8gb ram or 16gb for my CIS courses

[TheMime]

I recently got used Mid 2012 13’ Non-Retina MacBook Pro in pristine condition. I have already upgraded the stock HDD to a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD but I am hesitant to upgrade the RAM without some advice from those who have used the same programs I will be using.

My debate is between getting 8GB or 16GB for Adobe CS6 and other programs that will be included in my CIS degree (just starting off). Obviously 16GB would be better but it is also about double the cost. Will 8GB be enough or should I just bite the bullet and spend the cash?

I know I could scour the forums and maybe find an answer related but I’d rather have the question answered first hand from those who have been in the same position as me.

OS X Yosemite Beta
MacBook Pro (Non-Retina 13-inch, Mid 2012)
2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD

 

[happyfrappy]

I have 16GB in my MBP but I bought the RAM before the price tripled, provides plenty of headroom for heavier tasks or checking work in a virtualized WinXP/7 browser.

In my opinion you can easily get by with 8GB, however if you're still in doubt just buy a single 8GB stick and leave one of the original 2GB sticks in the slot, if you need more drop another 8GB stick in. Memory interleaving doesn't matter much on notebooks vs desktop so the performance hit is minimal.

 

[AppleDApp]

either buy 8gb and upgrade to 16gb later when you need it and its cheaper or fork the money up front for 16gb and avoid over spending.

 

[ixxx69]

My debate is between getting 8GB or 16GB for Adobe CS6 and other programs that will be included in my CIS degree (just starting off). Obviously 16GB would be better but it is also about double the cost. Will 8GB be enough or should I just bite the bullet and spend the cash?

I think it comes down to how big a deal the extra cash is and how long before your next upgrade.

You certainly do not need 16GB right now... everything you're going to be doing will work fine with 8GB... 16GB would be a luxury.

However, 16GB is nice to have even now, gives you more breathing room when having a lot of apps open, and will be really nice to have a couple years from now.

Good luck!

 

[Weaselboy]

I recently got used Mid 2012 13’ Non-Retina MacBook Pro in pristine condition. I have already upgraded the stock HDD to a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD but I am hesitant to upgrade the RAM without some advice from those who have used the same programs I will be using.

My debate is between getting 8GB or 16GB for Adobe CS6 and other programs that will be included in my CIS degree (just starting off). Obviously 16GB would be better but it is also about double the cost. Will 8GB be enough or should I just bite the bullet and spend the cash?

I know I could scour the forums and maybe find an answer related but I’d rather have the question answered first hand from those who have been in the same position as me.

OS X Yosemite Beta
MacBook Pro (Non-Retina 13-inch, Mid 2012)
2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD

I doubt 16GB would do much for you. Read this test. I would just use it for a bit and keep an eye on the memory tab in Activity Monitor. If the memory pressure stays in the green, you don't need more memory.

 

[ixxx69]

Memory interleaving doesn't matter much on notebooks vs desktop so the performance hit is minimal.

You may be thinking of multi-channel, which matters just as much on a notebook as a desktop. I do agree the real-world performance impact is debatable.

You can always try it, but sometimes if the modules aren't matched well, that can lead to problems. I would encourage sticking with matching modules.

 

[ixxx69]

I doubt 16GB would do much for you. Read this test. I would just use it for a bit and keep an eye on the memory tab in Activity Monitor. If the memory pressure stays in the green, you don't need more memory.

I don't think that MacWorld article is very useful in this case. It just shows that simply adding a lot of RAM doesn't do much for common tasks. It's when you add up all the tasks together that a lot of RAM becomes useful. It may not be uncommon in the OP's future studies to have Xcode or Windows VM w/ .net, Photoshop, MS Office, email, messages, iTunes, Safari, Evernote, etc. all running at the same time.

 

[Giev]

I have 16GB in my MBP but I bought the RAM before the price tripled, provides plenty of headroom for heavier tasks or checking work in a virtualized WinXP/7 browser.

In my opinion you can easily get by with 8GB, however if you're still in doubt just buy a single 8GB stick and leave one of the original 2GB sticks in the slot, if you need more drop another 8GB stick in. Memory interleaving doesn't matter much on notebooks vs desktop so the performance hit is minimal.

No disrespect, but this is totally wrong. Using different RAM sticks is a very high risk gamble.

Non-matches modules can lead to serious issues (kernel panics, app crashes, loss of data, corrupt files, etc.) that normal users won't be able to diagnose.

If you want to use VMs, just get 2x8GB RAM modules. You DO need 16 GB of RAM if you run VMs on a regular basis.

Just to give you some perspective, assuming that the incompatible RAMs 2+8 or w/e would waste a day of your time, is the price difference really worth it?

 

[happyfrappy]

No disrespect, but this is totally wrong. Using different RAM sticks is a very high risk gamble.

Non-matches modules can lead to serious issues (kernel panics, app crashes, loss of data, corrupt files, etc.) that normal users won't be able to diagnose.

If you want to use VMs, just get 2x8GB RAM modules. You DO need 16 GB of RAM if you run VMs on a regular basis.

Just to give you some perspective, assuming that the incompatible RAMs 2+8 or w/e would waste a day of your time, is the price difference really worth it?

Are you a certified Apple tech or Geek Squad IT? What certifications and what company QA do you work for when an industry does it often?

Plenty of OEMs use different size RAM of different makers or one a slightly higher speed during builds due to the nature of changing suppliers, a CTO Dell at the office had Hynix+Crucial DDR3 sticks... never had crashes. I've had two Thinkpads with a Crucial & Samsung stick from the factory twice. My dads' HP notebook came out of the retail box with a Samsung 4GB stick & 2GB Hynix stick, both have similar speeds and voltages without any voodoo FUD you're spilling. You're making it into a big deal when it happens on both desktops and notebooks.

I've used mixed sizes on my mums' HP notebook & Mac mini, as long as the RAM speed/power type is similar you're safe. Depending upon the OP's build date late 2012 models with pre-installed Mountain Lion 10.8.2 used non-low power SODIMMs like a Mac mini.

Intel Mac era of Apple isn't as fragile or sensitive compared to the PowerPC era when mixing RAM makers was Russian roulette.

 

[Giev]

Are you a certified Apple tech or Geek Squad IT? What certifications and what company QA do you work for when an industry does it often?

In fact I am way over qualified to be working as Geek squad IT etc. It's not relevant but if it helps I have a dozen of certs including CCIEx2, CISSP, RHCE, MCSE, CEH , and a bunch of other certificates.

I've used mixed sizes on my mums' HP notebook & Mac mini, as long as the RAM speed/power type is similar you're safe. Depending upon the OP's build date late 2012 models with pre-installed Mountain Lion 10.8.2 used non-low power SODIMMs like a Mac mini.

If it worked for you , good. It still doesnt mean its good advice, it might not be the case for others.

Intel Mac era of Apple isn't as fragile or sensitive compared to the PowerPC era when mixing RAM makers was Russian roulette.

It still is, but its not an exact science and that's why I said its a "gamble". Problem is this kind of hardware issues are hard to diagnose for someone who doesnt have spare parts available.

You need to think about what you cost are saving (8GB of RAM) vs the potential for this issue and the loss of time, productivity, data, etc. For me it's not worth it, if it works for you then knock yourself out.

 

[happyfrappy]

I'm not supporting the cost savings, if the OP can't afford/justify it that option is on the table. Always used Crucial/Corsair Vengence series on my Macs, stability is still down to the maker/RAM supplier who backs the product.

In fact I am way over qualified to be working as Geek squad IT etc. It's not relevant but if it helps I have a dozen of certs including CCIEx2, CISSP, RHCE, MCSE, CEH , and a bunch of other certificates.

Then why aren't you chewing out MacSales(aka OWC) for selling mismatched RAM for 2007 iMac/2007-2008 MacBook Pros which could only use 6GB of RAM instead of 8 GB due to firmware?

If the spec of RAM is proper speed/voltage/etc you won't have issues. Heck even "Apple Certified RAM" is a crapshot with shorter warranty(1yr vs lifetime), my parents had two sets of Kingston iMac RAM fail Memtest... bad spec memory will typically fail testing after >24 hours of burn-in.

 

[Meister]

Look here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1756865/

 

[pragmatous]

I say save your money and use it for beer.

I recently got used Mid 2012 13’ Non-Retina MacBook Pro in pristine condition. I have already upgraded the stock HDD to a Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD but I am hesitant to upgrade the RAM without some advice from those who have used the same programs I will be using.

My debate is between getting 8GB or 16GB for Adobe CS6 and other programs that will be included in my CIS degree (just starting off). Obviously 16GB would be better but it is also about double the cost. Will 8GB be enough or should I just bite the bullet and spend the cash?

I know I could scour the forums and maybe find an answer related but I’d rather have the question answered first hand from those who have been in the same position as me.

OS X Yosemite Beta
MacBook Pro (Non-Retina 13-inch, Mid 2012)
2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD