5 ms·

Buy as much as you can afford. If you expect to be using this laptop in 4-5 years time, the OSX and applications of that era will probably only perform well on

by nixgeek 12y ago

Buy as much as you can afford. If you expect to be using this laptop in 4-5 years time, the OSX and applications of that era will probably only perform well on >8GB RAM.

ghshephard 12y ago
That used to be the theory - but four years now, and I've been fine with 8 GB, more than fine. I wouldn't recommend purchasing more right now - Unless you have special requirements (Running Oracle, or some intense image management/CAD system/Development platform) - Wait for the next round of upgrades in 5 years to see if more than 8 GB is needed - I'm guessing it probably won't be even then.
- IkmoIkmo 12y ago
  Thanks for the comment. Looking to buy 8gb soon, but it's disheartening to hear people call it sluggish or saying they're pushing 16gb let alone 8. Hell I don't know how the people with 4 do it! In any case it's always useful to hear what people are actually doing. Can't imagine pushing 16gb when doing some basic front end work for example.
  - ghshephard 12y ago
    4 GB was fine on my previous 2011 MacBook air except when I started up my VMware Windows XP machine - then I had to shut down a few other applications. Other than that - the basic 20 apps that I usually have running, including Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, Mail.app, Safari, Google Earth, and even a few custom ones, like GNS3/Dynamips, a Cisco Router Hypervisor/Simulator that I would run networks with 8-10 Cisco 7206 routers on, all ran just fine on 4 GB - and, once again, I have never, under any scenario, had memory pressure on my Mid 2013 8 GB MacBook Air. What I've noticed, is that some apps, when left on my Windows 7 system, Like google earth, seem to eat a lot of memory, and then when I come back to them - I'm either getting a "Low memory warning", or I have to wait for everything to swap back in. For whatever reason, under OS X 10.8.x, this has never been an issue. Honestly though - a lot (most?) of it probably has to do with flash drives - they make everything feel just so much more nimble.

by nixgeek 12y ago

Buy as much as you can afford. If you expect to be using this laptop in 4-5 years time, the OSX and applications of that era will probably only perform well on >8GB RAM.

ghshephard 12y ago

That used to be the theory - but four years now, and I've been fine with 8 GB, more than fine. I wouldn't recommend purchasing more right now - Unless you have special requirements (Running Oracle, or some intense image management/CAD system/Development platform) - Wait for the next round of upgrades in 5 years to see if more than 8 GB is needed - I'm guessing it probably won't be even then.

IkmoIkmo 12y ago
Thanks for the comment. Looking to buy 8gb soon, but it's disheartening to hear people call it sluggish or saying they're pushing 16gb let alone 8. Hell I don't know how the people with 4 do it! In any case it's always useful to hear what people are actually doing. Can't imagine pushing 16gb when doing some basic front end work for example.
- ghshephard 12y ago
  4 GB was fine on my previous 2011 MacBook air except when I started up my VMware Windows XP machine - then I had to shut down a few other applications. Other than that - the basic 20 apps that I usually have running, including Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, Mail.app, Safari, Google Earth, and even a few custom ones, like GNS3/Dynamips, a Cisco Router Hypervisor/Simulator that I would run networks with 8-10 Cisco 7206 routers on, all ran just fine on 4 GB - and, once again, I have never, under any scenario, had memory pressure on my Mid 2013 8 GB MacBook Air. What I've noticed, is that some apps, when left on my Windows 7 system, Like google earth, seem to eat a lot of memory, and then when I come back to them - I'm either getting a "Low memory warning", or I have to wait for everything to swap back in. For whatever reason, under OS X 10.8.x, this has never been an issue. Honestly though - a lot (most?) of it probably has to do with flash drives - they make everything feel just so much more nimble.