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Is 8 GB Ram worh the price ??

M

mvksagar45

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 3, 2011
32
0
Hello All,
I am am planning to get the 13 inch base model today. But i am not sure weather to go with the 4 GB ram option or upgrade to 8GB ( for another 200$)...i just do basic stuff like browsing internet watching movies...

is the 8 GB Ram option worth the price ? Thanks..

"Will it be noticeably faster ??"
 
premierjg said:
8gb is awesome. Just do it after-market. You will save about $100
Click to expand...

You won't need 8GB for basic uses, upgrading at this point would be a waste of money. If you ever do need to upgrade, be sure to buy elsewhere than apple, their prices are pretty high on that stuff.
 
mvksagar45 said:
Hello All,
I am am planning to get the 13 inch base model today. But i am not sure weather to go with the 4 GB ram option or upgrade to 8GB ( for another 200$)...i just do basic stuff like browsing internet watching movies...

is the 8 GB Ram option worth the price ? Thanks..
Click to expand...

if you just surf and watch movies then no, you will never notice it. Ok so 8gb over 4gb makes a difference in loading programs but the difference it makes for most users is minimal... and it only makes a difference in opening programs when you have other programs open aka multi tasking, and usually that means more than 2 programs, if your running safari with 5-10 tabs (not all youtube that may make a difference) and you have Mail and iTunes open, you will not need the 8gb.... and by NEED i mean need it for 200 dollars.

See the real world diff it would make is 1 second vs 1.5 seconds (just a guess it may be 1 second vs 2 second) but the POINT is adding the extra 4gb wont mean a program doesnt freeze up... you know.

Like if you only have 4gb and your running the 3 programs I mentioned your not gunna ever notice it being sluggish, so adding 8gb wont be necessary

however running those 3 programs will be slightly (barely noticable) faster

with both being fast though.

just the 8 is FASTER. its like comparing a lambo to a ferrari.
 
jimithing said:
if you just surf and watch movies then no, you will never notice it. Ok so 8gb over 4gb makes a difference in loading programs but the difference it makes for most users is minimal... and it only makes a difference in opening programs when you have other programs open aka multi tasking, and usually that means more than 2 programs, if your running safari with 5-10 tabs (not all youtube that may make a difference) and you have Mail and iTunes open, you will not need the 8gb.... and by NEED i mean need it for 200 dollars.

See the real world diff it would make is 1 second vs 1.5 seconds (just a guess it may be 1 second vs 2 second) but the POINT is adding the extra 4gb wont mean a program doesnt freeze up... you know.

Like if you only have 4gb and your running the 3 programs I mentioned your not gunna ever notice it being sluggish, so adding 8gb wont be necessary

however running those 3 programs will be slightly (barely noticable) faster

with both being fast though.

just the 8 is FASTER. its like comparing a lambo to a ferrari.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your info....helped me..will go with the 4 GB for now..
 
to be completely honest, you would see 100 times better performance if you go with the 128gb SSD option and 4GB RAM over a 500gb HD w/ 8GB RAM

AND YOUR PROBALY SAYING I NEED MORE STORAGE THAN 128GB

I DOUBT IT! truthfully, you could have 10,000 songs and that only takes 10GB

So you have 10,000 songs and now surfing the web and opening programs and videos become LIGHTNING FAST!

AKA THE SSD OVER A 500GB 5400 (5400 sucks!) HDD is night and DAY!
 
Im going to get the 8 gigs myself through apple. 100 is not enough savings for me to mess with installing it, Guess just like peace of mind with my 2000 plus purchase EVERYTHING is covered with no worries. But that's just me. I have had bad experience with after market stuff, prolly just bad luck for me. And no worries of warranty problems because have non apple stuff in it. And i play games so the extra does help.
 
That's silly. It takes 5 minutes. Doesn't affect any warranty, and if you buy branded (Kingston, OCZ etc.) you're unlikely to get issues. If you've made your mind up though, why not spend that extra hundred?
 
another idea for someone who wants a 13" to surf the web and play videos is to get the AIR... you can get a refurb air with a 1.86GHZ processor c2d (which is plenty for surfing and video)
2 GB RAM
256GB SSD (which in the MBP would be a 600 dollar option)
for $1349

AND THE AIR HAS MUCH BETTER GRAPHICS, and 36% more pixels in screen resolution, thats damn close to 2 times beter screen so that is huge for watching movies

THE SLOWER PROCESSOR ON THE AIR, will not make a difference at all to you, trust me.

AND as an AIR owner I can tell you sitting with an air on your lap over a MBP makes a HUGE difference its so nice to carry around too its like NO WEIGHT

SO the best answer is get the air if you want 256GB SSD and protability

IF 128GB is enough
 
jimithing said:
to be completely honest, you would see 100 times better performance if you go with the 128gb SSD option and 4GB RAM over a 500gb HD w/ 8GB RAM

AND YOUR PROBALY SAYING I NEED MORE STORAGE THAN 128GB

I DOUBT IT! truthfully, you could have 10,000 songs and that only takes 10GB

So you have 10,000 songs and now surfing the web and opening programs and videos become LIGHTNING FAST!

AKA THE SSD OVER A 500GB 5400 (5400 sucks!) HDD is night and DAY!
Click to expand...
this is really true. An ssd makes a massive difference in most laptops.

jimithing said:
another idea for someone who wants a 13" to surf the web and play videos is to get the AIR... you can get a refurb air with a 1.86GHZ processor c2d (which is plenty for surfing and video)
2 GB RAM
256GB SSD (which in the MBP would be a 600 dollar option)
for $1349

AND THE AIR HAS MUCH BETTER GRAPHICS, and 36% more pixels in screen resolution, thats damn close to 2 times beter screen so that is huge for watching movies

THE SLOWER PROCESSOR ON THE AIR, will not make a difference at all to you, trust me.

AND as an AIR owner I can tell you sitting with an air on your lap over a MBP makes a HUGE difference its so nice to carry around too its like NO WEIGHT

SO the best answer is get the air if you want 256GB SSD and protability

IF 128GB is enough
Click to expand...
this options comes with a built in SSD. :)
 
jimithing said:
to be completely honest, you would see 100 times better performance if you go with the 128gb SSD option and 4GB RAM over a 500gb HD w/ 8GB RAM

AND YOUR PROBALY SAYING I NEED MORE STORAGE THAN 128GB

I DOUBT IT! truthfully, you could have 10,000 songs and that only takes 10GB

So you have 10,000 songs and now surfing the web and opening programs and videos become LIGHTNING FAST!

AKA THE SSD OVER A 500GB 5400 (5400 sucks!) HDD is night and DAY!
Click to expand...

I totally agree regarding the benefits of SSD vs 8GB RAM for most users.

However, for web surfing and watching movies as the OP indicated are the primary uses, both SSD and 8GB are overkill.

If you will be working with large image and video files in 64-bit apps like Adobe CS5, for example, you can really benefit from SSD and 8GB RAM.

Neither of these options is going to improve your DVD/video watching experience at all.

The only benefit you would get from SSD is your computer would boot faster and programs would load faster, not worth the cost if you will only be surfing web and watching movies. And you would get zero benefit from upgrading to 8GB RAM.
 
I doubt it. But it depends on your use. IMHO, I don't think 8 GB are needed for Apples, the Mac OS is very efficient. Windows on the other hand can use all the RAM you can get.
 
I'm responding to you from the base 2011 13" model with 4GB of ram.

I highly doubt you need the 8gb right away. This machine is fast. Very fast.

When it does come time to upgrade, do it after market. As a previous member pointed out, you'll save $100 or more. Instead, invest in AppleCare, a nice Timbuk2 bag, or go have a nice dinner.
 
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=82E796F8A5CA7304

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