Ah. Didn't realize that. How expensive is insanely expensive? (just out of curiousity)
Both the 11" and 13" versions of MacBook Air have 16 DDR3 chips, 8 on each side of the board. For 2GB, 1Gbit chips are used. For 4GB, 2Gbit chips are used. For 8GB, 4Gbit chips would be needed, but these are so rare I can't even find a quoted price. They seem to be sampling, not shipping yet.
I have a 15" MacBook Pro with the 128GB option. With no movies and no music, I have 14GB free.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Then you must have a lot of apps. SL itself is only about 10 GB.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dcorban
I don't have a "lot of apps". If you subtract my iTunes folder, I am using about 90GB. The largest set of files I have on disk is my iPhoto library at 16GB.
I have no idea how someone would get by with only 64GB. You'd have to only email and web browse.
My late 2010 MBA has the 256G SSD drive. In addition to SL, I also have Windows7 & Windows XP loaded in VMware and use this machine solely as my business laptop. I have 174GB remaining. Prior to that I had the 2008 MBA with the 80GB drive and I still had over 20GB remaining.
My MBA is an absolutely fantastic machine. However, when friends / colleagues ask me for my opinion, to this day I (still) tell them that the MBA as great at it is, is not meant as a primary machine. It's great for business-oriented work, and portable (temporary) graphics work that will be offloaded to a bigger machine later.
Your iPhoto library is a perfect example. Either dump that stuff onto an external drive or stick to a larger, standard hard drive. SSD storage is very much a premium option and overkill to hold static data like the family vacation photos. In any case, a Macbook Pro with an SSD primary drive with a built-in standard hard drive for static storage would be a much better option, which unfortunately it is not available as an option.
In any case, a Macbook Pro with an SSD primary drive with a built-in standard hard drive for static storage would be a much better option, which unfortunately it is not available as an option.
But it is available as an aftermarket option-as long as you do not mind sacrificing your cd-rom.
a Macbook Pro with an SSD primary drive with a built-in standard hard drive for static storage would be a much better option, which unfortunately it is not available as an option.
We're getting off-topic, but I expect the next major case redesign of the MacBook Pro to drop the internal optical brick and include both SSD (on a stick) and an HD (in 2012 or 2013). I believe that will help to distinguish the MacBook Pro from the (HD only) MacBook and the (SSD only) MacBook Air.
What display do you current use with a substantially higher dot pitch.
Both laptops I have used for the past 7 years have better dpi. 128ppi and 147ppi. Both dell 15.4 inchers and both had ips. Apple laptops are really nothing special as far as hardware goes. If it was not for the great design and mac osx, I would still be using dell.
update: those dell laptops were 6-8 lbs beasts with poor battery life. I like portable computers to be portable and thus will probably be buying this new air 11. really wish apple took good screens seriously like they do on ios devices. after using iphone 4 I hate reading on any other screen.
I don't have a "lot of apps". If you subtract my iTunes folder, I am using about 90GB. The largest set of files I have on disk is my iPhoto library at 16GB.
I have no idea how someone would get by with only 64GB. You'd have to only email and web browse.
So when you said you don't have media on there, you meant that you do have media on there.
I'm not saying that 64gb is enough or not. Rather, just that it isn't enough for you because of your _media_ files.
NO more ram does not decrease your battery life, unless you upgrade to a difference set that specifically draws more power. ram is similar to SSD. it either draws a certain amt of power or its at idle drawing another certain amt. unlike HDD slower it spins the less power it draws vice versa.
YES it would decrease battery life by some amount since, as pointed out above, unless you go to higher density (more expensive) RAM chips, you're going to double the number of chips to do 8GB, and RAM always draws power to refresh the values stored in it since they decay over time. So unless you can go from 4GB to 8GB without increasing that power draw, it's going to impact battery life. If the Air had a normal HD, it might increase battery life if it was caching things off the disk and avoiding the draw of spinning up a disk, in the case of the SSD that's not the case.
Of course, the other question is just how much power the RAM chips draw anyway vs. CPU, backlight, etc., so it might not really matter much, but it would have some impact.
In any case, a 8GB 11" Air with Thunderbolt, 256GB SSD, and backlit keyboard would be pretty amazing even if battery life had to stay the same.
So when you said you don't have media on there, you meant that you do have media on there.
I'm not saying that 64 GB is enough or not. Rather, just that it isn't enough for you because of your _media_ files.
It's possible to fit Xcode 4, PS CS5, terrain generation, 3d rendering app + material library, and everything else for development on 64 GB if needed, though I currently have ~10 GB of DropBox shared with a team and GarageBand with extra sounds, so I'm about 20GB over. And that's almost entirely due to just those last 2. It would be tight though... but I made sure not to include iTunes or photo libs since those would have filled the entire drive.
Of course, I guess if you weren't using it for development specifically and wanted to include photos / video / music, you'd probably need MORE space.
In any case, a Macbook Pro with an SSD primary drive with a built-in standard hard drive for static storage would be a much better option, which unfortunately it is not available as an option.
It has been an option since the unibody MBPs (October 2008 for 15", June 2009 for 13") put the optical drive on a SATA port. Just ask you local Apple service center, they'll do it for you without you loosing the warranty.
So when you said you don't have media on there, you meant that you do have media on there.
I'm not saying that 64gb is enough or not. Rather, just that it isn't enough for you because of your _media_ files.
And who does not have media (music, movies, images)? Everybody with an iPod (and we know they sold in huge numbers) has multiple GBs of music (otherwise they would not have gotten an iPod). And almost anybody has a digital camera.
We're getting off-topic, but I expect the next major case redesign of the MacBook Pro to drop the internal optical brick and include both SSD (on a stick) and an HD (in 2012 or 2013). I believe that will help to distinguish the MacBook Pro from the (HD only) MacBook and the (SSD only) MacBook Air.
+1
Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Ethernet and FW800 vanish in lieu of Thunderbolt ports.
Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Ethernet and FW800 vanish in lieu of Thunderbolt ports.
I think we'll see the Firewire ports go long before the Ethernet ports. The MacBook might lose its Ethernet port a few years before the MacBook Pro does.
Good retort. Something tells me this dcorban guy is not all there.
A little harsh, no? I am sure dcorban is all there but that he is differentiating between different types of media files. Often people think of media files as video. If you have brushed by Avid directly or indirectly you would be forgiven for this 'mistake'.
Having said that - once you have your music and photos out of the way, 64gb is a fair amount of storage. You have to be ferociously spewing out spreadsheets and other types of files to use it all up.
Both laptops I have used for the past 7 years have better dpi. 128ppi and 147ppi. Both dell 15.4 inchers and both had ips. Apple laptops are really nothing special as far as hardware goes. If it was not for the great design and mac osx, I would still be using dell.
update: those dell laptops were 6-8 lbs beasts with poor battery life. I like portable computers to be portable and thus will probably be buying this new air 11. really wish apple took good screens seriously like they do on ios devices. after using iphone 4 I hate reading on any other screen.
1) IPS displays 7 years ago aren't something to brag about in a portable as your edit shows.
2) Apple uses TN panels just like all portables in their category but they've shown time-and-time again to be quality panels.
3) Which Dells were these and what was the extra charge for these panels? I think HP EliteBooks still charge over a $500 premium for IPS. I think 16:9 1920x1280 is 150ppi for a 15.4" display. I can't think of any other configuration it could be to get closer with a 15.4" display.
4) 128ppi isn't a substantial gain over the 118ppi in the 13" MBA. 147ppi is surely better but I wouldn't qualify that as substantial, either. I'd call the HiDPI hinted at in Lion with RI (220-280ppi) to be substantially better. I'm also not concerned about IPS over TN. If Apple can feasibly offer IPS in their notebooks as standard without sacrificing battery life or incurring an excessive cost they will, otherwise they will use industry leading TN panels.
For those guys who are saying that 64Gb is kinda 'bare minimum' for a non-media config... I dunno. I would've agreed with that a while ago, but just last weekend I took my MBA 2.13Ghz 128GB-SSD box back to a clean SL install, and added:
Photoshop Elements
A big iPhoto library (well, like 500 photos)
2 years of email (including attachments)
Dreamweaver
Pages, Numbers, Keynote
iLife
Firefox, Chrome, Safari
200 iPhone/iPad apps
450 iBooks
Cord, Fetch
...and kept my audio/video stuff on an external drive.
And my SSD has 89Gb free.
Now, I use MacKeeper like a bitch, because it's incredible how cache/log files can pile up, but... unless you've got a bunch of audio/video on your internal drive, or are doing alot of Xcode stuff, I think 64Gb could be just fine for you, with room to spare.
Having said that, I'm lusting for an i7 MBA with 128Gb SSD, 8Gb RAM (BTO) to run Garageband and/or Mainstage live, and in the 11' form factor. Yes effin' indeedy. I'd be willing to pay a decent premium over $1200 for it too. Here's hoping!
Comments
Ah. Didn't realize that. How expensive is insanely expensive? (just out of curiousity)
Both the 11" and 13" versions of MacBook Air have 16 DDR3 chips, 8 on each side of the board. For 2GB, 1Gbit chips are used. For 4GB, 2Gbit chips are used. For 8GB, 4Gbit chips would be needed, but these are so rare I can't even find a quoted price. They seem to be sampling, not shipping yet.
I have a 15" MacBook Pro with the 128GB option. With no movies and no music, I have 14GB free.
Then you must have a lot of apps. SL itself is only about 10 GB.
I don't have a "lot of apps". If you subtract my iTunes folder, I am using about 90GB. The largest set of files I have on disk is my iPhoto library at 16GB.
I have no idea how someone would get by with only 64GB. You'd have to only email and web browse.
My late 2010 MBA has the 256G SSD drive. In addition to SL, I also have Windows7 & Windows XP loaded in VMware and use this machine solely as my business laptop. I have 174GB remaining. Prior to that I had the 2008 MBA with the 80GB drive and I still had over 20GB remaining.
My MBA is an absolutely fantastic machine. However, when friends / colleagues ask me for my opinion, to this day I (still) tell them that the MBA as great at it is, is not meant as a primary machine. It's great for business-oriented work, and portable (temporary) graphics work that will be offloaded to a bigger machine later.
Your iPhoto library is a perfect example. Either dump that stuff onto an external drive or stick to a larger, standard hard drive. SSD storage is very much a premium option and overkill to hold static data like the family vacation photos. In any case, a Macbook Pro with an SSD primary drive with a built-in standard hard drive for static storage would be a much better option, which unfortunately it is not available as an option.
In any case, a Macbook Pro with an SSD primary drive with a built-in standard hard drive for static storage would be a much better option, which unfortunately it is not available as an option.
But it is available as an aftermarket option-as long as you do not mind sacrificing your cd-rom.
a Macbook Pro with an SSD primary drive with a built-in standard hard drive for static storage would be a much better option, which unfortunately it is not available as an option.
We're getting off-topic, but I expect the next major case redesign of the MacBook Pro to drop the internal optical brick and include both SSD (on a stick) and an HD (in 2012 or 2013). I believe that will help to distinguish the MacBook Pro from the (HD only) MacBook and the (SSD only) MacBook Air.
What display do you current use with a substantially higher dot pitch.
Both laptops I have used for the past 7 years have better dpi. 128ppi and 147ppi. Both dell 15.4 inchers and both had ips. Apple laptops are really nothing special as far as hardware goes. If it was not for the great design and mac osx, I would still be using dell.
update: those dell laptops were 6-8 lbs beasts with poor battery life. I like portable computers to be portable and thus will probably be buying this new air 11. really wish apple took good screens seriously like they do on ios devices. after using iphone 4 I hate reading on any other screen.
I don't have a "lot of apps". If you subtract my iTunes folder, I am using about 90GB. The largest set of files I have on disk is my iPhoto library at 16GB.
I have no idea how someone would get by with only 64GB. You'd have to only email and web browse.
So when you said you don't have media on there, you meant that you do have media on there.
I'm not saying that 64gb is enough or not. Rather, just that it isn't enough for you because of your _media_ files.
NO more ram does not decrease your battery life, unless you upgrade to a difference set that specifically draws more power. ram is similar to SSD. it either draws a certain amt of power or its at idle drawing another certain amt. unlike HDD slower it spins the less power it draws vice versa.
YES it would decrease battery life by some amount since, as pointed out above, unless you go to higher density (more expensive) RAM chips, you're going to double the number of chips to do 8GB, and RAM always draws power to refresh the values stored in it since they decay over time. So unless you can go from 4GB to 8GB without increasing that power draw, it's going to impact battery life. If the Air had a normal HD, it might increase battery life if it was caching things off the disk and avoiding the draw of spinning up a disk, in the case of the SSD that's not the case.
Of course, the other question is just how much power the RAM chips draw anyway vs. CPU, backlight, etc., so it might not really matter much, but it would have some impact.
In any case, a 8GB 11" Air with Thunderbolt, 256GB SSD, and backlit keyboard would be pretty amazing even if battery life had to stay the same.
So when you said you don't have media on there, you meant that you do have media on there.
I'm not saying that 64gb is enough or not. Rather, just that it isn't enough for you because of your _media_ files.
Good retort. Something tells me this dcorban guy is not all there.
So when you said you don't have media on there, you meant that you do have media on there.
I'm not saying that 64 GB is enough or not. Rather, just that it isn't enough for you because of your _media_ files.
It's possible to fit Xcode 4, PS CS5, terrain generation, 3d rendering app + material library, and everything else for development on 64 GB if needed, though I currently have ~10 GB of DropBox shared with a team and GarageBand with extra sounds, so I'm about 20GB over. And that's almost entirely due to just those last 2. It would be tight though... but I made sure not to include iTunes or photo libs since those would have filled the entire drive.
Of course, I guess if you weren't using it for development specifically and wanted to include photos / video / music, you'd probably need MORE space.
In any case, a Macbook Pro with an SSD primary drive with a built-in standard hard drive for static storage would be a much better option, which unfortunately it is not available as an option.
It has been an option since the unibody MBPs (October 2008 for 15", June 2009 for 13") put the optical drive on a SATA port. Just ask you local Apple service center, they'll do it for you without you loosing the warranty.
So when you said you don't have media on there, you meant that you do have media on there.
I'm not saying that 64gb is enough or not. Rather, just that it isn't enough for you because of your _media_ files.
And who does not have media (music, movies, images)? Everybody with an iPod (and we know they sold in huge numbers) has multiple GBs of music (otherwise they would not have gotten an iPod). And almost anybody has a digital camera.
We're getting off-topic, but I expect the next major case redesign of the MacBook Pro to drop the internal optical brick and include both SSD (on a stick) and an HD (in 2012 or 2013). I believe that will help to distinguish the MacBook Pro from the (HD only) MacBook and the (SSD only) MacBook Air.
+1
Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Ethernet and FW800 vanish in lieu of Thunderbolt ports.
Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Ethernet and FW800 vanish in lieu of Thunderbolt ports.
I think we'll see the Firewire ports go long before the Ethernet ports. The MacBook might lose its Ethernet port a few years before the MacBook Pro does.
Good retort. Something tells me this dcorban guy is not all there.
A little harsh, no? I am sure dcorban is all there but that he is differentiating between different types of media files. Often people think of media files as video. If you have brushed by Avid directly or indirectly you would be forgiven for this 'mistake'.
Having said that - once you have your music and photos out of the way, 64gb is a fair amount of storage. You have to be ferociously spewing out spreadsheets and other types of files to use it all up.
Both laptops I have used for the past 7 years have better dpi. 128ppi and 147ppi. Both dell 15.4 inchers and both had ips. Apple laptops are really nothing special as far as hardware goes. If it was not for the great design and mac osx, I would still be using dell.
update: those dell laptops were 6-8 lbs beasts with poor battery life. I like portable computers to be portable and thus will probably be buying this new air 11. really wish apple took good screens seriously like they do on ios devices. after using iphone 4 I hate reading on any other screen.
1) IPS displays 7 years ago aren't something to brag about in a portable as your edit shows.
2) Apple uses TN panels just like all portables in their category but they've shown time-and-time again to be quality panels.
3) Which Dells were these and what was the extra charge for these panels? I think HP EliteBooks still charge over a $500 premium for IPS. I think 16:9 1920x1280 is 150ppi for a 15.4" display. I can't think of any other configuration it could be to get closer with a 15.4" display.
4) 128ppi isn't a substantial gain over the 118ppi in the 13" MBA. 147ppi is surely better but I wouldn't qualify that as substantial, either. I'd call the HiDPI hinted at in Lion with RI (220-280ppi) to be substantially better. I'm also not concerned about IPS over TN. If Apple can feasibly offer IPS in their notebooks as standard without sacrificing battery life or incurring an excessive cost they will, otherwise they will use industry leading TN panels.
Photoshop Elements
A big iPhoto library (well, like 500 photos)
2 years of email (including attachments)
Dreamweaver
Pages, Numbers, Keynote
iLife
Firefox, Chrome, Safari
200 iPhone/iPad apps
450 iBooks
Cord, Fetch
...and kept my audio/video stuff on an external drive.
And my SSD has 89Gb free.
Now, I use MacKeeper like a bitch, because it's incredible how cache/log files can pile up, but... unless you've got a bunch of audio/video on your internal drive, or are doing alot of Xcode stuff, I think 64Gb could be just fine for you, with room to spare.
Having said that, I'm lusting for an i7 MBA with 128Gb SSD, 8Gb RAM (BTO) to run Garageband and/or Mainstage live, and in the 11' form factor. Yes effin' indeedy. I'd be willing to pay a decent premium over $1200 for it too. Here's hoping!
Just hurry up! I'm torn between a 11 and a 13 inch though.
+1
i wonder how games would run on these machines.