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Upgrading my MBP to 8gb RAM! Need help deciding which one to get and where to get it.

fel10

fel10

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 2, 2010
2,335
3,916
Woodstock, GA USA
I'm going to be upgrading the ram of my Mid 2009 MBP pretty soon from 4GB to 8GB, and I have a couple of quick questions:

1 - I've heard some people say that they had some issues with their machine after they upgraded to 8GB. Is this true???

2 - Will I be better off upgrading to 6GB instead of 8GB.

3 - I'm thinking about getting the memory from OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/8566DDR3S8GP/, but if anyone knows of a better brand and price, I would appreciate it.
 
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No issues upgrading to 8 GB ram unless the ram is faulty. You might be thinking about the Non Unibody machines w/ penryn chipsets, which didn't support 8 gigs (only 6 gigs).

Don't bother with 6 gigs unless you only have enough coin for a 4Gb stick. You might as well buy the kit so you can benefit from matched pairs and can max out in one swoop.

OWC is an alright place. Just buy whatever brand you're comfortable with. OWC has their sticks for $145.99. Newegg has g.Skill sticks for 114.99 (After coupon / though sold out for now).
Finally, kingston also has their sticks of "mac" branded mem (which means it's been explicitly tested and guaranteed for use on Apple machines which are admittedly somewhat picky) for $136.
 
I'd wait for RAM prices to drop a bit more, maybe with the black friday sales.
 
any DDR3 1066 SO-DIMM will work. no point buying overpriced "Mac" memory.
 
Upgrade Ram?

I just bought a 13" MBP 2.4Ghz version....is it worth upgrading the ram to 8gig? anybody done that and can provide some performance figures?

Does Mac OS support 8 gig?
 
I just got 8gb from crucial was £123, put it in and it's a bit faster, nothing blazingly different but a bit more.

My new ssd on the other hand omg!
 
urfankhaliq said:
I just bought a 13" MBP 2.4Ghz version....is it worth upgrading the ram to 8gig? anybody done that and can provide some performance figures?

Does Mac OS support 8 gig?
Click to expand...

It will be slightly faster but nothing compared to an SSD upgrade

Mac OS X Snow Leopard supports up to 16TB (TeraBytes) of RAM
 
whether it will be faster or not depends on what you're doing. if you're paging out all the time, yes, if you're not, no.

whether an SSD will be faster (as in more productivity) or not also depends on what you're doing. a lot of the time it just feels faster, but with a marginal effect on productivity. if your programs require regular disk I/O, then yes, if not, no.

you can buy any DDR3 1066 204-pin RAM and it will work. there is nothing special about "Mac" memory, at least not until you get to Mac Pros and XServes.
 
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Corsair

I've got 2 x 4GB Corsair DDR3 1333GHz (CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9) in my Mid-2010 MacBook Pro 15" i5. So far so good.
 
I am debating if a 8gb upgrade will actually be worth if for me to be honest all I really do is iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, browse the net and sync my iPad iPhone and use iWork
 
Ram will do absolutely nothing for you if you don't need it.

Open up activity monitor... Do you have a lot of free ram when you are working? If so you don't need it.
 
currently I have 2gb of it free so I am guessing that 8GB would essentially be useless for me...

Maybe I should cancel my ram.

I guess its just cos I am used to windows eating all my ram and moaning it wants more I used to have 16GB in my HP envy 15 so I thought 4GB was rather small to have, I keep forgetting OSX does it better.

what would I actually need 8GB for? as its cheap I don't want to cancel if I can see a purpose for it in the future...
 
I use up over 4 gb while running aperture. If you run tons of programs at once it could also be helpful. Web browsing and email you are fine with 4 gb
 
perfectshadows said:
what would I actually need 8GB for? as its cheap I don't want to cancel if I can see a purpose for it in the future...
Click to expand...

Because your memory usage may change in the future. Besides, both Windows and OS X cache apps ram. The more available ram you have, the quicker you can relaunch apps.
 
thanks guys, I will keep the order :D

I do plan to use apperture in the future, my gf is getting her first DSLR this christmas a canon 550D its made me poor this month lol.

I guess when she gets it I may never see my MBP again...
 
My GF spends more time shooting with our nikon systems and leaves all the data warehousing to me (we have about 500 Gb of images, with digital copies of every hard copy picture we have for the past twenty years).

That way, if something breaks, she can just blame it on me ....
 
Eddyisgreat said:
Because your memory usage may change in the future. Besides, both Windows and OS X cache apps ram. The more available ram you have, the quicker you can relaunch apps.
Click to expand...

That is terrible reasoning.

RAM prices are in a free fall. It was over $300 a few months ago for a 2x4gb.


When it comes to technology, you should always use this tip: BUY IT WHEN YOU NEED IT.

Technology changes all the time. In fact, the RAM we use today (DDR3) is scheduled to be replaced by DDR4 in two years. Buying it early 'just in case' is a terrible idea when it comes to computers.
 
vant said:
Technology changes all the time. In fact, the RAM we use today (DDR3) is scheduled to be replaced by DDR4 in two years. Buying it early 'just in case' is a terrible idea when it comes to computers.
Click to expand...

Except the fact that ram doesn't follow that protocol. You can get 8Gb DDR3 for $115 now, cheapest i've seen it. How much does an 8Gb DDR2 kit run? $214.99 for this kit on Newegg. A Gig of DDR mem? $52.99.

Memory prices go up when new memory is introduced and production declines. Perhaps there will be more sales for the current gen of mem, but I doubt we'll see anything under $100-$80.
 
Eddyisgreat said:
Except the fact that ram doesn't follow that protocol. You can get 8Gb DDR3 for $115 now, cheapest i've seen it. How much does an 8Gb DDR2 kit run? $214.99 for this kit on Newegg. A Gig of DDR mem? $52.99.

Memory prices go up when new memory is introduced and production declines. Perhaps there will be more sales for the current gen of mem, but I doubt we'll see anything under $100-$80.
Click to expand...

That point was not addressing prices, it was to address the fact that DDR2 was replaced as a whole.
 
I am in the same situation looking to upgrade my july 2009 MBP to 8GB for photoshop and Lightroom.


I have the option of Kingston Value RAM or Corsair RAM, Corsair kit is about 10% more expensive....
 
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