Will 4GB be enough for next 3 years of OS X updates?

[fuchsdh]

Why would you buy a macbook at the store?
They are extremely overpriced.

A base mba is 850€ at a regular electronic store.
The same model with 8gb ram is 1150€ ...

Fifty euros off the Apple MSRP is "extremely overpriced"? They're the ones ripping you off for RAM upgrades, not Apple, and given that buying from Apple is a pretty simple affair, talking about the RAM upgrade as costing you more than 100 euros is disingenuous.

 

[motrek]

Fifty euros off the Apple MSRP is "extremely overpriced"? They're the ones ripping you off for RAM upgrades, not Apple, and given that buying from Apple is a pretty simple affair, talking about the RAM upgrade as costing you more than 100 euros is disingenuous.

You're assuming he's talking about the 899 euro 11" base model. He's clearly talking about the 13" base model which retails for 999 euros. So getting that for 850 is a pretty big discount.

And what makes you think the electronics stores are ripping people off for RAM upgrades? How do you know they even stock MBAs with 8GB?

We have more or less the same situation in the US. Best Buy often has the base model MBA on sale for a $70+ discount and they rarely discount the 8GB models, if they even have them in stock. Actually if you look at their web site now, it's not even possible to order an 8GB model online.

So practically speaking, the upgrade that's listed as $100 on Apple's web site might realistically cost you much closer to $200 and it's not hard to believe that the price differential would be bigger in certain foreign countries.

 

[Meister]

Fifty euros off the Apple MSRP is "extremely overpriced"? They're the ones ripping you off for RAM upgrades, not Apple, and given that buying from Apple is a pretty simple affair, talking about the RAM upgrade as costing you more than 100 euros is disingenuous.

As mentioned by motrek I am obviously talking about the 13" model.
And 850,- is a very good deal.
Here is the link: http://www.saturn.de/mcs/product/APPLE-MacBook-Air-13.3-Zoll,48352,325521,1271390.html?langId=-3
(It's actually 850,- in store)

The model with 8gb is 1150,-.
Here is the link:
http://www.saturn.de/mcs/product/APPLE-MacBook-Air-13.3-Zoll,48352,325521,1716364.html?langId=-3

In the regular store the 4gb version is 1000,- and the 8gb 1100,-

In the edu store you get 12% off, that makes 880,- for the 4gb and 968,- for the 8gb version.

So if you are eligable for the edu discount, the 8gb version is about 120€ more.
If not, the price difference is 250€.

If you are eligable for the edu discount, the price is not too bad, but it's no fun for everyone else.
Also the saturn store let's you buy on credit interest free for 33months!!

In either case, that is a hefty price for such a small upgrade.
And with interest free payments for almost three years, the mba for 850,- is a killer deal!

 

[kiranmk2]

Again: the price difference is not $100.

Actually on the US store it is (just checked now) This is for upgrading the base 13" MBA from 4 to 8 GB. I was off in my GBP rate though - Apple was £80 for the same upgrade in the UK.

 

[motrek]

Actually on the US store it is (just checked now) This is for upgrading the base 13" MBA from 4 to 8 GB. I was off in my GBP rate though - Apple was £80 for the same upgrade in the UK.

Please read the two posts immediately before yours. Those explain why the effective difference is more than $100 regardless of what it costs at the Apple Store.

 

[Writergirl824]

I have a mid 2010 macbook pro with 4gb and it's still running Mountain Lion. I have heard horror stories about people upgrading to Yosemite and it being really slow. I saw somewhere that upgrading to 8gb will help but I don't really know much about macs at all. I was planning on keeping my 2010 MBP but my cat knocked it off the desk and shattered the screen so now it's a trusty desktop. I still don't know about upgrading to yosemite- it still scares me.

So Im looking at macbook air's and am thinking of getting the 8gb because I want to keep it longer than just 3 years. I was planning on keeping my MBP for much longer as a laptop until the screen broke ( I still am not sure though if I want to upgrade to yosemite, but my browsers don't work as well on mountain lion but maybe it's something I'm doing wrong?). So would a 4gb macbook air last 5 years of updates, or would 8gb be the way to go if I want to keep it as long as possible?

I guess I just don't understand why my MBP with 4gb won't support yosemite very well, but a new one with 4gb will. Is there other factors determining that? The age? Will a new one support years of OS upgrades better than the old ones? IS it not really to do with memory at all? I just want to make sure that in 5 years my macbook air won't be SUPER slow because it only has 4gb, or if 8gb won't make much of a difference in 5 years (or more) of upgrades anyway...

 

[dukebound85]

I have a mid 2010 macbook pro with 4gb and it's still running Mountain Lion. I have heard horror stories about people upgrading to Yosemite and it being really slow. I saw somewhere that upgrading to 8gb will help but I don't really know much about macs at all. I was planning on keeping my 2010 MBP but my cat knocked it off the desk and shattered the screen so now it's a trusty desktop. I still don't know about upgrading to yosemite- it still scares me.

So Im looking at macbook air's and am thinking of getting the 8gb because I want to keep it longer than just 3 years. I was planning on keeping my MBP for much longer as a laptop until the screen broke ( I still am not sure though if I want to upgrade to yosemite, but my browsers don't work as well on mountain lion but maybe it's something I'm doing wrong?). So would a 4gb macbook air last 5 years of updates, or would 8gb be the way to go if I want to keep it as long as possible?

I guess I just don't understand why my MBP with 4gb won't support yosemite very well, but a new one with 4gb will. Is there other factors determining that? The age? Will a new one support years of OS upgrades better than the old ones? IS it not really to do with memory at all? I just want to make sure that in 5 years my macbook air won't be SUPER slow because it only has 4gb, or if 8gb won't make much of a difference in 5 years (or more) of upgrades anyway...

I have an 08 mbp that is running 10.11 beta right now and its great

 

[ixxx69]

I have a mid 2010 macbook pro with 4gb and it's still running Mountain Lion. I have heard horror stories about people upgrading to Yosemite and it being really slow. I saw somewhere that upgrading to 8gb will help but I don't really know much about macs at all. I was planning on keeping my 2010 MBP but my cat knocked it off the desk and shattered the screen so now it's a trusty desktop. I still don't know about upgrading to yosemite- it still scares me.

So Im looking at macbook air's and am thinking of getting the 8gb because I want to keep it longer than just 3 years. I was planning on keeping my MBP for much longer as a laptop until the screen broke ( I still am not sure though if I want to upgrade to yosemite, but my browsers don't work as well on mountain lion but maybe it's something I'm doing wrong?). So would a 4gb macbook air last 5 years of updates, or would 8gb be the way to go if I want to keep it as long as possible?

I guess I just don't understand why my MBP with 4gb won't support yosemite very well, but a new one with 4gb will. Is there other factors determining that? The age? Will a new one support years of OS upgrades better than the old ones? IS it not really to do with memory at all? I just want to make sure that in 5 years my macbook air won't be SUPER slow because it only has 4gb, or if 8gb won't make much of a difference in 5 years (or more) of upgrades anyway...

Newer versions of OS X rely on the SSD for best performance. 4GB goes a lot further with an SSD. But 5 years from now is a long time. I recommend the 8GB if it's not a financial hardship... Without knowing more about your usage, it's hard to say how critical it is.