MBA 13": 1.86GHz v. 2.13GHz

[kitsunesfire]

Hey everyone,

I know we're all sick and tired of the 'what should I do' kind of threads, so I'll make this brief

I'm going to get an MBA 13" for college. I've been tracking my current usage and I know I'm going to need the 4GB upgrade, but I only use 76.25GB of my 1TB harddrive...so needless to say, I am not worried about that. My only concern is with the processor. Right now I'm running on an iMac with a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Am I really going to notice a major difference if I drop down to the 13" base of 1.86GHz? I don't really know enough about computers to know if that really is going to make as much of a difference as it seems like it will. The MBA is going to be my main computer, if that helps. Thanks.

 

[newdeal]

...

on most tasks the macbook will actually feel faster than the imac due to the SSD in the macbook. Most tasks aren't cpu limited, those that will be worse are like games, or video editting, things like that. That said what do you do that will require 4gb of ram? Some of those ram heavy programs may also use the cpu heavily

 

[hcho3]

Do you even know what SSD is and what it does for laptops???

 

[KPOM]

There isn't much difference between the 1.86GHz and 2.13GHz model. Also consider that the 2.13GHz is available only with the 256GB SSD. My guess is that if the drop from a 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo to a 1.86GHz is too much, so would the drop to a 2.13GHz model. That said, the SSD will speed up a lot of tasks.

 

[newdeal]

Do you even know what SSD is and what it does for laptops???

Yeah I do it. I am very familiar with them. In fact I owned a 2010 13" air and compared to my i3 3.06 imac it felt faster. Sure its not doing handbrake encodes more quickly (which are highly dependant on the cpu not on disk speeds) but in general usage it was faster feeling. Which is exactly what I said.

 

[hawse771]

Call me crazy but I don't think that the processor upgrade is worth the money...much better to do the 1.86 with the 4gb unless if you just want to be able to say you have an 'ultimate' MBA because you HAVE to get the 256GB 13" to get the 2.13. That little of a difference isn't worth the extra $400 especially if you have no use for 256GB vs 128GB (which you dont considering your current usage)

JMO

edit: and BTW I got the 13" with 4GB of ram for $70 cheaper than the apple store from MacMall tax free, free over night shipping, and a free iKlean kit (which runs $17 at Frys/Bestbuy by me). Which was an Xmas present for my fiancee