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2gb vs. 4gb in SR Macbook Pro...does Leopard purr?

Veritas&Equitas

Veritas&Equitas

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 31, 2005
1,528
1
Twin Cities, MN
Well, I got one of the new SR Macbook Pro's last month. My normal tasks are surfing, iTunes, some gaming, Photoshop, some FCP thrown in every once and awhile.

With memory prices the way they are, do you think that it would make a noticeable difference? Has anyone upgraded their MBP from 2gb to 4gb, and if so, any insight? Thanks!
 
I did it,
and don't regret a thing.:)

the only gripe I have is 32bit os's, e.g Microsoft Windows XP/Vista will only see 3 GB's.:( (in vista it actually adds the extra GB to video ram!!! thats right dxdiag reports 1512mb of video ram! )

but Tiger and Leopard are able to see all 4 GB's just fine.
it does add some zip to your mac without being that costly.

As for how it makes Leopard run better? I dont know because I havent install it yet... but I can say it made a night and day difference with Tiger :D

I am about to put on leopard on my MBP and I will let you know how it goes.
 
Thanks guys, I just don't know if what I use my MBP for would see a big difference with 4gb...oh choices, choices, choices.

I'm sure it'll be snappier, I'm just not sure if it will be really noticeable, or noticeable enough to make a difference?
 
I'm in the same boat. Its £115 here in the UK for two 2GB sticks which is a lot so I need to be sure its worthwhile.

Question for Liquidspikes, does the RAM Vista uses benefit the games substantially?
Thanks
 
depends

The only way to know for sure is to see how much ram you use at present. A good app to use to view your actual ram use at any given moment is Menu Meter's. If you're topping out of physical ram, then you can use more ram.

I went from 2 to 4 gigs and the only time I notice a significant difference is either in ram intensive apps like Photoshop (4gigs is awesome! vs 2) or if you're running Windows virtualized and running a ton of apps.

Ram isn't magic, the performance gain is in NOT running out of physical ram or in ram intensive apps that eat as much ram as you can feed them, like PS.
 
I'm with these guys. I put 4 gigs in and its a night and day difference for me. Photoshop runs faster than ever (I'm running CS3) and even normal everyday tasks just seem to zip by quicker.

Get the 4GB....you won't regret it.
 
Hi guys. I am a 3 month old owner of a 15" MBP. It is my first Mac so i am totally new to all this. I have 2GB and have been wanting to uprade to 4GB. I saw on apples website that it costs 1,000$ to upgrade. OUCH! But now that i discovered this forum board i am kind of learning that there is memory way cheaper out there. So i guess my question is do i have to use the memory sold at Apple? Or can i go with something like this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146701

Please help me out. Thanks alot in Advance!!!!
 
dogtanian said:
I'm in the same boat. Its £115 here in the UK for two 2GB sticks which is a lot so I need to be sure its worthwhile.

Question for Liquidspikes, does the RAM Vista uses benefit the games substantially?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Check out the Thread in my sig...

Hope this helps!
 
tfarol said:
Hi guys. I am a 3 month old owner of a 15" MBP. It is my first Mac so i am totally new to all this. I have 2GB and have been wanting to uprade to 4GB. I saw on apples website that it costs 1,000$ to upgrade. OUCH! But now that i discovered this forum board i am kind of learning that there is memory way cheaper out there. So i guess my question is do i have to use the memory sold at Apple? Or can i go with something like this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146701

Please help me out. Thanks alot in Advance!!!!
Click to expand...

Macs are a lot more forgiving of 3rd party RAM than they used to be.

If you ensure it's of the same type your Mac uses, you'll be fine.

Even if I'm not buying from them, I use the Crucial memory wizard thing, because it comes up with exactly what you need. If you're using a C2D Mac, you won't be able to move to 4Gb, but you can do 3Gb (as 1x 1Gb, and 1x 2Gb sticks).

As a rule, the Macs made in the last 12 months take DDR2 PC2-5300 DIMMs, so that NewEgg memory you've seen will be fine, along with stuff from Crucial, Kingston, and Samsung, to name but a few.

If you're still not sure, call the retailer - they'll set you right. NewEgg is regularly recommended around here (I'm not in the US so haven't used them), as is Crucial, and OWC - which guarantees the RAM will work.
 
I have a 15" 2.2GHZ core 2 duo. SO you're saying i can only use 3GB? I thought memory had to be installed in pairs? Well im coming form PC so i have alot to learn about Macs..

bigandy said:
Macs are a lot more forgiving of 3rd party RAM than they used to be.

If you ensure it's of the same type your Mac uses, you'll be fine.

Even if I'm not buying from them, I use the Crucial memory wizard thing, because it comes up with exactly what you need. If you're using a C2D Mac, you won't be able to move to 4Gb, but you can do 3Gb (as 1x 1Gb, and 1x 2Gb sticks).

As a rule, the Macs made in the last 12 months take DDR2 PC2-5300 DIMMs, so that NewEgg memory you've seen will be fine, along with stuff from Crucial, Kingston, and Samsung, to name but a few.

If you're still not sure, call the retailer - they'll set you right. NewEgg is regularly recommended around here (I'm not in the US so haven't used them), as is Crucial, and OWC - which guarantees the RAM will work.
Click to expand...
 
tfarol said:
I have a 15" 2.2GHZ core 2 duo. SO you're saying i can only use 3GB? I thought memory had to be installed in pairs? Well im coming form PC so i have alot to learn about Macs..
Click to expand...
No, yours is the Santa Rosa model, so it will recognize 4GB. Older models built on the previous platform could only recognize 3.3GB in the OS, although you could have 4GB installed.
 
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