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Will the lowest Air do?

D

deepakvrao

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
335
29
India
Since Nov I have switched my laptop to an Air, my wife's too and my daughter to an iMac. Love Macs completely and wanted to get one for my Dad.

He does

email
surfing
youtube etc
Word/Excel

Would the lowest end be enough? The SSD would be fine, as all his stuff is hardly 5 gb, but would the RAM of 2gb be OK for Lion?

He will use it with an external monitor.
 
While the lowest model would be okay, 4 GB RAM would be better. Lion is a bit of a RAM hog.


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Maybe have a look at Advanced Search to find dozens of threads about Lion and its RAM usage:
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No problem

Absolutely, up until yesterday I was using the original 11" Air running Lion, it had done so since Lions release with no problems. Your Dad should have no issues with the current 11" Air running Lion.

Enjoy :)
 
Thanks guys.

Reason I ask is that adding RAM is 100 dollars but more important, it is 'to order' right? Have a friend in the US who might just pick it up locally or I'll order from MacMall.

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Will MacMall ship a MBA with RAM upgrade within a day?
 
deepakvrao said:
Thanks guys.

Reason I ask is that adding RAM is 100 dollars but more important, it is 'to order' right? Have a friend in the US who might just pick it up locally or I'll order from MacMall.

----------

Will MacMall ship a MBA with RAM upgrade within a day?
Click to expand...

According to this, they currently ship the next day.

MacMall has a bigger discount for the base model than the one with 4GB/64GB SSD, though.

I did check the Apple Store online, and they will ship configured models in 1-3 days, though for all the NYC stores, the pick-up-in-store option said they would be available February 9.
 
Since its for your dad, who I assume would keep his laptop for several years, I wouldn't recommend the 2gb model. Might be 'just' sufficient now, but pretty soon its going to prove to be a bottleneck. You are already dropping quite a lot on the Air to start with, a little more would make it future proof.

BTW, its not BTO, its a standard model and I guess the price difference is about 3000-4000. Does your daughter attend college? If yes, then you can get a student discount which can narrow the gap even more. If not, then PM me, I can send you the contact info of a company in Delhi where I bought my Air from who can hook you up with a student discount sans all the documents :) And no, I don't work for them :D


EDIT: Misread your OP. Just upgrading the RAM is BTO! No choice but to get it from the US. But yeah, def go with the upgrade
 
When I see the 'Activity Monitor' on my 4gb MBA, I mostly see only 1gb RAM free, so how does Lion work with a 2gb RAM at all?

If MacMall can ship the 4gb MBA by Thursday to Dallas, I'm OK, otherwise, I might just have to buy the off the shelf 2gb 64gb 11".
 
I have a 2010 11" MBA with 2GB RAM... I've never noticed any lag or problems running Lion or pretty much any application that I have (even photoshop and some games run great). And its fine for me. I plan on keeping all my laptops for 3-4 years, and I see 2GB being just fine for the next 2 years.

Edit: And under Activity Monitor, I see 600MB free memory even with a few programs running. Everything's still smooth. You have to remember, having an SSD for virtual memory helps out a lot.
 
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deepakvrao said:
When I see the 'Activity Monitor' on my 4gb MBA, I mostly see only 1gb RAM free, so how does Lion work with a 2gb RAM at all?
Click to expand...

You're misunderstand how modern (as in post 1991) operating systems use system memory. Do a little reading on virtual memory paging systems and disk caching.

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deepakvrao said:
He will use it with an external monitor.
Click to expand...

Why are you even considering an MBA for him? The only advantage it has is size and you're paying a lot of hefty performance and functionality losses for that tiny form factor. If he's going to have it on a desk with an external monitor most of the time, he's much better off with an iMac or even a mac mini. Both come with more ram and make it easier to upgrade the ram.

Even if you want him to have the option of taking it with him once in a while, given that it's still spending the majority of time on the desk, I wouldn't even consider an MBA over an MBP.
 
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Oracle1729 said:
Why are you even considering an MBA for him? The only advantage it has is size and you're paying a lot of hefty performance and functionality losses for that tiny form factor. If he's going to have it on a desk with an external monitor most of the time, he's much better off with an iMac or even a mac mini. Both come with more ram and make it easier to upgrade the ram.
Click to expand...

This.

Come to think of it, if he does plan on using an external monitor, using a mac mini in conjunction with an iPad for 'on the road' usage would be the ideal combination here. Does he travel a lot? If he does, then maybe the Air makes sense. But, for the tasks you mentioned, the iPad would be more than enough.
 
deepakvrao said:
Thanks guys.

Reason I ask is that adding RAM is 100 dollars but more important, it is 'to order' right? Have a friend in the US who might just pick it up locally or I'll order from MacMall.

----------

Will MacMall ship a MBA with RAM upgrade within a day?
Click to expand...

I would only suggest it with the 4GB upgrade. The 2GB one is unlikely to ever go past Lion. This makes it less appealing if you wish to use the machine for a longer time period (and keep in mind Lion is one of the least popular releases so far, so Apple may try extra hard on the next), and obviously makes it less appealing later when/if you go to sell it. If you're at a desk with an external display most of the time, the mini would make more sense. The thing is when a device looks cool, it's easy to get drawn into the idea of owning one.

anirudh said:
This.

Come to think of it, if he does plan on using an external monitor, using a mac mini in conjunction with an iPad for 'on the road' usage would be the ideal combination here. Does he travel a lot? If he does, then maybe the Air makes sense. But, for the tasks you mentioned, the iPad would be more than enough.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I think it's just another case of the OP wants one because it's a cool machine. The mini lacks that coolness factor :cool:. While the mini isn't exactly what I had hoped Apple would make for a secondary desktop, it's not a bad machine. It gets compared to nettops a lot, but it's not a very fair comparison.
 
Another idea is to consider apples refurbished store on their website. You can sometimes get a base 2010 model, which would be plenty good for your dad's needs, for about $700. The ideas of an iPad with a Mac Mini is also a stellar idea. My grandfather just got an iPad a few months ago and he just leaves his laptop at home now because it more than supplies for needs like youtube, email, internet, and light word processing.
 
Have considered the mini but it gets complicated.

I can get the MBA from the US for only a little more than the mini in India. The mini warranty is not worldwide I think, so I can't get that from the US, and I have to buy locally if I want a warranty.

I 'think' Apple gives worldwide warranty only for laptops? Am I correct?

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Is the Mac mini RAM user upgradable? Does it have a vacant slot, so I can just add a 2gb stick if I want?
 
Sorry guys.

I'm stupid. Re checked the local price, and I see that the Mini is much cheaper than I had thought [locally]. I'll get it for 650 dollars, and 600 dollars if I use the students discount.

Might as well get it locally.

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AND a big thanks for re directing me to the Mini.
 
anirudh said:
Good choice :) What about the warranty though? Have you checked with them about it being international?
Click to expand...

Buying it from local store in Bangalore. 33.9K, and 2K off if I show some students id [which I can]. Don't know if I will avail that, as the bill will not be in my name, and I wont be able to get the tax benefit.

Someone on the Mini forum said it's an international warranty, but I dount that. I think only their laptops have an international warranty.
 
bmacir said:
See here
Click to expand...

Thanks. Had read that before, but then I was 'told' that iPads and iPhones do not have worldwide warranty? True?

simsaladimbamba said:
While the lowest model would be okay, 4 GB RAM would be better. Lion is a bit of a RAM hog.


____________________________________________________________

Maybe have a look at Advanced Search to find dozens of threads about Lion and its RAM usage:
____________________________________________________________
​
Click to expand...

Thanks - did the search and it turned up

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/

Guess I'll buy 4GB from there.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bmacir said:
See here
Click to expand...

Letter of the law perhaps, and certainly don't know of retail practices in India BUT spirit of the law would essentially mean Apple will honour its warranty anywhere. I bought my first mac mini (2005) in the US and have had it serviced in the UK twice, once under warranty. Apple has exemplary customer care and I am sure you will be fine
 
deepakvrao said:
Thanks. Had read that before, but then I was 'told' that iPads and iPhones do not have worldwide warranty? True?
Click to expand...

apple said:
Apple may restrict warranty service to the country where Apple or its
Authorized Distributors originally sold the Apple Product.
Click to expand...

According to this they may or may not require you to get the iPhone serviced in the same country where you purchased it (but I think that depends on whether the iPhone is sold in the country where you want it serviced).

For iPod, see my previous quote.

See also: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/967224/
 
Confuzzzed said:
Letter of the law perhaps, and certainly don't know of retail practices in India BUT spirit of the law would essentially mean Apple will honour its warranty anywhere. I bought my first mac mini (2005) in the US and have had it serviced in the UK twice, once under warranty. Apple has exemplary customer care and I am sure you will be fine
Click to expand...

Retail practices and customer care in India is completely crappy in general. Don't know if Apple will follow Indian systems, which is to try and weasel out of any claim, or whether they will be like Apple is reputed to be in the west.
 
Confuzzzed said:
Letter of the law perhaps, and certainly don't know of retail practices in India BUT spirit of the law would essentially mean Apple will honour its warranty anywhere. I bought my first mac mini (2005) in the US and have had it serviced in the UK twice, once under warranty. Apple has exemplary customer care and I am sure you will be fine
Click to expand...

I am with you on this one. I don't think apple will ever deny to honor a warranty (in my experience apple has the best support ever :), they usually go beyond what it is their legal obligation to make customers happy).

But if they don't, you have no legal way of making them...
 
deepakvrao said:
Retail practices and customer care in India is completely crappy in general. Don't know if Apple will follow Indian systems, which is to try and weasel out of any claim, or whether they will be like Apple is reputed to be in the west.
Click to expand...


Sadly, I'll have to agree! After hearing so many wonderful experiences people have had with Apple CS, it is absolutely appalling how the Apple store employees treat a customer in India :mad::(

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deepakvrao said:
Buying it from local store in Bangalore. 33.9K, and 2K off if I show some students id [which I can]. Don't know if I will avail that, as the bill will not be in my name, and I wont be able to get the tax benefit.
Click to expand...

Contact them. I regularly buy stuff from these guys, and I see them shipping out their stuff to other states. They gave me a student discount (though its been a long time since I was one :p) and will make out the bill in your name
 
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