13" 32GB ETA? Wait or stopgap?

[Ploki]

- 2018 + macbooks pros have pretty fast drives, so paging when you run out of RAM is not nearly as painful as it was on 2013s.
- 2018 even i5 already supports 32GB, so they could already have it, if Apple supported it.


anyway, 2018 i5 quad cores are probably getting cheap by now and they're great machines, light and quiet.

 

[splitpea]

Given that when using a 16GB computer from the office I was regularly pushing it to its limits (though not locking up), I anticipate that for my usage it will only be enough for a couple more years.

And yes, disk space is also a PITA. The way Apple charges for it is truly obnoxious.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can wait until next year for an upgrade. The contract I just accepted starts in 2 weeks, and the client's system won't run at all on 8GB. Argh. Leaning further and further toward the stopgap MBA and then selling it the moment the next 13" MBPs are released. Or trying to figure out a way to survive with the 15", but the extra weight and the extra $600 they charge just for the larger screen would both be problematic.

 

[Ploki]

i suggest a refurb 2018 i5 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD. It goes roughly like this:

reads are pretty consistent around 2300-2600.
writes however suffer with smaller sizes.
128: 600mb/s
256: 1200mb/s
512: 1800mb/s
1024+: 2200mb/s

(This is an estimate based on some data and benchmarks i gathered around)

So paging on a 512 vs 128 is going to be 3x as fast... (more, if you fill up that 128gb to its edge)

The new 2019 13" with 2 TB ports have slower drives, so paging is effectively slower

 

[splitpea]

i suggest a refurb 2018 i5 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD. It goes roughly like this:

reads are pretty consistent around 2300-2600.
writes however suffer with smaller sizes.
128: 600mb/s
256: 1200mb/s
512: 1800mb/s
1024+: 2200mb/s

(This is an estimate based on some data and benchmarks i gathered around)

So paging on a 512 vs 128 is going to be 3x as fast... (more, if you fill up that 128gb to its edge)

The new 2019 13" with 2 TB ports have slower drives, so paging is effectively slower

Thanks, that's really interesting! Is this for the Air or the Pro?
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Fwiw: this is the model I'm thinking of getting for a stopgap (tho ideally in another color): https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...l-core-intel-core-i5-with-retina-display-gold

Basically, near-identical specs to my existing laptop except for the memory.

 

[Ploki]

Thanks, that's really interesting! Is this for the Air or the Pro?

Pro. I think Air has slower disks as well, similar to 2019 13" with 2 thunderbolt ports and write is around 600mb/s regardless of size. In general the 4x thunderbolt ports are supposed to have faster SSDs, according to benchmarks