Customizations for Mac?

By Jalys Ortiz, 15 December, 2014

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hi, guys!!
I know I posted awhile back about which Mac would be best for me, but I'm back with another question. I'm sort of on a budget, and the Air's 12-hour battery is a very attractive option, especially for a student like myself, so I was really thinking of going with the Air. However, I'm not entirely sure if I should go for 4 or 8 GB of memory. I'm a student who's majoring in technology as of now; I was thinking that I'd install Windows later on just in case I had to do things that were Windows-only. But outside of my studies, I do a lot of creative writing, so I'd use word processors like TextEdit and Scrivener. I also might play around with Garage Band for podcasts and maybe to play with music, but it wouldn't be a serious thing.
On the Windows side of things, I was probably thinking of installing either JAWS or NVDA. Any thoughts?
Thanks again, guys! :)

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Comments

By Serena on Sunday, December 21, 2014 - 23:37

if you have the money, go with the larger amount of ram. always better to have to much then not enough. i'd also ponder how much storage you will need. will you store most stuff locally? or will you use a cloud storage service to store most stuff up in the cloud, and just bring down what you need. or perhaps even have an external hard drive or flash drive. if you will want more stuff on the machine, without having to download stuff from the cloud all the time, or having it on external, you might want to consider increasing the storage from say 128 gb, to 256 gb. 128 is ok, but depending on what you do with it, that may not be enough.

By mehgcap on Sunday, December 21, 2014 - 23:37

If you can afford it, I'd go for 8GB of ram. In the future, programs will use more memory, so the more you have now, the better. Plus, you can't upgrade after the Mac is built, so you're stuck with whatever you get until you replace the machine. In the interest of future-proofing, go for 8GB. That's just me though, and I have to say that the 4GB in my 2012 Air serves me just fine. Still, if I were getting a new computer, I'd probably max it out as much as my budget would allow.

By Jalys Ortiz on Sunday, December 21, 2014 - 23:37

Hi! :)
That's something else I've thought a lot about. I've been considering the 512GB, but I've been wondering if that's a bit overkill. I also want to buy and download all of my movies from iTunes, if that helps...

By Jalys Ortiz on Sunday, December 21, 2014 - 23:37

That's actually why I'm thinking 8GB, because I'm a long-term thinker. lol I'd rather have plenty of RAM than not enough. lol

By Justin on Sunday, December 21, 2014 - 23:37

Hey. Thats how I thought when I bought my mac book pro a last june, 2013. It's a 15 inch mid 2012 with 4GB of ram, but got it upgraded before I fully purchased it. It has an I7 quad core CPU with 500GB and no flash drive. It's an old mechanical drive. Personally, I prefer mechanical drives, i don't know why. When I upgrade mac books in a year or so, who knows what I'll get. But yeah, ifI were getting a mac right now, go for maxing everything. Get as much ram, 8 GB or so, get the biggest flash drive you can afford, etc. I'd rather have more then enough ram and drive space than be lacking in space and memory. Good luck on your mac purchase!!