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cootersgarage6

Guest
Original poster
Nov 6, 2010
215
0
I can upgrade my MBP's ram to 8GB, but what good does that do? and how future proof does it make it?
 
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sammich

macrumors 601
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
You can run more programs at the same time. Means it accesses the hard drive less when it runs out of free RAM and makes the system overall more responsive. It doesn't increase the overall processing power of your computer, it just lets you do more stuff at once, smoother.
 

sbddude

macrumors 6502a
Sep 27, 2010
894
4
Nor Cal, USA
I can upgrade my MBP's ram to 8GB, but what good does that do? and how future proof does it make it?

If you are asking, maybe it's not needed yet. Memory prices will only go down.

Use resource monitor to see how much is in use/free for common tasks. IMHO, you only need 8GB for some high end apps and virtual machines.
 

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
People who have to ask are rarely in need for 8GB ram. 4GB is more than plenty for most people.
The average MBP owner probably wouldn't feel the difference between 2 and 4GB RAM. You already need to USE quite a lot of Apps to make use of 4GB. The important thing being to actually use them because if you only switch between 2-3 open apps and have some others running in background you will not feel any page outs.
 

TopHatPlus

macrumors 6502
Aug 1, 2010
443
0
Southern Ontario
hey

i have 4 GB on my 2010 mbp 15" i7, and when i get minecraft, safari, itunes, iphoto, mail, and skype open all at one i get down to like 17 MB of ram and all of my programs lag pretty bad and it get insane page outs. get istat pro it will help you watch your ram usage
 

GLS

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2010
561
600
I can upgrade my MBP's ram to 8GB, but what good does that do? and how future proof does it make it?

It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing I have 8GB instead of a measly 4GB....

I look with pity at my MBA because it will have 4GB forever.....
 

rkaufmann87

macrumors 68000
Dec 17, 2009
1,760
39
Folsom, CA
People who have to ask are rarely in need for 8GB ram. 4GB is more than plenty for most people.
The average MBP owner probably wouldn't feel the difference between 2 and 4GB RAM. You already need to USE quite a lot of Apps to make use of 4GB. The important thing being to actually use them because if you only switch between 2-3 open apps and have some others running in background you will not feel any page outs.

I totally disagree with this, my uses of my computer are very average however I noticed a nice spike in performance first going from 2GB to 4GB and when prices fell even more to 8GB. My use of my MBP is 90% internet use, the other 10% MS Office type stuff, in other words as mundane as it gets.
 

AdamRock

macrumors 6502a
Aug 30, 2010
712
1
Toronto
If you are asking, maybe it's not needed yet. Memory prices will only go down.

Use resource monitor to see how much is in use/free for common tasks. IMHO, you only need 8GB for some high end apps and virtual machines.

Agreed. if you need to ask if you need to upgrade or not then the answer probably is not.

but if you found a great deal on the ram then just buy it; its better to be safe then sorry.
 

tunerX

Suspended
Nov 5, 2009
355
839
I totally disagree with this, my uses of my computer are very average however I noticed a nice spike in performance first going from 2GB to 4GB and when prices fell even more to 8GB. My use of my MBP is 90% internet use, the other 10% MS Office type stuff, in other words as mundane as it gets.

Maybe you are using leaky apps or apps that require alot of memory?

Adding memory won't do anything for a person who doesn't need it. And the majority of users have no need.
 

Eddyisgreat

macrumors 601
Oct 24, 2007
4,851
2
Agreed. if you need to ask if you need to upgrade or not then the answer probably is not.

Not really.

Some people do alot with their machines but don't know the first thing about computers (not saying you guys but still). I know a few photographers and academics with Mac Pros. They use plenty of horsepower for editing and visualization/computation, but their heads would explode if you tried to explain to them the intricaies of RAID or memory usage etc. Some users may not know that their poor or inadequate computing experience is in part due to low memory. Some can't make sense of the activity monitor to guage whether or not their system is paging to disk too often.
Everyone has to start somewhere.
 

Stvwndr219

macrumors 6502
Jan 26, 2009
251
0
I can upgrade my MBP's ram to 8GB, but what good does that do? and how future proof does it make it?

haha, it increases your e-peen!!!!;)

I think, given the recent push towards 64-bit computing, you might have some sort of safety net as the program usage increases and becomes more resource-consuming. I would get 8GB RAM if my MBP supported it just because I run so many things open at the same time and it's easier than having to relaunch programs over and over again.

You won't get any speed boosts if you're not over taxing your RAM right now because the RAM will be operating at the same speed anyways.
 
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