Enough RAM or overkill?

Forkjulle · Aug 12, 2012

I'm becoming increasingly tempted not to buy the new iMac and rather buy the rMBP. The specs are impressive. The price is high and I understand that, since the rMBP isn't upgradeable, my best bet is to buy the best I can now.

I'm looking at the 2.6GHZ with 512GB RAM (because anything less is just a bit too little) and 16GB RAM. I've gathered (from these forums) that speed and memory trump storage space.

The only reason I'm eyeing the 16GB RAM is because I want it to remain powerful for as long as possible. I currently have a PC with 6GB RAM and don't seem to need much more (perhaps 8GB will be the sweet spot).

What are your thoughts on 8GB versus 16GB? Is it overkill? Will I even notice the difference? (I'm talking about basic/medium video editing (YouTube and home videos etc), and daily 300DPI Photoshop illustration work.)

katmeef · Aug 12, 2012

Forkjulle said:
I'm becoming increasingly tempted not to buy the new iMac and rather buy the rMBP. The specs are impressive. The price is high and I understand that, since the rMBP isn't upgradeable, my best bet is to buy the best I can now.

I'm looking at the 2.6GHZ with 512GB RAM (because anything less is just a bit too little) and 16GB RAM. I've gathered (from these forums) that speed and memory trump storage space.

The only reason I'm eyeing the 16GB RAM is because I want it to remain powerful for as long as possible. I currently have a PC with 6GB RAM and don't seem to need much more (perhaps 8GB will be the sweet spot).

What are your thoughts on 8GB versus 16GB? Is it overkill? Will I even notice the difference? (I'm talking about basic/medium video editing (YouTube and home videos etc), and daily 300DPI Photoshop illustration work.)

Another 8 vs 16 thread. So exciting.

skate71290 · Aug 12, 2012

To be nice and answer you, no you will notice minimal difference, especially with page-outs running to an SSD. If you do plan on keeping the laptop for 4-5 years then it might be worthwhile upgrading on purchase, as to assist with more demanding software in 2-3 years time.

Also 512GB RAM.... no issues running everything there

Edit: Probably more worthwhile getting 2.3GHz and 16GB RAM... 2.6GHz for basic editing seems overkill really... although there will more than likely be SSD upgrades available soon from 3rd party vendors.

Dangerous Theory · Aug 12, 2012

katmeef said:
Another 8 vs 16 thread. So exciting.

Tell me about it... At least he didn't preface his thread with "So I know there are loads of other threads already about this, but...". That kind of arrogant **** annoys me.

iLikeTurtles! · Aug 12, 2012

skate71290 said:
To be nice and answer you, no you will notice minimal difference, especially with page-outs running to an SSD. If you do plan on keeping the laptop for 4-5 years then it might be worthwhile upgrading on purchase, as to assist with more demanding software in 2-3 years time.

Also 512GB RAM.... no issues running everything there

Edit: Probably more worthwhile getting 2.3GHz and 16GB RAM... 2.6GHz for basic editing seems overkill really... although there will more than likely be SSD upgrades available soon from 3rd party vendors.

do you think the base model 2.3ghz, worth the extra 100 to jump to 2.6?

Forkjulle · Aug 12, 2012

katmeef said:
Another 8 vs 16 thread. So exciting.

Sorry if I offended you. I meant no harm by starting this thread. I've always believed that more conversation is better (being a discussion forum).

I suppose the 16GB is worth the extra cash if one intends on keeping the machine for a few years, and buying more external storage is easy enough.

katmeef · Aug 12, 2012

Forkjulle said:
Sorry if I offended you. I meant no harm by starting this thread. I've always believed that more conversation is better (being a discussion forum).

I suppose the 16GB is worth the extra cash if one intends on keeping the machine for a few years, and buying more external storage is easy enough.

There's a search function where you will find many threads discussing the same.

Forkjulle · Aug 12, 2012

katmeef said:
There's a search function where you will find many threads discussing the same.

Thank you for taking the time to visit this thread (instead of another more interesting one) and telling me that. I appreciate it greatly.

Anyway. At what stage will one notice that 8GB is too little? I don't have a Mac (and this will be my first), so I'm not sure how well Macs handle RAM. (Also, do Macs slow down over time - and will extra RAM help avoid that?)

bobr1952 · Aug 12, 2012

Forkjulle said:
Sorry if I offended you. I meant no harm by starting this thread. I've always believed that more conversation is better (being a discussion forum).

I suppose the 16GB is worth the extra cash if one intends on keeping the machine for a few years, and buying more external storage is easy enough.

You didn't offend me--lots of us who are contemplating the purchase of a rMBP enjoy reading these threads--sure there are plenty of them but so what--no one is forcing anyone to read them.

rockyroad55 · Aug 12, 2012

Forkjulle said:
Thank you for taking the time to visit this thread (instead of another more interesting one) and telling me that. I appreciate it greatly.

Anyway. At what stage will one notice that 8GB is too little? I don't have a Mac (and this will be my first), so I'm not sure how well Macs handle RAM. (Also, do Macs slow down over time - and will extra RAM help avoid that?)

Arrogance? Use the search button next time.

Forkjulle · Aug 12, 2012

rockyroad55 said:
Arrogance? Use the search button next time.

Thank you again for your contribution, and God bless you. I had no idea that this discussion thread, in this discussion forum, forces you to click and read it. This Apple technology really is fantastic!

thisrocks · Aug 12, 2012

bobr1952 said:
You didn't offend me--lots of us who are contemplating the purchase of a rMBP enjoy reading these threads--sure there are plenty of them but so what--no one is forcing anyone to read them.

If you can't afford to upgrade it when Haswell or Broadwell come out (don't know how you'll be able to wait till Broadwell if you own one) do not get this machine. It's so beautiful, but like a sports car, it stupidly has performance issues. It's a great race horse thanks to its underlying CPU, SSD and ram, and you can even play modern games on quite decent graphics settings but navigating around the UI doesn't feel modern at all, you get used to it, until you get onto a machine that isn't pushing this many pixels. If you can afford to upgrade next year though, my word, hop in to this world.

thermodynamic · Aug 12, 2012

Forkjulle said:
What are your thoughts on 8GB versus 16GB? Is it overkill? Will I even notice the difference? (I'm talking about basic/medium video editing (YouTube and home videos etc), and daily 300DPI Photoshop illustration work.)

Video editing + big Photoshop files = 16GB helps immensely.

stevelam · Aug 12, 2012

Forkjulle said:
I'm becoming increasingly tempted not to buy the new iMac and rather buy the rMBP. The specs are impressive. The price is high and I understand that, since the rMBP isn't upgradeable, my best bet is to buy the best I can now.

I'm looking at the 2.6GHZ with 512GB RAM (because anything less is just a bit too little) and 16GB RAM. I've gathered (from these forums) that speed and memory trump storage space.

The only reason I'm eyeing the 16GB RAM is because I want it to remain powerful for as long as possible. I currently have a PC with 6GB RAM and don't seem to need much more (perhaps 8GB will be the sweet spot).

What are your thoughts on 8GB versus 16GB? Is it overkill? Will I even notice the difference? (I'm talking about basic/medium video editing (YouTube and home videos etc), and daily 300DPI Photoshop illustration work.)

you do realize there is no retina version of photoshop right? it'll be a long time until there is one.

iaymnu · Aug 12, 2012

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