even on this 2GB system. The new compression feature started with Yosemite really helps.

 

[macs4nw]

I write, so I use Pages and I have scrivener as well. I put a ton of pics on there, I recently transferred 40k pics to an external hardrive and deleted them off. I occasionally watch movies and listen to music, and of course YouTube and surfing the web. Um skype, too. I'm not sure if I have other software on there? Sorry im horribly illiterate with computers lol. I just want it to last a long time lol.

Right now my internet browsers aren't working well with mountain lion. And I'm seeing a lot more rainbow wheel with everything, whether I'm using the internet or just have pages up and writing.

"Rainbow wheels", I love that, ha..... most people refer to that as 'spinning beach balls', but hey we get what you mean....

On a serious note, rather than lack of memory, there may be other issues causing your slow internet browsing and 'Pages' performance. I have found a simple 'Restart' (under the tab) solves many quirky behaviors, and that should be your first step.

After that, assuming you have your computer backed-up, I would do a complete re-install, even third-party software you may have. If you don't feel 100% comfortable with that and you're reasonably near to an Apple store, a genius there will be happy to help you with that.

If on the other hand, as you said in an earlier post, you're looking at a new MBA, I stand by my previous advice to browse the refurb store, where great deals are to be had.
And as you said, you want to keep it 'for a long time', for your particular use, any extra money you want to spend should go to memory, storage or processor, in that order. Happy trails!