4 ms·

While he is right that you may not ever need the CPU resources, the RAM I would argue is necessary (plus it's only $100 and will overall make a HUGE difference)

While he is right that you may not ever need the CPU resources, the RAM I would argue is necessary (plus it's only $100 and will overall make a HUGE difference). Ram is one of those things you can almost never get enough of. I am a heavy chrome user (and general system user), and I cringe anytime it's less than 8GB because it requires much more tab management for me. Which may be better for me to do, but I keep a large amount of misc work in various chrome windows and tabs, and closing it isn't necessary for me. Along with that, I'm often running a bunch of other apps. CPU is never usually a problem, but RAM definitely is. That being said, you're probably fine with the base model, but I certainly would at least max the ram. :)

hashtree 13y ago
Also, it isn't upgradable after the fact in the MBAs.
kbar13 13y ago
especially with OSX, where ram is guzzled like no other.
- voltagex_ 13y ago
  You sure it's not just the caching tricking you? It's been a long time since I used a Mac but I'd be surprised if it didn't cache as much as possible. Unused RAM is wasted RAM.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - rangibaby 13y ago
    Lion (fixed in 10.8 AFAIK) has a bad habit of preferring to page to the disk instead of freeing up RAM that is being used for caching. I was able to remedy this by using the terminal command "purge" occasionally, and also disabling the dynamic pager[1] [1]http://workstuff.tumblr.com/post/20464780085/something-is-deeply-broken-in-os-x-memory-management http://workstuff.tumblr.com/post/20464780085/something-is-de...
    - ghshephard 13y ago
      Lion was absolutely broken in terms of memory management from 10.7.0 through at least 10.7.3sh. (Beach Balls during pageouts, constant memory pressure, weird page-out while using Safari + Aperture - really made me miss 10.6.8) Things got much better in 10.7.4, and 10.7.5 has been so reliable and well balanced that I'm afraid to ever leave it.
    - lysium 13y ago
      That paging drives me nuts, but nobody seemed to have the same issue. Thanks for posting the helping pointer! (I'm afraid of disabling the dynamic pager, though, as I hit max physical RAM rather often.)
jmuguy 13y ago
Yeah there really isn't a reason to not get more RAM in a PC. Everything else is debatable. The CPU in particular the guy was right on. I'd say the SSD is a wash.
- Domenic_S 13y ago
  You mean getting an ssd generally is a wash? Because SSDs are crazy good. I just had one installed on my work MBP (2012) and the performance is astounding.
  - anonymoushn 13y ago
    The only option for the MBA is between different sizes of SSDs.
    - egypturnash 13y ago
      The only PRE-BUILT option. If you're willing to wait for a built-to-order, you can bump the processor, memory, and storage. I'm typing this on a brand new 13" with twice the default RAM and SSD; I didn't feel most of what I do is CPU-bound enough to bump that as well.
  - dekz 13y ago
    It's more of a 'wash' because you can do it after the purchase. Processor and RAM upgrades can't be done.
  - jmuguy 13y ago
    Oh no definitely not, I mean the bigger SSD. You could probably get away with 256 if you didn't want to pay more. But yeah SSD over spinning disk - no contest.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
PanMan 13y ago
I was quite disappointed to see that after the latest upgrade the air still doesn't support more then 8 gb. If I buy a machine for the next few years, I want more ram than the current 2008 MacBook Pro I have...

hashtree 13y ago

Also, it isn't upgradable after the fact in the MBAs.

kbar13 13y ago

especially with OSX, where ram is guzzled like no other.

voltagex_ 13y ago
You sure it's not just the caching tricking you? It's been a long time since I used a Mac but I'd be surprised if it didn't cache as much as possible. Unused RAM is wasted RAM.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- rangibaby 13y ago
  Lion (fixed in 10.8 AFAIK) has a bad habit of preferring to page to the disk instead of freeing up RAM that is being used for caching. I was able to remedy this by using the terminal command "purge" occasionally, and also disabling the dynamic pager[1] [1]http://workstuff.tumblr.com/post/20464780085/something-is-deeply-broken-in-os-x-memory-management http://workstuff.tumblr.com/post/20464780085/something-is-de...
  - ghshephard 13y ago
    Lion was absolutely broken in terms of memory management from 10.7.0 through at least 10.7.3sh. (Beach Balls during pageouts, constant memory pressure, weird page-out while using Safari + Aperture - really made me miss 10.6.8) Things got much better in 10.7.4, and 10.7.5 has been so reliable and well balanced that I'm afraid to ever leave it.
  - lysium 13y ago
    That paging drives me nuts, but nobody seemed to have the same issue. Thanks for posting the helping pointer! (I'm afraid of disabling the dynamic pager, though, as I hit max physical RAM rather often.)

jmuguy 13y ago

Yeah there really isn't a reason to not get more RAM in a PC. Everything else is debatable. The CPU in particular the guy was right on. I'd say the SSD is a wash.

Domenic_S 13y ago
You mean getting an ssd generally is a wash? Because SSDs are crazy good. I just had one installed on my work MBP (2012) and the performance is astounding.
- anonymoushn 13y ago
  The only option for the MBA is between different sizes of SSDs.
  - egypturnash 13y ago
    The only PRE-BUILT option. If you're willing to wait for a built-to-order, you can bump the processor, memory, and storage. I'm typing this on a brand new 13" with twice the default RAM and SSD; I didn't feel most of what I do is CPU-bound enough to bump that as well.
- dekz 13y ago
  It's more of a 'wash' because you can do it after the purchase. Processor and RAM upgrades can't be done.
- jmuguy 13y ago
  Oh no definitely not, I mean the bigger SSD. You could probably get away with 256 if you didn't want to pay more. But yeah SSD over spinning disk - no contest.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

PanMan 13y ago

I was quite disappointed to see that after the latest upgrade the air still doesn't support more then 8 gb. If I buy a machine for the next few years, I want more ram than the current 2008 MacBook Pro I have...