Decided to order a Mac Air - worth it to upgrade the chip an

[BDK]

d the memory?

I've decided not to go w. the larger hard drive, as I really won't use it - I'm pretty good about keeping the photos and music on a external hard drive.

[JohnOC]

With modern operating systems, you basically can't go wrong throwing as much ram as you can afford or will fit into a computer. Unlike older OSes, they can and will use it all effectively, and you will have performance improvement for any affordable quantity of extra RAM.

Looking at the 13 inch macbook air for comparison. The RAM options are 4GB default and 8GB for +$100. The CPU options are a dual core 2.7 GHz i5, or a 3.3 GHz i7 for +$150.

I would consider both well worth the price difference. If I had to pick only one, it would be the RAM.

[BDK]

OK, so the Air specs are:

1.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage

Is there a reason to upgrade the hard drive? I'm sure I won't need it - I've used 100GB of my hard drive in 5 years, w.o. really cleaning anything, etc. Of course, my prior one, I used 40 gb out of 60...

So, the MBP, for $50 more - I have a hard time believing I need that much of a comp, when all I use are spread sheets, email, and web browsing, but perhaps spread sheets are more involved than I realize - is:

2.6GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics

To get an i7 chip in the MBP - not sure what that's worth - and double the RAM - requires another $500.

So, I'm not sure how effective that is, relative to more frequent replacement?

(Currently, I've been buying loaded 13" MBPs, and keeping them for about 5 years, until they're rather broken down - my current one could be repaired for... Eh, probably a $300 - it needs a new touchpad, battery, and cleaning - maybe something else if the new battery and cleaning doesn't solve the overheating.)

[free_me]

I recently picked up a MBA 11" with 128GB flash and 4GB memory. I was a little concerned about the amount of memory but given what I plan to use it for it's not a big deal. This machine will be a traveling machine. This will *NOT* be a software development machine (so no need for multiple VMs) So, my requirements were

(1) Small and compact to fit inside a motorcycle hardcase
(2) USB ports for connectivity to external cameras
(3) email/browser/spreadsheet/photo editing, etc
(4) Clear graphics
(5) Keyboard

I looked at tablet (Droid tabs are toys, no opinion of i-Tabs) and Windoze options (all the contemporary ones come with Win-8, which is childish) and decided the MBA was the best bet.

As for the memory thing, I've been watching memory usage while I run the applications I intend to use and memory usage never climbs above 1.5GB. So I think I'm OK.

[JAG2955]

I have a 4GB model with 128GB of storage. The wife got it for me as a present after my first gen MBPro's battery went splodey for the second time.

It works if all you do is relatively simple stuff. I love the fast start up and wake from sleep. It's very light and has a great battery life.

Forget about running any kind of heavy-duty apps. Mine can't handle Kerbal Space Program without trying to start on fire. I'm starting to run sort of low on storage, I really need to check for dupe iTunes files. If I would do it again, I'd stick with the Air, but I'd max the storage and memory.

[BDK]

OK, so I've decided I don't want to spend more than $1500 - which still seems absurd, given all I do is work w. a spreadsheet, email and web browsing, but...

Which option is faster

1.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM

Or

2.6GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM

I suppose the Pro also comes w. a retina display, so...

[BobbyK]

The MBA's are slightly better than ipads with keyboards... Ask BobbyK what he thinks of his.

You mean the company issued iPad with a built in keyboard that is totally useless for any workload more heavy-duty than browsing non-ajax enabled websites?

I've gotten the fucker to lock up hard browsing Facebook.

About the ONLY thing going for it versus my real laptop is the battery life and weight while traveling. And I still bring the Thinkpad for presos.