Friday, September 30, 2011

Which MacBook Air and Mac mini 2011 to choose? - II

If the distinction between the different models of Mac mini may be fairly clear, the thing is more subtle with the MacBook Air: you can not directly oppose 11 "and 13", with two very different uses. This question is to be removed: the 11 "ultra-mobile but a little less independent, the 13" not necessarily much harder to transport and more autonomous. Both are thin, lightweight, have a screen with a resolution thrust, and are very comfortable to use thanks to its SSD. So maybe the options that the debate can take place. MacBook Air 2011 MacBook Air 11 "1.6 GHz dual-core i5 64 GB (€ 949): 2 or 4 GB of RAM? Apple is never mean-spirited when she delivers machines with only 2 GB of RAM, but OS X Lion asked twice to be comfortable. It is regrettable therefore the Mac mini, but can you add memory to this machine. On the MacBook Air, the bars are welded. Should you take the expensive option (€ 100) 4 GB of RAM on the MacBook Air 11 "64 GB, thereby increasing its price to € 1 049? If you plan to keep this machine would do two years, yes.

With its array of SSD, the MacBook Air "makes" Lion OS X more fluid: lack of memory and the passage through the swap feels less. But it will eventually be felt, and you can not add RAM at that time. Problem: when you are more than € 100 for the next level in the range, which doubles the storage, trying ... From Apple in the text.

More: - Testing the MacBook Air 11 "mid-2011 Dual-Core 1.6 GHz Core i5 I5 or Core i7? The question of the choice of processor is definitely one that comes up most often. The MacBook Air is the default processor with dual-core i5, one clocked at 1.6 GHz on the MacBook Air 11 ", the other running at 1.7 GHz on the MacBook Air 13" - the difference is also Intel graphics chip HD 3000 Graphics, which runs a little faster on the 13. "MacBook Air 11" 128 GB (€ 1,149) and the MacBook Air 13 "256 GB (€ 1,449), the top models of two segments, can optionally be equipped with an Intel Core i7 Dual Core 1.8 GHz. This option will not cost less than € 150 for a few more MHz. We must always go back there again for you: what your MacBook Air will it serve? The performance gain on the MacBook Air 11 ", is about 15% - sensitive without being overwhelming. On the model 13", it is even smaller. This gain is fortunately not only the sacrifice of autonomy, which does not suffer too much. If you absolutely need the maximum power in the smallest package possible (Xcode compilation mobility machine, slip into a backpack with the reflex on the go, working on a demo of two lanes ...), this small jump can be justified. Not sure however that for the average person, the few seconds saved is worth the € 150 spent.

More:

- Testing the MacBook Air 11 "mid-2011 Core i7 Dual Core 1.8 GHz
- Testing the MacBook Air 13 "mid-2011 Core i7 Dual Core 1.8 GHz MacBook Air What to choose?

This question can not call preconceived response: 11 "and 13" are machines that meet different needs. The few options available from Apple fails to convince, and one wonders if this is not done on purpose. After all, one does not choose anything other than its storage capacity on the iPad, not its processor or its memory allocation - the MacBook Air is an iPad keyboard in OS X. But leave the premise that the entry-level model is € 1 049, not € 949: the transition to 4 GB of RAM seems essential. The Core i7 option is reserved for the most demanding ... MacBook Air as proposed by Apple machines are sufficient in themselves.

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