MacBook Air 11" for a College Student

I am an incoming freshman in college and will definitely not be majoring in any math or computer courses (therefore, no heavy gaming, no intense graphics, no photoshop, no art stuff, etc.). I would mostly be using the laptop for writing papers, spreadsheets, presentations, surfing the internet, and storing photographs and a couple of movies. I have an external disc drive (1TB) to store the thousands of pictures I have and whatever so it doesn't take up a lot of space on my computer. I love the portability and sleek design of the MacBook Air 11" and I am definitely purchasing it, but my question is: what specs should I get in terms of RAM, speed, etc. so that I can do what I need to do and it will last me 4+ years with software updates, etc? Will the base model be enough?

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Dominique