Is 4gb RAM enough for me?

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Level 1

8 points

Is 4gb RAM enough for me?

Hey guys, i just had a few questions, hope you can sanswer them? (i think this is my 7th question in 4 days 🙂)

1. I heard that the 256gb or higher model has a samsung PCIe ssd drive, while the 128gb model has a sandisk PCIe ssd drive . Am i correct?

2. If so, is the samsung ssd drive faster than the sandisk ssd drive? How fast? (is it noticably fast?)

3. I am not going to play any game on my air. I am only going to check my email, listen to music, use itunes, watch movies, and so on. I am not going to use Parallels, however i am going to use bootcamp to install windows. Anyways, do you think 4gb of RAM is enough for me? I think the most RAM-using activity i do is open up to 20 tabs, but that's only when i read the news(i press ctrl and left click because i dont want to wait for the news to load every time). Anyways, do you think it's enough?

4. Same question with number 3, except do you think i5 is going to be enough?

Thanks!

MacBook Air

Posted on Jul 23, 2013 4:23 AM

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Answer 1

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Jul 23, 2013 4:27 AM in response to andy1cool

1. Only Apple knows that, but maybe an user with one of those Macs can tell you if that's true. In other computers, Apple installs drives of different brands. For example, with the iMac, you can find some with Western Digital drives, others with Hitachi drives and others with Seagate drives.

2. To know that, we need the exact model of SanDisk and Samsung SSDs that Apple installs, but in general, Samsung SSDs are faster. This may change.

3. 4 GB of RAM may be enough for Mountain Lion, but I'm not sure if they will be enough for newer OS X versions. I recommend you to order the MacBook Air with 8 GB of RAM, so you will be sure that newer OS X versions will run correctly. Also, note that RAM in the MacBook Air is soldered, so you can't change it after buying the MacBook.

4. The Intel Core i5 is enough for your uses and will work without any problem. You don't need an Intel Core i7

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Answer 2

Jul 23, 2013 10:16 AM in response to andy1cool

The I5 MOST CERTAINLY more than enough. 8 gig upgrade is only $90, if youre going to upgrade (you cant do it later), that is the most wise upgrade choice rather than the 256 over the 128, unless cost is no issue.

I5 vs I7 benchmark tests show little difference between the two.

Geekbench: i5: 5868, i7: 6287 (+7%)

Handbrake: i5: 12min12s, i7:12min5s (-1%)

Cinebench: i5: 11.13fps, i7:11.54fps (+4%)

iMovie: i5: 5min1s, i7: 4min56s (-2%)

PhotoShop: i5: 68.7s, i7:57.4s (-17%) <<<<only "real" improvement area of the I7

Final cut: i5: 2min7s, i7: 2min 4s (-2%)

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