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Which Air to buy

A

andylee97

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 28, 2008
16
0
So I found 2 "11" Macbook Air for sale and they are both about the same price but they have different configurations and I was wondering which one should I get.

1) 1.6 i5 with 2gb Ram and 64gb hardrive

2) 1.6 Core duo with 4gb Ram and 128gb harddrive

I really dont need the harddrive space so I guess I'm stuck on either a better processor and less ram or a less processor and more ram.
 
Its a tough call but I would go for the i5. The new intel core i series is leaps and bounds better than C2D. I would rathe get the i5 and deal with the small SSD by picking up an external hard drive. You'll be very happy with the i5 and may even be a little disappointed with the C2D.
 
I'd keep looking - they aren't the only 2 machines in existence.

I'd go for a minimum of 4gb RAM (lion is much happier with 4 or more), and if you can, get an i5.

the storage can be upgraded - the RAM/CPU can't.

the core i5 is MUCH faster cpu-wise than a core2 duo.
 
I agree - I'd keep looking. 2 gig of RAM is pretty limiting these days.
 
The 1.6 i5 with 2gb Ram and 64gb hardrive is an blazing fast computer. If I wouldn't have money for the 4gb version I would definitely take the i5 one. The
1.6 Core duo can't play all FullHD movies smooth on youtube...
 
1.6 core2duo would be a better option of the 2 simply cause the 2gb ram is gonna be a huge bottleneck. The processor wont matter much, since the 2gb ram will bottleneck a lot. At basic/idle usage(safari+Spotify or itunes) my ram usage is around 2gb, cant see how 2gigs will suffice.
 
Last edited:
I feel like I'm watching a game of Pong...
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P.S. At this time I would choose neither option.
 
I have an 11" with 2GB RAM. It's a tech diagnostic machine, so it almost always is only running Lion, so it's fine; but if you intend to run 10.7 and anything more than the OS and Mail, you should go for 4GB RAM. Lion itself grabs about 1.7GB after boot, so, it doesn't take opening much before it starts having to page and while the SSD makes it more bearable than with a standard 5400rpm HDD, it's still a bottleneck you should try and avoid. Best bet, i5 with4GB if you can swing it.
 
4GB of RAM is a requirement! Especially with how many browser tabs and background helper apps I keep open. And honestly, 64gb of hard drive space is tiny!
 
throAU said:
I'd keep looking - they aren't the only 2 machines in existence.

I'd go for a minimum of 4gb RAM (lion is much happier with 4 or more), and if you can, get an i5.

the storage can be upgraded - the RAM/CPU can't.

the core i5 is MUCH faster cpu-wise than a core2 duo.
Click to expand...

I agree about the RAM...4GB is really a must have In my opnion. I looked T the 11"s but went for a 13" in the end. That 11" screen is just not enough real estate.
 
I've had a 2GB 64GB MBA 11'' before and it wasn't that bad (with both Lion and Windows), I didn't feel slow at all (because when the RAM was full, the SDD was fast enough to access the paging file). The main reason why I bought the new one with 4GB and 128GB is that I need to run Windows with Bootcamp and 64GB feels really too small for that.
 
I wouldn't be so sure you don't need the hard drive space, unless you're used to only using very small amounts. For a start, you won't have 64 GB of free space because a) hard drives are never as much as they're advertised to be, and b) after the OS, updates and various program installs I imagine you'll be down to the low 50s at least.

In any case, I really don't recommend a C2D. They are very rather limiting and will become more so quicker in the future.
 
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