All Macs released in 2008 or later will run Mountain Lion, as will some Macs released in 2007. The point is still valid, though.
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Why are people scared of 4GB of RAM?
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All Macs released in 2008 or later will run Mountain Lion, as will some Macs released in 2007. The point is still valid, though.
I went with the 8G RAM upgrade. The $100 option is about 8.3% of my Air's base price ($1199). My current and only computer (an HP laptop running XP) is approximately 6 years old, so I don't buy too often (it's hanging in there, but it feels its age). For these reasons, I felt it was a no-brainer decision. For others, it may not be. If the 8G was a much more expensive upgrade, I probably wouldn't have gone for it. My 13''/128G/8G Air should be here soon and I'm looking forward to going Mac.
Open a few tabs in Chrome and check your Activity Monitor.... thats why you need 8 GB of RAM
I use Xcode all day, Mail, iTap RDP, Pulp, 10-20 Safari tabs, Pages, Numbers, ForkLift, iTunes, CodeRunner, TextWrangler and MacJournal.
Sure, I am beyond 4GB of RAM - however even with the paging my computer is just as fast as one with 8GB of RAM. The small difference the 8GB of RAM will make over paging on the SSD is very minimal for what I do and what the majority of users will do.
If you run high computation applications, heavy RAM apps (I'm thinking new video games - but we are speaking of a MBA so not happening) or the like, then sure, 8GB.
Now if you had a HDD... 8GB will make a world of difference. But no MBA comes with a HDD anymore.
Not all is about system requirements. I use matlab a lot and really, I would love a few hundred gigs in ram as my variables at times are about 100gigs apiece and running operations on them would be much faster with a lot of ram
Lion Memory Management Sucks
Didn't see it mentioned (breezed through the thread), but the main reason people may be "scared" of 4GB of RAM is because Apple's implementation of Lion is absolutely horrible when it comes to memory management, and that is in comparison to Snow Leopard. I still run SL on my Mac Pro because I hate Lion, but that is for another thread.
Didn't see it mentioned (breezed through the thread), but the main reason people may be "scared" of 4GB of RAM is because Apple's implementation of Lion is absolutely horrible when it comes to memory management, and that is in comparison to Snow Leopard. I still run SL on my Mac Pro because I hate Lion, but that is for another thread.
I am getting my wife one this week and have been saving up for a while for it, I can't afford to put 8GB in it, the extra £70 means another month or so of saving up again. She is a regular user, browsing, writing essays, reading, itunes and some very light games from the app store.
As far as I am concerned 4GB will be enough to let her get 3 years out of the laptop, at that point 4GB will be like 2GB is now, you could get by on it but its advisable to have 8GB.
I think 3 years of good solid use from a laptop is a great return, 3 years is also plenty of time to be putting money away for your next laptop too.
If you are going to keep an air for more than 3 years then YES upgrade to 8GB but if you are a normal everyday user and will be replacing the computer in 3 years or less then 4GB is fine.
As far as I am concerned 4GB will be enough to let her get 3 years out of the laptop, at that point 4GB will be like 2GB is now, you could get by on it but its advisable to have 8GB.
I think 3 years of good solid use from a laptop is a great return, 3 years is also plenty of time to be putting money away for your next laptop too.
If you are going to keep an air for more than 3 years then YES upgrade to 8GB but if you are a normal everyday user and will be replacing the computer in 3 years or less then 4GB is fine.
But also think about the resale value in 3 years. Using your analogy, who would want to buy a computer today with 2GB of non-upgradeable RAM at a fair price? Don't get me wrong, it will still sell, but I think that the $100 investment in 8GB will provide a much better return in 3 years, possibly paying for itself compared to the devaluation of the 4GB model. However, I could be completely wrong; only time will tell.
only reason I would want 8GB of ram is cause I use a virtual machine.
If I didnt use virtual machine, I would be happy with 4GB.
If I didnt use virtual machine, I would be happy with 4GB.
But also think about the resale value in 3 years. Using your analogy, who would want to buy a computer today with 2GB of non-upgradeable RAM at a fair price? Don't get me wrong, it will still sell, but I think that the $100 investment in 8GB will provide a much better return in 3 years, possibly paying for itself compared to the devaluation of the 4GB model. However, I could be completely wrong; only time will tell.
In general, base models tend to depreciate less. The RAM costs $100 now, but you'll likely get very little for it relative to the incremental cost.
That was my motivation, as well. The VM ran acceptably with 4GB last year, but it runs even better now that I have 8GB.
That is pretty much how it works. Also applies to other operating systems. Even Windows seems to be doing this nowadays (of course not as good but they have to catch up with the others).
Probably because the actual cost of the upgrade in comparison to your machine when you original purchased it is 'pennies', and very useful.
This kind of thing is such a personal matter. My mother, for example, usually has a couple of Safari tabs and maybe a Scrivener project open. She wouldn't notice if I upgraded her RAM from 4GB to 8 (not that that's possible on a MBA but anyway...), and I doubt if she'd notice if I somehow cut it to 2. But me... I'm a University student who uses my MBA as my main machine, for browsing, research, writing... and although people always seem to say 'oh if you're only doing that 4GB is plenty', but for me that hasn't proved to be the case at all.
For example: for my last essay I had 4 Scrivener projects, 5 Text Edit files, 4 Finder windows, 20+ PDF files, and over 80-100 Safari tabs, 10 + images, plus all the background apps and processes I use, and my page-outs were more than my RAM. And I DID notice. SSD or not, I was getting slow-downs constantly, and even a few crashes. 8GB of RAM is a *very* tempting upgrade for me on the 2012, and I will at least seriously consider upgrading my 2011 machine for the new one. The other upgrades, the USB3 and the faster SSD make it more tempting, but it's the RAM that really matters.
So I guess all my rambling really boils down to: no for some people it wouldn't be worth the upgrade, but they probably wouldn't be considering it too much anyway if their usage is *that* limited. But for many it *is* worth it, either now or because they can see their usage scaling. And IMO it's far better to drop an extra $100 now and find you didn't really *need* it 3 years later than it is to buy 4GB and find in six months that you need 8GB and can't upgrade it. And sometimes it's not just the tasks you do, but how many of them you do at once!
For example: for my last essay I had 4 Scrivener projects, 5 Text Edit files, 4 Finder windows, 20+ PDF files, and over 80-100 Safari tabs, 10 + images, plus all the background apps and processes I use, and my page-outs were more than my RAM. And I DID notice. SSD or not, I was getting slow-downs constantly, and even a few crashes. 8GB of RAM is a *very* tempting upgrade for me on the 2012, and I will at least seriously consider upgrading my 2011 machine for the new one. The other upgrades, the USB3 and the faster SSD make it more tempting, but it's the RAM that really matters.
So I guess all my rambling really boils down to: no for some people it wouldn't be worth the upgrade, but they probably wouldn't be considering it too much anyway if their usage is *that* limited. But for many it *is* worth it, either now or because they can see their usage scaling. And IMO it's far better to drop an extra $100 now and find you didn't really *need* it 3 years later than it is to buy 4GB and find in six months that you need 8GB and can't upgrade it. And sometimes it's not just the tasks you do, but how many of them you do at once!
You have to admit that your usage is on the extreme end of "browsing, research, and writing".
The Safari tabs alone are way up there.
If you "can't notice the difference" between 4gb and 8gb, you're either a very light user or have an SSD and don't do VM work.
4gb to 8gb in my MBP with spinning disk was night and day.... even when i'm not running virtual machines.
as stated, the price difference is minimal, and over the 3-4 year life of the machine, it is peanuts, something like 10c per day - if that.
4gb to 8gb in my MBP with spinning disk was night and day.... even when i'm not running virtual machines.
as stated, the price difference is minimal, and over the 3-4 year life of the machine, it is peanuts, something like 10c per day - if that.
Freely admitted! I know that's pushing things. I only meant that sometimes its not the tasks you do that determine what you need, but the scale. And maybe just supporting the idea that a college/Uni student might find a couple of years in that whilst they are still doing the same *types* of task, the scale grows - so better to max the RAM than regret not doing so when the computer is otherwise still going strong.
I know that's pushing things. I only meant that sometimes its not the tasks you do that determine what you need, but the scale. And maybe just supporting the idea that a college/Uni student might find a couple of years in that whilst they are still doing the same *types* of task, the scale grows - so better to max the RAM than regret not doing so when the computer is otherwise still going strong.Matlab and MBA
Hi Dukebound85,
I just read that you use a Mac for Matlab.
Do you think the MBA, 13" with 8GB RAM and 128SSD will perform well with Matlab? I do a lot of image analysis (read dicoms and analyze) and I deal with 3D and 4D matrices.
Thanks!
Hi Dukebound85,
I just read that you use a Mac for Matlab.
Do you think the MBA, 13" with 8GB RAM and 128SSD will perform well with Matlab? I do a lot of image analysis (read dicoms and analyze) and I deal with 3D and 4D matrices.
Thanks!
I'm currently using 4gb on my imac atm with barely doing anything.
skype: 387.1 mb
chrome 385.0
flash: 235.1 mb
chrome helper(wtf is that): 183.1mb
App store: 157.8mb
VLC: 132mb
and a bunch of others inbetween 1-90mb things. I'm honestly not sure how people can live with only 4gb. I'm probably going to upgrade my desktop to 16GB and if I get an air I'll be going the 8gb or if I get the MBPr the 16gb. To each his own though.
It is also always good to go for more than you "need" so it is future proof.
skype: 387.1 mb
chrome 385.0
flash: 235.1 mb
chrome helper(wtf is that): 183.1mb
App store: 157.8mb
VLC: 132mb
and a bunch of others inbetween 1-90mb things. I'm honestly not sure how people can live with only 4gb. I'm probably going to upgrade my desktop to 16GB and if I get an air I'll be going the 8gb or if I get the MBPr the 16gb. To each his own though.
It is also always good to go for more than you "need" so it is future proof.
That should work fine though it really depends on your arrays. I know for me, I value a decent hdd as my work will easily fill up terabytes of space and with enough large matrices, 128gb is too little as a scratch disk once ram is full
How big are your arrays? For instance, I analyze multiple arrays on the order of 240x121x15x4x13000 in terms if dimensions. However a lot can be said for coding smart and clearing variables in a timely manner. Though now, having usb3 as an option for external, it is a little better/faster to work straight off an external if your internal is close to being full capacity
For smaller stuff, I had run matlab on a Mac with 8 gigs just fine, albeit slow as ram is always my bottleneck
I can afford the RAM, but I choose not to purchase something that is unnecessary. I can afford a $25 hardcover book, but I am quite happy getting the $12 paperback, because it meets my needs.
Instead of saying users should buy a computer upgrade or don't buy the computer at all, I think it is far better to point out the pros and cons, and the use cases that justify a 4GB RAM purchase. Do you really believe that a 4GB RAM computer is completely useless? Strange, because I am having a great time with it. I had a great time with my 8GB MBP last year, but it turned out that the upgrade was wasted on me, because it was unnecessary.
My comment was aimed at people arguing the % the RAM upgrade cost. Not whether it is needed or not. If you are not upgrading b.c the cost, you should not be getting a mac
My old '07 mbp worked for a good 3 years with the 2gb of ram it came with. As I started to notice slow-downs, I swapped out the 2 with 4 and that carried me through until I got the '11 13" air last year.
Even though both the mbp and the air have the same 4gb's of ram, improvements in the processor and the ssd vs hdd make the air a screamer compared to the now ancient mbp.
My point here is this. If you don't think you need 8gb's today, don't bother getting this upgrade. Yes, it's cheap (relatively speaking), but chances are much greater that a new model 3 or 4 years down the line will have other improvements that you'll want/need that will drive you to purchase new. And it's possible that ram as we know it will not be used in the same way it is now.
And I agree that if you're doing processor intensive applications, the $100 upgrade is probably a no-brainer.
Even though both the mbp and the air have the same 4gb's of ram, improvements in the processor and the ssd vs hdd make the air a screamer compared to the now ancient mbp.
My point here is this. If you don't think you need 8gb's today, don't bother getting this upgrade. Yes, it's cheap (relatively speaking), but chances are much greater that a new model 3 or 4 years down the line will have other improvements that you'll want/need that will drive you to purchase new. And it's possible that ram as we know it will not be used in the same way it is now.
And I agree that if you're doing processor intensive applications, the $100 upgrade is probably a no-brainer.
So apple should only sell macs to people that can afford the price of the mac plus an extra 10-20% on top. Why is that? Does it make you feel better about yourself that you can afford the extra and other people can't?
What? The only reason why someone would not upgrade is because of the cost, so in your view, nobody should be buying or should have bought a 4GB Air at all.
Most people don't need the extra RAM and have more reasonable expectations about how long they think it will last, say 3 years.
The MBA is not a workstation either. So most professionals have a real workstation as well and if they need to accomplish anything intensive they would get a MBP or a Windows machine.
The Air is perfect for what most people do most of the time.
That being said I did get the 8GB because I'm not like most people.
The MBA is not a workstation either. So most professionals have a real workstation as well and if they need to accomplish anything intensive they would get a MBP or a Windows machine.
The Air is perfect for what most people do most of the time.
That being said I did get the 8GB because I'm not like most people.