4GB or 6GB?

[drummer22]

I have a MBP Rev. E (purchased new August 2008). I am getting in to virtualization and running some pretty heavy programs and want to upgrade the RAM since it is so cheap to do. Question is, should I upgrade to 4GB or 6GB?

Seems like it makes since money wise to just go with 6GB. Would this void my Applecare since Apple only supports up to 4GB? Would I have any problems with 6GB of RAM?

Also if I did choose 6GB, would I just buy one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231202
and then that would install alongside my "stock" current 2GB (ie. I would have the stock 2GB and the new 4GB running alongside each other)?

Thanks

 

[bigmack209]

you might want to further specify what you're doing. I have 2 GB RAM, and i can run firefox with about 50 addons (really), antivirus, transmission, itunes, mail, adium, photoshop cs4, and all that other minor stuff like istat menus, and still only use about 70-80% RAM. i don't do that very often at all, but when i do everything runs fine. when i'm not doing anything RAM is at about 25-30%. My point is, if you buy the 6 GB, and run it along with your built in 2 GB, you're going to have 4x what i have. you PROBABLY don't need that much.

as for your warranty, it's not illegal, so just call 1-800-my-apple and ask them if it voids the warranty. Also think about the idea that running both at the same time would add up to > 4 GB RAM even if you use the 4 GB+2 GB. i don't know if they can actually run along with each other.

 

[drummer22]

Im running an engineering program called Solidworks. And Vmware is a pretty intense program as it is.

My main question is... for the install: I would leave the current 2 GB in the comp and add the 4GB?

 

[John Doe 57]

Im running an engineering program called Solidworks. And Vmware is a pretty intense program as it is.

My main question is... for the install: I would leave the current 2 GB in the comp and add the 4GB?

I use SolidWorks with Parallels Desktop. I give it 2GB of RAM and it runs alright. More RAM would be good. I may not use SW to the extent that you do, but for me 2GB is alright. (I'm splitting 4GB to do this.) I have not tried any animations yet in SW. You'll need a good amount of RAM for that, I think. The bigger the project, the more RAM you'll need.

And I also play the drums.

If you do buy RAM, get it from here:
http://www.crucial.com/mac/index.aspx