Recommendation(s) for MacBook Air?

[Jerry_]

Hi.

I am currently investigating to buy a new MacBook Air.

This MBA will add to the existing Mac infrastructure (so I am familiar with OSX, etc.), but as it is my first MBA I was wondering whether some options are more important than others for this device.

Main purpose for the device is to have a laptop on the move for email, internet, facetime/skype, office products (wordprocessing, presentations, calculations), film viewing, as well as run Parallels for some Windows programs.

Also it should be able to make presentations with the MBA (i.e. connection to VGA, DVI and HDMI connectors)

Thanks for any contribution to get the best configuration for this purpose.

 

[Jerry_]

Other ideas?

 

[UJ95x]

Other ideas?

Just the amount of RAM. There isn't much you can configure on the Air, and you should know how much storage you will need.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[TurboTiger]

Never hurts to get more RAM. I got 8 , assuming you can afford it. Extra $100
Those MBA's ain't cheap, but worth it.
Good Luck

 

[Jerry_]

Based on the following config, what other options are usefull

MBA 13" - i7, 1.7Ghz - 8GB Ram, 256GB Flash ?

Or is it an overkill?

 

[UJ95x]

Based on the following config, what other options are usefull

MBA 13" - i7, 1.7Ghz - 8GB Ram, 256GB Flash ?

Or is it an overkill?

For what you'll be doing, an i7 isn't really necessary. 8GB of RAM is good for future proofing though.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SlimKat 4.4.2

 

[machzk]

Get one with 4GB RAM or more mainly because you want to run Parallels. Other than that, any of the configurations are fine for your stated purposes. You can figure out how big of an SSD you need and screen size is personal preference. You will need to pick up adapters for those connectors as and MBA only comes with a thunderbolt/mini display port.

No MacBook sells with less that 4GB. I have an Air, and in retrospect I would have gotten 8GB, as I am able max my current one.

Sent from my Moto X...

 

[richard_rsp]

Seeing how I just upgraded from a 2013 11" Air to a 2014 13", I feel that I have a few cents of input. I use my Macbook Air similarly to how you do (however I run bootcamp instead of parallels).

I have had my 2013 11" for almost a full year now; its a base 11" with 4gb of RAM and 128GB HDD. It has been a good computer, but a few things began to bother me:
1) the 11" screen becomes a little too small, especially if you use the computer for a lot of word processing. You may have better eyes than mine, but I'm only 33 and while useable, it was a bit too small.
2) the 128GB HDD was becoming a nuisance. I found myself connecting external drives continuously (one was for Windows), but I was asking myself "can I install this?" or "will this take up too much space?" This was especially an issue when wanting to take media on an airplane or other places where I might not have network access for the "cloud".
3) lack of SD card slot. This meant that any expansion was done via one of the two USB drives, which led to the use of a USB HUB ,etc etc. All of a sudden my Macbook looked like Medusa with all the accessories attached.

Due to all of this, I just picked up a 2014 Macbook Air 13" with 4GB RAM and 256GB hard drive and am going to be selling my 11". So far, the 13" has solved every issue I had with my old Macbook Air. (Having only 4gb RAM was never an issue for me, but again, don't know about parallels). I will be taking it on its first airplane trip on Friday, and am looking forward to not having to shuffle stuff around in order to have room for the 1st season of Agents of SHIELD.

Just wanted to note my experience, so maybe it would help. Good luck!

 

[Algus]

The i7 does not benchmark much higher than the i5. They are both low voltage dual-core CPUs. Not to say that the i7 isn't better but in terms of what the MBA is capable of, you probably don't need it. If it's in your budget, by all means go for it but it is one of the easiest things to cut if you are looking to save some money.

Know what you want for storage. To me 128 GB is more than enough but I use a Mac Mini and an external Thunderbolt SSD setup so I have TONS of local storage on my desktop computer. In general I don't like storing to much on a laptop, which is more prone to breakage, but if it is your only system, investing in extra onboard storage could be well worth it.

This is your one shot on RAM. Buy as much as your budget would allow (to the point of cutting back on that i7 and storage space IMO).

 

[taz323]

Based on the following config, what other options are usefull

MBA 13" - i7, 1.7Ghz - 8GB Ram, 256GB Flash ?

Or is it an overkill?

That should work nicely for you.