More HardDrive space, or better internals?

[Dsteller]

Hi, I am in the middle of purchasing a new MacBook Air, and don't have the money to get the best of both worlds (More storage+more RAM+ processor.) So my question is, do I go with the more storage (256GB SSD) with an i5 and 4GB of RAM, or a 128GB SSD with either 8GB of RAM or an i7 processor? Please help, and tell why for each answer.
I am a upcoming freshman in High school and do a lot of photo editing (Adobe, Aperture) and I also like to game (Skyrim, Diablo III)... If this puts me in a different spot because of my likes, then should I be looking at a different Mac?

~Dsteller

 

[B...]

Not possible without stating your uses.

 

[Dsteller]

.

 

[sonicrobby]

Welcome to my world. I went with better internals, and i dont regret it. Though i do keep a watchful eye on my HDD space.

But think of it this way, if you get better internals, you can always get an external hardrive, or upgrade the one you have, sometime in the future. But if you get more storage and need better performance, you would have to get a whole new computer.

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By the way, I am a upcoming freshman in High school and do a lot of photo editing (Adobe, Aperture) and I also like to game (Skyrim, Boarderlands, Diablo III)... If this puts me in a different spot because of my likes, then should I be looking at a different Mac?

Not 100% sure how well the air would handle those games... I have no experience with airs and gaming, so no opinion.

 

[B...]

If you cannot afford both upgrades on the MBA you can't afford a 15" MBP. Get a gaming PC if you want to game.

 

[falconeight]

Get more ram and processor. I use a 64 gb micro sd card in one of my usb slots for extra storage.

 

[r6mile]

Get more ram and processor. I use a 64 gb micro sd card in one of my usb slots for extra storage.

Ditto. For the price of the extra 128GB of internal capacity on the MBA, you could buy a 2TB USB 3.0 external hard drive and a 64GB SDXC card. But you can't upgrade the RAM, and the CPU upgrade was too expensive.
So I went with i5/8GB/128GB.

 

[tann]

You mention Skyrim, for that reason alone I say SSD space.

You'll need to bootcamp (Skyrim's not on Mac right? I'm pretty sure it isn't..) and that'll eat up space.

If you can somehow swing it get the 8gb on top.

Though the Air isn't a killer game maching, you won't get anywhere near full quality on most games.

See anandtech's review. http://www.anandtech.com/show/7085/the-2013-macbook-air-review-13inch/5

Otherwise get a rMBP 15" or MBP 15" if you wanna game.

 

[mattferg]

Hi, I am in the middle of purchasing a new MacBook Air, and don't have the money to get the best of both worlds (More storage+more RAM+ processor.) So my question is, do I go with the more storage (256GB SSD) with an i5 and 4GB of RAM, or a 128GB SSD with either 8GB of RAM or an i7 processor? Please help, and tell why for each answer.
I am a upcoming freshman in High school and do a lot of photo editing (Adobe, Aperture) and I also like to game (Skyrim, Diablo III)... If this puts me in a different spot because of my likes, then should I be looking at a different Mac?

~Dsteller

Personally I'd aim for the i5/8GB/256GB, but if you can't afford that, the i5/8GB/128GB. I wouldn't touch the i7 at all.

 

[Dsteller]

Personally I'd aim for the i5/8GB/256GB, but if you can't afford that, the i5/8GB/128GB. I wouldn't touch the i7 at all.

Why would you suggest that I don't go for the i7. As internal space is convenient, I wouldn't ever be able to improve the internals (processor RAM) So wouldn't an external hard drive work? I could run Parallels through it yes?
As to gaming, it is to my understanding that the new air has a Intel 5000 HD, on top of the nice resolution, so getting a rMBP or a MBP wouldn't help too much.
To touch on the Skyrim post about how it's only windows, later this year, Bethesda is to release Skyrim for mac, similar to what happened with the Assassin's Creed games