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nahsor

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 12, 2009
43
0
Will the new Rev C Macbook Air be good enough for Snow Leopard? I know that the requirement is only 1 GB of RAM and the new Air has double, but are there any issues with it? I am thinking about getting the Air but i have my doubts because I want something that will last 3 years and it almost seems more worthwhile to get the MBP 13" (but I love the portability of Air!)
 

aleksandra.

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2008
674
0
Warsaw, Poland
Snow Leopard will run just fine, or so people who have tried dev's builds say.

Whether it'll last 3 years or not depends on what you'll be using it for. Does it have enough connectivity for you? Enough storage space (by the way refurb rev B with SSD is a better deal than rev C/HDD)? Most importantly: will you need more than 2 GB RAM?
 

duky

macrumors 6502
Jun 25, 2007
455
12
North Carolina
A MacBook Air (as a primary machine??) may be stretched if you're using it for 3 years. Tech will develop rapidly so if you wanted something to keep that long you might be better off getting the MBP that you can upgrade with time. The MBA is a solid machine too though so if you're not doing anything besides browsing, music and documents here and there you'll probably be fine..you'll def need the External Superdrive though
 

Scottsdale

Suspended
Sep 19, 2008
4,473
283
U.S.A.
Snow Leopard will be much faster on a MacBook Air than Leopard is now. Snow Leopard will also take roughly half as much drive space. OpenCL and Grand Central will take full advantage of the GPU and resources. The 9400m will be fully utilized by Snow Leopard, whereas the original MBA's 3100 will not even be compatible with OpenCL.

If you are happy with Leopard's performance on the MBA, you should be even happier with Snow Leopard.
 

Scottsdale

Suspended
Sep 19, 2008
4,473
283
U.S.A.
A MacBook Air (as a primary machine??) may be stretched if you're using it for 3 years. Tech will develop rapidly so if you wanted something to keep that long you might be better off getting the MBP that you can upgrade with time. The MBA is a solid machine too though so if you're not doing anything besides browsing, music and documents here and there you'll probably be fine..you'll def need the External Superdrive though

I use the Air as my sole/primary Mac. It is a nice machine and is very capable. With the SSD, it feels extremely fast. I highly recommend it!

Also, I almost never use the SuperDrive! If you are just using it for the occasional file install, you can share another computers drive. It's simple. I have a 6yr old Dell that can be used for the few times per year I need a DVD drive to install something on MBA. USB thumb drives have made using optical drives ridiculous.

Overall, the new MBA is fun and capable. And, it's going to be even better with Snow Leopard.
 

TheRiseofTheFal

macrumors regular
May 9, 2008
138
0
Lexington
Although it is beta, I am using Snow Leopard on a Rev. A Macbook Air and I must say most of the gripes that I had about my air are now gone. Naturally, there are some bumps along the way currently i.e. bugs like mail randomly shutting down, but otherwise it runs smoother, quicker and cooler. I don't even have the SSD and I am pleased with the systems performance. I think Snow Leopard optimizes the air, instead of leaving it on the side of the road
 

t0mat0

macrumors 603
Aug 29, 2006
5,473
284
Home
Will the new Rev C Macbook Air be good enough for Snow Leopard? I know that the requirement is only 1 GB of RAM and the new Air has double, but are there any issues with it? I am thinking about getting the Air but i have my doubts because I want something that will last 3 years and it almost seems more worthwhile to get the MBP 13" (but I love the portability of Air!)

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/717399/

"Snow Leopard runs amazingly wonderfultastically on the Air"
 

nahsor

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 12, 2009
43
0
I use the Air as my sole/primary Mac. It is a nice machine and is very capable. With the SSD, it feels extremely fast. I highly recommend it!

Also, I almost never use the SuperDrive! If you are just using it for the occasional file install, you can share another computers drive. It's simple. I have a 6yr old Dell that can be used for the few times per year I need a DVD drive to install something on MBA. USB thumb drives have made using optical drives ridiculous.

Overall, the new MBA is fun and capable. And, it's going to be even better with Snow Leopard.

Yeah I think the Air would be fine as my primary machine as I don't do any heavy tasks. Plus I have a 3 year old toshiba that I could use if I absolutely needed to use a superdrive. My biggest gripe is the the 2GB. If it was 4, I would have absolutely jump on it without hesitation. It is non upgradable and so if I have problems in a couple years, I would be stuck with it. I am a college student with a part time job so I am always either running back and forth between classes or between classes and my job. Thus the air is the perfect fit because of its portability. Plus it looks cool :D

Do you guys think the next upgrade with Arrandale will bring 4GB?
 
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