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Best place to buy 2GB for MBP in the UK and an observation...

R

R-41157

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 13, 2008
49
0
Under Your Bed . . .
After waiting 9 months for the new MBP's to come out I went ahead and bought the 2.5ghz model with 2GB! I love this machine, well worth the wait and absolutely beautiful! I am currently saving up for the new cinema display to use with it! Anyway...my only concern is that even though this is almost the top range spec model I find that when I am using Quark and Photoshop at the same time, with Safari open as well, the response time is quite often, quite slow! Not what I would expect from such a superior machine!

Can anyone pin point anything I could be doing wrong here?

Also, I am looking to purchase 2GB memory to up my MBP to 4GB...which I believe will make my mac a little faster? Definately ready to buy and install so I am wondering what the cheapest and most reliable source to buy is in the UK?

Thank you in advance!
 
I have just been onto crucial, downloaded the scanning tool and scanned my mac . . . it claims I alread have 4GB memory . . . which I can't see can be possible.

I bought my Mac from an apple shop with full student discount, but it was the £1799 price point I believe. So I thought I was getting 2.5ghz and 2GB memory.

How can I possibly had 4GB? And if I do, then why is the mac strangely slow sometimes?! Cheers again!
 
Okay, my bad! I just checked the website and it is obvious that I am an idiot and have always had 4GB ever since I bought the machine, that is a nice surprise!

How did I not know this?!

So, now I am concerned...as far as im concerned this machine is the second most powerful laptop availiable, after the 2.8 version of the machine . . . why could my pro be going slow?! Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Would it be worth buying the 4GB set up from Crucial? Will that boost performance at all?

Thanks again!
 
Click the :apple: in the top left hand corner and then click "About This Mac"

It will tell you how much memory you have.

EDIT: too slow. :eek:

R-41157 said:
Would it be worth buying the 4GB set up from Crucial? Will that boost performance at all?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

The memory you get from Crucial should be the same specification as the ones supplied by Apple, so don't waste your money.
 
Adding more memory will only boost your performance if you're already regularly exceeding usage of the amount you currently have. I personally see no problems using just 2GB and I believe that there are people here who advise others to get 4GB completely erroneously.

You can find out how much RAM you're currently using by going to Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor and right at the bottom you'll see something that says "Used: XX.XGB" - that's how much RAM you're using right now.
 
Id check prices off against ebuyer.com

I ordered some from crucial, but then found it £8 cheaper on ebuyer even with postage, its the postage that ups the price on ebuyer mind.

Crucial is very quick on post I must admit, so quick I couldnt cancel my order before it got sent out!
 
Crucial seem to have dropped their prices to around £79 for the 4GB kit... OrcaLogic on the other hand, are only £45.54 for a 4GB kit! Methinks I might make that RAM upgrade a little earlier than I was planning :)
 
Beware the Macbook and Macbook Pro's are only compatible with certains brands of RAM due to restrictions by Apple. I know Crucial works for sure but a lot of other companies RAM wont.
 
Very true, Crucial and Orcalogic certify their RAM works with the MB/MBP, you should be able to get an exchange/refund should any module fail to work.
 
spunklemonkey said:
Id check prices off against ebuyer.com

I ordered some from crucial, but then found it £8 cheaper on ebuyer even with postage, its the postage that ups the price on ebuyer mind.

Crucial is very quick on post I must admit, so quick I couldnt cancel my order before it got sent out!
Click to expand...

Crucial is not necessarily the cheapest source for memory, but they ship quality products and they allow you to order memory based on the computer that you have, so there is no risk that you are stuck when you order the wrong memory. It's just my opinion, but the price difference between Apple and Crucial is worth it, since you will get quality memory either way; the price difference between Crucial and the cheapest possible source may very well not be worth it.
 
neiltc13 said:
Adding more memory will only boost your performance if you're already regularly exceeding usage of the amount you currently have. I personally see no problems using just 2GB and I believe that there are people here who advise others to get 4GB completely erroneously.

You can find out how much RAM you're currently using by going to Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor and right at the bottom you'll see something that says "Used: XX.XGB" - that's how much RAM you're using right now.
Click to expand...

I'm also a bit frustrated by how quick people are to suggest RAM upgrades. I have tried to do everything possible to fill my MB's 2GB, and I haven't even come close to exceeding around 1300MBs. With photoshop cs4, illustrator cs4, reason 4, garageband, multiple firefox windows, entourage, open office, and world of warcraft, I still can't fill 2GBs.

I realize that intense video editing and processing applications are the most demanding RAM applications, but even so, am I missing something?

Do OS X have some sort of a page filing/virtual RAM a'la windows, that caps a percentage of the RAM? If I had 4GBs, would I be able to fill more?
 
Could quite tell from your post if you know that you need to buy 2 sticks x 2 GB sticks of RAM. Your current 2 GB are unfortunately 2 sticks x 1 gb. So, you remove the two 1 GB sticks and install 2, 2 GB sticks. Real problem when Apple sells their computers they should include upgradeable one stick with 2 GB so the original 2, 1GB sticks don't go to trash...

Anyways, maybe you totally get this, but you said you had 2 GB and wanted to buy 2 GB. Just wanted to make sure you know.

In my opinion, Apple should sell them all with 4 GB RAM. It's stupid to make people upgrade and waste original two sticks.

Good luck with your upgrade.
 
Wow, there's a lot of people who can't read at all. The OP already stated that he has 4GB of RAM, not 2GB as he originally thought, yet I've just read 10 posts since then offering advice on buying RAM (at least one of those very obviously oblivious to the said statement many posts prior).

To the OP: the best thing to check is what you have running simultaneously. Even if you're not filling the RAM capacity, another program could be hogging the bus or processor, or even drive access, which would slow down other things. Try running Activity Monitor while you're doing normal activities that have been feeling slow and see what's using your computer's resources. If it's something you don't need running (some background process that's not important, for instance), then quit it and see if the feeling improves.

I've also noticed that sometimes the computer feeling slow is just perceptual, and the computer hasn't slowed down at all, you're just trying to do more with it and it's not doing what you're trying to do as quickly as it did the simpler stuff. That's of course not always the case, but just offering the suggestion.

jW
 
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