I'm currently using a stock 13inch early 2011 macbook pro with 4gb ram. I'm usually running aperture, photoshop, itunes, and a couple of web browsers all at once and am starting to dabble with final cut. I just ordered a 16gb ram kit a few days ago. I know there is a debate between 8-16gb but I figured for the price (it was a komputerbay kit for $130) I figured why not. Every new version of photoshop/aperture and osx just increases bloat so why not. What I am wondering is in terms of real world usage, not just fast boot and application launch times, would an upgrade to a SSD be worth it? I've heard that by having massive amounts of ram it decreases the need for a fast hard drive since you aren't paging out as much. Especially anybody who has any experience with Aperture. My plans are for this computer to last me at least another 4 years. Also, I do a lot of work with a 24inch display hooked up with stretched desktops if that makes a difference. I know the Intel graphics suck, but I don't play games so didn't see the need to spring for the 15 or 17inch, especially since I usually do my editing with an attached monitor.
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