Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Deciding between 15" or 17" Based on RAM

R

rch5181

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 22, 2009
21
0
I'm trying to decide whether or not to get the 15" or 17" MBP based on the amount of RAM I can get in the machine. Is it possible to put 8 gigs of RAM in the 15" or is it maxed out at 4?

Should preface by saying that I'm not tech savvy- I can install RAM but that's about as far as it goes (and I have no programming skills at all). The laptop will be used for audio software and I'd like it to last at least 3 years. The 8 gigs possible on the 17" is attractive, even though I prefer the smaller screen, because it's a machine that can grow over the next couple of years as software gets more cpu intensive.

Thanks for the help.
 
I don't think the base line 15" MBP (2.4GHz) can use 8 gigs, but I know that the 2.66 and the 2.93 can. If it's just the RAM that you're worried about, go with a middle to high end MBP.
 
Is there a reason why you can't bump the RAM up on the apple store to 8 gigs for the 15" 2.66 Ghz and 2.93 Ghz?

If it's a situation where I just buy the extra RAM and install with no problem, then I'll go with the 15".
 
The 15" can handle 8GB of RAM and you can buy it from www.macsales.com for example. The 15" won't let you add RAM at the Apple site because it hasn't been official that the 15" can accept the 8GB of RAM from Apple at least but it does work for the mid-high end 15" units, 2.66 & 2.93 GHz.
Crucial also sells RAM pairs as well for the 15" MBP if you would rather go with a name brand.
Good luck and enjoy once you decide which one you want :)
 
I would spend the extra $500 on the high end MBP 2.66 or 2.93 $$$, for the very reason of RAM. Right now, 4 GB is plenty for most of us, but in the long run, 8 GB of RAM may make your investment last an extra year or two.

Seriously, think that a 2.93 GHz CPU with 8 GB of 1066 MHz RAM would be solid three or four years down the road. Throw in an SSD when the prices drop, and you have one awesome MacBook Pro...

The only problem may be if Apple updates the MBP in June with a six-hour batter, and an OLED display. At that time, they will most definitely officially support 8 GB of RAM in both versions of the MBP. But, it sucks to wait if they don't get updated in June... as we never really know. But the rumors for a MacBook Pro update with OLED sure make waiting seem worth it.

Maybe a short wait would give you 8 GB of RAM official support, an OLED display, and save you $500 to be able to pay for the RAM in the low end MBP. Really, right now, you are getting seven month old technology, and in a month, you may get current technology for less money. But it's all a crap shoot!

Good luck.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A312g Safari/528.16)

Scottsdale said:
I would spend the extra $500 on the high end MBP 2.66 or 2.93 $$$, for the very reason of RAM. Right now, 4 GB is plenty for most of us, but in the long run, 8 GB of RAM may make your investment last an extra year or two.

Seriously, think that a 2.93 GHz CPU with 8 GB of 1066 MHz RAM would be solid three or four years down the road. Throw in an SSD when the prices drop, and you have one awesome MacBook Pro...

The only problem may be if Apple updates the MBP in June with a six-hour batter, and an OLED display. At that time, they will most definitely officially support 8 GB of RAM in both versions of the MBP. But, it sucks to wait if they don't get updated in June... as we never really know. But the rumors for a MacBook Pro update with OLED sure make waiting seem worth it.

Maybe a short wait would give you 8 GB of RAM official support, an OLED display, and save you $500 to be able to pay for the RAM in the low end MBP. Really, right now, you are getting seven month old technology, and in a month, you may get current technology for less money. But it's all a crap shoot!

Good luck.
Click to expand...

You think the 17" will get an update? It's been around for a couple of months only.

I'm about to order a matte one. Would suck if they updated it in June!

Should I wait?
 
Artful Dodger said:
The 15" can handle 8GB of RAM and you can buy it from www.macsales.com for example. The 15" won't let you add RAM at the Apple site because it hasn't been official that the 15" can accept the 8GB of RAM from Apple at least but it does work for the mid-high end 15" units, 2.66 & 2.93 GHz.
Crucial also sells RAM pairs as well for the 15" MBP if you would rather go with a name brand.
Good luck and enjoy once you decide which one you want :)
Click to expand...

So does the base-line MBP (2.4GHz) support 8 gigs of ram?
 
MBAir: Go for the 17" if you want it. I doubt there'll be updates to it in June. Probably in September or October.

Warranty Voider: the baseline 2.4 does not support 8 gigs of ram unfortunately. You need the 2.66 or 2.93 for that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back