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iDave said:
And trust me, with 2 GB you wouldn't. :)

I agree that people need to assess their needs and buy the computer that fits those needs. I don't agree with the spec whores who try to convince people that they need it all.

In my case, I need more storage but I don't need more RAM. So I'm likely to buy the 11" Air with the storage upgrade but not the RAM. Simple as that. :)
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I'm no spec whore. If an app comes out (x-plane 10) that needs 200 GB of hard drive, you go to BestBuy and spend $60 for an external. Not ideal, but functional. If an app comes out and needs 3GB ram (not unforseeable), with a MBA your option is not use the app, or buy a new computer, simple as that.
 
bella92108 said:
I'm no spec whore. If an app comes out (x-plane 10) that needs 200 GB of hard drive, you go to BestBuy and spend $60 for an external. Not ideal, but functional. If an app comes out and needs 3GB ram (not unforseeable), with a MBA your option is not use the app, or buy a new computer, simple as that.
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I know for a fact that no giant program will come out that I need to run on my portable computer. I also know that everything I need to run on my portable computer for the next couple of years will run within 2GB of RAM. After that, I'll have a different computer anyway.

On the other hand, my desktop computer contains 4 GB of RAM and I'm planning to double it. I do more heavy lifting with that one.

Again, assess what you need and buy what you need.

I think this is the wrong thread for this. Thanks for the discussion. :)
 
bella92108 said:
The ipad is limiting with a limited OS, this has full MAC OSX. The last thing I want to do is worry about running out of RAM having Safari, Word, and Numbers running at the same time.
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Missing out that computers have a feature called virtual memory. When the RAM is fullfilled the OS relies on the storage, in this case SSD. You shouldn't worry about that for your kind of use. :)
 
bella92108 said:
You should really read what I say and not read into it what you want to see. I never said max it out. Buying a computer in 2010\2011 with 2GB of Ram and 64GB of Drive Storage is not a wise investment. That was out-dated back in 2009, and you're putting money into that config now?

There are very few people who would disagree that 4GB is the standard for current computing needs (no matter how basic). The mere fact that an iPhone holds 32 GB and the sync would wipe half your drive alone, is evidence of that.

I never stated to max out a config. But I'm simply stating that by always buying entry model in computers, you'll always be one generation behind in the model you own. So if you go with a mid-line, you may have the "low end offering" in 6 months, but you'll at least still have a current model and not be obsolete.
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Some folks here keep their computer for years because they don't need "to stay updated." I know a lot of folks who exclusively buy refurbished Macs that are about to be phased out because it saves them money. Some people have priorities other then keeping their computers recent.

Believe it or not but for some people 2 Gigs is enough.
 
Jiten said:
Believe it or not for some people 2 Gigs is enough.
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I have an ancient Core Duo iMac that came with 1GB of RAM. Used it for a couple of years with no issue. Decided to upgrade it to 2GB. It's been used for another two years with no issue. It's never refused to do anything I've asked it from ripping/encoding movies, crunching numbers, playing high-def movies, or light gaming.

This myth that 2GB limits what an ultra-portable notebook computer can do is already tiresome.

If Apple believed that people's experience with OSX would be sub-optimal, I doubt seriously they would have released these "premium" laptops in such a configuration. The iMac I referenced above has moved comfortably from Tiger to Leopard to Snow Leopard. Maybe Lion will leave it behind. But I doubt it.
 
Jiten said:
So what if your model get outdated or replaced by a newer wiz bang model? It won't magically become slower or stop functioning. Usability? What the heck you are talking about? Its not like your Mac will become harder to use once it becomes outdated.

Some folks here keep their computer for years because they don't need the latest and greatest. I know a lot of folks who exclusively buy refurbished Macs that are about to be phased out because it saves them money. Some people have priorities other then keeping their computers updated.

Thinking like that makes consumer companies like Apple very happy. Good for them.
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Its not about your product being outdated, but rather no longer useful for more demanding tasks and applications.

Im not saying that people dont have other priorities or replace their laptops with the latest and greatest. What im saying is that, given the opportunity to buy a premium product (apple products are premium products), wouldnt it be a shame to not pay the extra 100 bucks for get the extra 2gigs?

Again, each to their own.
 
GeekLawyer said:
I have an ancient Core Duo iMac that came with 1GB of RAM. Used it for a couple of years with no issue. Decided to upgrade it to 2GB. It's been used for another two years with no issue. It's never refused to do anything I've asked it from ripping/encoding movies, crunching numbers, playing high-def movies, or light gaming.

This myth that 2GB limits what an ultra-portable notebook computer can do is already tiresome.
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Again, it all depends on what your doing. For your needs, 2G seems fine. For me, i run vmware, do lots of photo/video editing etc and my old macbook pro struggled a little on 2gig.

Even if 2gig suited my needs now, paying a measly 100 bucks to cover myself for any future additional tasks i may want to use my laptop for in the future, then its a small price to pay.
 
GeekLawyer said:
I have an ancient Core Duo iMac that came with 1GB of RAM. Used it for a couple of years with no issue. Decided to upgrade it to 2GB. It's been used for another two years with no issue. It's never refused to do anything I've asked it from ripping/encoding movies, crunching numbers, playing high-def movies, or light gaming.

This myth that 2GB limits what an ultra-portable notebook computer can do is already tiresome.

If Apple believed that people's experience with OSX would be sub-optimal, I doubt seriously they would have released these "premium" laptops in such a configuration. The iMac I referenced above has moved comfortably from Tiger to Leopard to Snow Leopard. Maybe Lion will leave it behind. But I doubt it.
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I agree...this subject is getting long in the tooth....to each their own per their individual needs. I have a base model 11.6" on order and that's all I need as I will simply be using it as a secondary laptop with minimal applications installed for basic email and web browsing around the house and traveling. The one thing I will use it for other than that will be downloading photos to it while on the road to sort through and view until I can get home and then transfer it all over to my workhouse 17" i7 MBP with 8 gigs of RAM for processing in Aperture. 64 gigs and 2 GB RAM is plenty enough for my purposes...too, I usually sell on EBay and upgrade about once a year-no need for future proofing.
 
PieMac said:
I agree...this subject is getting long in the tooth....to each their own per their individual needs. I have a base model 11.6" on order and that's all I need as I will simply be using it as a secondary laptop with minimal applications installed for basic email and web browsing around the house and traveling. The one thing I will use it for other than that will be downloading photos to it while on the road to sort through and view until I can get home and then transfer it all over to my workhouse 17" i7 MBP with 8 gigs of RAM for processing in Aperture. 64 gigs and 2 GB RAM is plenty enough for my purposes...too, I usually sell on EBay and upgrade about once a year-no need for future proofing.
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+1
 
GeekLawyer said:
This myth that 2GB limits what an ultra-portable notebook computer can do is already tiresome.
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Yes I totally agree. A lot of folks these days underestimate what fairly modern computers can do. This is like those discussions in the iMac/Macbook Pro forums where posters are worried that if your model is not a i5 or i7 Mac you will have a terrible time using Photoshop.
 
Jiten said:
Yes I totally agree. A lot of folks these days underestimate what fairly modern computers can do. This is like those discussions in the iMac/Macbook Pro forums where posters are worried that if your model is not a i5 or i7 Mac you will have a terrible time using Photoshop.
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It's a shame that Apple now uses these "stock" Intel chips for its computers. So there's always this psychological pull toward whatever the "it" chip of the moment is. Their approach with custom silicon for iOS devices is preferred.
 
Jiten said:
Yes I totally agree. A lot of folks these days underestimate what fairly modern computers can do. This is like those discussions in the iMac/Macbook Pro forums where posters are worried that if your model is not a i5 or i7 Mac you will have a terrible time using Photoshop.
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I have to disagree on the memory part. It's very easy to reach the 2GB memory limit, even with moderate use. If you doing research online e.g., you easily end up with 20-30 tabs and the browser memory usage starts to spike and can take up 1/3 or even half of your available 2GB. Apart from the browser each application you have opened up takes up a bit too, and everything added together...

Also, users who just want stuff to work don't want to worry about having to close applications in order for others to work properly. They just click and open up stuff, and don't necessarily close applications they don't use anymore. And although OS X has pretty good memory management, the more that's opened, the less available memory you have.

Once you get close to the limit, something that's obviously easy to do without having to be a 'power user', everything starts to slow down because OS X starts swapping to the hard drive. Now with the SSDs in the MBA this will be less noticeable because the swapping will occur relatively fast, but that doesn't mean you're not running out of RAM. And RAM is still a lot faster, so having at least a bigger safety margin by going for the 4GB option isn't a bad thing.

And lastly, most people will advice you to buy 4GB instead of 2GB because with everything most people use nowadays, 2GB is simply cutting it close. We can be sure that in the future applications and the OS itself will require (at least some) additional memory.
 
My father has been waiting 20 years to by a computer, He keeps hearing that a better model will be out next year lol.
 
C64 said:
I have to disagree on the memory part. It's very easy to reach the 2GB memory limit, even with moderate use.
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Eh what? I'm using the first macbook before it got pro (the aluminium) and I've always had 2GB ram.

Applications I've active atm:Synergy,Truecrypt, collouq, Transmission: Download Ubuntu, Dropbox, Shovebox, cloud Vmware Win 7 (helping a friend with some win questions), Tweetie, Adium, Remote desktop, iChat -> Screen share, Skype -> active voicechat, 10 finder windows open, 7 tabs in safari, mail, spotify, iTunes. AND havnt quit photoshop from before. With this active I have 1/3 memory left.

Is this not even moderate use? okay....
 
nomad01 said:
Plus 2. Amazed by how well this performs. Got Photoshop CS3 installed and it loads miles faster than my i7 MBP but it still works well enough for most stuff I want to edit.

I honestly cannot believe how happy I am with this little baby. I'm still waiting for the rub!
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Just curious...which one did you get?
 
Just an FYI for those interested: the 128GB 11.6" base model is in stock at Amazon.com right now. I wound up canceling my overdue order with Apple and went with the 128GB instead-gives me a little more breathing room...and it will be here Tuesday thanks to Amazon's prime $3.99 next day shipping! :D
 
PieMac said:
Just an FYI for those interested: the 12 GB 11.6" base model is in stock at Amazon.com right now. I wound up canceling my overdue order with Apple and went with the 128GB instead-gives me a little more breathing room...and it will be here Tuesday with Amazon's prime $3.99 next day shipping! :D
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Yeah they have them available from Apple in store for pickup or same day shipping on apple.com... but u still end up with 2 GB RAM :-(
 
Audio IN

Question (couldn't find a better thread and didn't want to start a new one): does the headphone jack support audio in, e.g. for recording instruments?
 
bella92108 said:
Yeah they have them available from Apple in store for pickup or same day shipping on apple.com... but u still end up with 2 GB RAM :-(
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The RAM is ok with me for what I'm going to be using it for the majority of the time...I was honestly more concerned about the storage.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

2gig is sometimes eaten by the OS and you will also seem virtual memory borrowing space from your harddrive.

Now is you also have a small harddrive as in the new MBA case, this could slow and heat your computer when doing something heavy.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Hate typing on my iPhone. Errors everywhere. All thumbs...
 
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