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Macbook Air 4GB or 8GB for Uni

Im planning to buy a 13-inch macbook air with 256GB (I need lots of storage for photos, music, videos etc) for university, although I am unsure whether to buy the MBA with 4GB Ram or 8GB. I plan to use the mac for internet, micro office, music etc casual things, and I though 4GB would be sufficient, but i'm considering 8GB to future proof it. So which is better for my needs, 4GB or 8GB.

Reply 1

username1342947

Well 4 is enough for what you want to do, as if you were to be playing games on it you would want the 8 and anyway, you can save loads of money if you upgrade by buying the ram from somewhere else other than Apple!

Reply 2

username1494226

I would say go for 8GB purely for theft that it will future proof the MacBook. I have some good knowledge of the Mac and Mac OS in general and the first I will say is that, with the MacBook Air, the RAM you get with it when you buy it is the RAM you'll be stuck with for life. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard of the MacBook, fused into the DIMM slots so you can't upgrade it. Apple have tried to remedy the situation for low memory(4GB and below) systems with memory compression introduced with Mavericks but its best not to play with fire. Your usage patterns may be low demand at the moment but a, those can and will change and b, the apps you use at the moment will be upgraded and become more feature rich, demanding more RAM. DONT cheap out on the RAM.

My advice: Don't get the Air, get the 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD and buy an external hard drive. The Pro has a much superior display, faster CPU(none of that ULV crap) and delivers HDMI output as a bonus too. If none of that matters to you, then just get the Air with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM, make sure it is the 13 inch version though

Reply 3

Tom78

Get a windows laptop and save yourself maybe £500, you could get a really high spec pc for a lot less money.

Reply 4

username1494226

Original post by Tom78

Get a windows laptop and save yourself maybe £500, you could get a really high spec pc for a lot less money.

Bunch of lies, more like maybe £100-£150 less for a better spec but then even then that is not fair. MacBook Air is an ultrabook level PC, not a spec monster. Learn laptop categories and you'll see it favours quite well against the ultrabooks it competes with

Reply 5

Tom78

Original post by marco14196

Dude, macbooks start at like a grand, macbook air £750 and thats lowest spec.

Reply 6

GorlimtheUnhappy

Then find an ultrabook with comparable specs that has the same battery life and longevity which costs less - I dislike Apple products but there is a tendency for people to follow the 2 opposite camps blindly.

Reply 7

hellodave5

Original post by Graham 14

Be sure to wait till you're at uni so you get the 15% off! :smile:

Reply 8

tg0896

You'd be fine with the 4GB since you'd be an average user. If you're going to be using large programmes such as photoshop or even playing games, an 8GB would be better for performance use. Up to you really. I guess you'd be saving a a couple hundred quid if you went with the 4GB (i presume)

Reply 9

GorlimtheUnhappy

Original post by Jay018

What happens to warranty if you buy RAM from somewhere else?

Reply 10

username1494226

Original post by GorlimtheUnhappy

What happens to warranty if you buy RAM from somewhere else?

YOU CANT UPGRADE THE RAM ON THE MACBOOK AIR. It's soldered to the motherboard, no upgrades, what you buy is what you're stuck with. Get 8GB, 4GB is really not enough anymore.

Reply 11

GorlimtheUnhappy

Original post by marco14196

YOU CANT UPGRADE THE RAM ON THE MACBOOK AIR. It's soldered to the motherboard, no upgrades, what you buy is what you're stuck with. Get 8GB, 4GB is really not enough anymore.

Cheers for the heads up! Incidentally I have MBP 2012 and it isn't soldered on, you can just screw it out I believe. I'm using Win 7 VM and 4GB really isn't enough - tempted to upgrade to 8GB but I have no idea if the warranty will become null and void.