Which refurbished 11" MacBook Air?

[rcr]

I'm choosing the 11" for portability - so I can slip it in my bag wherever I'm going.

Main use: email/diary/word processing/excel/browsing/organising files
Some light use with InDesign/Photoshop to edit documents (when changes need to be made on the move)

Which model would be best?

Apple Macbook Air 11" 7,1
i5-5250U
4GB Ram

or

Apple MacBook Air 11" 6,1
i5-4260U
8GB Ram

Thanks in advance!

 

[chscag]

That's a tough one since the 6,1 is older but has more memory and 7,1 being newer with less memory. I would probably go for the newer model (early 2015) and hope that 4GB is enough for what I intend to use the machine for. (Using it for InDesign/Photoshop may be pushing the limits on memory though.)

Have you looked into a refurbished retina MacBook? They're very light and easy to carry - only slightly larger than the 11" MBA.

 

[rcr]

That's a tough one since the 6,1 is older but has more memory and 7,1 being newer with less memory. I would probably go for the newer model (early 2015) and hope that 4GB is enough for what I intend to use the machine for. (Using it for InDesign/Photoshop may be pushing the limits on memory though.)

Have you looked into a refurbished retina MacBook? They're very light and easy to carry - only slightly larger than the 11" MBA.

The 11" is just so portable, I've not seen anything else quite like it, and refurbished is considerably lower in cost than the Macbook.

 

[Yvan256]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air#Specifications

The 6,1 has 8GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 5000 and a 1.4 GHz (i5-4260U) dual-core Intel Core i5
The 7,1 has 4GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 6000 and a 1.6 GHz (i5-5250U) dual-core Intel Core i5

Other than that, everything else seems to be the same, although you did not specify the SSD capacities.

I would go with the 6,1 for the RAM but the 7,1 for everything else. I also think the 7,1 will last through one more macOS version than the 6,1 simply because of the HD6000 graphics.

 

[wordsworth]

A difficult choice for you. I have the eleven-inch with 4GB RAM and HD5000, i5 and it's a great little machine. I recently installed High Sierra. It's a second machine in terms of usage. I mainly use a thirteen-inch Air with HD6000 and 8GB RAM as a desktop machine but I love the eleven-inch model for its portability.

If it were me I think I'd go for the 4GB RAM and HD6000 of the newer model. These are impressive machines and with the OS optimising RAM usage (I believe) and the SSD rather than spinning HD avoiding problems associated with the latter, this should all help when you place your demands on the laptop. If you go with this configuration it would be interesting to hear how your InDesign/Photoshop 'light usage' works for you.

 

[rcr]

I'm choosing the 11" for portability - so I can slip it in my bag wherever I'm going.

Main use: email/diary/word processing/excel/browsing/organising files
Some light use with InDesign/Photoshop to edit documents (when changes need to be made on the move)

Which model would be best?

Apple Macbook Air 11" 7,1
i5-5250U
4GB Ram

or

Apple MacBook Air 11" 6,1
i5-4260U
8GB Ram

Thanks in advance!

 

[rcr]

I ended up going for a Macbook M5 [2016] Works well with the software I need. Amazingly light and portable. Very pleased though it did cost a little more than I'd planned.