Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Is the rMBP 13 with 4gb ram worth considering?
- Thread starter polee
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I wouldn't even consider it unless all you do is light tasks like web browsing, videos, email/chat imovie etc. But even then its a toss up because the more tabs you have open will have an impact on your experience etc. If you plan on keeping the computer for a while just pay $200 more and you get a 256GB ssd along with 8GB ram. I guarantee you will be thankful you did, it will future proof the laptop for a while, best bang for your buck.
This is if you just wanted a macbook air with a retina screen. If you think you would have been happy with a "retina macbook air", then it's enough for you. Otherwise, no, get something better.
4GB is too small, at least for me. I'm using a 2012 cMBP though, so it could be different on the retina models for all I know.
I'm currently looking to replace my early-2009 MBP 17" (which has 4gb ram) and I'm constantly hitting 4GB RAM usage with just Evernote, Word, Chrome, and Dropbox running.
Would not consider anything less than 8GB and am thinking 16GB will be a safer bet in the years to come.
Would not consider anything less than 8GB and am thinking 16GB will be a safer bet in the years to come.
I currently have the base 13" MBA 2013 (4 GB RAM) and for my use I've had no issues. I also thought with Mavericks it was supposed to be more efficient by compressing RAM and so on. Unless some of that RAM is needed to drive the graphics on the Retina display, why not 4 GB? For me, it would basically become a Retina MBA.
I feel like this is the only reason they decided on this configuration for the 13" rMBP. And it really does make sense because I know plenty of people who opted for the rMBP for the screen when for their uses a MBA would've been just fine.