MBA 2018 dual monitor performance

[spytech]

Hey everyone, considering a 2018 Air, but I have some questions that I did not really found an answer to on what I've seen in my searches.

First of all, the computer's use will be mainly for work, and from time to time for light video editing (cut/join videos). I need something that handles at least ~15 browser tabs open, 1/2 Pages/Word docs and a couple of apps like Telegram, Discord and Skype, connected to an external monitor via VGA (LG 15' 1440X900 display). I've seen in a review that when using "dual monitor and a few desktop apps" the CPU limit is easily reached, problem is there are no details on what apps exactly were used to say this, and having an external monitor is a must have for my daily tasks.

Another question is on upgradeability. Would I need 16GB ram for the tasks I do? Would it be upgradeable further down the road if I buy the 8GB version? Please take note that in case I buy it, this is my first macOS machine (coming from Windows/Linux machines), so I really have no clue on how's ram "spent" on them. Currently I'm doing just fine in what concerns ram with a 4GB machine running Linux Mint.

Finally, any "dongle" recommendations with at least 3 USB ports, VGA and/or HDMI and ethernet? SD card reader would be cool as well but not mandatory.

 

[cruisin]

Only the 27 inch iMac and the 2018 Mac Mini are able to modify their RAM after purchase (and the "new" Mac Pro, but few are buying it), the rest of the Macs has permanently attached RAM. The laptops have had permanent RAM for a while now.

RAM is spent about the same. Light apps like word processors or chat apps don't require much power but video editing will take as much resources as it can and your machine performance will determine how long the rendering will take. Since you are just doing cut/join edits you will mostly be worried about rendering. 8 GB will be fine for this. In the worst case, you can take a small break while it renders. The iPhone has been able to do light cut/join edits on 4K footage with 2 GB of RAM, so you will be fine.

Macs have memory compression, so as you approach the memory limit you can get a bit more RAM (likely at the cost of some more CPU use).

The Air used to have a 15W CPU, but the 2018 has moved to a 7W CPU. While it is a decent chip, it was designed for efficiency. The 13 inch Pro has a 28W chip and a bigger battery to match, even though it looks similar on the outside. Plus, the 13 inch Pro has quad core (hex core in the 15 inch and 45W) vs the dual core in the Air. The Air will do what you want, but it can run out of power quickly. You have to sacrifice some power to gain lightness in the Air, and the 13 inch Pro doesn't cost much more so compare both if higher performance over weight/size is important.

It's possible that the second screen drains performance, but the low resolution of 1440x900 will be fine. The newer 4K screens drain a lot of performance (and the 5K even more) so its entirely possible that the Air can be brought down with a "dual monitor and a few desktop apps" if the monitor is 5K.

They make many USB-C docks with everything but the VGA, so unless you can find one with VGA added you might need a separate VGA adapter.

 

[spytech]

Only the 27 inch iMac and the 2018 Mac Mini are able to modify their RAM after purchase (and the "new" Mac Pro, but few are buying it), the rest of the Macs has permanently attached RAM. The laptops have had permanent RAM for a while now.

RAM is spent about the same. Light apps like word processors or chat apps don't require much power but video editing will take as much resources as it can and your machine performance will determine how long the rendering will take. Since you are just doing cut/join edits you will mostly be worried about rendering. 8 GB will be fine for this. In the worst case, you can take a small break while it renders. The iPhone has been able to do light cut/join edits on 4K footage with 2 GB of RAM, so you will be fine.

Macs have memory compression, so as you approach the memory limit you can get a bit more RAM (likely at the cost of some more CPU use).

The Air used to have a 15W CPU, but the 2018 has moved to a 7W CPU. While it is a decent chip, it was designed for efficiency. The 13 inch Pro has a 28W chip and a bigger battery to match, even though it looks similar on the outside. Plus, the 13 inch Pro has quad core (hex core in the 15 inch and 45W) vs the dual core in the Air. The Air will do what you want, but it can run out of power quickly. You have to sacrifice some power to gain lightness in the Air, and the 13 inch Pro doesn't cost much more so compare both if higher performance over weight/size is important.

It's possible that the second screen drains performance, but the low resolution of 1440x900 will be fine. The newer 4K screens drain a lot of performance (and the 5K even more) so its entirely possible that the Air can be brought down with a "dual monitor and a few desktop apps" if the monitor is 5K.

They make many USB-C docks with everything but the VGA, so unless you can find one with VGA added you might need a separate VGA adapter.

Thanks for the insight! So given what you wrote, it should suit my needs and the low res external monitor shouldn't be an issue... I currently run my setup on a 6 year old low budget VAIO, and it's ok - it's just often not responsive or fast in any way. I just need it to be fast And don't want to hit CPU bottlenecks, otherwise I'd have the same issue I have now.

Base model Air is 1379€ where I live and base model Pro is 2099€ (2018 with Touch Bar - I take it you're referring to the old model with 7th gen chips, I don't want an outdated model). And yes, portability is a huge plus, but both are ultraportable for me.

And no worries with the VGA, as long as it has HDMI, I already have an adaptor for that.

(Looking into alternatives as well. Asus has good machines, but they don't have macOS...)