Laptop

I'm looking to get a Mac Air 11 or 13 inch. I've read numerous post about having a separate video chip and dedicated memory of which the Air does not have. I want to be able to post processing with photos/videos with Lightroom and Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements and maybe a few plugins. If I get 8GB ram will that be sufficient to run everything or should I still focus on getting a separate video/memory which would require a Mac Pro 15 or higher?

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Mark

garner89 said:

I'm looking to get a Mac Air 11 or 13 inch … If I get 8GB ram will that be sufficient to run everything

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That is not an option with the current MacBook Airs. They are limited to a maximum of 4 GB of RAM (whereas the MacBook Pros officially take 8 GB, and some vendors say you can expand the current MacBook Pros to 16 GB).

Another thing about RAM on the MacBook Air is that it is soldered in (presumably due to the very small amount of room available for circuitry on the inside of the Air). So if you get a 2 GB model, you are stuck with 2 GB forever. On the MacBook Pros, RAM is user-upgradable.

It is possible that if you wait for the next generation of MacBook Airs, Apple will increase the maximum RAM configuration to 8 GB (presumably also soldered-in).

I just purchased the basic 13" MacBook Pro and added 4Gig of ram, total 8Gig. I run Aperture 3 with raw files and it runs just fine. The associate at the Apple Store did steer me away from the Air because of the ram issue.

Other World Computing sells RAM upgrades up to 16GB for MacBook Pro models. Lots of people are using MBPs with 16GB RAM. The main impediment has been the difference in cost between 8GB and 16GB. RAM prices have been coming down, but many people have had problems with certain brands of RAM being sold at a discount.

People who are interested in finding the best deal on RAM that will work in MBPs should check out the Macrumors.com forums. Otherwise, stick with OWC if you want to be certain that the RAM will work in your Mac.

Another thing to think about if you are considering a MacBook Air is the display. A lot of people have problems with LED backlit displays and MBA displays in particular. Eyestrain and headaches may be due to the backlighting, the high resolution or both.

I was ready to purchase an 11" MBA. I spent 1.5 hours working with it. Within 15 minutes I developed a splitting headache and I suffered from severe eyestrain for over 8 hours after I quit using the computer. Needless to say, the 11" MBA is no longer an option. I haven't tried a 13" MBA so I don't know if it would affect me the same way. My early 2011 13" MBP also caused me some problems at first, but the symptoms weren't as bad and I was able to mitigate most of the problem via calibration adjustments.

There is a thread on the Apple forums regarding user problems with Apple displays dating from late 2008, when Apple switched to different LED displays. There are currently 269 posts in the thread. My early 2008 15" MBP also had an LED display and it never caused me any problems. From what I have read it isn't necessarily all LED backlit displays that cause problems, just certain displays. When I purchased a new external LCD display in December I purchased a CCFL backlit display because I did not want to risk having problems with an LED display.

Eye strain from LED backlighting in MacBook Pro: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1677617?start=0&tstart=0

Thanks for posting this. I have a 2 year old Mac Book Pro. I was considering getting the latest Mac Air for travel purposes but will be holding back until Apple sorts this out. Too many reports about the eye strain and headache and who knows what it may cause in the long run.

Ben

You're welcome Ben.

It's a bummer all right... and no response from Apple since 2008.

I want folks to know about this so that they won't be stuck with a computer if they experience symptoms. I've read a number of stories where the buyer thought they had a physical problem so they went to an eye doctor (sometimes more than one...). Usually eye docs don't have a clue; I spoke with mine and he had no idea what I was talking about. By the time it gets sorted out it's usually too late to return the Mac.