2GB vs. 4GB dilemma

[JD92]

Apple could give a rats ass about the customer. They've proven that with their supreme arrogance time and again ("Your holding it wrong").

That said, it's a very typical trick in the computer industry to equip a new machine with a very small amount of ram. It allows them to increase their gross profit per machine. Not one other company worships the dollar as much as Apple. Greed is a very nice way of saying they want all our money.

I ordered a new MBA the day they were released and upgraded to 4GB with nary a thought. Reason being that I expect I will enjoy this computer more than anticipated as it's ideal for all the air travel I do. Secondly, if in fact I do really like it, I'm sure I will keep it longer than anticipated. If there is one universal truth, it's that newer software, especially VM's, gobbles up ram. You can never have too much unless you are not using the full power of the computer.

Cheers..

What?

 

[kp98077]

dumb question

so i was currious if 2g vs 4g has ANYTHING to do with internet speed??

 

[emboahora]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; pt-br) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Good point.

 

[deeddawg]

so i was currious if 2g vs 4g has ANYTHING to do with internet speed??

2g or 4g what? Those terms can mean many things, all different.

There's no cellular wireless in the Macbook Air, so 2G or 4G (or 3G) is irrelevant.

The new Macbook Airs could be called "2G", short for second generation.

The new Macbook Airs can be configured with 2GB or 4GB (GB = gigabytes) of system memory. This has nothing to do with network speed. If you're a power user then you may want 4GB of memory; but thats the sort of thing where if you're asking the question you probably don't need to upgrade.

 

[CatKingK]

I have been going to apple store and playing with the new sexy MBA 13.3" several times the last 2 weeks and could not decide to get the basic model or pump up to the max. I only use this baby for simple work on the road or carrying around in the house. This is my first Mac laptop. My most concern is the heat from the laptop.
Can I have a quick answer as I am goint to bring the MBA home on coming Monday (I can't resist this beauty). Will 4G ram run hotter/warmer than 2G ram? I probably may be different than most of you but it is the most concern of me to go for either 2G or 4G. Thanks

 

[barefeats]

And the SSD is going to help make you feel like there is 4gb of RAM in there.

Not. RAM transfers at 4000MB/s. Flash storage transfer at 200MB/s. RAM is 20 times faster. No way does it make it "feel" like you have 4GB of RAM.

It's one thing to buy a MacBook Pro or iMac or Mac Pro with minimum memory since you can upgrade. But because the memory is soldered in on the MacBook Air, I strongly recommend you go with 4GB option.

 

[KPOM]

Can I have a quick answer as I am goint to bring the MBA home on coming Monday (I can't resist this beauty). Will 4G ram run hotter/warmer than 2G ram? I probably may be different than most of you but it is the most concern of me to go for either 2G or 4G. Thanks

Any difference in power usage or heat generation would be negligible.

 

[KPOM]

But here's the problem:

Whatever software that comes along that requires such a massive amount of ram, that software will also require more than the 1.6ghz processor and the measly 320m gpu you have as well. So thinking that just by having more ram will 'protect' you from the future is retarded. The ENTIRE system you have right now won't protect you from this future software you envision.

Not necessarily. The main bottleneck in modern computers is memory, not processing power. 64-bit applications in particular use up more memory. As 32-bit applications get rewritten in 64-bit mode, they will use up more memory without requiring more powerful processors, since the 64-bit code allows them access to more of the CPU's instruction set.

 

[astrorider]

Not. RAM transfers at 4000MB/s. Flash storage transfer at 200MB/s. RAM is 20 times faster. No way does it make it "feel" like you have 4GB of RAM.

Spoken like someone who hasn't tested the new 13" Air with 2GB RAM. I'm amazed with how responsive everything feels regardless of how many applications/documents I have open...even when I open a ridiculous number of applications well beyond what I would actually use, this things just keeps on humming away and never misses a beat.

 

[CatKingK]

Any difference in power usage or heat generation would be negligible.

Then the title should be clearly specified? I think the heat issue is also one of dilemma but just it is not your interest, KPOM right??

 

[zub3qin]

Yes, I'm using Unity mode with XP allocated 512MB RAM. I don't have anything that requires anything newer than XP...just use it for accessing some stuff for work that requires Internet Explorer for Windows, and it seems to run fine.

With the list of apps I ran above, and how well I could effectively switch between and use them with this 2GB Air, I'm surprised you found problems running with less RAM allocated unless it's a configuration difference. Was your MBP similarly configured with an SSD when you tried it with 2GB? I'm sure Windows 7 uses a lot more RAM than XP, so that could be it too?

The issue with 2GB MBA (in my mind) isn't that 2GB isn't enough for Parallels/XP to run, it is there isn't enough left over to let the native Mac apps run well.

I'm running a black Macbook 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, with 2GB RAM.
I allocate 512 MB RAM to XP on Parallels.

XP runs fine, but there is a lot of spinning beachballs with Safari, iPhoto, etc. on the Mac side, as long as XP is running.

Why is this not going to happen with the MBA with a slower processor and the same RAM? Is it due to the MBA graphics chip vs my GMA950?

Or am I wrong?

 

[astrorider]

I'm running a black Macbook 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, with 2GB RAM.
I allocate 512 MB RAM to XP on Parallels.

XP runs fine, but there is a lot of spinning beachballs with Safari, iPhoto, etc. on the Mac side, as long as XP is running.

Why is this not going to happen with the MBA with a slower processor and the same RAM? If not, is it the graphics chip vs my GMA950?

The issue with 2GB MBA in my mind is not that it isn't enough for Parallels/XP to run, it is there isn't enough left over to let the native Mac apps run well.

No?

I'm guessing it's the SSD (or maybe that I'm using VMWare Fusion), because the mac side apps definitely stay responsive on the new Air with 2GB. There's absolutely no beachballing even when I throw a ton at it (ok, maybe a split second beachball here or there but nothing like what I've experienced before either).

 

[macAssimilated]

get the 4gb and be patient like I did, I waited a week from the day I ordered it and it was worth every second. I feel much better using a 1.4ghz 4gb machine than a 1.86ghz 2gb revC, haven't had a beachball or lag yet and I use this computer for alot of multitasking at work, so it's a great compromise

 

[gwsat]

I'm guessing it's the SSD (or maybe that I'm using VMWare Fusion), because the mac side apps definitely stay responsive on the new Air with 2GB. There's absolutely no beachballing even when I throw a ton at it (ok, maybe a split second beachball here or there but nothing like what I've experienced before either).

I have a 13 inch 2.13Ghz 4GB MBA and have been very pleased with how it handles Windows 7 apps in Fusion Unity mode and OS X apps, too. Not surprisingly, I get a bunch of Page Outs with only 4GB of RAM but thanks to the lightning fast flash storage, performance is not degraded at all. Everything runs as fast on the MBA, even with a large number of Page Outs, as it did on my MBP with 6GB of RAM and no Page Outs.

 

[netdog]

While you won't need it today, think of it as a $100 insurance policy. You might need it with Snow Lion. You might not. RAM needs used to escalate rapidly in the past. Not so much anymore.

 

[zub3qin]

May be a dumb question, but can someone explain to me what "page-outs" are?

 

[1appleAday]

May be a dumb question, but can someone explain to me what "page-outs" are?

When a computer starts to max out on memory usage, it starts to swap data between memory and hard drive. The place on hard drive where the data is written is called page files. Since cpu can access data way faster from memory than from traditional hard drive, page out will slow down the overall performance. With SSD, however, the performance hit is reduced, simply because SSD is way faster than traditional hard drive.

 

[netddos]

wth....4GB was no brainer for me...

just for SURFING..i easily consume 4GB RAM on my iMac...

maybe it has to do with my surfing usage...because I like to keep old tabs open until I absolutely don't need it..

Anyways for just $100....it was not much of a dilemma other than the fact that maybe I have to WAIT...that's about it.

 

[fyrefly]

Can I have a quick answer as I am goint to bring the MBA home on coming Monday (I can't resist this beauty). Will 4G ram run hotter/warmer than 2G ram? I probably may be different than most of you but it is the most concern of me to go for either 2G or 4G. Thanks

I would actually surmise that with 4GB of RAM, the laptop might run a bit cooler, 'cause it's not paging out as much to the SSD, and processing how to page out and what to page out/in, etc...

Any difference would, again, be completely unnoticeable.

Though is heat is your primary concern, I'd say the 11" is way less prone to heat-ups due to the ULV 10W TDP processor inside. The 13" has more "standard" processor, what generate more heat.

And regarding the 2GB/4GB question... yes, the SSD is speedy on these new machines, and yes you can "get by" with 2GB of RAM, but coming from someone who's had 2GB of RAM on an SSD equipped MBA for 2 years... I *feel* the 2GB of RAM limit in my daily use with my RevB MBA. As the SSD performance degrades over time, and if you wanna keep your laptop for more than a year, 4GB is the right choice.