Is it worth upgrading to 8mb of ram

[New2Guitar]

Hi All,

I'm new to MAC's......................

The primary use for my MBP is photo editing. Everything is done is RAW format so every file is at least 10MB in size.

If I upgraded the RAM from 4 to 8 MB will there be a noticeable improvement with speed? Is it a worth wild investment.

Here's my system


Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B04
SMC Version (system): 1.69f1
Serial Number (system):
Hardware UUID: 78FDC52D-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Thanks

 

[Naimfan]

Search is your friend. This has been discussed ad nauseum.

And yes, with your exact question.

 

[BlindGoldfish]

Going from 4 to 8 MB of ram won't make as much of a difference as pivoting your graphics fan or swapping battery fluid.

 

[vincenz]

It won't make your computer "faster," but you'll be able to run more programs concurrently, edit more pictures at the same time, etc etc.

 

[solaris7]

8MB will be overkill!!!!

/end of sarcasm for the day

 

[TRUCRACKER]

GB's****
And probly not for you.

 

[Keleko]

I also have 4GB in my older MBP, and it is old enough that it can't have any more. I frequently run into memory limitations while running both Aperture and Photoshop, and sometimes just Aperture by itself. When that happens things drop to a crawl because there's not enough memory to go around while editing. So, 8GB would be a huge help in that case. If you never run into the memory limit like that, then 8GB will not make much difference.

 

[Derango]

For your purposes it will probably be overkill at the current time unless you have a metric ton of photos open at the same time. I'd hazard a guess that you wouldn't really notice much of a difference right now.

My usage is roughly the same as yours and I'm doing fine with 4GB

 

[DarwinOSX]

Going to 8GB is cheap so why not. On the other hand I run menu meters and rarely see my iMac with 8GB go above 3.5 GB or so and thats when I'm running a lot of apps. I haven't even seen it help with virtualization all that much. VM's don't seem to run any faster.

 

[Detrius]

For the record, I have 8GB of RAM, and most all I do is load a crapload of web pages, and I'm using all 8GB of RAM plus swap. Web browsers are very memory hungry.

 

[wonder-boy]

Your kidding? you use 8GB of memory web browsing?!

 

[Sapporo Ichiban]

From another photographer that shoots almost always in raw, yes, 8gb will speed up your work flow. It's a worthy upgrade. I have the 2.2ghz 15 inch anti glare and it serves all my photography needs quite well.

 

[Pentad]

I'd like to add that if you do any VMs the extra memory will help with everything. I use VMs all the time and I am thinking about going to 16 GB since it would help in my work.

And as somebody else pointed out here, 8 GB is cheap so why not pull the trigger?

-P

 

[steadysignal]

And as somebody else pointed out here, 8 GB is cheap so why not pull the trigger?

-P

seconded. all the search hate notwithstanding - just pull the trigger and install the memory. it can't hurt your system and your experience.

 

[hvgotcodes]

if you don't know why/if you need it, you don't need it.

 

[AppleOldTimer]

Current iMac. Running multiple applications. Increased RAM from 4GB to 12GB. Spinning beach ball gone. Simple.

 

[edifyingGerbil]

i just purchased kingston's 8GB 1600MHz RAM kit. I found I was left with very little free RAM just from web browsing and i'm a huge fan of multi-tasking so it seemed logical... the 1600 was only slightly more expensive than the 1333MHz

 

[amarcus]

If I upgraded the RAM from 4 to 8 MB will there be a noticeable improvement with speed?

Doesn't sound like much of an upgrade

But seriously, your best bet is to look in activity monitor at the ratio of page outs to page ins rather than just the amount of free memory (as that can be misleading). If you're getting alot more page outs then you could use more ram.

You can get by fine with just 4GB of ram. However one of the reasons to get more ram is to future proof yourself but if thats the case then you might as well just wait for RAM prices to drop and buy as needed.

 

[thermodynamic]

Yes, it's worth it.

I've 8GB in my 2009 Mac Pro and 8GB in my mid-2009 MacBook Pro.

It makes a difference, even with handling large photoshop file editing.

And numerous open files. It's a lot more convenient, and faster than relying on virtual RAM (HD space )

 

[Doc69]

I have a 2007 MBP with 4GB and wish I could upgrade to 8GB. I'm always low on memory and experience sluggishness because of it. I frequently need to run many apps simultaneously including a virtual PC through VMWare Fusion. Without Fusion, I might be OK with 4GB.

 

[Derango]

You can get by fine with just 4GB of ram. However one of the reasons to get more ram is to future proof yourself but if thats the case then you might as well just wait for RAM prices to drop and buy as needed.

Yeah, buying RAM to future proof yourself is kinda dumb. Because if you need more RAM you can always get more when you need it. If you need it now, great, get it. But there's no point in getting it when you don't need it, no matter how cheap it is.

EDIT: And nobody else can really tell you if you need it or not since we all use our computers differently. Even if we're using the same apps. One Photoshop user might be editing small files while another might be editing gigantic composite images with hundreds of layers. Only way to tell is to use your computer in a normal way and check the page out value in the activity monitor.

 

[adztaylor]

Yeah absolutely, OSX loves to eat up RAM. But I love to leave all my apps open all the time and let my MBP to sleep. Most I have ever used though was about 6GB.

 

[Legion93]

You mean 8Gb not 8mb, anyway your better off buying an aftermarket memory module, I use crucial 8GB and they are very cheap (around £120) compared with Apple's almost £300. And yes, you will see a significant improvement if you have 8GB, especially when using ram-eating apps, like photo/video editing, graphics work, etc. If your just web browsing, checking emails and other light use of CPU, then your best to stick with a 4GB.

 

[adztaylor]

You mean 8Gb not 8mb, anyway your better off buying an aftermarket memory module, I use crucial 8GB and they are very cheap (around £120) compared with Apple's almost £300.

They aren't that expensive. I recently just bought mine from Crucial for £73. Apple offer it for £160. Rip off.

 

[Legion93]

They aren't that expensive. I recently just bought mine from Crucial for £73. Apple offer it for £160. Rip off.

Yeah, back in 2010 the prices of RAM upgrades from Apple were ridiculous (around £300), they've recently dropped the prices, I last bought my crucial RAM back in November so prices were really high. SSDs and RAMs are getting cheaper as technology develops further. Apple is a real rip-off, and they use very unreliable brands of hardware.