For hard PS4: 8Gb RAM or 256 ssd ??

[greenberg]

Hi, everyone

im buying the new 17' macbook pro to replace my 4 years old imac. I'm gonna use it for editing very large photoshop files (1,5 - 2 GB).

But I just cant decide between upgrading it from 4 to 8 gb ram or from 500 Gb Hdd to 256 ssd disk. I cant do both

I know ssd is too expensive right now, and that i could buy ram from think prices at lower prices. But in terms of performance, what do you think would make more difference: 8gb ram or ssd?

thank you all in advance,

Victoria

 

[Bengt77]

Do the new MacBook Pros have SATA I or SATA II? I believe there was some confusion over this, right after they were released, and haven't read the final word on the issue. If it only has SATA I, it might not be worth it to get an SSD and you might be better off buying the extra RAM. If the new MacBook Pros do have SATA II, I'd say go for the SSD option.

 

[nealhughes]

Hi Victoria,
I would go for the extra RAM personally as the SSD will still be very pricey as it's a relatively new technology. Also, the 500Gb HDD would be a good starting point for your main HDD - you could always buy extra storage externally (FW800 is nice and fast). I would order Crucial RAM as well rather than Apple's own as you will save a lot of cash that way.

With 8Gb of RAM, are you doing a lot of 3D or video work or even having a lot of applications open at once because many can't use a lot of RAM any way. Even Photoshop CS4 (in 32bit config) can only really access around 2.5Gb of RAM at the moment.

Hope that helps.

Neal

 

[Azrel]

SSD for sure, RAM is nice, but you'll get better performance from the SSD.

Think about this, what's the slowest component in your computer? Your hard drive of course, this is a huge bottleneck for performance!

 

[ucfgrad93]

I would go for the ssd. You can always add extra RAM later when you get the money.

 

[Cave Man]

This is easy: RAM. Photoshop uses excess RAM as a RAM disk for your scratch disk.

 

[MacKiddyWiddy]

the answer is easily ram on the knowledge of how photoshop works, ram will be quicker then an ssd and ssds will plumit in price soon once the technology improves

 

[smearedblue]

ssd prices are and will continue to fall dramatically. ram will speed up your computer tremendously and you won't regret the purchase in a year. If you can hold off on the ssd you should.