Ask HN: MacBook Air for Web Development?

Re:Ask HN: MacBook Air for Web Development? by nedzadk on Sunday July 20, 2014 @07:37PM (#8061920)

I bought Air (2013 model) 13" 256Gb and 4gigs of RAM. Using following iTerm2, Photoshop, Safari (occasionally Chrome when some web videos are not working on safari because of flash).

I own 24" monitor but i used it only couple times with macbook, for me 13" is perfect size. I do rails, php and some web design and macbook air is just perfect for it.

Btw being able to take you laptop outside and not have to worry for power is just awesome.

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Re:Ask HN: MacBook Air for Web Development? by NoahBuscher on Sunday July 20, 2014 @07:40PM (#8061927)

Sweet! Battery life on my existing laptop sucks, and Ubuntu is a power hog. As noted, I'm getting a 8gb version, but are you finding 4gb is enough?

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Re:Ask HN: MacBook Air for Web Development? by notduncansmith on Sunday July 20, 2014 @08:27PM (#8062032)

I've found 4GB to be more than enough. I don't use a ton of memory-hungry software at once, though. Chrome with a few tabs, one or two terminal tabs (iTerm 2 sliced up into ~3 sections), a few Node processes, Skype, and Spotify is what my daily userspace software usage looks like. I fire up Photoshop every now and again, and my laptop doesn't miss a beat, even with all of the above running. I literally never find myself wishing I had more RAM.

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Re:Ask HN: MacBook Air for Web Development? by NoahBuscher on Sunday July 20, 2014 @08:36PM (#8062058)

Wow! Great to hear! I just wanted to be sure I had a buffer in the event I ever needed to edit a longer video or wanted to do some 3D work in Blender.

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Re:Ask HN: MacBook Air for Web Development? by xuki on Monday July 21, 2014 @03:31AM (#8062849)

Given that the MBA RAM is not upgradable, it'd be wise to max it out - just in case.

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