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by SoftwareMaven 5361 days ago
I don't think you can upgrade the SSD on an Air. My understanding is they are pulled apart and soldered to the MB in order to give the Air its awesome form factor.

Somebody, please correct me if I am wrong, because that is one of the primary things keeping me from an Air instead of a MacBook Pro.
2 comments
cstross 5361 days ago
You can most certainly upgrade the SSD in an Air, as my first-generation 11" Airbook with the 256Gb SSD (that I installed in it myself) can attest.

It's the RAM on the mobo that's non-upgradable.

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m0nastic 5361 days ago
Macsales sells SSD upgrades for the Air (they're not particularly hard to do either) here:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express

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SoftwareMaven 5361 days ago
Thanks for this. I knew first Gen could be updated, but didn't know the latest could be. This now makes my decision hard again: performance or weight? sigh
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cstross 5360 days ago
Performance v. weight with the Macbook Air is currently easy.

The real issue is battery life/screen size (on the move) v. weight.

The top end 13" and 11" Airbooks both upgrade via BTO to a dual core i7 clocked at 1.8GHz, with 4Gb of RAM/256Gb SSD. The difference is in screen size and battery life (the 13" model has more of both) and weight (the 11" wins here, by 300 grams).

If you're out of the office and working on the laptop a lot, or don't use an external monitor, I'd go for the 13" model (unless weight and the ability to work in very cramped spaces are an overriding priority).

If you're in the office a lot with laptop plugged into a desktop monitor, or if you don't do much work outside the office (just need the laptop to check email/web/social networks), then the 11" model wins.

But they seem to be a tie on performance, which makes life a little easier than when they first launched (the 11" was, even maxed out, slower than the 13").

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SoftwareMaven 5360 days ago
My performance calculation is MacBook Pro 13" with 8gb RAM versus the 13" Air with 4gb. The 13" is a must for either, but the decision comes down to less swapping and more horsepower versus less weight.

I wonder how much impact SSDs have on swapping. I rarely need 8gb of active memory. I just can't stand waiting minutes for things to swap around right now.

Time for more research...

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