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16RAM w/ 128SSD or 8RAM w/ 256SSD

Venderious

Venderious

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 15, 2014
199
155
Groningen
Soon planning on ordering a macbook pro 13' Retina.

Just wondering what I should get..
Through my school I can get 10% off.

I could get these configurations:

16 GB RAM with 128 GB SSD (1404 euros.)
8 GB RAM with 256 GB SSD (1404 euros.)

I'm not sure why I would need 16 GB RAM, but I want this laptop to last me atleast 5 years.
I don't know how cramped it will get me, but I tend to use it for photoshop, producing, DJing and schoolwork... What do you think?
 
Venderious said:
Soon planning on ordering a macbook pro 13' Retina.

Just wondering what I should get..
Through my school I can get 10% off.

I could get these configurations:

16 GB RAM with 128 GB SSD (1404 euros.)
8 GB RAM with 256 GB SSD (1404 euros.)

I'm not sure why I would need 16 GB RAM, but I want this laptop to last me atleast 5 years.
I don't know how cramped it will get me, but I tend to use it for photoshop, producing, DJing and schoolwork... What do you think?
Click to expand...

Personally, I'd go for more RAM, as you can sort of upgrade storage later. Especially if you want it to last 5 years.
 
NutsNGum said:
Personally, I'd go for more RAM, as you can sort of upgrade storage later. Especially if you want it to last 5 years.
Click to expand...

I'm quite unsure of how much storage will be left after the OS will be installed on it, I think 16GB is overpowered with 128. 256 and 8 probably is the sweetspot, but I don't want to go wrong with this large amount of money...
 
Venderious said:
I'm quite unsure of how much storage will be left after the OS will be installed on it, I think 16GB is overpowered with 128. 256 and 8 probably is the sweetspot, but I don't want to go wrong with this large amount of money...
Click to expand...

Why not just wait until you can afford the 16 and 256?
 
In my opinion the 8gb / 256gb combo will make you happier in the long run.
I have that configuration and it handles everything I throw at it with ease.
I only have 50gb storage free and I hate cleaning up :p
Couldn't live with only 128gb myself.
Unless your usage changes you will be fine for 5+ years.
 
I would go with 16GB RAM.

The cloud and external drives should be easy alternatives when you run out of disk space. But there is nothing for RAM.
 
i have 8gb RAM with 512gb SSD... I have two 22" monitors attached, usually streaming a movies or playing a moving from my drive, usb 3.0 connected driving, wireless keyboard and mouse, Xcode always open along with simulator, memory hogging Chrome open, 2-3 Safari browsers with an average of 13+ tabs open, Mail, multiple finder windows, Bracket coding app, Transmit FTP app connected to multiple web servers, occasionally running Parallel with windows 8.1 for testing, Screen sharing, connection to network drives on other computers, etc...

Zero slow down... Apple's OS knows how to handle memory really well. you'll be fine with 8gb unless you're doing movies and i've process movie edits in iMovie and they were quick. If 8gb wasn't enough than more people would be complaining to Apple that 16 and 32gb is needed. I have yet to find anyone complaining about 8gb. Of course 16gb would be sweet but you'll need the SSD space more than you'll every need the extra ram
 
8/256 for me

Obviously it is a compromise. With memory compression and fast SSDs, running out of memory is much less severe than it used to be, and 8 GB will go a long way. On the other hand 128 GB (about 120 after formatting, and you want to leave 10% to 20% free for temp files) of storage fill up rather quick, and you might not always want to carry around external storage.
 
I think it really depends on your usage. Do you tend to open lots of tabs in browser and app? Do you have lots of media (photos, music)? I would always recommend music to be in the HDD rather than external hard drive because iTunes is a pain in the butt if it’s not in the internal HDD. If your music library and OS can fit into 128gb then I would say get a 16 gb ram and 128 HDD. If not then I would say 8gb ram and 258 HDD.

I would prefer 16gb ram and 128 HDD because you can always upgrade the storage but NOT ram. Given that you plan to use this Mac for 5+ years, 8gb of RAM is more than enough for me now and you can always save money in these years to upgrade HDD.

I have a 13’’ early classic MBP with 128 HDD with 8gb RAM. Never ran out of RAM now but not sure in 5 years. Newer application and OSX tend to increase RAM usage. I store my OS and music (10gb) in the 128 HDD while pictures/movies are stored in my 1tb HDD that’s in the optical bay.
 
I vote for the 8gig/256gig SSD. 128 is just not enough space, and OSX does a real decent job with memory management. The only reason I have 16 gigs is for VMs, but those also require lots of storage, so I have 512 gigs of storage. If I wasn't running VMs, I would be totally happy with 8/256.
 
I know this forum has a love affair with RAM, but RAM isn't always the answer.

Also, for all intent and purposes, the SSD is just as unupgradeable. All SSDs on eBay are pulled from other Macs, and are so expensive they are 30-50% the cost of a new machine. 3rd Part PCIe SSDs have yet to be seen.

If your work/needs require more storage, and you are unsure if you actually need 16GB, then you probably don't need 16GB and would see an immediate benefit from more storage. All you are going to do is suffer with a small SSD with a bunch of unused RAM.
 
Last edited:
I recommend the 8RAM and 256SSD.

I just bought a rmbp with that setup and if I had a regret is that I didn't opt for more storage. Because after I transferred all my files from my windows machine, I'm using a little over 100gigs.

so like everyone else has said, you will need more storage before you need more ram.

also I'm using an app called memory clean and it cleans out my cache/memory. It keeps my machine running optimally.
 
8/256

Unkless you use a lot of VM's or do a lot of 4K video editing 8GB is enough for almost everyone. If you needed 16gb of RAM you would know about it I'm sure.
 
I'd opt for the 8/256 option. I think the 16GB is overkill for most needs. Based on what the OP wrote, more storage may be better them more ram.

For most uses that 16GB will be largely unused and/or wasted where is using PS, you could be running short on space.
 
Another vote for 8gb/256gb setup. Had this for a year and zero regrets, never close to having slowdown, no matter how many tabs/programs I run.

Also worth noting that the read/write speeds are faster on the 256gb SSD than the 128gb SSD, so you are gaining performance as well as storage.

In my mind, if you really need 16gb ram, then you will probably need to be upgrading your laptop before 5 years anyway as you will be a power user and need the performance boost in 2-3 years. I also think 128gb is just too small, 256gb is about right for me, and I don't even store tons of music etc like most people.
 
+1 8/256.

Unless you currently use very little disk space and don't mind carrying a USB stick or two for extra storage ;)
 
Thanks for all the advice. I'll definetly go for the 8/256!

Does anyone know when the macbooks will be updated in 2015?
 
Great decision. 8/256 is your best bet.

I'm not so sure about when they will be updated, but the last update was last summer, so I guess new MacBook Pro's retina will not be introduced before WWDC 2015, June. So probably they will start shipping end of June/start of July...
 
When broadwell is available

Venderious said:
Thanks for all the advice. I'll definetly go for the 8/256!

Does anyone know when the macbooks will be updated in 2015?
Click to expand...

as soon as they can get broadwell processors in them I assume that is what we are waiting for intels delayed new silicon....
 
Venderious said:
Soon planning on ordering a macbook pro 13' Retina.

Just wondering what I should get..
Through my school I can get 10% off.

I could get these configurations:

16 GB RAM with 128 GB SSD (1404 euros.)
8 GB RAM with 256 GB SSD (1404 euros.)

I'm not sure why I would need 16 GB RAM, but I want this laptop to last me atleast 5 years.
I don't know how cramped it will get me, but I tend to use it for photoshop, producing, DJing and schoolwork... What do you think?
Click to expand...

although most recommend 8/256 as your ideal setup. i personally would go 16/128, just because of one reason - you cannot upgrade the RAM later - but you can always upgrade or add additional storage space (cloud, external ssd etc). yes, 8GB is way enough RAM for macs but I always want to have that insurance.
 
8/256 is better imo...128 is so small, phones have that much space these days.....unless you have a high speed external option. While it may be possible to upgrade storage later through 3rd parties such as OWC, these options are still not available and have not been for a long time, so who knows when they will be released. If you don't know what you need 16 gigs of ram for, than you probably don't need it...8gigs will be plenty for years to come. =D
 
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