How much RAM is worth it?

[Guitarboy315]

Hi everyone.

I will be entering college this upcoming year as a music composition major and will be investing in a Macbook Pro definitely a 15 inch, however I don't know if I want to go with a Retina or Regular model (that is if I will even be able to get a retina model before college).

I will mainly be using it for school work but will also want to use it for Logic and MainStage.

My main question is will 8GB of RAM be enough? I am not exactly sure how much RAM audio applications use and would like to keep the cost of the Retina model down as much as possible (even though I will be going for the 500 GB of SSD if I do choose it...)

And also, the reason why I turn to you guys is because I feel as though even though the Apple store employees are supposed to be helpful, they always try to talk me into more expensive models and talk to me as though I don't know anything about computers.

Thanks for your help.

 

[arctic]

See here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1385421/

 

[GGJstudios]

I will mainly be using it for school work but will also want to use it for Logic and MainStage.

My main question is will 8GB of RAM be enough?

Based on your needs, 8GB should be more than enough. Some will suggest you get 16GB if you get the Retina model, since you won't be able to upgrade it later, but like the vast majority of users, I doubt you'll ever use more than 8GB. With the non-retina model, you can always add RAM later, if you ever found a need to.

 

[Zwhaler]

I use Logic Pro on a 2010 MBP with 8GB of RAM and it's very nice. No need for 16GB unless you plan on using more than 40 tracks with multiple plugins AND MainStage at the same time for hours on end.