PCIE SSD supplementing 4GB ram?

[InuNacho]

I picked up an 11 1.6/4gb from a reseller for $550 and am currently on the fence on whether or not I want to keep it. I'm bought it mainly to replace my windows laptop which also has 4gb soldered ram but a much slower sata older ssd.
If running memory heavy tasks like both Lightroom and Photoshop open at the same time, will I see much of a slowdown like I do on my windows laptop or will it keep going along normally?

 

[Boyd01]

I think the fast SSD on the MBA really minimizes the effects of "swapping" that you see on your Windows machine. I used to have a 4gb 2011 MBA and I ran some powerful software like Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Vectorworks, etc. It was much, much faster than the 2008 MBP that I replaced. I'm sure that swapping was taking place when I had several of these programs open at the same tme, but I was never aware of it.

I upgraded to an 8gb MBA in 2013, and the user experience was really very similar. Of course you will need to try this with your own software and usage patterns, but you might be surprised by how responsive it is.

 

[InuNacho]

Well I took it out of it's box and used it rather heavily over the past few days. Overall I'm impressed by it's overall responsiveness but there was a definite lag when it did come to swapping but nothing like the Windows machine this is intended to replace.
The 8gb model would have been preferable but 4gb is more than workable.

 

[Left4DeadBoy]

hi Have you seen an Apple tech who can say whether its replaceable? Theyve got techs available to help you; you can email; or you can visit a mall with an Apple store .

 

[Intell]

The memory on Macbook Airs is soldered to the logicboard and is not replaceable.

 

[flowrider]

The only correct answer here is Post #2. The OP knows the RAM is not upgradable and is interested in a faster SSD for "swapping" as correctly identified by Boyd.

Lou