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Will SSD + 2GB be fast enough on new MBP?

K

kanpachi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Hello, I'm looking into buying one of the new MBPs, but am debating between the lower end model and higher end. I have an SLC SSD drive that's wicked fast, so I'm wondering if that will be able to hold it's own with 2GB RAM or is 4GB RAM necessary? I'm trying to stick with the stock models since I don't want to the BTO route and deal with all the returning/exchanging headaches in the latter case, but am also hesitant to upgrade the RAM on my own on the lower end since it looks much more complicated than the previous gen MBPs.

Would greatly appreciate any advice. Programs I run mainly are Adobe CS3 and general programs like Mail, Firefox, skEdit, Fetch and other low resource programs. I'm running on a MacBook right now, but the additional screen real estate would be nice. TY
 
If you already have a MacBook why don't you just get an external display for more screen real estate? 😕
 
Ya, I do that already, but I tend to be moving around a lot so don't always have access to a monitor. Any suggestions to my original question please?
 
2 GB of RAM is fine. You're probably better off waiting for the price of DDR3 to come down later and replace it for less if you just need the computer now.
 
For your needs a 2.4 would be perfectly fine. The SSD drive should work without an issue. Changing out the ram shouldnt be too hard either, only a few screws, but keep in mind you have to use samsung ram only.

I've been looking at benchmarks between the 2.4 vs 2.5 model, they both get similar scores , nothing drastic... So if youre not using cpu/gpu intensive programs stick with the 2.4.. it'll be perfect.
 
Eidorian said:
2 GB of RAM is fine. You're probably better off waiting for the price of DDR3 to come down later and replace it for less if you just need the computer now.
Click to expand...

If you're running CS3, I disagree with this... I think you'll get more benefit from an upgrade to 4GB than from an SSD. CS3 applications are pretty RAM-heavy if you're working on anything bigger than a thumbnail.
 
For graphics stuff you generally want all the RAM you can get. If I were you, I'd seriously consider the 2.53 GHz option. Aftermarket RAM for these MacBooks isn't particularly cheap and is about the same as Apple charges to upgrade from 2 GB to 4 GB. The 2.53 GHz model has the benefit of extra RAM, a bigger HD for you to put into an external case when you install your SSD, more video RAM (although by the sounds of things, this wouldn't affect you much) and of course a faster processor with double the on board cache. Personally, I think its worth it.
 
dal20402 said:
If you're running CS3, I disagree with this... I think you'll get more benefit from an upgrade to 4GB than from an SSD. CS3 applications are pretty RAM-heavy if you're working on anything bigger than a thumbnail.
Click to expand...
Their money not mine. The MacBook is fine and 6 GB of RAM for it is dirt cheap if it's DDR2.

Keep in mind they're running CS3 on a MacBook already.
 
Spanky Deluxe said:
Very true, didn't think of the 6 GB in his original MacBook.
Click to expand...
Barefeats has their 6 GB benchmarks up as well.

barefeats said:
And when you consider the 6GB configuration potentially means less virtual memory swaps, then the only consideration is the cost. Maybe instead of ordering your MBP with the $500 128GB SSD, you should save your money for a 4GB memory module.

Looks like a winning combination to me. You can never be too thin, too rich, or have too much memory.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks very much for the input guys. Seems like RAM is pretty important so I suppose I'll go for the higher end one. I haven't used a computer with < 4GB in a while now, so it might be too hard to go down.
 
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