Macbook Air 2GB vs. 4GB RAM

I know, this is a no-brainer for 90% of the cases; but I fall into the 10%. Specifically, I have 2 months left on a "Silver Reward Zone" status at Best Buy, and it gets me a 10% discount AND allows me to buy and use any product for 45 days and return it for ANY reason or NO reason and pay no restocking fee. Best Buy sells the MBA 13 with 128 GB SSD and 256 GB SSD, but not any version with 4GB RAM.

Here's the only question I have about this:

Is it not true that with super fast SSD storage that page files will run almost as fast as if there was an additional 4GB of RAM? I'm sure it will be slower, technically, but will it make a meaningful difference? I only use pretty plain vanilla apps: MS Office, Web Browsing (with many, many open windows) video playback and occasional conversion, etc. Also, this is a second/third computer for me; I have a very powerful DTR.

Recalling, I have great benefits buying from Best Buy and they don't sell a 4GB version, but I don't want to make a really bad choice for that reason, what do you all suggest?

 

2gb will be fine.

 

I would go with 4GB's personally, but since you only do basic stuff, 2GB's is plenty.

 

I have not performed any benchmarks, but comparing with my office issued Macbook (2GB/2.26GHz), my MBA (2GB/1.86GHz) with a 256GB SSD launches applications noticeably faster.

 

4GB, mainly because you CAN'T ever upgrade that part later. It's soldered to the board. The SSD you can.

 

I think the SSD is also soldered on, on this machine, isn't it?

In any case, I would agree about the RAM. I'm kind of surprised they didn't put 4 gb in the base model, or at least the base 13-inch model, considering that you can't upgrade it later, and software tends to become more RAM-hungry over time.

 

The SSD is the only part that is removable I think. Not sure about the Wireless adapter though

 

Yep, you're right, my mistake... it's not soldered onto the motherboard; it's a separate module.

Apple's 2010 MacBook Air (11 & 13 inch) Thoroughly Reviewed - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Might be a tricky upgrade, but Apple should be able to upgrade it.

 

Happy Holiday and thanks one and all for the quick and thoughtful replies. Of course, they were sufficiently equivocal to leave me unsure.

In particular, I asked: "Is it not true that with super fast SSD storage that page files will run almost as fast as if there was at least an additional 4GB of RAM? I'm sure it will be slower, technically, but will it make a meaningful difference?" I know that "virtual memory" on a spinning drive is really slow, but how about on superfast flash storage/memory?

Thanks again.

 

I would say most of the replies say to get 4GB as you can't upgrade it later.

 

yes, I cant stress this enough, should you ever need that extra 2 GB later you are more or less buggered. you can NOT upgrade the RAM, so get it now.

 

Not sure why APPLE stuck only 2GB's in the BB model, RAM is pretty cheap these days and every new laptop would benefit having at least 4GB's.
You should be fine with 2GB's with what your going to use it for.

 

it so that they can stay competitive price wise and make someone have to buy another mac later on.