You misunderstand how memory is used. OS X is always going to use nearly all of it's RAM. If you purchased 16GB it would use that too, because unused RAM is wasted RAM.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
8 or 16GB RAM?
- Thread starter matj
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You misunderstand how memory is used. OS X is always going to use nearly all of it's RAM. If you purchased 16GB it would use that too, because unused RAM is wasted RAM.
I personally went with 8gb of ram. Hell, I was fine with 4gb on RAM running a single VM on a macbook air. By the time I would actually need/want 16gb of RAM, a new computer would be in line.
----------
You just hit the nail on the head. OSX will utilize all of the RAM you actually have; however, most users will never need more than 8gb in the next several years.
----------
You just hit the nail on the head. OSX will utilize all of the RAM you actually have; however, most users will never need more than 8gb in the next several years.
Hi guys,
So I got the 16GB upgrade, apple really are taking the mickey with pricing (the difference between a 8GB and 16Gb kit of laptop ddr3 is about £42 here) so they're quadrupling their cost.
I looked at it this way, I want to keep this laptop for 5 years so if this upgrade extends the life of my mbp by just a year then it has paid for itself and it means I shouldn't run out of ram even if my workload changes or I feel like running a few more VM's.
I really appreciate your advice though and if the shipping date slips significantly on the custom build I would be far less hesitant to just cancel and go and pick up a 8GB model.
So I got the 16GB upgrade, apple really are taking the mickey with pricing (the difference between a 8GB and 16Gb kit of laptop ddr3 is about £42 here) so they're quadrupling their cost.
I looked at it this way, I want to keep this laptop for 5 years so if this upgrade extends the life of my mbp by just a year then it has paid for itself and it means I shouldn't run out of ram even if my workload changes or I feel like running a few more VM's.
I really appreciate your advice though and if the shipping date slips significantly on the custom build I would be far less hesitant to just cancel and go and pick up a 8GB model.