16 GB RAM Upgrades for New MacBook Pros Now Available

[vincenz]

Originally Posted by boshii

I would rather just buy another macbook pro.

Seriously...

[Dimwhit]

Originally Posted by idea_hamster

However, I just bought my MBP, and in 2015, when 16GB RAM is common and runs $90, this upgrade path will give my MBP a spritz of that new-car-smell stuff for the following year or two.

Nice to know it's a bit more future-proof than I thought. Would it have killed them to connect the ODD to a SATA III port?!?

Absolutely! I usually keep my MBPs about 5-6 years. I've got 8GB RAM right now. In 3-4 years, I'll up it to 16GB RAM and maybe swap my hard drive for an SSD drive. By then, those prices should be considerably lower, as well. Between the two upgrades, that should give my machine a nice little boost in speed to last me another couple years.

[blue22]

Originally Posted by Vantage Point

If you have $1,600 to spend on more ram then for the same amount you can update the base hard drive to a OWC 500GB SSD drive for $100 less and use that $100 to upgrade to 8GB. I think that combo would be more useful for the same price.

I agree, and to add to this comment a little bit further, just FYI, OWC has posted some elaborate benchmark tests of the newest MBP's 16GB RAM configurations on their website worth taking a look at:



1) 13" 16GB benchmarks (SSD vs. HDD)
2) 15" 16GB benchmarks (SSD vs. HDD)
3) 17" 16GB benchmarks (SSD vs. HDD)


Snapshot of the Photoshop "Medium Action test" benchmark stats via OWC:

			4GB	8GB	16GB

13" MBP 2.7GHZ HDD	943.49	670.20	438.05
13" MBP 2.7GHZ SSD	408.05	323.45	268.82

15" MBP 2.3GHZ HDD	714.25	538.28	410.72
15" MBP 2.3GHZ SSD	354.27	266.44	227.32

17" MBP 2.3GHZ HDD	731.27	524.44	427.21
17" MBP 2.3GHZ SSD	352.39	266.85	226.19

So based on the info highlighted above (taken at face value), basically, for the current prices of the 16GB RAM ($1,600) one would be better off for now for the same price just buying a SSD + 8GB of RAM instead and you'll generally notice about a 65% increase in overall system speed/performance (compared against the stock model with a HDD + 4GB of RAM) which is still 50% faster than an alternative stock model MBP system with the memory maxed out at 16GB RAM alone. But if you have an extra $2,700 to burn on top of your base MBP purchase ($1,600 for 16GB ram + $1,100 for SSD of 512GB) then that's a different story.

With all that said, it's still nice to know the new MBP's can be maxed out to 16GB of RAM; a definite must once the prices come down a bit.

[franky303]

Originally Posted by Jswoosh

Well thats nice to know. Unfortunately my (late 2007) MBP only takes up to 2 GB's of RAM which is how much I have. Possibly 4? from what I've heard.

late mbp 2007 can handle 2x2gb of ram, total 4 gb.
early 2007 can handle 3 gb max, even though it will also display the 4 gb on the system info screen ...

[holmesf]

Wow, the 4GB DIMMs are $15 / GB and the 8GB DIMMs are $100 / GB. You'd have to be crazy to make this purchase at this point, but it's nice to see that the machine supports it.

[doctor-don]

Originally Posted by AnonMac50

Just noticed the prices. Instead of a MacBook Pro + 16 GB RAM, how about a MacBook Pro + another MacBook Pro?

Originally Posted by jamesryanbell

So the upgrade costs more than a 13" MBP. How neat.

Originally Posted by LeoNobilis

Exactly! Ridiculous pricing!

Some owners do more with their MBPs than e-mail, surf the web and watch videos. Right now the price is what it is.

[doctor-don]

Originally Posted by blue22

But if you have an extra $2,700 to burn on top of your base MBP purchase ($1,600 for 16GB ram + $1,100 for SSD of 512GB) then that's a different story.

With all that said, it's still nice to know the new MBP's can be maxed out to 16GB of RAM; a definite must once the prices come down a bit.

And a definite must have when the SSD prices come down, too.

[jwestpro]

Originally Posted by franky303

late mbp 2007 can handle 2x2gb of ram, total 4 gb.
early 2007 can handle 3 gb max, even though it will also display the 4 gb on the system info screen ...

No, the 2007 mbp allowed 6Mb. I had 6 in mine. This was very nice for running basic stuff in cs5 as the latest cs version finally allowed more ram to be used

[rjbruce]

Originally Posted by LeoNobilis

Exactly! Ridiculous pricing!

I think you overlooked the $13/2GB buy back.

[tcador]

Originally Posted by rjbruce

I think you overlooked the /2GB buy back.

ha!

[mward333]

Originally Posted by doctor-don

Some owners do more with their MBPs than e-mail, surf the web and watch videos. Right now the price is what it is.

I totally agree. It just depends what one is doing with her/his machine. I'm frequently pushing all of my RAM with one job, e.g. for a large scientific computation (say, with Maple), and I often could use more RAM than that. I'm thinking of getting a larger MacPro with a lot more RAM now.... The price of RAM is always getting cheaper and cheaper..... certainly much less expensive than when I bought my octo-core MacPro in mid-2007.

For most users, 16 GB is just overkill or bragging rights... totally unneeded.

[chrisonly]

It is looking good but very much costly for me

[Digital Skunk]

Forget about the Macbook Pro and another Macbook Pro,

Just get a Mac Pro and call it a day.

[skier777]

Originally Posted by doctor-don

Some owners do more with their MBPs than e-mail, surf the web and watch videos. Right now the price is what it is.

As one of these users I completely agree. Yet spending 1600 on a ram upgrade is ridiculous if you really need that much speed and are willing to pay that much for it, you really are just better off with a less mobile and more powerful machine (mac pro).

[ddh716]

Originally Posted by Jswoosh

Well thats nice to know. Unfortunately my (late 2007) MBP only takes up to 2 GB's of RAM which is how much I have. Possibly 4? from what I've heard.

Apple actually offered up to 4 GB RAM in the late 2007 MBP as a build to order option. But it can actually handle up to 6 GB (one 2 GB module and one 4 GB module). You can find this upgrade available as a kit from Crucial. I upgraded my late 2007 to 6 GB two years ago and have had no problems. You should be able to upgrade to 4 GB or 6 GB fairly inexpensively, if you like.

[johnnyturbouk]

that price is totally ridiculous...
im sure some peeps on here could benefit from 16GB.. but 8GB is fine for me

id rather spend the money on 2 SSDs, on raid 0
8 gb ram
and left over money on a few beers

[Santabean2000]

If Apple axed that ODD could they possibly stick in 4 sticks of 4GB RAM right now?

[haruki]

What would anyone use that much ram for? You'll go blind doing video editing on a mb.

[ezekielrage_99]

16GB RAM, uber... Now for the 30% of people who think they need compared to the 1% who will actually use it is now catered for

[imola.zhp]

Originally Posted by daneoni

8gb

Awesome, once that price drops below $100 for 8gb, I'll consider it...

[RedTomato]

Originally Posted by Jswoosh

Alright nice I may do that if they don't come out with the new iMac's soon. Also did you install it yourself or have someone else do it?

I put it in myself. Very easy. Apple officially supports users doing it themselves and there is a guide on the Apple website. Take out the battery, undo a couple of screws in the battery compartment, take out the old RAM, put in the new one.

The main thing is to seat the new RAM properly - it needs a fair bit of force to push it in. If you don't have dents in your fingers afterwards, you aren't pushing it in hard enough


If you've ever opened up a PC, you can do it.

[iDemiurge]

No word yet of 8 GB modules available from other vendors? Price might come down as soon as we have more option...

[SvK]

Originally Posted by haruki

What would anyone use that much ram for? You'll go blind doing video editing on a mb.

Film composers utilizing huge orchestral sample libraries. When you stream samples, the first part of the sample is loaded into ram, the rest is streamed....(ssd for streaming)

Comprehensive libraries such as "Hollywood Strings" load between 12 to 20 gig of their sounds into RAM.

It's the only way to simulate the realism of a real orchestra.

Point is, being able to compose in Logic Pro with Hollywood strings on a MBP is a reality now... And very useful.

SvK

[ThaDoggg]

Prices are still really high. Hopefully in about 2 years time when I will want to upgrade my computer 16GB RAM and SSD prices will come down.

[jonnysods]

In a while these prices will cool off. Man, could you imagine a 2.3 quad with a 500gb SSD with 16gb ram?

1. you would be broke
2. you would be crazy unless you made money with the machine
3. it would be so cool!