Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2GB to 4GB RAM worth it?

S

stark4

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 14, 2008
391
1
Florida
I am planing to upgrade my Late 08 Macbook Pro from 2GB to 4GB for around $40. Do you think it's worth it at all? do you guys think i'll see the performance increase. I dont really do heavy projects but web and HD videos payback most of the time. I like to put my computer to sleep whenever i don't use it instead of shutting down. But i can see a little lag after 20 days of sleep/use.

Thanks
 
MacDawg said:
I saw a definite performance improvement going from 2 GB to 4 GB
One of the best investments you can make
Click to expand...

Same here. I am not new to computers, but I have never owned a Mac with 8GB of ram. I wonder if the difference between 4GB and 8GB is as obvious as the difference between 2 and 4GB.
 
Dalton63841 said:
Same here. I am not new to computers, but I have never owned a Mac with 8GB of ram. I wonder if the difference between 4GB and 8GB is as obvious as the difference between 2 and 4GB.
Click to expand...

I'd say probably not. Most light to moderate computing tops out before you hit the 4GB mark. If you do some heavy video editing/encoding or large recording sessions with lots of sound libraries loaded into RAM then you'll benefit from a bump up to 8GB.
 
Dalton63841 said:
Same here. I am not new to computers, but I have never owned a Mac with 8GB of ram. I wonder if the difference between 4GB and 8GB is as obvious as the difference between 2 and 4GB.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you do. Personally, I don't think it would make a difference for my use or most owners' use, as you have to have a good amount of stuff open to go over 4GB. But when you get into using Photoshop, Final Cut, Logic, virtual machines, etc. you would see a pretty big difference. More RAM really won't benefit you too much if you don't use it.
 
skiltrip said:
I'd say probably not. Most light to moderate computing tops out before you hit the 4GB mark. If you do some heavy video editing/encoding or large recording sessions with lots of sound libraries loaded into RAM then you'll benefit from a bump up to 8GB.
Click to expand...

Hmm...Most of what I do on my Macbook Pro is pretty light, with the occasional use of Handbrake. However on my Mac Mini I have a bad habit of running several instances of HandbrakeCLI simultaneously. Prolly should up that to 8GB...

On topic, making the jump to 4GB of Ram was a VERY obvious change. Apps load quicker, the whole machine is all around more "snappy". That and a 7200RPM drive, if not an SSD.
 
For multitasking definitely. And if you use computer many hours a day.

If you are satisfied, then dont. Go to apple and try their 4GB ram macbooks to see the difference.

For me, it was a well spent money to upgrade, bought it from crucial.
 
I will reiterate what everyone else is saying: absolutely you should upgrade. If 4GB is all your MBP will take, do it. If it can handle more, I say max it out if your budget can handle it.

I just ordered 6GB for my iMac yesterday. That will max it's capacity. It has 4GB in it now and runs good, but that additional 2GB will be noticeable too.

I upgraded my MBP 2,2 a few months ago from 2GB to 3GB and that maxed it out. The extra 1GB made a huge difference in general speediness of everything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back