Which 11" MBA ?? - Early 2014 or early 2015 ??

[Melrose]

He only posted 3 questions marks. Lying about what someone posts just seems a bit.... ____

Anyway, you said there are "major improvement in R/W speeds" and that's why you went with the 13", because you can't justify the tradeoff in speed. But the truth is that there is no noticeable difference, none. I feel sympathy for you since you've been mislead, but please don't continue misleading others.

You feel sympathy for someone on a forum that did research and bought what he felt he needed? You need to get out more.

I would be startled if I ever met anybody who could tell the difference between the drives in a real-world scenario, hence my curiosity.

That Ars review was where I first read that, and I've since seen it one or two other places.

Being as my workload is dealing with heavy files on a daily basis while running several large apps at once, I think I'd actually notice the difference. Does it make a difference if all you do is email? 99.9% no; The heavier the workload, the more likely you're going to feel those microseconds.

The bottom line is this: If I bought the 11" I'd probably be okay with it because I'd never buy both sizes and use them consecutively just to prove my point to someone on a forum who throws around wild and un-researched opinions (not pointing fingers), but reading about the speed difference and knowing my usage is heavier than most users' I chose wisely. Most people - of whatever workload - only experience what they buy, and because most only upgrade their computers when they need to (e.g., 2-3+ years) any upgrade is going to be noticeable regardless of which model they choose.

I'm coming from a last-ten 17" - 4GB of RAM and a Sandy Bridge. Any post-Haswell machine would be a blast, but I opted to pack a couple "booster rockets" onto my blast so I can really fly with it. Plus if I'm spending $1300+ on something, I have a tendency to buy up.

 

[Splitbolt]

No, I feel sympathy for someone who actually believes that they can discern microseconds.

 

[Melrose]

No, I feel sympathy for someone who actually believes that they can discern microseconds.

I'm used to paying attention to small details. It's like nosing a $150 scotch: you'd be surprised how well you can train yourself (voluntarily or not) to notice those tiny little things. You really notice milliseconds if you spend two hours trying to nail down an animation and get it just right. It's very noticeable if you are used to looking for it.

But - you said there was no noticeable difference, and the truth of the matter is that, Yes, there is.

 

[Splitbolt]

Yes, microseconds make a difference to you, yet you use a MacBook Air.

Do you really think anyone believes this line of crap you're trying to sell?

 

[motrek]

... That Ars review was where I first read that, and I've since seen it one or two other places.
...

Read what? The conclusion of the Ars review is that no improvement in the 2015 MBA grabs one's attention, and specifically that storage speeds are better but they were already good.

I'm not sure how you arrived at the idea, from that, that the 2015 MBA's storage speed makes enough of an impact to influence a purchasing decision.

... Being as my workload is dealing with heavy files on a daily basis while running several large apps at once, ...

I'll bite: what is a "heavy file" to you, and how often do you have to read the entire contents of these heavy files into RAM all at once?

... I'd never buy both sizes and use them consecutively just to prove my point to someone on a forum who doesn't research their opinions
...

It's pretty easy to tell whether or not you're taking advantage of your storage speed. Open Activity Monitor, go to the Disk tab, and see what the graph tells you. Do something you think is disk intensive and see where the graph tops out.

Personally, the most disk intensive thing I've done lately is open a large-ish file in Photoshop. When I do that, my graph tops out at 30 MB/s even though my drive is capable of 700 MB/s. That tells me that the bottleneck with opening the file is not my disk at all and I probably wouldn't notice any difference if my drive was half as fast.

But I am curious to see what your graph tells you with your heavy files.

 

[Melrose]

Yes, microseconds make a difference to you, yet you use a MacBook Air.

Do you really think anyone believes this line of crap you're trying to sell?

Let's not argue.

I'll bite: what is a "heavy file" to you, and how often do you have to read the entire contents of these heavy files into RAM all at once?

Opening several files at a time, often over 1GB.

Please, let's not argue over why I made my purchase.

 

[Melrose]

Duplicate.

 

[motrek]

...
Opening several files at a time, often over 1GB.

Please, let's not argue over why I made my purchase.

Just because you open a file doesn't mean the file is read, in its entirety, into RAM. That depends on the software you're using. You haven't yet made a case that you benefit from the increased storage speed in any noticeable way.

And of course I would be a jerk to tell you that your buying priorities were wrong. But let's not forget how this exchange started. On the previous page you were recommending to somebody else that they get a 2015 13" MBA specifically for the faster storage. So it's not really just a question of you and your priorities.

 

[Splitbolt]

Let's not argue.



Opening several files at a time, often over 1GB.

Please, let's not argue over why I made my purchase.

As I said from the beginning, my fear is that you will spread your misinformation to others and cause them to waste their money on something that simply doesn't exist.

 

[Melrose]

Just because you open a file doesn't mean the file is read, in its entirety, into RAM. That depends on the software you're using. You haven't yet made a case that you benefit from the increased storage speed in any noticeable way.

And of course I would be a jerk to tell you that your buying priorities were wrong. But let's not forget how this exchange started. On the previous page you were recommending to somebody else that they get a 2015 13" MBA specifically for the faster storage. So it's not really just a question of you and your priorities.

Sure.