Buying a 13" MacBook Pro

[mattyb_au]

Hi everyone,

I have just commenced studying nursing as a mature age student (I'm 34 years old) and wanted to buy a new laptop as a lot of my course content is accessed online.

I am looking at purchasing the 2.7GHz 13' MacBook Pro with 256GB SSD. I'm just not sure if I should upgrade the RAM to 16 GB or not as this will be my first Apple computer and I do not know how well OSX runs with 8GB of RAM.

It will be used primarily for word processing, printing out power point slides etc. however photography is one of my hobbies and I do take photos in RAW format and use photoshop. I do travel overseas and like to edit my photos while I'm on the go.

Will 8GB suffice or should I upgrade it to 16GB? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

 

[tampageek]

Hi everyone,

I have just studying nursing as a mature age student (I'm 34 years old) and wanted to buy a new laptop as a lot of my course content is accessed online.

I am looking at purchasing the 2.7GHz 13' MacBook Pro with 256GB SSD. I'm just not sure if I should upgrade the RAM to 16 GB or not as this will be my first Apple computer and I do not know how well OSX runs with 8GB of RAM.

It will be used primarily for word processing, printing out power point slides etc. however photography is one of my hobbies and I do take photos in RAW format and use photoshop. I do travel overseas and like to edit my photos while I'm on the go.

Will 8GB suffice or should I upgrade it to 16GB? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

Yosemite will run fine on 8GB of ram but since it is not possible to upgrade later (because the ram is soldered) if you can afford 16GB, go for it. You can never have too much ram.

 

[T5BRICK]

Will 8GB suffice or should I upgrade it to 16GB? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

8GB will actually work just fine for you. No need to upgrade.

 

[Airboy1466]

Hi everyone,

I have just commenced studying nursing as a mature age student (I'm 34 years old) and wanted to buy a new laptop as a lot of my course content is accessed online.

I am looking at purchasing the 2.7GHz 13' MacBook Pro with 256GB SSD. I'm just not sure if I should upgrade the RAM to 16 GB or not as this will be my first Apple computer and I do not know how well OSX runs with 8GB of RAM.

It will be used primarily for word processing, printing out power point slides etc. however photography is one of my hobbies and I do take photos in RAW format and use photoshop. I do travel overseas and like to edit my photos while I'm on the go.

Will 8GB suffice or should I upgrade it to 16GB? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

if your classes are mostly online I wouldn't suggest getting a mac as I'm a college student and i have a few classes that are online and Eco lab just to name one isn't very mac friendly I would suggest getting a PC unless you plan to duel boot just my opinion don't want you to hate macs at the end of it all

 

[ThisOldMacHead]

if your classes are mostly online I wouldn't suggest getting a mac as I'm a college student and i have a few classes that are online and Eco lab just to name one isn't very mac friendly I would suggest getting a PC unless you plan to duel boot just my opinion don't want you to hate macs at the end of it all

Or just fire up IE in Crossover/run a virtual machine. Granted... I can't say I'm familiar with that kind of web service. There wasn't even such a thing when I was in college!

 

[nStyle]

if your classes are mostly online I wouldn't suggest getting a mac as I'm a college student and i have a few classes that are online and Eco lab just to name one isn't very mac friendly I would suggest getting a PC unless you plan to duel boot just my opinion don't want you to hate macs at the end of it all

If it's web based why would the OS matter? I never had an issue during my online schooling.

Stick with 8GB unless you actually know you need 16GB (doesn't sound like it).

 

[Mr.C]

Don't get 16GB as for your use it would be a waste of money. It's better to put that money towards the next model up that has a larger SSD if anything as extra storage is likely to be of more use. Otherwise stick to the 2.7Ghz/256GB/8GB model.

 

[throAU]

8 GB is fine.

Unless you know you're going to be doing very memory intensive stuff, 16 GB is overkill for "regular" use.

If you are going to be doing such stuff, you're better off with a 15" machine or a desktop anyway (quad core).

 

[z31fanatic]

8GB is the sweet spot these days in my opinion and since photography is a hobby for you and not your source of income, I don't see the point of spending the extra $200 to bump it to 16GB.

But if money is not an issue, go for it. More RAM never hurt anything.

 

[joeblow7777]

It will be used primarily for word processing, printing out power point slides etc. however photography is one of my hobbies and I do take photos in RAW format and use photoshop. I do travel overseas and like to edit my photos while I'm on the go.

Will 8GB suffice or should I upgrade it to 16GB? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

In all honesty, 4GB of RAM could handle such usage. I'd recommend 8 GB, as 16 GB is overkill. People talk about "future proofing", but one of the ways that OSs are improving is by becoming more efficient with RAM. Yosemite and even Windows 10 can actually run on 2 GB systems.

 

[oldmacs]

I'll get shot for this, but go for 16GB of ram. We can't predict what is going to happen with RAM usage in the future. As people say Apple for example has introduced better ram management, while this is true, Ram usage is likely to go up, but as I said we can't really predict what will happen, so it can't hurt to go with 16GBs of ram, but it can hurt if you don't. Its also good for your resale value. 8GB is good for now, but in a couple of years, it might be too small.

 

[interfreak]

If you intend to keep the MBP for years (say, 5 or more) than I'd recommend getting 16GB. Will probably help with resale value as well, but not as much as you'd think.

If you intend to upgrade within that time, I'd save your money and stick with 8GB.

 

[nStyle]

I'll get shot for this, but go for 16GB of ram. We can't predict what is going to happen with RAM usage in the future. As people say Apple for example has introduced better ram management, while this is true, Ram usage is likely to go up, but as I said we can't really predict what will happen, so it can't hurt to go with 16GBs of ram, but it can hurt if you don't. Its also good for your resale value. 8GB is good for now, but in a couple of years, it might be too small.

To that extent, we can't predict how long OP will keep his machine either. But yeah, too much is better than not enough.

 

[oldmacs]

To that extent, we can't predict how long OP will keep his machine either. But yeah, too much is better than not enough.

That is true - I guess you do get a higher resale value as well, but I guess the extent of that and whether it's worth paying the extra to begin with is a bit of a hazy area. If it were myself I would do it as I keep my machines as long as I possibly can, but this may not be the intention of the op.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

You are all crazy 8GB of RAM is 4x the amount needed for the OP's stated usage a 2GB 2010 macbook air would whizz through that workload.

 

[oldmacs]

You are all crazy 8GB of RAM is 4x the amount needed for the OP's stated usage a 2GB 2010 macbook air would whizz through that workload.

How long is it since you used a Mac with 2GB of ram? My spare 2008 Macbook with an SSD and 2GB of ram is a disaster for anything.

16GB means better preparation for the future.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I used one last week it was fine. If you don't insist on having 15 apps open and 30 tabs in safari, as it seems people are completely incapable of closing anything these days and you keep one or 2 things open at a time (which will be fine for the OP's stated use case) then 2GB runs great. It's not the apps or OSX that is requiring masses of ram these days it is peoples lazy computing habits and unrealistic expectations.

 

[maflynn]

however photography is one of my hobbies and I do take photos in RAW format and use photoshop

a 2GB 2010 macbook air would whizz through that workload.

I don't know about that. Photoshop can be a demanding app, and running that with only 2GB of ram seems like a recipe for disaster.

I agree with the other posters, 8GB is good amount for the OP for now and the future.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

I don't know about that. Photoshop can be a demanding app, and running that with only 2GB of ram seems like a recipe for disaster.

I agree with the other posters, 8GB is good amount for the OP for now and the future.

True I didn't spot the photoshop I assumed they were just a photography hobbyist using photos app. Still there really is no need for 16GB.

 

[maflynn]

True I didn't spot the photoshop I assumed they were just a photography hobbyist using photos app. Still there really is no need for 16GB.

Agreed 16GB is overkill, but working with RAW images can be a bit more demanding and you never know what the future will bring, so 8GB is a safe bet

 

[oldmacs]

True I didn't spot the photoshop I assumed they were just a photography hobbyist using photos app. Still there really is no need for 16GB.

Ram requirements will increase as they always have. 16 GB of ram is a good way to future proof. If he has the money he should do it.

Photos will probably have larger resolutions in the future requiring more ram, and the OP doesn't know if he will be doing more demanding things in the future.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Ram requirements will increase as they always have. 16 GB of ram is a good way to future proof. If he has the money he should do it.

Photos will probably have larger resolutions in the future requiring more ram, and the OP doesn't know if he will be doing more demanding things in the future.

I'd imagine they have a hell off a lot more idea about that than you though.

All this you'll need it in 5 years time nonsense, is just that, nonsense, in 5 years time you'll need a new computer as the graphics and CPU's are not up to sctratch. Buying an extra 8GB of of RAM completely uneeded for a computer that only has a 3 year warranty is also silly as it is far more likely to die before you ever get to use it than you actually changing your computing habits that much and needing it.

We are talking a dual core machine with intel graphics here, they'll need a quadcore or better graphics way before they'll ever need 16GB of RAM.

But hey you have every right to give out bad advice without thinking it through, just as I have every right to rebutt your poorly constructed arguments. At the end of the day, we will never agree on this and the OP has the decision based on our advice and whatever resonates with them.

 

[newellj]

I do a lot of raw editing on the rMBP in my signature below. 8GB of RAM is plenty.

 

[oldmacs]

I'd imagine they have a hell off a lot more idea about that than you though.

All this you'll need it in 5 years time nonsense, is just that, nonsense, in 5 years time you'll need a new computer as the graphics and CPU's are not up to sctratch. Buying an extra 8GB of of RAM completely uneeded for a computer that only has a 3 year warranty is also silly as it is far more likely to die before you ever get to use it than you actually changing your computing habits that much and needing it.

We are talking a dual core machine with intel graphics here, they'll need a quadcore or better graphics way before they'll ever need 16GB of RAM.

But hey you have every right to give out bad advice without thinking it through, just as I have every right to rebutt your poorly constructed arguments. At the end of the day, we will never agree on this and the OP has the decision based on our advice and whatever resonates with them.

Onto the personal attacks are we? Thats lovely.

A 2010 Mac is perfectly usable today with an SSD and a ram upgrade (from the 2GB standard) - just like a 2015 Mac should still be usable in 2020 with enough ram. CPUs are often far overpowered and often not what causes a computer to become obsolete first. I slightly agree on the GPU, but again, plenty of 2010 (heck even some 2007/2008 Macs) have adequate CPUs and GPUs for todays work (Again, if they are upgraded to a higher amount of ram at the very least).

There is a good reason that we're no longer on 2 GB of ram being standard. Or 1 GB. Or 512MB. all of those were seen as more than adequate in 2008, 2006 and 2004 respectively.

Its fairly simple. Applications and the web are increasingly becoming more and more resource heavy. I've got quite a few safari tabs open at the moment, and some are using 500MB each. Wouldn't surprise me if they got more resource heavy. It is of course the trend we've seen over the last decade.

My 2012 Macbook Pro came with 4GB of ram, which was "overkill" when I bought it. If it had been soldered in, my Macbook wold now be useless.

The OP obviously has the money for the upgrade, and he may as well do it. There is no negative to upgrading the ram, but there could be a negative by not upgrading it.

But hey you can call my advice bad and you can ignore what the past 30 years of computer trends have been

 

[throAU]

You are all crazy 8GB of RAM is 4x the amount needed for the OP's stated usage a 2GB 2010 macbook air would whizz through that workload.

2 GB will be barely enough, but you won't notice it so much on an SSD machine due to the fast paging.

However buying a machine with "barely enough" to last the next 3-5 years is being extremely short sighted, especially when every major update machine this year has been specced with 8 GB or 16 GB other than the MBA.

Apple have made 8 GB or more standard on new machines now for a reason. Apple have traditionally been very stingy with memory in the past as I said, so you can bet they have plans for a host of new features in OS X that will benefit from it.