15" rMBP Memory

[Gizmo22]

Pending my ability to sell my current cMBP, I am looking to replace with a 15" Retina. Many questions stem regarding 8GB vs 16GB memory, and the answers either fall into "you'll never use 16GB," or "you can't upgrade later."


I agree I will not use 16GB in the foreseeable future, but isn't the real question are you going to use that 8,193 MB of memory? Am I missing something's in the logic, as I regularly use 4-6 GB and sometimes break 10GB.

 

[Orlandoech]

If you have to ask if you'll need it, you don't need it.

If you want it, thats a totally different question. I think the money towards the bigger SSD is a better option but thats strickly my opinion.

I wish I would have gotten 8GB ram instead of 16GB since I dont ever need 16GB, I only got it since I couldnt upgrade it. But I would much rather have the 512GB SSD now.

 

[Gizmo22]

If you have to ask if you'll need it, you don't need it.

If you want it, thats a totally different question.

Thanks is for the seemingly "I didn't bother you read your post," response. This is as much, or more, a logic question than a hardware question.

 

[Orlandoech]

Thanks is for the seemingly "I didn't bother you read your post," response. This is as much, or more, a logic question than a hardware question.

If its a logic question, then its not a question. How do you question logic?

If its "logic" then your question is therein answered BY yourself.

 

[Gizmo22]

I wish I would have gotten 8GB ram instead of 16GB since I dont ever need 16GB, I only got it since I couldnt upgrade it. But I would much rather have the 512GB SSD now.

This is somewhat my point. You won't have to need 16GB to benefit from the upgrade. You will have to need 8.1GB to benefit.

 

[thekev]

This is somewhat my point. You won't have to need 16GB to benefit from the upgrade. You will have to need 8.1GB to benefit.

Minor pageouts like that wouldn't slow you down too much with an ssd. It's when you go significantly over that you'll notice a drop in responsiveness. If you use 10 today, I'd probably go for it, especially if you intend to keep OSX up to date. The damn OS gets hungrier with every version, and Lion onward is pretty terrible at freeing up inactive memory. If it's a debate on price, refurb seems like a good compromise.

 

[robvas]

The Retina is a RAM hog. My 13" uses about 2GB of RAM with nothing else going. My Air would start up with 700MB used.

 

[watchthisspace]

What do you mainly do/use on your Macbook? I'd agree that 8gb is probably plenty for a good few years.

I've got a base model 15" and I'm starting to wonder if I should of gotten a bigger SSD.

 

[Gizmo22]

Thanks for comments. Not really an issue of finances, and I could probably survive with 8GB as long as we do not get anything more than 32bit Excel on OSX.

Just curious why everyone seems to contextualize the issue on whether or not you will utilize all 16GB at once.

 

[tillsbury]

You probably won't need more than 8Gb unless you either use big serious applications such as video editing, or virtual machines with Parallels/VMWare/VirtualBox.

Remember that with an SSD, paging out memory to disk is nothing like it used to be in the old days when the hard drive would grind everything to a halt. So if you occasionally use 9Gb RAM you're hardly going to notice it...

 

[Gizmo22]

You probably won't need more than 8Gb unless you either use big serious applications such as video editing, or virtual machines with Parallels/VMWare/VirtualBox.

Remember that with an SSD, paging out memory to disk is nothing like it used to be in the old days when the hard drive would grind everything to a halt. So if you occasionally use 9Gb RAM you're hardly going to notice it...

Ditto. Thanks!

Alternatively, I am curious on individuals predictions of the 8GB resale in 3 years. I know a 4GB Air was a great purchase in 2010, but I wouldn't touch one myself now.

 

[robvas]

Ditto. Thanks!

Alternatively, I am curious on individuals predictions of the 8GB resale in 3 years. I know a 4GB Air was a great purchase in 2010, but I wouldn't touch one myself now.

The 4GB Air is still a fine machine, a 2GB is cramped.

 

[Brian Y]

I got the middle ground one: 2.6GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD. I saw it this way:

- RAM is the cheapest to upgrade. It was a 7.2% increase on the cost of the machine.

- SSD can be upgraded later, and SSD prices will fall.

- I'm on the verge of using 8GB anyway, so in 2 years who knows. 16GB makes the world of difference if you're using virtual machines (I can have 6 VMs running, each with 2GB RAM, and have room to spare).

 

[tillsbury]

The 4GB Air is still a fine machine, a 2GB is cramped.

Agreed. My wife has just got a base 13" Air with 128Gb/4Gb, and it does absolutely fine. She mainly uses email/internet and Office. It goes like the wind...

Remember that your hibernation uses the same amount of SSD space as the RAM, so a 16Gb machine will use 16Gb of your SSD straightaway. The 8Gb Air similarly out of the base 128Gb...

 

[M5RahuL]

I would do 16, and forget about it!

If financially feasible, it's better to have it and not use it than not have it, with no possibility of adding it later!

I would get the 2.3/2.6 + 16 + 256 SSD, if I were to do it all over again. SSDs will drop in price and it's perhaps the one thing that can be upgraded in the rMBP.

 

[Pentad]

I've said it before: 8GB of memory on the MBPr is like bicycle tires on a Ferrari.

-P

 

[tillsbury]

Ditto. Thanks!

Alternatively, I am curious on individuals predictions of the 8GB resale in 3 years. I know a 4GB Air was a great purchase in 2010, but I wouldn't touch one myself now.

I think this may be an argument the wrong way around. In 3 years time there will be a base price for a Retina. The question is how much of a premium people will pay for the additional RAM, over the "cheapest" second-hand Retina available. I suspect it won't be a great deal higher...

 

[thekev]

Ditto. Thanks!

Alternatively, I am curious on individuals predictions of the 8GB resale in 3 years. I know a 4GB Air was a great purchase in 2010, but I wouldn't touch one myself now.

I would say either will be under $1000 in value 3 years from now. We don't have a 2013 macbook pro yet, and the 2010s are already there. Look at it this way, such features could become standard in the lineup, meaning the rmbp models could filter down through the line within 2-3 cycles. Add in that you're competing against Apple refurbished sales and that whatever macbook air is out by then is likely to compete with the performance of the one you buy today. The display won't prop it up as much then. Displays are unstable by their nature, and they degrade with use. If the battery is on its way out due to use, which is possible depending on how many cycles are on it by then, expect that to further impact the value. It's a $200 replacement. Resale value takes a dive on electronics, and it's more volatile when you buy bleeding edge technology.

It has nothing to do with whether 16GB is required for the latest software 3 years from now. The issue is why would someone buy yours at a high percentage when they can have something new and at least as good with zero wear on the keyboard, display, battery, charger, and cosmetic features around the $1100 mark? Buy what you need and sell it for what it's worth at that time or wait.

I think this may be an argument the wrong way around. In 3 years time there will be a base price for a Retina. The question is how much of a premium people will pay for the additional RAM, over the "cheapest" second-hand Retina available. I suspect it won't be a great deal higher...

I also agree on that. Two years ago 16GB of ram cost over $1000 via 8GB dimms. Today that would be $60-80. People can complain how much they paid for it, yet if there's nothing wrong with the performance of the machine as they would claim to a potential buyer, they have no need to upgrade.