Mac Air 1.86 2gb VS 1.7 i5 4gb Performance increase?

I currently have a 13" macbook air with 1.86 core 2 duo and 2 gb ram. I was thinking of selling it while it is still under extended warranty and getting a Refurbished MacBook Air 1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 from the apple site. This has 4gb ram.

Is this a big step up or should I wait until I can afford a bigger step up? I mostly use the computer for emails, photo editing, internet, etc.

The cost to upgrade will be under $200, mostly just the hassle of buying and selling.

Thanks!

Yes, that is a big step up in speed and power. Also, since refurbished machines from Apple are basically the same as new, that's a good price difference.

I went from a C2D 1.86Ghz/4GB to a Mid-2011 i5 1.7Ghz 4GB - big difference. I rarely have performance issues, regardless of what tasks are running. The only caveat is that Safari chews up RAM, and with 4GB and several applications open, I can start to get beach balls after a week of cycling through sleep, awake, sleep, awake, etc... If I had the cash right now, I'd grab a new or refurbished 2012 model with 8GB of RAM. RAM is my 1.7Ghz MBA's only weak point for me.

If I had the cash right now, I'd grab a new or refurbished 2012 model with 8GB of RAM. RAM is my 1.7Ghz MBA's only weak point for me.

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Same here. I just priced one out at the Apple store including Apple Care and a 256GB Flash Drive. $1780.00 Lot of $$ for an 11" 2012 MBA. I guess I have to save the pennies....

I upgraded from an 11" MBA, 1.8 G Dual core i7, 4G RAM, 256 G SSD to a new 13" MBA, 2G i7, 8G RAM, 512 G SSD and the new one is twice as fast as the 11", four times faster than my 2010 MB Pro.

Thanks for the input so far.

I'm also considering a refurbished MacBook Air 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4gb ram and 256 hard drive which would cost me $300 to upgrade vs $100. Either one is not a big step up but it seems like a good time to upgrade based on what I can sell my 13" air with 2gb for. I want to get a nice 27" monitor so I want to save some of the budget for that.