MBP 2017 TB 512/8GB vs MBP 2017 noTB 512/16GB

[Braveshock]

Hi,

Have some quick question regarding MacBook pro with and without touch bar. I bought MacbookPro 2017 512/8GB with Touch bar but noticed that memory in almost fully used (7,2GB used from 8GB). I don't work with heavy 3D model programs or video editing (for my private usage only) or pictures but like to have a lot of tabs opened in Safari and a lot of documents in the background. I'm just a little bit worried about next years of using this equipment in terms of lack of memory.
I started thinking about changing this computer to a model without touch bar but with 16GB of RAM. I know that CPU is a little bit slower and has only 2 USB C ports but think it enough for me (I'm using a LG27UD88 monitor which is charging my laptop the same time).
The touch bar is very fancy but think I use it maybe 20% of my time. Sometimes I thinking I wish had normal buttons.
Could you give me some advice if it's worth to go for 16GB of RAM but with slower CPU nad GPU?
The price would be almost the same (I bought my MBP with TB a little bit cheaper so it seems that MBP without TB but with 16GB of ram will cost 50$ more than my MacBook with TB)
Thank you for your help

Regards
Matt

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

When you describe that memory as almost fully used, this is completely normal. The system will use as much memory as it has, so if you upgraded to 16GB you'd see a similar situation. What you need to look at is the memory pressure graph, if this is green then it's all fine and I'd leave things as is. It's a better computer and swapping 8GB/16GB of RAM is likely to make little difference for you, but will as you said suffer from slower components.

 

[Braveshock]

When you describe that memory as almost fully used, this is completely normal. The system will use as much memory as it has, so if you upgraded to 16GB you'd see a similar situation. What you need to look at is the memory pressure graph, if this is green then it's all fine and I'd leave things as is. It's a better computer and swapping 8GB/16GB of RAM is likely to make little difference for you, but will as you said suffer from slower components.

Thanks for quick answer. Good to know.
I’ll try then upload some picture from memory pressure graph but as I remember I saw orange color.

 

[Pearl Wisdom]

I'm still using Sierra on a 2014 15" MBP with 16GB/500GB. I keep about a 100 tabs open in various Safari windows. Also running Chrome browser with about 20 tabs in a few windows. And keeping other apps (Mail, Preview, LibreOffice, iTunes, Calendar, etc.) running. I think I need the 16GB. I prefer to not restart that often, and gradually the amount of swapped and compressed memory grows into a significant number of GB as the days pass, and eventually performance seems to suffer some even though the memory pressure may still be at the high end of green in the Activity Monitor. I don't know if High Sierra would be different, or the somewhat faster SSD in 2017 might make swapping and compressing more tolerable with 8 GB. In my opinion, the 16GB is definitely a good idea and may insure the long term performance with future OS releases.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Thanks for quick answer. Good to know.
I’ll try then upload some picture from memory pressure graph but as I remember I saw orange color.

Orange is slightly worrying, what is tour workload to pressure your memory like that? if its that high a use case, the TB is probably a better computer for you so you may have to go for 16gb in the TB rather than drop to the nTB just for 16 gb of ram. An apple refurb may lower the price of what you want for you.

 

[Jimios]

Check the memory graph in the Activity Monitor app. Keep it open during your normal workflow. If it never goes into red, you're fine. Remember, unused RAM is wasted money.

I'm still using Sierra on a 2014 15" MBP with 16GB/500GB. I keep about a 100 tabs open in various Safari windows. Also running Chrome browser with about 20 tabs in a few windows. And keeping other apps (Mail, Preview, LibreOffice, iTunes, Calendar, etc.) running. I think I need the 16GB. I prefer to not restart that often, and gradually the amount of swapped and compressed memory grows into a significant number of GB as the days pass, and eventually performance seems to suffer some even though the memory pressure may still be at the high end of green in the Activity Monitor. I don't know if High Sierra would be different, or the somewhat faster SSD in 2017 might make swapping and compressing more tolerable with 8 GB. In my opinion, the 16GB is definitely a good idea and may insure the long term performance with future OS releases.

100 tabs?? WTF?

 

[PBG4 Dude]

100 tabs?? WTF?

I know, right? There’s bookmarks, reading list, and history to keep this from happening.

 

[Braveshock]

Check the memory graph in the Activity Monitor app. Keep it open during your normal workflow. If it never goes into red, you're fine. Remember, unused RAM is wasted money.



100 tabs?? WTF?

I’ll chceck it today once again to see how the graph behaves. I’ve never achieve red color during my work but thinkink what it’s gonna be in next 1-2 years.
...sometimes think that instead of the Macbook Pro 512/16 I should have bought Microsoft Surface with Quade Core 7i

 

[DarkSel]

Definitely upgrade to 16 GB. I wouldn't buy a new computer in 2017 with only 8 GB of RAM and no future upgradability.

 

[ZapNZs]

I would stick with the touchbar - and, depending upon your RAM compression, 16 GB may or may not be worth the investment. With the nTB, between your workload and the monitor you are using, it is very probable that the computer itself will be noticeably more audible, which is something you may potentially find yourself not liking.

 

[Braveshock]

I would stick with the touch bar - and, depending upon your RAM compression, 16 GB may or may not be worth the investment. With the nTB, between your workload and the monitor you are using, it is very probable that the computer itself will be noticeably more audible, which is something you may potentially find yourself not liking.

Thanks for this information. So it seems that I'll stay with Touch bar model but the question is if I should upgrade to 16GB or not (worth to add that need to spend 400$ to upgrade once I return my current equipment in order to buy a new one with 16GB of ram). Below I attached some screenshot from ram and CPU usage when I loaded a lot of things like iMovie (compression in background), Excel sheets, Word, Webs browsers with tabs (chrome and safari, youtube in the background), Affinity photo, quick time player with movie playing in background ect)
As you can see I achieve orange pressure graph but it wasn't easy in my opinion.

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

Thanks for this information. So it seems that I'll stay with Touch bar model but the question is if I should upgrade to 16GB or not (worth to add that need to spend 400$ to upgrade once I return my current equipment in order to buy a new one with 16GB of ram). Below I attached some screenshot from ram and CPU usage when I loaded a lot of things like iMovie (compression in background), Excel sheets, Word, Webs browsers with tabs (chrome and safari, youtube in the background), Affinity photo, quick time player with movie playing in background ect)
As you can see I achieve orange pressure graph but it wasn't easy in my opinion.

Get 16GB if you can as it's usually a sound investment. But as you said the 8GB you currently have is fine, pushing the system to reach a point is unnecessary. You need to just monitor it during normal work flow, getting it into orange also isn't a bad thing, it just means that's about the 'safe' level you want to be working with. If you get it into red, that's when you'll notice the system slowing down. It also uses the SSD as a swap drive so anything you're not actively using (I.E. you opened iMovie before everything else, it'll be thrown to the back of the queue) gets stored onto the swap and when you switch back it'll it up and move it into the RAM.

So if you can afford it by all means get it, but I wouldn't stretch anything to get it. You'd be better off holding on to your system for the next 3-4 years and then if you get issues, upgrading the entire machine. Rather than having 8GB extra RAM that you don't use 99% of the time.

 

[Braveshock]

Get 16GB if you can as it's usually a sound investment. But as you said the 8GB you currently have is fine, pushing the system to reach a point is unnecessary. You need to just monitor it during normal work flow, getting it into orange also isn't a bad thing, it just means that's about the 'safe' level you want to be working with. If you get it into red, that's when you'll notice the system slowing down. It also uses the SSD as a swap drive so anything you're not actively using (I.E. you opened iMovie before everything else, it'll be thrown to the back of the queue) gets stored onto the swap and when you switch back it'll it up and move it into the RAM.

So if you can afford it by all means get it, but I wouldn't stretch anything to get it. You'd be better off holding on to your system for the next 3-4 years and then if you get issues, upgrading the entire machine. Rather than having 8GB extra RAM that you don't use 99% of the time.

Thanks.

I decided to go with 16GM of RAM. I noticed that after 3h of surfing the web, having some programs opened and 20 tab my memory pressure went dramatically up.

 

[ZapNZs]

Thanks.

I decided to go with 16GM of RAM. I noticed that after 3h of surfing the web, having some programs opened and 20 tab my memory pressure went dramatically up.

I think you made the right call. You definitely should go with 16.

A 16GB touchbar should give you many years of enjoyment and productivity, as well as a nice margin for growth as your needs may evolve.