MacBook Air 11.6" + 4Gb or 13" + 2Gb.....dilemma time

OK, these are the two options:

The 11.6" MacBook Air with 4Gb of RAM (128GB SSD and stock processor)
or
The 13" MacBook Air with 2Gb of RAM (128GB SSD and stock processor)


This will be my primary laptop, I will only be using OSX (will not be using Windows on it), and I am a college student so the highest load this laptop will see is video playback in Itunes (i.e. - I obviously want ultra-portability and will only be doing lots of Internet use, typing, homework assignments, and Itunes use....no gaming).


Which one will present a more noticeable difference for my situation, the bigger screen/keyboard or the extra RAM?

 

Are you near an Apple Store or Best Buy? Go try it out. Seeing things in real eye instead of minds eye helped me decide.

 

i 2nd that you need to go to the store. you may look at the 11.6 inch and instantly think "too small", or "perfect size"

 

I am going to Best Buy in an hour or so to see for myself.....I guess what I am asking is if I love the 13" size over the 11.6", is the 2Gb of RAM going to hinder my OSX experience to the point of wishing I had 4Gb? Or is OSX very forgiving to light/moderate use on 2Gb?

 

Chances are you are not going to notice a hill of beans worth of difference on the systems you look at units when at a place like Best Buy. OS X on 2 Gb works just fine with 99% of the software that is installed on a machine in the store.

My old MB had 2 Gb on it for almost a year, and I never was wanting for more... until I started using software that would benefit from extra memory. When I upgraded the memory on that unit, I was able to run Fusion and Windows Vista much, much better. So, when I bought my MBP (which I have now), it was a no-brainer to go with 4 Gb from day 1.

I outfitted my recently purchased MBA with 4 Gb for the similar reasons. While I don't have a current need for 4 Gb, since I don't run Fusion on it, that does not mean that I won't. Thankfully the SSD on my air is upgradeable, so that when it becomes affordable to expand my storage, I won't be sorry that I don't have the memory I need to possibly make use of that extra drive space with Fusion or anything else that I might be considering.

Get 4 Gb, if not for what you do today, but for what you will use it for as your usage matures.

 

For just using iwork and iLife 2GB is fine, but I consider 4GB the minimum if you want to do a lot of multi tasking, or any photo/gaming/video work.

I actually find it ridiculous that 2GB is even an option any more with RAM on board laptops.

 

13-inch + 4gb

Even though you can probably squeak by on 2 gb for now... you are getting this for the next 3-4 years and you will not want this limitation. Software becomes more memory-hungry in the sense that today's programs tend to use more memory than those of a few years ago.

Personally, I wouldn't consider getting the 11-inch MBA as a primary computer (slow processor, small screen)... but the 13-inch with 4 gb, yes.

But that's me. Spend a bit of time playing with them in the store and see what you think.

 

there is also student discount BTW. it's not a lot but it would allow for a 13+4GB

 

Personally I would not buy a MBA with 2GB RAM, because you cannot upgrade later, it's as simple as that. You may be fine today using it with 2GB but who's to say you won't start using apps in the future that make use of more RAM?

I'm all for choice and customization but frankly I'm a little disappointed by Apple's decision to even offer a 2GB RAM option on the MBAs, especially since RAM is so cheap these days and the fact that the RAM on the MBA is not upgradable.

 

im going to agree, instead of 2 and 4GB options I would have said 4 and 8GB options. the cost of production increase should be very minimal, although it does but a kink in some users being forced to upgrade sooner than later.