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Is 16GB of RAM "overkill" for Logic?

M

MemoryBoy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2013
10
0
In a month or so, I am going to be buying a 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display. As of right now, I'm planning on buying it with these specs:

2.4GHz Dual-core Intel Core i5, Turbo Boost up to 2.9GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
256GB PCIe-based Flash Storage

I am going to be using it primarily for Logic Pro X, and a few Steam games here and there but nothing with too intense graphics (I would want to max out the graphics). After researching a little bit, I've seen that most people say 16GB of RAM isn't worth the extra $200. I'm wondering if I should maybe upgrade the processor, but stay with 8GB of RAM. Since I can't upgrade the RAM in the future, I'm wondering if 16GB will be worth it in the long run.

Should I upgrade to 16GB of RAM for $200, or is 8GB good enough for Logic and a few games? Also, is it worth upgrading the processor? I will use this computer for a long time, so if it is worth it in the long run I'll spend the extra money. But if its "overkill" then I'd rather keep my money.

Thanks much!
-CZ-
 
MemoryBoy said:
It helps a little, but there are no definite answers... What would you personally reccomend, if you were me going to buy a Mac?
Click to expand...

I would go for the 16 GB model, as you might not need it all now, but in two or three years down the line you could use it due to different computational habits or even requirements.

I always maximised the RAM in my Macs, but I also sometimes do RAM intensive compositing or have many applications open (currently 19).

I do not know about Logic, but the second or third reply seemed to favour more RAM in case of big sample libraries.
 
I'll probably end up getting 16GB then. Is it worth upgrading the processor though? How much of a difference would it make going from the better i5 chip or the i7, for games and music? Also is the CPU upgradeable? Thanks for helping me out!
 
MemoryBoy said:
I'll probably end up getting 16GB then. Is it worth upgrading the processor though? How much of a difference would it make going from the better i5 chip or the i7, for games and music? Also is the CPU upgradeable? Thanks for helping me out!
Click to expand...
The CPU is also not upgradeable. For games an i7 is not worth it. For music, it depends on how complex your compositions will be.
 
Bear said:
The CPU is also not upgradeable. For games an i7 is not worth it. For music, it depends on how complex your compositions will be.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bear. I believe I will stick with the default Intel i5. But I will probably get 16GB of RAM knowing it may come in handy in the future.
 
Get the ram. You may end up doing some video editing too and ram is important or having different applications open at once. It is easy to have 10 aps open at once so get the ram.
 
Be careful about your selection of a dual core processor - Logic likes to see a quad core. Google it and you will see that the consensus is quad core is better.

If it were me and I was about to order that machine I would get the i7 quad core and 8Gb ram.
 
With logic 5 on a C2D MBP I was recording 10 inputs at a time for a large drum kit with up to 50 tracks on a song without latency issues. That was with at least 4GB RAM, IIRC. Depending on how Apple went with developing Logic, I would hope a newer version wouldn't be more of a resource hog and would run just as well on a higher spec processor with more RAM.
 
I've decided I'm going to get 16GB of memory, since you cannot upgrade it later. Also because I will be using it for quite a few years, so I want it to be future proof.

I got a lot of mixed answers about whether or not I should upgrade my CPU. Current the i5 seems to be the best option, considering that I will use the Mac for basic recording and basic gaming. But I don't know the advantages of having a i5 processor compared to an i7, and whether or not it's worth spending an extra $300 on.

If it's worth the money, considering the fact that I want to use it as long as it's not outdated with new technology, I'll spend the extra money and upgrade to the i7. If it's not that big of a difference, and won't make a difference in the future, I will stick with the i5.

I'm just getting started out with recording, this is the first computer I am actually buying for the purpose of recording. So the reason I'm here asking questions is because I'm new to this area. Thanks for helping me out, I appreciate it!
 
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