Couldn't be more happier with 8GB of RAM

[surjavarman]

Its been more than a year since I bought rmbp with 8gigs ram and I couldn't be any more happier that I saved $200 or 20 hours of my life.

I have never had an issue when OSX was using the swap. In fact I didn't even noticed it when it happened. And now with Mavericks new memory management system its even more effective.

Do yourself a favor and use that $200 more wisely. You owe it to yourself

 

[wrsorg]

You think upgrading to 16Gb is useless?

 

[CoolHotCold]

As someone who needs to use multiple VM's to simulate a shared networking environment for testing I find it hard to believe 8GB's of RAM is adequate.


Of course my situation is different than most others, so I wouldn't dream of saying "Everyone who buys a rMBP needs 16GB of Ram", but there you go, telling everyone to save $200 and keep with 8GB's which is (imo) wrong.

 

[wwe2008]

I ordered 16GB and regretted that I might have wasted my money. But I start an industrial placement next year as part of my uni course and I don't know if I need to run software on windows etc so it's better to have it now and it's there if I need it!!

 

[surjavarman]

As someone who needs to use multiple VM's to simulate a shared networking environment for testing I find it hard to believe 8GB's of RAM is adequate.


Of course my situation is different than most others, so I wouldn't dream of saying "Everyone who buys a rMBP needs 16GB of Ram", but there you go, telling everyone to save $200 and keep with 8GB's which is (imo) wrong.

You are the extreme. In your case I would probably get 16 gigs too but only if I am a professional. But anyway a few years ago they didn't even had 8 gigs so what were you doing then if you had to run multiple VM's. Why could you live on 1 or 2 rams back then but now suddenly you can't.

 

[Steve121178]

You are the extreme. In your case I would probably get 16 gigs too but only if I am a professional. But anyway a few years ago they didn't even had 8 gigs so what were you doing then if you had to run multiple VM's. Why could you live on 1 or 2 rams back then but now suddenly you can't.

You haven't a clue what you are talking about and you do not know how some of us use our machines. A few years ago you could get away with giving a VM as little as 512MB, but as OS's evolve and require more resources most of mine are at least 2GB.

Before when we were limited to say 8GB it meant we could only run 1 or 2 VM's for example, now 16GB is available we can run many more.

8GB is not enough for me, 16GB is just perfect.

 

[Meister]

Thing I learned at the age of 12:
U can never have enough ram and computers seem never to come with enough.

 

[surjavarman]

You haven't a clue what you are talking about and you do not know how some of us use our machines. A few years ago you could get away with giving a VM as little as 512MB, but as OS's evolve and require more resources most of mine are at least 2GB.

Before when we were limited to say 8GB it meant we could only run 1 or 2 VM's for example, now 16GB is available we can run many more.

8GB is not enough for me, 16GB is just perfect.

Why do you need VM's? I briefly was tempted to use VM for windows only but that quickly died because everything I need is already available for mac

All I am saying is for my usage I don't need 8 gigs of ram and I didn't even noticed it when the system was pushing the limits of my ram. And ram management has only improved since then. I am 1.5 years in and 3.5 years more to go before I get a new computer. My computer usage hasn't changed at all since like SL.

 

[AlecMyrddyn]

All I am saying is for my usage I don't need 8 gigs of ram and I didn't even noticed it when the system was pushing the limits of my ram. And ram management has only improved since then. I am 1.5 years in and 3.5 years more to go before I get a new computer. My computer usage hasn't changed at all since like SL.

So for you, 8 GB of RAM is great. For others, it is not. You are probably right that many of the people buying 16gb of RAM won't ever really need it... But they might... And if they do, the $200 spent now is worth it to them.

 

[Steve121178]

Why do you need VM's?

Work.

 

[john123]

As someone who needs to use multiple VM's to simulate a shared networking environment for testing I find it hard to believe 8GB's of RAM is adequate.

Of course my situation is different than most others, so I wouldn't dream of saying "Everyone who buys a rMBP needs 16GB of Ram", but there you go, telling everyone to save $200 and keep with 8GB's which is (imo) wrong.

Agree 100%. I don't know why people get on the Internet and proclaim that whatever they do, all others should do, just as the OP did. It's obnoxious and not helpful.

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All I am saying is for my usage I don't need 8 gigs of ram

Actually, no, that is NOT all you were saying. See this (annoying) line from your original post:

Do yourself a favor and use that $200 more wisely. You owe it to yourself

Projecting your situation onto others, when you have no idea about how they use their computer, is the height of arrogance.

 

[brdeveloper]

I would get as much RAM as I can afford. With Mavericks, more RAM is even more justifiable - not because it's RAM hungry, but because it can cache a lot of stuff on RAM, keeping secondary storage turned off most time and hence saving battery and improving the SSD lifecycle.

 

[surjavarman]

So for you, 8 GB of RAM is great. For others, it is not. You are probably right that many of the people buying 16gb of RAM won't ever really need it... But they might... And if they do, the $200 spent now is worth it to them.

Not a great argument. I could then buy everything in the world because in the future there might be some item in there that I could need.

Anyway I am pretty sure I am correct that it is not worth it for the majority to pay $200 upfront for gains you will never see. Unfortunately there is a vocal minority here that are heavy VM's users and thats the only argument they will use. I need to ram because I use multiple VM's

 

[Steve121178]

Not a great argument. I could then buy everything in the world because in the future there might be some item in there that I could need.

Anyway I am pretty sure I am correct that it is not worth it for the majority to pay $200 upfront for gains you will never see. Unfortunately there is a vocal minority here that are heavy VM's users and thats the only argument they will use. I need to ram because I use multiple VM's

If people have the money to spend, then 16GB is a sensible choice. It also helps future-proof the machine to a degree and you must bear in mind that you simply can't upgrade it once it's been purchased.

8GB is the absolute bare minimum for a computer purchase in 2013. And for a lot of people who use their machines as professional work tools, 8GB simply isn't enough.

 

[AlecMyrddyn]

Not a great argument. I could then buy everything in the world because in the future there might be some item in there that I could need.

Anyway I am pretty sure I am correct that it is not worth it for the majority to pay $200 upfront for gains you will never see. Unfortunately there is a vocal minority here that are heavy VM's users and thats the only argument they will use. I need to ram because I use multiple VM's

Again, you are telling other people what they need. Stop. Just stop.

You don't know what they need. Feel free to voice your opinion that most people will be happy with 8 GB of RAM. But be careful how you do it.

I don't know you, what you do for work, how far you commute, what your climate is. Should I tell you to save your money and get a scooter for commuting because it'll save you money in the long run and you don't need a car, you're fooling yourself if you think you do? No, it's arrogant and rude.

I agree with you that most people don't need 16 GB of RAM right now. Myself included. I'm planning on some light video and image editing. 8GB will probably be more than enough.

But it's my money, and I'm concerned that in the future that RAM demands will increase, or I might start editing RAW images or longer movies as well as run a VM. If I do, the additional RAM could help me out.

Spending $200 now is like buying AppleCare - it's insurance against the future. If I buy 8GB now and end up needing 16 in a couple years, I'll have to buy a new computer to get it.

 

[surjavarman]

Again, you are telling other people what they need. Stop. Just stop.

You don't know what they need. Feel free to voice your opinion that most people will be happy with 8 GB of RAM. But be careful how you do it.

I don't know you, what you do for work, how far you commute, what your climate is. Should I tell you to save your money and get a scooter for commuting because it'll save you money in the long run and you don't need a car, you're fooling yourself if you think you do? No, it's arrogant and rude.

I agree with you that most people don't need 16 GB of RAM right now. Myself included. I'm planning on some light video and image editing. 8GB will probably be more than enough.

But it's my money, and I'm concerned that in the future that RAM demands will increase, or I might start editing RAW images or longer movies as well as run a VM. If I do, the additional RAM could help me out.

Spending $200 now is like buying AppleCare - it's insurance against the future. If I buy 8GB now and end up needing 16 in a couple years, I'll have to buy a new computer to get it.

I am not telling people what to do. I said spend your $200 wisely.

And btw you would get a new computer anyway. Regardless if you are hitting your limit or not. I have a 5 year span for my computers and I am not worried. Most people already have new computer after 3 years.

Futureproofing is like wearing aluminum hats.