I right now have an ASUS Zenbook 14x with an 13th gen i7 and 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. I paid $799 for it at bestbuy. Bestbuy I could get the MAcbook air M2 base model for $949. I am just worried about the 8GB of RAM. I have a gaming desktop and laptop already and 8GB is not enough for windows IMHO. I am using this for online schooling mostly. The Asus laptop lasts me around 6-7 hours and is fine for my needs but I know the Macbook can last longer and way better support than what I will ever get from ASUS. I also work right near an Apple store. I am just worried about the 8GB of RAM because I don't want to worry about it slowing down because of the lack of RAM. Is swap enough ?
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Macbook Air M2 13 inch or Windows laptop with i7 and 16GB of RAM?
- Thread starter Closingracer
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Upgrade ram and use educational discount. I think it is $150. I basically paid $50 to upgrade to 16GB Ram.
It is $1,179 with the upgrade of $180. I don't really want to spend over $1000 for this laptop especially since its only secondary.
No. If you're even remotely worried about RAM, the Windows laptop is going to be your friend.
A lot of the rubbish about the 8gb being enough was that with the speed of the SSD then people didn’t realise the swap being used.
After that came the why is my Mac writing to the SSD so much.
Basically RAM is RAM and if using 16gb in windows laptop will want 16gb in your Mac laptop.
Swap is not a substitute for RAM.
After that came the why is my Mac writing to the SSD so much.
Basically RAM is RAM and if using 16gb in windows laptop will want 16gb in your Mac laptop.
Swap is not a substitute for RAM.
Get the MacBook Air, because having 2 Windows machines is boring. Better ”diversify” what you have.
I would never in a million years get 8GB RAM on a laptop, because even my M1 12.9 iPad Pro with 8GB RAM runs out of memory, and that is …. an iPad.
But since you are on a budget, I would say just stick to the base model. Apple upgrades are way too overpriced. It’s only a “secondary“ machine like you said.
I would never in a million years get 8GB RAM on a laptop, because even my M1 12.9 iPad Pro with 8GB RAM runs out of memory, and that is …. an iPad.
But since you are on a budget, I would say just stick to the base model. Apple upgrades are way too overpriced. It’s only a “secondary“ machine like you said.
If it's secondary, why not just get the M1 MacBook Air instead? Then your 16GB RAM bump is nominal (and even moreso if purchased as an Apple Certified Refurbished Mac [which you can still get educational discounts on AppleCare+ for])!
Good idea. Though he'll need to keep checking back, since currently the cheapest refurbed M1 Air at the Apple Education Store with 16 GB RAM has an 8-core GPU & 1 TB SSD, and thus goes for $1400 (at least in the US).
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That one is a solid model. I generally recommend that exact one for people unless I know with absolute certainty that they would be fine with a 512GB SSD. Though, these days, I don't exclude the 7-GPU core equivalent of either!
The cheapest M2 with 16GB of RAM in the refurb section is $1,279. With Apple education pricing for brand new is $1,179. Plus I have BestBuy Total Tech so I already get Apple Care Plus for 2 years included in the price. I ended up getting the M2 Base model there for $949 and so far I find the 8GB of RAM fine. So far it's not even using swap memory.
LOL you're comparing Windows to Mac OS... Two different beasts thus the question. Same how Android you probably want 8GB of RAM or more on your phone meanwhile iPhones don't necessarily need that yet. As someone who owns a Google Pixel 7 pro who came from a Samsung Galaxy S21 which is 12GB of Ram vs 8GB You can tell.
Having no apps open on Windows vs Mac OS I have noticed Windows will hover around 6.5GB of RAM used on a 8GB machine meanwhile Mac OS hovers around 3.8 GB of RAM used. There is more headroom with it.
This machine will be used for web browsing and online schooling needs so the SSD life or speeds is something IDC about. I also put everything on the cloud so 256 is something I would never upgrade anyways. On my gaming machine sure I want 1TB or more but on a portable laptop 256 is fine and the speed "issue" is moot because I am not writing much to care. it is still faster than a HDD by a mile.
Because that is still $1,079. I ended up first targeting $600 for a windows laptop than $799 and now the justification for a Macbook is the battery life. The $799 laptop I had was the ASUS Zenbook 14X with an intel i7-13700H, 2.8k OLED screen and 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. Battery life was around 6-7 hours and the screen was a deal breaker. I love OLED but it seems on Laptops so far with touch screens it has this window screen effect on it whenever seen outside. I also wanted the 500 nits of brightness of the M2 Air.
So far I am happy with my purchase.
No idea what you are trying to say there Or why aimed at me.
in no way was I comparing windows with Mac OS. No idea where you got that from.
i was saying that people when saying 8gb was enough and the new 16gb on Mac OS and didn’t realise that they were swapping as much due to the speed of the SSD.
people then starting complaining about high usage of SSD which caused by swapping rather then having enough RAM in it.
swap is not a substitute for actual RAM. You was asking if swap was enough and would it slow down if using swap!
that is what I answered. swap is never a substitute for actual RAM. I then explained why a lot of people in early days of Apple Silicon were saying 8gb is the new 16gb.
where the rest of it comes from have no idea where you got it from my post. did not mention anything about SSD and need to upgrade it for faster performance.
It's good the 8 GB works for you, enabling you to save that money. Plus the AC+ you're getting from BB does sweeten the deal.
I wouldn't personally purchase from the refurb store, since for me it defeats the purpose of buying used (the discounts are typically small; last year I bought a used 2019 i9 iMac in mint condition with AC+ for half the price listed on the refurb store), but it is a good option for someone who wants to purchase something that is indistinguishable from new and get a modest discount. That's why we thought you might want to look into it.
Note that the refub stock changes constantly, and currently the cheapest M2 with 16 GB RAM is actually $1,099, compared to $1,179 new (using edu pricing in both cases). So it is less. But like I said it's a very modest discount, plus you don't get the $150 gift card the new one offers; so in this case the new one is a better deal, even from Apple.
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Refurb is not the same as used. It's much closer to new than it is to used.
You do realize that you put the cost of a 13-inch MacBook Air and a 13-inch MacBook Pro here, right? Not the same machines and therefore a bad price comparison when trying to compare new cost vs. refurb cost for the same machine.
Damn, how on earth did I made that mistake?? Well that explains it! I think it's because I had also read post a about someone who was trying to decide between a 14" MBP and a 15" Air, and got confused. Thanks for catching that, I'll edit my post.....
Well, just as the last one was my mistake, this one was yours. I wrote in that post that Apple's refurb products are "indistinguishable from new", clearly indicating I'm aware of this. Looks like you missed it.
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As my late grandmother would say "pobody's nerfect". (It's also a really easy mistake to make since the two machines are practically conjoined at the hip in terms of similarity.)
You were saying that buying refurb defeats the point of buying new. I was contesting the notion that those two were even comparable options to begin with. Sounds like we're in agreement there.
Well, I actually said "for me it defeats the purpose of buying used". [Your paraphrase said "new", but I assume that was a typo.] I.e., given how tiny the price difference is between refurb and new, if you're giving up the emotional niceness of having a pristinely new product, my personal preference is to go all the way and get a normally used one at a very large discount, particularly if it's in mint condition and you can get AC+ on it. Yes, refurb is outwardly indistinguishable from new, but there is something nice about a product that you alone have owned.
Or at the other end, if I'm willing to pay refurb prices, I'd rather pay a tiny bit more and get it new.
So for me refurb sits at an unappealing intermediate point. This is merely my own personal preference, and it seems ours differ on this.
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You do realize that the only difference between a refurb and a brand new is that the logic board was more stringently tested and could've possibly come from an open-box unit, right? Otherwise, it's no different than a brand new product. I'm not trying to change your mind. Just challenge the notion that it's that large of a difference.
You need to reread my post more carefully. I don't mind being challenged, but you're challenging me on something I never said.
What's surprising to me is that I've used the word "indistinguishable" maybe three times now, yet you keep trying to explain to me that 'it's not that large of a difference.' That makes no sense. It's like I keep saying "water is wet", and you keep responding "You do realize that water is wet, right?". And I hope you can understand how frustrating that is.
It sounds like you're used to explaining to people that refurbs aren't very different, and are doing that to me on autopilot without having actually taken the time to read what I said.
I know exactly what Apple refubs are (including the argument that they might be more reliable because of their added testing), and explicitly acknowledged that a refurb is therefore essentially "indistinguishable" from a new unit.
Thus the only upside of new over refurb (for me) is that you get the "emotional niceness" of being the first owner. That's a small upside—but then again, because new units are priced so closely to refurbs, you only have to pay a small price for it. And to me it's worth that small price.
Do you now understand what I'm saying? I'm not asking if you agree with it (this is personal preference—there's nothing to agree or disagree with). I'm asking if you can understand it.
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It is not exactly answer to the topic but I just opened one Korean review and watched it with subtitles.
Of course 4090 RTX laptop has beaten MacBookPro but wait, at 9:00 she unplug laptops and run all test again. It is not often in most test. And you can imagine how story change.
Of course 4090 RTX laptop has beaten MacBookPro but wait, at 9:00 she unplug laptops and run all test again. It is not often in most test. And you can imagine how story change.
What is the point tho when I can get a M1 MacBook Air Base model for $749 brand new or regularly at $799 meanwhile refurb is $849 with student discount.
I mean I don't get that $150 gift card and TBH I am not in the whole Apple ecosystem so that $150 probably won't do much other than me just buying say a second charger or something to just use it. I own an Android phone and watch and happy with it. This is just for school and with the long lasting battery and bright screen is why I went apple vs Windows after trying out some Window laptops first. right now I am hovering around 6.5-7GB of RAM used if I have multiple tabs open and Apple Music and no swap used. I find that fine meanwhile Windows machines I used with 8gb of RAM tend to hover around 6-7GB used just doing nothing while this MacBook is using only around 3.8-4GB of RAM idling. Heck even my gaming laptop with 16GB of RAM hovers around 8-10 used just idling sometimes.
NGL I am considering returning the base model and getting the 16gb refurb but that is a lot of work and also going to cost me around $1,200 anyways once you include the Apple care plus ( yearly) cost.