16 vs 32 gigs?

[Dexterama]

I have 16GB in my 2013 15" rMbp. In one instance, I used around 15GB of that 16GB with Parallels, mail, chrome (in Mac OS), and chrome (in Windows) running, including 20 tabs open in Safari because I was jumping around between stuff I was studying for class. But that was a special case because of my lack of workflow organization. I typically use around 8-12GB. I suspend Parallels when I don't need to use it. I stayed with the 16GB when I bought the 2018 15" base model.

 

[schalliol]

Remember that you’re buying a computer for now and at least some time into the future. I went with the 32 because my old machine hung around on 16 when I had a lot of things going on. If you push your machine at all now and plan to keep it for a few years, the extra RAM is worth the relatively small percentage of cost to double. The wrong way to look at it is “I’m not using more than 16 today.”

 

[MilKat10]

Remember that you’re buying a computer for now and at least some time into the future. I went with the 32 because my old machine hung around on 16 when I had a lot of things going on. If you push your machine at all now and plan to keep it for a few years, the extra RAM is worth the relatively small percentage of cost to double. The wrong way to look at it is “I’m not using more than 16 today.”

Hey @schalliol Do you know if 32 gb ram drain significantly more power than 16 gb ram when using a laptop unplugged ?

I am considering 32 gb ram as I use one software in Parallels that works best with lots of ram to use. I am actually thinking about installing my windows instance on bootcamp (if I buy a new 15” machine) as the VM is limited in both cores and ram used. I believe boot camp would enable me to use all the hyperthreading and ram available in the system.

Thanks for your reply or someone else’s
/Milk
[doublepost=1532249470][/doublepost]

Hey @schalliol Do you know if 32 gb ram drain significantly more power than 16 gb ram when using a laptop unplugged ?

I am considering 32 gb ram as I use one software in Parallels that works best with lots of ram to use. I am actually thinking about installing my windows instance on bootcamp (if I buy a new 15” machine) as the VM is limited in both cores and ram used. I believe boot camp would enable me to use all the hyperthreading and ram available in the system.

Thanks for your reply or someone else’s
/Milk

Added: The piece of software above mentioned is actually central in my work.

 

[agaskew]

If your use case is to run one VM for Excel, Word and so on then 16Gb would be plenty.

I have to run a server VM with software that has a minimum requirement of 16Gb. And have to be able to demo it at customer sites. Normally I'd fire this up on EC2 but some customer sites have zero internet connectivity. So am waiting on a new 32Gb machine (not a MacBook) to see how it fares.

 

[MilKat10]

If your use case is to run one VM for Excel, Word and so on then 16Gb would be plenty.

I have to run a server VM with software that has a minimum requirement of 16Gb. And have to be able to demo it at customer sites. Normally I'd fire this up on EC2 but some customer sites have zero internet connectivity. So am waiting on a new 32Gb machine (not a MacBook) to see how it fares.

Thanks @agaskew I am using a software for statistical backtesting that is stressing both CPU and RAM hence the question about 32 GB Ram. I have settled that the 2.2 Ghz 15” MBP will be enough for at least 5 years ahead and would rather upgrade the Ram if it proves necessary.

I can definitely survive with 16 gb ram (have use this config until now) but would rather give the software some overhead if it can chew through data faster with 32 gb ram.

How much would 32 gb ram impact battery drain compared to 16 gb ram ?

Thanks!
/Milk

 

[mr.anthonyramos]

Thanks @agaskew I am using a software for statistical backtesting that is stressing both CPU and RAM hence the question about 32 GB Ram. I have settled that the 2.2 Ghz 15” MBP will be enough for at least 5 years ahead and would rather upgrade the Ram if it proves necessary.

I can definitely survive with 16 gb ram (have use this config until now) but would rather give the software some overhead if it can chew through data faster with 32 gb ram.

How much would 32 gb ram impact battery drain compared to 16 gb ram ?

Thanks!
/Milk

To be honest might be quite negligible. Maybe depending on your usage you might get 10-15 more minutes most likely even less if you went with 16GB.

 

[MilKat10]

To be honest might be quite negligible. Maybe depending on your usage you might get 10-15 more minutes most likely even less if you went with 16GB.

Thanks @mr.anthonyramos I understand but time is money and if every round of backtest optimization ends up saving me 10 minutes that equates to many hours a month.

So how would 32 gb ram impact the battery drain compared to 16 gb ram do you think ?

I could weigh in this info. plus cost of ram upgrade to take a (better) decision.

Thanks!
/Milk

 

[agaskew]

Thanks @agaskew I am using a software for statistical backtesting that is stressing both CPU and RAM hence the question about 32 GB Ram. I have settled that the 2.2 Ghz 15” MBP will be enough for at least 5 years ahead and would rather upgrade the Ram if it proves necessary.

I can definitely survive with 16 gb ram (have use this config until now) but would rather give the software some overhead if it can chew through data faster with 32 gb ram.

How much would 32 gb ram impact battery drain compared to 16 gb ram ?

Thanks!
/Milk

No idea on battery impact, sorry. I've run with 16Gb for 6 years, hope you will be fine.

 

[schalliol]

Yeah, I don’t know about battery life, but I think that RAM is more efficient than SSD, so be swap space, I bet it would be no worse to have more RAM. Biggest impact there is just turning down the display