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Maximum RAM in a 2011 MacBook Pro

Lennyvalentin said:
A good SSD storing your OS, apps and page file is going to be a much cheaper fix to your paging issue than splurging well over a grand on 16GBs worth of SODIMMs... :)

While more RAM would be better from an absolute performance standpoint, I don't think it'd be that much better that it'd be worth the huge amount of money you need to spend.
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SSDs at this point remain somewhat overpriced, and you're right, it would improve paging/virtual memory performance, it still isn't as fast as avoiding swap in the first place with real RAM. I'm also not yet convinced of long-term reliability, possibly in particular with OSX. I'd love to get a 256GB SSD (isn't worth it to me to go smaller, need to do work more than 'boot quickly') or larger, but the number of people having SSD issues 3 weeks/months or a year later, as well as current pricing is telling me to wait another 12 months there. Were it a personal laptop *only*, I might pull the trigger sooner, but reliability > speed in this case. I keep backups of course, but time lost to RMAs just aren't fun when there's work to get done.

I'll be likely waiting a year on SSDs, and at that point will go to an optibay with a 1GB 7200rpm (yeah, only 5400rpm right now, but give it a little while) and probably just reserve a boot partition on that drive to keep a boot drive mirror on, or at least the space to restore a boot drive intact to.

If a 16GB RAM kit were the same price as a 256GB SSD right now, I'd still take the RAM, but that may change in the next year or so, or more likely, result in both.
 
Let me add a little to the discussion about maxing out free memory:

I initially thought that 4GB RAM was plenty when I bought my very first Mac, and I do not have any specific needs, but that assumption was quickly put to rest. Even after upgrading my RAM to 8GB, I found that it's the simple tasks such as Web surfing in Safari that take a fair slice of free memory. And more so under Lion, which seems to have horrible memory management compared to Snow Leopard. A little trick I learned is to purge the cache if you want to regain inactive memory as free memory. You do this by entering the command purge into Terminal and by being a little patient (the procedure takes time to complete).

I've run into certain occasions where I didn't have the slightest bit of inactive or free memory, though. And I wasn't doing anything special; simple iLife applications and a pack of other standard applications running in the background. When I do however start working on something more serious, such as a video project in Adobe Premiere Pro or photo editing in Aperture, I command-Q every running application to make sure there's enough RAM, but after a little while the memory pie starts to fill up with yellow and I often have only 35MB of RAM left.

I can't even imagine what will happen if I need to do any virtualization tasks, but all I'm using is the standard set of applications that these Macs are shipped with and I still have a difficult time with available RAM.
 
I think that in general people don't really understand how the OS handles RAM. Whether PC or MAC, the OS tends to fill up RAM with what it "thinks" you will want to do (I am simplifying this a bit...).

It then pages out the memory when it needs to for various apps.

The ONLY way to assess if you need more, IMHO, is to examine your activity monitor and look at how much RAM you are eating up with the apps that are open and in use on a regular basis.

On the other hand, 8GB of RAM for the MBP can be had for $50, so why the heck not, right? You can give more to Parallels, etc...

R
 
A simple google search would've given you your answer in less than 20 seconds. These regular posts along with the "Should I buy now or wait...." are positively frustrating.
 
you guys know that the inactive memory isn't really being used right? and it can be re-allotted to something else?

(that's what the genius bar told me when i was asking why memory usage was so high)
 
GuitarG20 said:
you guys know that the inactive memory isn't really being used right? and it can be re-allotted to something else?

(that's what the genius bar told me when i was asking why memory usage was so high)
Click to expand...

Of course. However, note I said that was "chill" work time. I don't typically have that much inactive.
 
Lol'd a bit at the people asking why we need more ram than 8gb.

Sorry some of us do real work on our machines:p
 
smali said:
Lol'd a bit at the people asking why we need more ram than 8gb.

Sorry some of us do real work on our machines:p
Click to expand...

Just because what you do on your machine requires an inordinate amount of RAM doesn't necessarily make it work.

Conversely, just because someone's work doesn't necessitate a lot of resources doesn't mean it isn't work.

Just because you're running some VMs means you're doing more work than editors and authors who are using word editors?

Lol get real son.
 
Adamantoise said:
Just because what you do on your machine requires an inordinate amount of RAM doesn't necessarily make it work.

Conversely, just because someone's work doesn't necessitate a lot of resources doesn't mean it isn't work.

Just because you're running some VMs means you're doing more work than editors and authors who are using word editors?

Lol get real son.
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Tell that to people questioning ANYONE who needs more than 8GB. His reason is work but it doesn't matter, people throw this out the "but why do you need more than 8GB!?" regardless of the reason.
 
MagicBoy said:
There's over 2Gb inactive there and the paging activity isn't that high. I don't see the issue, "chill work time" or not.
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The story is different during non-chill work time. You can't see the issue, because you aren't seeing the usage during typical work. Too funny.
 
Well, I'm not someone who would qualify as a "power user" but I can see a significant difference between 4 and 8 GB of RAM in my 13" i5 - the 8 GB makes it snappier in normal use, and I see the dreaded beachball a lot less.

And as inexpensive as 8 GB is, why not go for it?
 
haha oh the endless debate. i have no idea why people always come out of the woodwork to debate the needs of ram-hungry users, but i also wonder why those of us that do need it feel compelled to defend ourselves to strangers on the internet. ;)
 
gorskiegangsta said:
No, you'll need a (2x 8gb) 204-pin SO-DIMM 1333MHz DDR3 RAM (PC3-10600/10666)

Like this
Click to expand...

Sorry to revive an old thread, but that RAM is now $120 with delivery for me. Does RAM really go down that much in price in one year? Is it a good buy now? It would probably be a smarter buy for me than a rMBP (as much as I want one) if it is a good buy..
 
I got my 16gb of ram for $69, but there are sales where I have seen $49 for 16gb ddr 3.
 
djdover said:
Sorry to revive an old thread, but that RAM is now $120 with delivery for me. Does RAM really go down that much in price in one year? Is it a good buy now? It would probably be a smarter buy for me than a rMBP (as much as I want one) if it is a good buy..
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I've always felt that OWC is overpriced. You can buy 2 x 8GB of 1333MHz RAM from newegg for half of what OWC is charging. Just read through the reviews to see what other Mac users are reporting.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0000414&IsNodeId=1&name=DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
 
T5BRICK said:
I've always felt that OWC is overpriced. You can buy 2 x 8GB of 1333MHz RAM from newegg for half of what OWC is charging. Just read through the reviews to see what other Mac users are reporting.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0000414&IsNodeId=1&name=DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
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Well I be friggen damned! Much appreciated. That's an incredible price drop...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231531

That looks like what I would be going for. I believe RAM for late 2011 is compatible with early 2011, and a review mentioned it worked fine in his wives late 2011 15". He said it runs a tad hotter, but oh well I suppose.
 
16 gig.
 

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Nice.

This thread very well illustrates two facts:
1) Prices can drop very much and very quickly in some cases
2) Hardware manufacturers would do well to plan for the eventuality.

RGDS,
 
djdover said:
Sorry to revive an old thread, but that RAM is now $120 with delivery for me. Does RAM really go down that much in price in one year? I
Click to expand...

Not always. But new high density tech is expensive and hard to reliably produce. It is available, to those willing to pay what is required. Later, the tech is mastered, mass production gets more successful, and then the price drops.
 
throAU said:
Not always. But new high density tech is expensive and hard to reliably produce. It is available, to those willing to pay what is required. Later, the tech is mastered, mass production gets more successful, and then the price drops.
Click to expand...

Agreed. There is a bell curve on ram prices, and 1333 mhz (and possibly 1600) is at the bottom of the curve until a new improved ram comes out. Everyone will switch to manufacturing the new type, supply will go drastically down and accordingly prices will start to rise as there will still be some demand with people upgrading 'older' systems.

Accordingly, 16 gb of modern ddr3 laptop ram is now half the price of 8 gb of ddr2.
 
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