What is the best upgrade for the new Air?

I am looking for a new Macbook Air for college and was wondering what upgrade would be the smartest decision. I was thinking of a 13" air with:
1.7GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
128GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
or a 13" Air with:
1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
8 GB memory
256GB PCIe-based flash storage1
The former option would save me approximately $60. What are the benefits of an upgraded processor? I have heard they would make my computer overheat more easily and the fan would be significantly louder. This is making me question if the processor is worth it. In addition, I am unsure of how beneficial the 8GB as opposed to 4GB of RAM would be. How can I optimize the speed of my laptop if I want to run Windows through Parallels? That is essential.
Please advise, Thanks.

If you buy a 2013 model you can save up to $400+ from online resellers who are clearing out the "old" model.
However the "old" model is nearly 100% identical in performance .
to answer your question, unless you plan on gaming or video editing, get the I5 with 8GB of RAM with 256 SSD

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