Macbook Air Questions

[mikezer0]

Hi. Im new here. Long time PC user. First time Mac. Originally ordered a 13inch Air with a 128GB SSD and 4GBs of RAM. However, I cancelled the order and decided to opt for a 11inch with 8GBs of RAM instead. Waiting for the order decline to go through on my card, so that I can go through with the buy. 1100 is sort of my max, what do you guys think? Only thing I feel like I am missing out on now, is the better battery life on the 13inch. Is this the better configuration? Im not too worried about space. As I was liberated by Spotify.

Thanks for any input in advance.

Kind regards,

Michael

 

[jakesaunders27]

Hi. Im new here. Long time PC user. First time Mac. Originally ordered a 13inch Air with a 128GB SSD and 4GBs of RAM. However, I cancelled the order and decided to opt for a 11inch with 8GBs of RAM instead. Waiting for the order decline to go through on my card, so that I can go through with the buy. 1100 is sort of my max, what do you guys think? Only thing I feel like I am missing out on now, is the better battery life on the 13inch. Is this the better configuration? Im not too worried about space. As I was liberated by Spotify.

Thanks for any input in advance.

Kind regards,

Michael

Hi,
Welcome to the forums!

I have last years MacBook Air the 11 inch one, the battery life is great on mine and its not even haswell like yours will be. You will experience a good battery life as thats one of the main features of the new has well chips battery life. 128GB SSD is fine as well i have a 64GB in mine and wish i would have got the 128GB now but like you say if you are a spotify user you shouldn't have any problems!

Cheers

 

[Macman45]

If you can live with the 11" screen, then the 8GB option and larger SSD are a better bet from a performance point of view.

I sold my 13" MBA 256GB a while back, and now use a 13" rMBP. I found the 11" screens too small, but then, I have old eyes.

 

[KeepCalmPeople]

Hi. Im new here. Long time PC user. First time Mac. Originally ordered a 13inch Air with a 128GB SSD and 4GBs of RAM. However, I cancelled the order and decided to opt for a 11inch with 8GBs of RAM instead. Waiting for the order decline to go through on my card, so that I can go through with the buy. 1100 is sort of my max, what do you guys think? Only thing I feel like I am missing out on now, is the better battery life on the 13inch. Is this the better configuration? Im not too worried about space. As I was liberated by Spotify.

Thanks for any input in advance.

Kind regards,

Michael

I think the 8GB of RAM is the single best upgrade you can make, now that the smallest SSD is 128GB. The 11" vs. 13" is a weight/size vs. screen real estate trade-off only you can decide. Unless you have a specific use case requiring 9+ hours of battery life, the battery life on either will be amazing.

 

[mikezer0]

If you can live with the 11" screen, then the 8GB option and larger SSD are a better bet from a performance point of view.

I sold my 13" MBA 256GB a while back, and now use a 13" rMBP. I found the 11" screens too small, but then, I have old eyes.

Its a bit closer to 12 if I remember right. Should be alright. I was more afraid 4GBs of Ram was too little than anything else.

 

[Macman45]

Its a bit closer to 12 if I remember right. Should be alright. I was more afraid 4GBs of Ram was too little than anything else.

The SSD helps out with the smaller amount of RAM...I think you'll be fine.

 

[snowboardpunk]

or if you get the edu discount its 1140 with 8gb of ram for the 13 in. I had last years 11in but returned it because the battery life was pretty bad. And id prefer the bigger screen but thats personal preference

 

[mikezer0]

or if you get the edu discount its 1140 with 8gb of ram for the 13 in. I had last years 11in but returned it because the battery life was pretty bad. And id prefer the bigger screen but thats personal preference

Hmmm not a bad idea, sir...

 

[iPlodder]

Hi. Im new here. Long time PC user. First time Mac. Originally ordered a 13inch Air with a 128GB SSD and 4GBs of RAM. However, I cancelled the order and decided to opt for a 11inch with 8GBs of RAM instead. Waiting for the order decline to go through on my card, so that I can go through with the buy. 1100 is sort of my max, what do you guys think? Only thing I feel like I am missing out on now, is the better battery life on the 13inch. Is this the better configuration? Im not too worried about space. As I was liberated by Spotify.

Thanks for any input in advance.

Kind regards,

Michael

Hi Michael,

What are you looking to use the MBA for?
Are you going to be using it away from a power socket for more that 7 hours on a regular basis? the 13" may be a better option if you are to gain the extra battery life.
Are you looking to carry the MBA around 24-7? the 11" may be the best choice if you're looking to minimize size an weight.
Are you going to be use memory hungry apps like Xcode or Apature? then 8GB will be a definite advantage, but you'll loose on the screen real-estate going for the 11"

I've an 11" 2011 MBA with 4GB which I use as a secondary development machine with Xcode. Thanks to the improved speeds of SSDs switching memory to disk is not as much of an issue as it is with a standard laptop drive.

 

[TC25]

Is this the better configuration? Im not too worried about space. As I was liberated by Spotify.

Welcome to the forum!

The single reason I switched from an MBA11 to an MBA13 was the longer battery life on the MBA13.

I had a 2010 MBA11 and sold it to buy a 2012 MBA11, thinking I'd stay with the MBA11 model. After a week of using it, I sold it and ordered the MBA13. I didn't want to deal with the shorter battery life. Now that I have the MBA13, the larger screen and SD card slot are bonuses, in addition to the longer battery life.

Enjoy your MBA11.