Which MBA?

[Klae17]

Hello... I have two choices


4 GB, 2011, 13.3, 256 gb, 1.8 Processor at $1,179.00

or

8 GB, 2012, 13.3, 128 GB, $1,318.73 total...

???

I will be using photoshop, perhaps get an iMac to do more straining work.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

You can always upgrade the storage to a bigger unit once you have the money, but you are not able to ever upgrade the RAM, thus I say, get the 8 GB model.

 

[gmanist1000]

Hello... I have two choices


4 GB, 2011, 13.3, 256 gb, 1.8 Processor at $1,179.00

or

8 GB, 2012, 13.3, 128 GB, $1,318.73 total...

???

I will be using photoshop, perhaps get an iMac to do more straining work.

Well do you need the RAM or the storage more? Whichever one you need more then choose that one.

 

[dacreativeguy]

I will be using photoshop

Have you every tried to use photoshop on a 13" screen? Not that fun.

 

[macrominnie]

You can always upgrade the storage to a bigger unit once you have the money, but you are not able to ever upgrade the RAM, thus I say, get the 8 GB model.

+1
Can you get by (for the use described) with 4 MB RAM? Yes.

There's no practical way to augment RAM on a MBA.

There are ways to increase memory/SSD capacity, internally or externally. For instance, USB 3.0 Flash Drives are cheap and pretty zippy for many uses, if you need extra memory in a pinch.

If you update to the latest MBA models frequently, you can have competence performance and then trade up at the next release.

But if you keep your Mac longer, the 8 MB RAM improves future proofing. You'll get better performance for intensive apps. Software continues to get more RAM hungry.

Look at the performance in the MBA's in this test. It's not a perfect comparison, since the 4 GB MBA is 2011 & the 8 GB is 2012. But it may give you some idea.

http://barefeats.com/mbp12cp.html

 

[J&JPolangin]

I'd go with the 2012 machine, I just was in the same situation with a last NIB 2011 13" MBA and returned it...

 

[dkersten]

Go for the 8GB model. You can always upgrade space later, not so much the RAM.

 

[jmpnop]

Go with the 2012 model, the GPU is better. Like others said, you can upgrade the storage later but not the RAM.