Is 4GB of Ram worth it?

[147798]

So WHERE exactly is the best place to get my 4GBs of RAM? Crucial, OCW, NewEgg etc? Sorry, new at this...

Or is memory just memory?

Memory is just memory, though really cheap memory may have manufacturing defects and consistencies, so try to buy from a better brand (tons are listed in threads in these forums).

As stated above, memory removes the bottleneck that is your hard drive if you are running multiple programs. The more programs you run, the more memory you use. If it exceeds your RAM memory, then the operating system starts "swapping" data between your hard drive and RAM. RAM is MUUUCCCHHHH faster than reading data from a hard drive. So, the more RAM you have, the more can be stored in RAM, and the less often the operating system has to "swap" to the disk.

I use my MB for a number of tasks, and rarely shut the applications down (especially with spaces running). So, at any one time, I might be using Safari, Firefox, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes and maybe another application (like WOrd or something) and can often run up to about 2.5GB RAM. So, the 4GB helps. You could also do 2.5 or 3GB, but for reasons that I wont' detail here, having matched memory sticks (i.e. 2GB+2GB instead of 1GB+2GB) helps boost performance of memory reads about 7%. So, if you figure you should at least buy one 2GB stick, then you are really talking about should you buy a second stick for $40 for a 7% memory performance boost and assurance that you want do any disk swaps (frequent memory swaps to disk also puts a strain on the harddrive over time).

I suppose $40 might be tight for some, but when installing in my $1500 laptop, I think it's a pretty good spend.

Just keep your original memory (and original HDD if you swap that out) so if you send in your laptop for service, you can pop in the original equipment before sending it.

 

[murc585]

i guess this could also highten the resale value, especially when apple charges $700 for 4gb of ram. I bet in about 3 years, when you are ready to part with your laptop, 4gb of ram will be quite normal, especially when more applications make use of 64-bit. When i use 64-bit applications in vista x64 i notice a higher ram usage, but a much smoother operation.

 

[Derbus]

Memory is just memory, though really cheap memory may have manufacturing defects and consistencies, so try to buy from a better brand (tons are listed in threads in these forums).

As stated above, memory removes the bottleneck that is your hard drive if you are running multiple programs. The more programs you run, the more memory you use. If it exceeds your RAM memory, then the operating system starts "swapping" data between your hard drive and RAM. RAM is MUUUCCCHHHH faster than reading data from a hard drive. So, the more RAM you have, the more can be stored in RAM, and the less often the operating system has to "swap" to the disk.

I use my MB for a number of tasks, and rarely shut the applications down (especially with spaces running). So, at any one time, I might be using Safari, Firefox, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes and maybe another application (like WOrd or something) and can often run up to about 2.5GB RAM. So, the 4GB helps. You could also do 2.5 or 3GB, but for reasons that I wont' detail here, having matched memory sticks (i.e. 2GB+2GB instead of 1GB+2GB) helps boost performance of memory reads about 7%. So, if you figure you should at least buy one 2GB stick, then you are really talking about should you buy a second stick for $40 for a 7% memory performance boost and assurance that you want do any disk swaps (frequent memory swaps to disk also puts a strain on the harddrive over time).

I suppose $40 might be tight for some, but when installing in my $1500 laptop, I think it's a pretty good spend.

Just keep your original memory (and original HDD if you swap that out) so if you send in your laptop for service, you can pop in the original equipment before sending it.

Ok, cool thanks. Whenever someone asks me to explain memory I'm going to use the whole bottle neck concept. Thanks for the lesson, I guess i'll go with Crucial, macworld magazine is all over them

 

[MacDude415]

I'm with you OP, I have decided to purchase 4GB of RAM. But from where? I'm thinking Newegg and OWC are best price-wise.

 

[Twilight Elk]

I used to own a powerbook G4 12" and it had 640gb of ram and at the time i felt it was quite limiting. My general use of the laptop will be office '08, i'll be using parallels with XP or vista(havn't decided yet), I use photoshop from time to time, ecode movies, used imovie sometimes...

640GB: Either that was a typo or you've got some SERIOUS speed issues @_@

 

[murc585]

at the time it was sweet, 640mb of ram was awesome at the time. It was a first-gen 12" Powerbook G4 fully loaded, thing was $3000 at the time, lol.

 

[JS4]

The macbook specs show a 800MHz frontside bus.

Is it possible to use PC2-6400 DDR2-800 200PIN Dual Channel DDR2 SODIMM memory and would there be much of a performance advantage to doing this?

Right now the pricing is too high but maybe it would be worth it when prices drop.

 

[murc585]

the processor has an 800mhz fsb, but the memory controller only supports up to 667mhz, so if you put 80mhz ram in it will scale the speed down to 667mhz.

 

[Twilight Elk]

640GB: Either that was a typo or you've got some SERIOUS speed issues @_@

Oh, 640MB, not 640GB...it threw me off, lol, sorry.

 

[murc585]

haha, yeah, sorry dumb on my part, didn;t catch that.

 

[stevegmu]

From what I understand, Apple uses Samsung RAM, so that's what I would go with for after-market RAM.

It is unlikely you will notice a difference, however, between 2GB and 4GB, except maybe for the placebo effect.

 

[Creibold]

Bought mine at Fry's for 39.99 for a 2gb stick (transcend memory) Great Deal.

Just wait till Fry's or someone has it as a "weekend special" then jump all over it and don't look back because your mac will run silky smooth.

You hear that? That's right, you just blazed past windows and your only in 2nd gear.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

1GB stick for my PowerBook G4 chimes in at £60

4GB for a MacBook Pro chimes in at £50

This is sickening.

Max it out now, or pay the premium down the line.

 

[officerdick]

I just got some (2x2GB), picking them up today, i will post benchmarks before/after to my blog (se sig) running a SR MBP 15".

 

[gnasher729]

I just want to be clear, there's NO performance difference or any other major difference between the Apple ram and the $80 ram?

There is never any performance difference.
There is no difference in reliability as long as you buy from a reputable source.

 

[gnasher729]

I just got some (2x2GB), picking them up today, i will post benchmarks before/after to my blog (se sig) running a SR MBP 15".

Benchmarks often don't catch all of the benefits. A lot of the benefit of 4GB RAM is that your Mac will keep remembering things that it read from the hard drive, so if you read the same data again, it will not access the hard drive at all. You don't catch that in a benchmark, only by using the Mac over a long time. Another huge benefit is that you can run lots of applications simultaneously and switch between them; a benchmark won't catch that.

 

[djinn]

I just installed 4gig in my MBP, even though it only supports 3072MB of RAM. I'm curious how a Macbook with the 4gig of RAM would run compared to this MBP.

 

[Csmitte]

depends on what your doing! but your its a good upgrade in any
event.

Cheers!

 

[Techguy172]

I just installed 4gig in my MBP, even though it only supports 3072MB of RAM. I'm curious how a Macbook with the 4gig of RAM would run compared to this MBP.

It would beat it in every task that isn't graphics intensive.

 

[Brianstorm91]

If you can get it, most definately.

 

[147798]

I just installed 4gig in my MBP, even though it only supports 3072MB of RAM. I'm curious how a Macbook with the 4gig of RAM would run compared to this MBP.

That's a complicated question.

A MBP w/4GB and a 2.4GHz C2D will beat your 2.33 w/3GB in everything. HOWEVER, your 2.33 will beat the 2.2 in SOME processes (if you look at the benchmarks that are all over the web, there are some processes that are really processor speed dependent where the 2.33 will beat a 2.2).

Now, a MACBOOK 2.2 w/4GB will still mostly beat a MBPro with 2.33 (because of different bus and architecture) UNLESS you are running certain apps that require heavy video processing (certain advanced games and some heavy duty video production apps, etc). Interestingly enough, the MB 2.2 actually (very slightly) beat the MBP 2.2 in some benchmarks. Since they use the same architecture, excepting the video card, it makes sense they should be virtually identical.

The difference between 3GB and 4GB will ONLY be seen if you exceed 3GB RAM in use, which is not frequent unless you are running Pro apps (Lightroom, Aperture, Final Cut) and then usually with more than one app running.

So, if you already have a 2.33 w/3GB RAM, you would be just fine. However, a 2.2 probably and a 2.4MBP both with 4GB could definitely outperform the 2.33, but only when pushed to the extreme. I think in day-to-day use, you wouldn't even notice it.

Most Mac users I've talked to, who are heavy multi-app users, tend to run about 2.5GB RAM at any given time, so getting above the 2GB seems to be the (current) threshhold, so 3GB will likely suffice.

Side note -- installing 2 2GB matched sticks for RAM in your 2.33 does actually benefit you, because your machine should be able to address 3.3GB, not just 3 (at least, that's the case with iMacs of the same generation. Does your system report 3 or 3.3GB RAM?), so you (might) get some extra mem there. And matched sticks, because of DDR, does give you a 7% boost on memory reads.

So, a 2.33 w/3GB a 2.2 MB w/4GB and a 2.2 MBP w/4GB would all, for the most part, perform functionally equivalent in day-to-day operations. Each one actually performs a little better at certain tasks than the others, and either MBP should beat the MB on graphics-intensive rendering.

 

[djinn]

Thank you for the posts and the detail. The main apps I have been running that are memory hogs are VM sessions and Photoshop CS3.

Even though my MBP says 4gig installed and activity monitor reports 4gig I think only 3072MB is being seen. I have noticed a slight speed increase with running Parallels and doing work stuff.

 

[147798]

Thank you for the posts and the detail. The main apps I have been running that are memory hogs are VM sessions and Photoshop CS3.

Even though my MBP says 4gig installed and activity monitor reports 4gig I think only 3072MB is being seen. I have noticed a slight speed increase with running Parallels and doing work stuff.

Good point. A VM will eat memory for lunch. So, if you are running Parallels or VMWare, more RAM will certainly help. I have exorcised Windows from my private life altogether (still stuck with a Dell at work), so I forgot about running VMs.

 

[djinn]

Thats the funny thing is I have a Dell laptop that work gave me. I was thinking of purchasing a Macbook for work. I only need the Windows VM for certain stuff, not a whole lot.

 

[147798]

Thats the funny thing is I have a Dell laptop that work gave me. I was thinking of purchasing a Macbook for work. I only need the Windows VM for certain stuff, not a whole lot.

Seems like a lot of folks are stuck with "dells at work." We have a great tech who is trying to build the argument that we need to move to MBP, because we sell a product that runs on both platforms. In the past, we'd demo on Windows and then say "it also runs on Macs." Hopefully, he wins the day, and we can have a MBP and jettison the Dells for good!