MacBook Air 2012, 11'' vs 13'', i7 vs i5, cad usage
Hi all,
I'm in need for an immediately working solution, yet from a two-fold usage standpoint. For one, my
immediate need is to work on my PhD, which basically means working with texts and QDA software (albeit I've found a web-based solution called Dedoose that should eliminate even that prerequisite). I also work as a lecturer at the University so a thin and light all-rounder to carry with me to conferences and libraries etc is primarily expected. I guess that's standard use alltogether and definitely into MBA's ballpark. On the other hand though, I'm also a freelance architect, and although commissions have been scarce for the last few years (did I mention I'm Greek?) a small project might be expected to come up from time to time, meaning some moderate AutoCad / SketchUp usage should also be expected. Finally, I teach Interior Design where a lot of the work is also done in Acad, Sketchup, but also Photoshop and perhaps a little InDesign (and... Rhino?).
I'm obviously looking into the 2012 MBAs for the reason of being light and well executed (IvyBridge, HD4000) which should cover my primary (and immediate) needs, but also in hope of their ability to expand via Thunderbolt for when the actual need for more power comes (e.g. an external graphics card, see
here - not fully available at the moment but seems to be the case for the immediate future).
So basically the idea is to have a portable system, i.e. an 11'' 2012 MBA, for lectures etc, which can be attached to a screen at the office for more real estate (wish I had the budget for a Thunderbolt display), and if and when the need for extra gpu power comes, I just hope there will be external solutions such as the one I mentioned.
On that framework, I'd like to ask your opinion on:
1) MBA11'' vs 13''
2) i5 1.7 vs i7 2.0, given the difference in cost is close to $400 in Greece...
3) ...and / or (?) 8 gb ram upgrade
And, of course, if you feel I'm wrong altogether for looking into the Airs!
Please consider that opting for a MacBook altogether is literally going over my budget. However I'd like to spend money on something that will have a good 3-5 years on it, and most of the thin-and-light PCs out there are simply either equally expensive sans TB (e.g. Zenbook Primes), or not quite good enough (e.g. spending $900 on a Lenovo U300s for a previous generation bundle vs spending $1600 (base) - $2000 (i7) for a 2012 MBA/8gb RAM/128 SSD). On that note, I'd also like to know whether you feel that the upgrade to i7/8gb is
absolutely necessary.
I should also mention that if things go the Mac way, this will be my first MacOS experience since I've been using Windows all my life!
Thanks.
