apple air advice

893bet

Considering an apple macbook air. Budget is an issue.

I am prob going to go with the 128gb. I use external hard drive for movies etc. My dropbox currently has 2 gb used so I am not a big data storer.

My usage would tyically be light enough. 4 word docs, an excel and a powerpoint open, internet open with 5 or six tabs and maybe youtube playing.

If I were to get one of the upgrades whch would be of most benefit

1)Processor boast from 1.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz ....up to......2.2GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz

2) Ram boost from 4gb to 8gb

I just want a fast laptop that doesnt take 5 mins to turn on and crashes contantly.

Armonline

I assume you mean a MacBook Air as opposed to an iPad Air. I would go for more memory out of the options you list.

Oafley Jones

Definitely RAM. Apple really shouldn't be offering machines with 4gb of RAM at their cost. Had one, a 13inch MBA, probably still my favourite laptop of all time. If you can, I'd hold off on the MBA at the moment. Can't see it hanging around much longer in it's current guise and/or pricepoint.

Dardania

Oafley Jones speaks the truth (as far as anyone can guess for a secretive company): http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook_Air

In the same boat in my house - holding off until they bring out SKylake based processor versions

bertie4evr

The Air is dead lads, it's going the way of the older MacBook Pro that hasn't been updated in 3 years. I don't see it getting any updates.

Sad Professor

I don't think they can discontinue the Air until the Retina MacBook has dropped down to the same price. That probably won't happen for several more revisions. Until then I think they have to update the Air.

bertie4evr

Sad Professor wrote: »

I don't think they can discontinue the Air until the Retina MacBook has dropped down to the same price. That probably won't happen for several more revisions. Until then I think they have to update the Air.

You could've said the same thing about the non-retina MacBook Pro three years ago. I don't think they'll stop selling it anytime soon, but I can't see it getting any hardware updates again.

Sad Professor

The Retina Pro started dropping in price very quickly, though. I'm not so sure the Retina MacBook will given how underpowered the current model is. But I'd love to be wrong as I've been eyeing up that machine since it was introduced.

Also, the Non-Retina Pro wasn't the only consumer model as the Air is now. The Retina Pro was introduced at a time when the Air had become very affordable and had taken the place of the non-Retina MBP as the entry-level MacBook of choice.

893bet

Still mulling this over!

I might wait to see if there is an but, hypothetically which of the below is better for my requirements?

1) 13-inch MacBook Air,
2.2GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
Intel HD Graphics 6000
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage

2)
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display
2.7GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Force Touch trackpad


Both are same price.

bertie4evr

For what you need to do CPU shouldn't matter once you get into i5 territory. RAM is more of a concern when you're running a few things at once, but both options have plenty for you.

If you can live with 128GB then go with the Pro. It has a much better screen, faster graphics, and faster RAM.

Sad Professor

893bet wrote: »

Still mulling this over!

I might wait to see if there is an but, hypothetically which of the below is better for my requirements?

1) 13-inch MacBook Air,
2.2GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
Intel HD Graphics 6000
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage

2)
13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display
2.7GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Force Touch trackpad


Both are same price.

Either one will do what you want. It's a choice between the superior screen and performance of the Pro versus the slimmer, lighter design of the Air.

I'd recommend neither and waiting for WWDC in June. New MBPs are coming, should be a significant update and redesign.

The Air will be obsoleted soon and may not get any more updates. The 12-inch MacBook is the new Air.

893bet

Thanks. I prob will wait to see the new updates.

Find the specs pretty confusing and difficult to compare.

Sad Professor

The only internal specs that matter are RAM and storage. Beyond that all you need to know is that the Pro has better performance than the Air. That's why it's called the Pro. Where as the Air is designed for portability.

As I said, though, the Air is most likely in the process of being discontinued, so I'd just forget about it. And the new Air (i.e. the 12-inch MacBook) is really designed as a secondary Mac for people who don't like iPads.

Wait and get whatever 13-inch MBP Apple come out with at WWDC.