Is 3 GB necessary?

[Ray Randall]

I'm new to MacRumors and its forums so please excuse any gafs that I might make with my first post. I'm about to purchase 17" MacBook Pro Core 2 and wondered about the need for 3 GB Ram. I'm a professional wedding photographer and use Photoshop. I've been told by many that 2 GB should be more than enough (most of my files are 2MB when taken and up to 20MB after tweaking). I don't video edit but am planning to make use of Parallels/Windows aspect with some photo programs. With my current Mac (17" iMac), I purchased as much ram as it could hold but recently have found that I just get by and hence the need for the upgrade. Any other purchase suggestions (accessories, bags, etc.) and concerns that you could pass on would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

RayRandall

[mad jew]

If you can justify the price then it can't hurt. How much RAM does your iMac have and is it an Intel machine? :)

[valdore]

For professional photography editing, I think 3 gigs is about right. I would be reluctant to have less.

[compuwar]

I'm new to MacRumors and its forums so please excuse any gafs that I might make with my first post. I'm about to purchase 17" MacBook Pro Core 2 and wondered about the need for 3 GB Ram. I'm a professional wedding photographer and use Photoshop. I've been told by many that 2 GB should be more than enough (most of my files are 2MB when taken and up to 20MB after tweaking). I don't video edit but am planning to make use of Parallels/Windows aspect with some photo programs. With my current Mac (17" iMac), I purchased as much ram as it could hold but recently have found that I just get by and hence the need for the upgrade. Any other purchase suggestions (accessories, bags, etc.) and concerns that you could pass on would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

RayRandall

I find my machine swapping occasionally when I have a lot of programs open and I'm editing full-size raw files, and I have the system you're looking at with 3G of RAM. Given that 2G will be 2 1G chips, I think you're better off getting 3G out of the gate, as it's not a cheap upgrade to get to 3G.

[obeygiant]

if you can afford it, go with three gigs. Processing thru hundreds of images, the extra ram will cut out a few seconds of lag on each picture, which could translate into hours later on.

[MacNut]

You can never have enough RAM.

[smueboy]

I have 3GB, and it's nice when working with RAW files, but i am particularly looking forward to working with Photoshop CS3.

[compuwar]

I have 3GB, and it's nice when working with RAW files, but i am particularly looking forward to working with Photoshop CS3.

If you have CS2, you can download and run the beta of CS3 (in case you're not aware of that.)

[dllavaneras]

Every bit of RAM helps :) Go for it if you can afford it. Or save the money and buy a new lens, flash, grip. Whatever you need most

[ChrisA]

The people who are saying they need 3GB are likely using CS2 which must run under Rostetta. CS3 is native and will require less RAM.

With 3GB the two SIMMs are unmatched the system will not run on dual channel mode and you loose some RAM bandwidth and performance. But you likely gain more performance by having more RAM then you loos to single channel mode.