Ditto , they had £100 anything Apple that ends today and i bagged myself the higher specced 11 inch version.
deffo the 2011 version
Should I swap my 13"MBA for an 11"?
- Thread starter Rilot
- Start date
Ditto , they had £100 anything Apple that ends today and i bagged myself the higher specced 11 inch version.
deffo the 2011 version
Indeed, I'm typing on it right now in fact. What a superb piece of kit this is.
I got the 2gb RAM version and I've read a few threads here and there about how it's not enough and that 4gb is the right amount. I'm not a particularly heavy user, the most I'll have running at any one time is maybe a couple of Firefox tabs, iTunes, Sabnzbd+ and occasionally Aperture/Lightroom.
Is 2gb likely to be enough for that?
I got the 2gb RAM version and I've read a few threads here and there about how it's not enough and that 4gb is the right amount. I'm not a particularly heavy user, the most I'll have running at any one time is maybe a couple of Firefox tabs, iTunes, Sabnzbd+ and occasionally Aperture/Lightroom.
Is 2gb likely to be enough for that?
Should be more than enough to be honest. I have the 4Gb version which i have boot camped with Windows 7 Ultimate for work.
Only bummer is that you are stuck with 2GB RAM as u cant upgrade , also i have a 13 inch Alu MacBook with 4GB RAM with Lion so i decided on the 4GB version.
I purchased the speck clear hardcase and incase cover as well , tad pricey , but well worth it as i have the same combo on my MacBook.
Ah yes, Boot Camp. I'd forgotten about that. Would I be able to install Windows 7 Ultimate with only 2gb RAM?
I've got a dual screen Windows PC which is fairly powerful and also an iPad 2. I was hoping that this would be quick enough to allow me to sell both of those as it seems to bridge the gap between portability and power perfectly. The only sticking point is that RAM and whether it's enough.
I couldn't really justify spending £150 for an extra 2gb RAM, even if you do get an extra 64gb of SSD storage. For that money, I'd probably have just bought the base spec Macbook Pro.
I've got a dual screen Windows PC which is fairly powerful and also an iPad 2. I was hoping that this would be quick enough to allow me to sell both of those as it seems to bridge the gap between portability and power perfectly. The only sticking point is that RAM and whether it's enough.
I couldn't really justify spending £150 for an extra 2gb RAM, even if you do get an extra 64gb of SSD storage. For that money, I'd probably have just bought the base spec Macbook Pro.
You can install Windows 7 with 2GB of RAM , but u might be struggling as your MacBook Air only has a 64GB SSD , so if you split it down the middle , you will have about 32GB per partition.
The RAM isnt the limiting factor , but the SSD size is , £150 for a double the memory and SSD space is a no brainer. Sounds like u needed it as u are thinking about Boot Camping.
You can upgrade the SSD in the future mind.
The RAM isnt the limiting factor , but the SSD size is , £150 for a double the memory and SSD space is a no brainer. Sounds like u needed it as u are thinking about Boot Camping.
You can upgrade the SSD in the future mind.
Well that's thrown a spanner into the works, I guess. I might ring the shop in question to check whether I'll be able to change it as they've got the 4gb model at my local store.
Still, at £899, it's the same price as the base model 13" Macbook Pro. Obviously that comes with a mechanical hard drive rather than an SSD, but it's a fair bit heavier. Would the Macbook Air still be the better buy at this price point?
I don't really need the extra hard drive space (128gb from 64gb) as I won't get any use from it, but if the RAM really is a problem at 2gb, then I might have to look into upgrading to the 4gb version.
Still, at £899, it's the same price as the base model 13" Macbook Pro. Obviously that comes with a mechanical hard drive rather than an SSD, but it's a fair bit heavier. Would the Macbook Air still be the better buy at this price point?
I don't really need the extra hard drive space (128gb from 64gb) as I won't get any use from it, but if the RAM really is a problem at 2gb, then I might have to look into upgrading to the 4gb version.
All comes down if you need portability. The 11 inch Air is way more portable than the 13 inch MacBook Pro.
The 13 inch MacBook Pro will be faster as it has a 2.3 i5 vs the 11 inch Air of 1.6 i5
So do you need portability or productivity
The 13 inch MacBook Pro will be faster as it has a 2.3 i5 vs the 11 inch Air of 1.6 i5
So do you need portability or productivity
Hmmm, just checked my RAM usage here. Currently running:
Firefox (several tabs - 290mb RAM usage)
Sabnzbd+ (no downloads currently active - 90mb RAM usage)
Aperture (no file loaded - 90mb RAM usage)
iTunes (no library just yet and nothing playing - 65mb RAM usage)
Activity Monitor (35mb RAM usage)
I plan to use as little hard drive space as possible here and my idea is to purchase a NAS for all my data and media storage.
I checked ten minutes ago and had just 50mb of RAM showing as free, now it's showing as 185mb free. Of course, if I have to, then I'll just have to make sure I've not got too many programs running at any one time. That's certainly preferable to paying another £150!
If the RAM won't pose a problem for me in future then I'll happily keep this as I'm delighted with it and don't need the extra SSD capacity. On the other hand, if I'm going to run into trouble with only 2gb then I need to sort this as soon as possible really as the offer ends today.
If it's any help at all, here's a screenshot with those programs all running at once.
Any advice most welcome, appreciate the help so far.
Firefox (several tabs - 290mb RAM usage)
Sabnzbd+ (no downloads currently active - 90mb RAM usage)
Aperture (no file loaded - 90mb RAM usage)
iTunes (no library just yet and nothing playing - 65mb RAM usage)
Activity Monitor (35mb RAM usage)
I plan to use as little hard drive space as possible here and my idea is to purchase a NAS for all my data and media storage.
I checked ten minutes ago and had just 50mb of RAM showing as free, now it's showing as 185mb free. Of course, if I have to, then I'll just have to make sure I've not got too many programs running at any one time. That's certainly preferable to paying another £150!
If the RAM won't pose a problem for me in future then I'll happily keep this as I'm delighted with it and don't need the extra SSD capacity. On the other hand, if I'm going to run into trouble with only 2gb then I need to sort this as soon as possible really as the offer ends today.
If it's any help at all, here's a screenshot with those programs all running at once.
Any advice most welcome, appreciate the help so far.
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If you prefer the 11inch then go for it, only you can decide the answer to your question.
Follow your gut instinct.
2gb is too low imo should aim for 4gb moving forward.
i would agree as well , esp as you cant upgrade the RAM on the MacBook Air at all.
Would performance be massively hit if I ended up using the 2gb and moving into the virtual memory? Given that it's an SSD that will be mostly free space, rather than a mechanical hard drive, I'm guessing I'd notice a bit of lag on occasion but nothing too major.
I do understand the limitations and that 4gb is clearly preferable, but I'd effectively be paying £150 for an extra 2gb RAM since I don't need the extra hard drive capacity and I'm not sure that's worthwhile. I'll just have to be careful with not having too many programs open at once, I think.
Cheers for the advice guys.
I do understand the limitations and that 4gb is clearly preferable, but I'd effectively be paying £150 for an extra 2gb RAM since I don't need the extra hard drive capacity and I'm not sure that's worthwhile. I'll just have to be careful with not having too many programs open at once, I think.
Cheers for the advice guys.
My MBA, with FF open, a few widgets, email and Reeder open is using 2.2GB RAM at the moment.
With hardly anything installed (no photos or music), I'm using 50GB of my 128GB SSD.
No way is 2GB/64GB sufficient. Well, for me anyway and I'm by no means a power user.
I've only got installed:
WoW
Office 2011
Reeder
BetterTouchTool
Please Sleep
VMWare Fusion with a teeny XP VM
Clean my Mac
Quicksilver
With hardly anything installed (no photos or music), I'm using 50GB of my 128GB SSD.
No way is 2GB/64GB sufficient. Well, for me anyway and I'm by no means a power user.
I've only got installed:
WoW
Office 2011
Reeder
BetterTouchTool
Please Sleep
VMWare Fusion with a teeny XP VM
Clean my Mac
Quicksilver
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What do you think of the Speck case? I was looking at getting the black one for my 11" when I get it. Read that once dusts gets in between the case and the laptop it scratches the metal and also effects the temperature?
See now that's probably a lot more than I'd ever use even though there's not much there. I won't have any background programs running. The programs I mentioned earlier will be pretty much all I have installed.
Upgrading to the 4gb model would be more about future proofing than anything else, and I don't think I'd see much benefit for the £150 I'd have to spend.
Edit - I should probably add that Boot Camp looks to be unnecessary now, as I'm going to keep my Windows PC and use it as a server/HTPC rather than buying a NAS enclosure. I can always use that if I ever run into compatibility issues.
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I have used a speck on my Alu MacBook for almost 3 years and so far no dust or anything has scratched it , every few months i do remove and clean it out.
Tad expensive at £40 from Apple Store , although they can be had for £30 , i would recommend getting one. Obviously the clear one i like , but if u dare , go for the other colours
You picked up ya new MacBook Air already ?
Yeah, went and picked it up this afternoon.
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It would be if your just browsing the Internet and your using external HDD storage!
This is why I went for the 13" model.