So I am about to buy the 27' i7. I was wondering if I really need the 16gb opposed to 8gb. the difference is about 1000$. I don't do like video editing or anything. Also should i pay the extra for the 2X4gb's incase i won't to update to 16gb later? Thakns for the input.
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8 or 16gb?
- Thread starter oftheheavens
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I don't know if you will need the extra RAM but if you do, then DON'T buy it from apple...$1000 for RAM is ridiculous...you can upgrade it yourself for less than half the price of what they are charging + you get to choose the brand/company of your choice...
peace
peace
I said the same thing in another thread, but then i looked at newegg/macmall and they were all about the same price. cheapest i found was 900$ but it was total off brand.
8gb. In my humble opinion, if you are the type of person that needs 16gb, you probably ought to be shopping for a Mac Pro instead of an iMac.
16gb in an iMac is for people who want an iMac primarily for its size/looks and can afford to buy a fully loaded computer even if they don't need the specs.
16gb in an iMac is for people who want an iMac primarily for its size/looks and can afford to buy a fully loaded computer even if they don't need the specs.
4x 2gb for total of 8 is perfect imo, doubt one would need more than that for sometime given computer power in the quad cores within the upper imacs.
I just think 16gb is really going to be needed by serious professionals who will likely want the macpro for expandability at any rate
I just think 16gb is really going to be needed by serious professionals who will likely want the macpro for expandability at any rate
only understood the first sentence of this, but I am going to go ahead and go with 4X2gb. By the time I think I may need to upgrade to 16gb the 4gb sticks will be cheaper. Right now the cheapest I could find were around 900$ for 16gb. So I think 8gb RAM out of the box will be fine for a couple years. Well...going to order mine now.
When did people honestly start needing more than 4GB in an iMac anyway..
If you don't know why you need 8GB, don't buy it, you will not notice the difference.
The only people that need lots of memory are video/photo pro's/enthusiasts that work with very large files or IT sys/dev guys compiling code and running lots of VM's.
If you're browsing, emailing, playing with iPhoto/iMovie/iTunes, the odd bit of gaming, 4GB is more than generous for your needs.
If you don't know why you need 8GB, don't buy it, you will not notice the difference.
The only people that need lots of memory are video/photo pro's/enthusiasts that work with very large files or IT sys/dev guys compiling code and running lots of VM's.
If you're browsing, emailing, playing with iPhoto/iMovie/iTunes, the odd bit of gaming, 4GB is more than generous for your needs.
I think people are getting carried away a bit here with the "choice" being offered.
If you open up your activity monitor, glance at it once in a while and if your machine chokes a little, up your memory. Don't just buy 16 or 8GB for $1000!!! Just in case.
Heck take that money and throw it a Herman Miller Embody, or if you want to save some cash, a Steelcase Cobi.
Your back will appreciate it more than your patience at waiting for... Oh, no difference in your daily computing needs.
If you open up your activity monitor, glance at it once in a while and if your machine chokes a little, up your memory. Don't just buy 16 or 8GB for $1000!!! Just in case.
Heck take that money and throw it a Herman Miller Embody, or if you want to save some cash, a Steelcase Cobi.
Your back will appreciate it more than your patience at waiting for... Oh, no difference in your daily computing needs.
well i just ordered my 27' i7 and stuck with the 4gb that comes with it, and ordered 4 more from newegg. I have the old whitebook 2.2ghz and when i have all the things i am doing open, i start to get the beach ball. I dual monitor while using iweb, iphoto, itunes, usually playing a browser game and uploading pics to mobileme. I tend to do these things all at once and start to get hic-ups.
Your beach ball effect is most likely being caused by your onboard graphics struggling with the dual monitor setup, flash game etc.
Remember the on-board steals some memory too. You could also argue if you have a 5400rpm HD, that it's taking a beat to keep up with you.
4GB is plenty of memory for over 90% of users. The next logical upgrade, way before sticking 8GB of memory, is an SSD drive.
Still, enjoy your purchase, that will be a truly awesome machine, though don't be surprised to see the beach ball again. Those things always crop up.
Remember the on-board steals some memory too. You could also argue if you have a 5400rpm HD, that it's taking a beat to keep up with you.
4GB is plenty of memory for over 90% of users. The next logical upgrade, way before sticking 8GB of memory, is an SSD drive.
Still, enjoy your purchase, that will be a truly awesome machine, though don't be surprised to see the beach ball again. Those things always crop up.
Well here is my question...
Is either 8 or 16 the ONLY option if getting it from crucial or OWC or wherever? I just ask because could you not do 3 4GB stick for a total of 12?
Also, I read somewhere (and cannot find it now) something about the best way to get the most performance is by maxing out 3 of the four slots...something about the 4th slot being shared with something else...not sure what though.
I wish I could find where I read that article about using three slots for most performance. Granted I was researching a Mac Pro at the time, so it may not even apple to the iMac.
Also, for me at least, (and maybe some others too, hence the interest in this quad core version) I do lots of HD video editing and photo manipulation, so I too was wondering about 16 gigs. And sure I would LOVE to have a Mac Pro, but my work is prosumer at best, so I cannot justify the expense of a Mac Pro. Again why this new i7 quad is so so appealing to me.
This update really fills a need for me. Not 6K for the Pro, but substantial performance increase over current (well MY current) iMac.
Anyone know the deal on the RAM slots...as far as the three slot usage thing goes?
Regards,
G.
Is either 8 or 16 the ONLY option if getting it from crucial or OWC or wherever? I just ask because could you not do 3 4GB stick for a total of 12?
Also, I read somewhere (and cannot find it now) something about the best way to get the most performance is by maxing out 3 of the four slots...something about the 4th slot being shared with something else...not sure what though.
I wish I could find where I read that article about using three slots for most performance. Granted I was researching a Mac Pro at the time, so it may not even apple to the iMac.
Also, for me at least, (and maybe some others too, hence the interest in this quad core version) I do lots of HD video editing and photo manipulation, so I too was wondering about 16 gigs. And sure I would LOVE to have a Mac Pro, but my work is prosumer at best, so I cannot justify the expense of a Mac Pro. Again why this new i7 quad is so so appealing to me.
This update really fills a need for me. Not 6K for the Pro, but substantial performance increase over current (well MY current) iMac.
Anyone know the deal on the RAM slots...as far as the three slot usage thing goes?
Regards,
G.
thanks for the info. Do you think I will have issues dual screening with the new iMac?
16GB of RAM of course. I have 16GB on my mac pro and could still use more! I still get some page outs and sometime next year I'll be putting in 4x4GB more for a total of 32GB.
SL LOVES to eat RAM!
SL LOVES to eat RAM!
Hard to say. There's a thread with regards to the 4850 graphics card and gaming at native resolution and whether it will struggle.
What you have to grasp is, your graphics card is natively driving 2560x1440 pixels. If you bung another monitor on, at who knows what resolution, it will be asking a lot. And these are laptop graphics cards that typically drive a lot less pixels than on these iMacs. I think it will output everything just fine, and honestly you won't notice any problems.
Where you might run into issues is dealing with lots of windows in Expose across two screens. But really it's too soon to say, because I doubt these vid cards have ever had to drive these kinds of resolutions, let alone on multiple monitors. The early adopters will let us know the Rev A problems as they always do.
What you have to grasp is, your graphics card is natively driving 2560x1440 pixels. If you bung another monitor on, at who knows what resolution, it will be asking a lot. And these are laptop graphics cards that typically drive a lot less pixels than on these iMacs. I think it will output everything just fine, and honestly you won't notice any problems.
Where you might run into issues is dealing with lots of windows in Expose across two screens. But really it's too soon to say, because I doubt these vid cards have ever had to drive these kinds of resolutions, let alone on multiple monitors. The early adopters will let us know the Rev A problems as they always do.
The 4850 should do even two 2560x1440 displays just fine. I don't know how it compares to desktop components but even my 8800GT ran a 2560x1600 and 1920x1080 display at the same time without a hitch on my PC/Hackintosh. Likewise my MBP with 9400M runs a 2560x1600 display just fine. Of course for gaming the high resolution will pose some limits, depending on the game but for desktop use the 4850 won't even break a sweat even with two high res displays.
8 GB of RAM is totally useless unless you actually do tasks that truly require it. Video editing, scientific calculations, 3D modeling and rendering are some tasks where it might be useful. If you just watch movies or play games and do everyday stuff then 8 GB won't help at all and 4 GB will be plenty.
I think a lot of people have no idea how powerful their machines are and think they need a quad core behemoth.
The latest Mac Pros use 3 channel RAM such that you maximize your performance by installing DIMMs in sets of 3. However, that is a very unusual architecture, and not true of the new iMacs or much of any other computer.