Macbook Air mid 2011: upgrade or replace?
Hi. I am having a 11 inch Macbook Air mid 2011 1.6 GHz Core i5 128GB SSD 4GB RAM running Yosemite. I use is primarily for web browsing at home (multiple tabs in Google Chrome kept open perpetually with a system restart only once in a week). I also use it to edit photos in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop occasionally while travelling (though have shifted those tasks to my iMac now most of the times when I am home). And some editing of videos as well in iMovie too occasionally. I consider myself a power user and dabble in a few other applications on and off and am multitasking most of the times. Of late it has been running slow and I routinely see the spinning wheel at many times and the system becomes non responsive. My activity monitor shows full usage of physical RAM and a large amount of swap memory (between 2-4 GB) and the memory graph always hovers in yellow range with frequent red graphs too. My SSD write speeds are only around 95 MB/s and read speeds are 165 MB/s. My free disk space is around 18-20 GB only (was less than 10 GB but then I recovered some space and then there was a noticeable increase in system speed). My multitasking habits, infrequent system restart, low physical RAM and an old SSD is probably contributing to my problem. I was contemplating to replace my Macbook Air with the new Macbook Pro with Retina Display (early 2015). But then I found I can actually upgrade my SSD (Transcend Jetdrive) to 480GB or 960GB. Right now I am torn between a few options and am unable to decide. I would love to keep the form factor of my Air (most of the times I use it in bed, on my chest!). But I would also like a more powerful system which is more future proof and with which I can edit pics as well as videos too effortlessly.
Option 1: Upgrade the SSD to 480GB. Maybe replace the battery too (current one has around 780 cycles). Approx. cost $ 375
Option 2: Replace with the 13 inch Macbook Pro Retina Display 2.6 GHz Core i5 256 GB SSD 8 GB RAM. Approx. cost $ 1250
Option 3: Replace with 13 inch Macbook Pro Retina Display 2.9 GHz Core i5 OR 3.1 GHz Core i7 512 GB SSD 16 GB RAM Approx. cost $ 1980 (i5)/2180 (i7)
I could go with option 1 as it saves me quite a bit and would probably increase the life of my Air. But would it help in the low RAM situation? Further I don't have easy access to an upgraded or custom Mac models here in India. Since I am visiting US in a few days, I can easily pick an upgraded Macbook Pro from B&H (already checked the stock availability). So, that may be my only option in near future to get a more powerful Macbook rather than standard models available here ( and that too at a much costlier price). I can afford the top most configuration but am not sure if I can justify it. I don't want the new Macbook due to its lack of connectivity and feel it is underpowered at that price. Macbook Air hasn't been updated of late and lacks the retina display and may be even phased out in the wake of the new Macbook. Right now I am swinging like a pendulum between these choices and my window of opportunity is small (even the replacement SSD has to be procured from US). Please help me in finding the right option given my needs.
Comments
I wouldn't bother with the SSD upgrade and battery replacement. You are running out of RAM and the SSD won't fix it. You need a minimum of 8GB. The GPU in the newer models can use up to 1GB of the internal memory too so you might still get some swap used with 8GB but not nearly as bad as with your current model.
The Macbook is lacking in ports but if you never use the Thunderbolt port and only have a single USB drive, it would be suitable. It's faster than the 2011 Air.
The Macbook Pro is about 50% heavier than the Air but you'd probably get used to it ok. I wouldn't bother with the i7. Having 18-20GB free is ok.
i5 13" Retina Macbook Pro 8GB, 256GB. That's $1500 and you'll get about $500-600 for the Air so total upgrade cost would be about $1000. Check the following for stock status too:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE865LL/A/refurbished-133-inch-macbook-pro-24ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FGX82LL/A/refurbished-133-inch-macbook-pro-26ghz-dual-core-intel-i5-with-retina-display
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE866LL/A/refurbished-133-inch-macbook-pro-26ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i5
http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0RA0LL/A/refurbished-133-inch-macbook-pro-26ghz-dual-core-intel-i5-with-retina-display
http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0RB1LL/A/Refurbished-133-inch-MacBook-Pro-30GHz-Dual-core-Intel-i7-with-Retina-Display
Any of those would be ok.
Thanks a lot for your inputs. I usually require two USB ports when editing pics, one for the card reader and one for the external hdd on which RAW files are stored. But most of the time I can manage without a USB. Maybe I should consider the new Macbook too.
There will be hubs available like the following:
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2015-new-3port-reversible-USB-3_60193629165.html
USB C is the new standard so expect as many hubs as the old USB A. It would still be tricky to have a display, card reader plus USB drive all at once without a larger adaptor like this one:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kickshark/hydradock-11-port-usb-c-dock-for-apple-macbook/video_share
It would have been better if the Macbook had two USB C ports to have one for display output with a USB C to displayport or HDMI cable and have a smaller two port hub for a drive plus card reader.
Keep in mind that Intel's Skylake will probably launch around August which has a lot of wireless capability including wireless data. Wireless display output, wireless charging (short range) and gigabit wireless data transfer. You wouldn't have to plug in an SD card any more:
[VIDEO]
I could see all Apple laptops losing the SD reader in favor of WiGig and it means no more multi-adaptors to support micro-SD, CompactFlash. They still need power so there might have to be wireless power support built into the card too. Wireless display won't allow 4K uncompressed display output (~11Gbps) but gigabit should be enough to support 4K with minimal compression given that H.265 can allow 4K at 20Mbps. H.264 would be about 40Mbps, Gigabit allows 25x this so even 10x less compression than H.264 would suffice.
The Macbook was introduced early March so August would only have been 5 months. Apple's earliest updates before have been about 7.5 months so they might hold it off until October. They usually do a September update of iOS devices so iPhone 6S, new iPads, possibly updated Apple TV. In October, they'd bring out Skylake MBPs, Macbook and iMac.
and you'll get about $500-600 for the Air
Are you buying used ones at this premium price? I can find a lot to sell you...
I agree with everything else Marvin mentioned. You are limited on RAM and your other upgrades won't get you much benefit. The Core i7 processor is overkill for nearly everyone and rarely worth the added expense. If you run out of room on the MBP's SSD later you can swap it out. I do a small amount of multitasking and operate 3-4 users on my 2009 MBP -- 4 GB of RAM was insufficent once I upgraded to Mavericks so I put in 8GB and was much happier.
That's what they are selling for on eBay, these are completed listings:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MacBook-Air-11-inch-Mid-2011-11-6-128GB-SSD-4GB-RAM-1-6Ghz-i5-Yosemite-/151592582015
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-MacBook-Air-11-2011-1-6GHz-Core-i5-4GB-RAM-128GB-Flash-MC969LL-A-Warranty-/121575755039
http://www.ebay.com/itm/APPLE-MACBOOK-AIR-A1370-4GB-RAM-1-6GHZ-I5-11-MID-2011-IN-EXCELLENT-CONDITION-/181681135046
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-MacBook-Air-A1370-11-4GB-RAM-128GB-HDD-Laptop-USED-Exlnt-Cond-/291377386947
eBay says that model is trending at $487. For a one-off sale you could manage to get over $500 for it. If you had a batch of them you might have to go a bit lower to sell all of them.
That's what they are selling for on eBay, these are completed listings:
Strangely they seem to be accurate. That seems ridiculously high considering the cost to replace an old battery or charger.