Absolutely correct, but my comment was that you won't notice the paging as much. Apple manages memory very well, so hopefully paging won't happen as often or as heavily.
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Ram: 8gb vs 16gb
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Absolutely correct, but my comment was that you won't notice the paging as much. Apple manages memory very well, so hopefully paging won't happen as often or as heavily.
1. Paging hurts your SSD. Not good.
2. As long, as relatively slow HDD is the main reason for spinning rainbow etc, you may not notice lack or free RAM. When your storage is fast enough, insufficient RAM might become the next weak point.
Oh, yes, lets switch to personalities and blame each other
Just try to run Mojave at 2Gb, which will be enough by your opinion. Even at 4Gb it is barely usable.
To get smooth experience you need to avoid swapping as much as it is possible at all. Not to just squeeze unswappable into the ram and everything else on disk.
not sure what you mean , I have used Mojave on 2gb ram , I'm not just saying my opinion. I have tested it.
I have tried it in several different scenarios , all were quite usable except the spinning disk tests.
go to the Mac mini thread and post 4gb is "barely usable" , tons of folks on there run it just fine.
Im not trying to blame you , just stating what I have tested, sure you can disagree but I have the data.
That depends on what to compare.
Definitely, 8 Gb + SSD will be much faster than 16 Gb + HDD in case you choose between same-priced configs.
I just want to say that if there is a fast SSD then 16Gb looks much more balanced config. The same with HDD: if you have an HDD then, perhaps, 8Gb will be enough - anyways you will notice HDD’s lags, not RAM’s
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Sound interesting then. What was the exact config and what release of Mojave?
A couple of weeks ago I installed El Capitan on an old IMac’2009 (SSD, though) and the difference between 4 and 6 Gb was clearly visible.
Dont have any intention to test Mojave on my MBP leaving it with only 4Gb, but since there is 8 Gb of 12 left (one sodimm was sacrificed for that iMac
) I notice that Win7 under Parallels runs slower.
That depends on what to compare.
Definitely, 8 Gb + SSD will be much faster than 16 Gb + HDD in case you choose between same-priced configs.
I just want to say that if there is a fast SSD then 16Gb looks much more balanced config. The same with HDD: if you have an HDD then, perhaps, 8Gb will be enough - anyways you will notice HDD’s lags, not RAM’s
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Sound interesting then. What was the exact config and what release of Mojave?
A couple of weeks ago I installed El Capitan on an old IMac’2009 (SSD, though) and the difference between 4 and 6 Gb was clearly visible.
Dont have any intention to test Mojave on my MBP leaving it with only 4Gb, but since there is 8 Gb of 12 left (one sodimm was sacrificed for that iMac
a 2009....thats your problem....core 2 duo's , memory bandwidth is terrible on those.
This is a great article on just the impact of the cpu generation alone would have on the system,
https://www.techspot.com/article/1039-ten-years-intel-cpu-compared/
4GB in I series configs (tried Mac mini + iMac i5's) , with 128gb ssd's work well , running video editing (basic) and every day applications.
Let's focus on what you need now.
Do you use Parallel Desktop or VMFusion? If so, you'd better get 16GB.
I got 8GB on my Macbook Pro Retina 2013. Mac OS itself runs fine. However the Windows virtual machine would take either 3GB or 4GB of ram to run. I would have occasional slowdowns in both Windows and Mac OS with Parallel Desktop.
Do you use Parallel Desktop or VMFusion? If so, you'd better get 16GB.
I got 8GB on my Macbook Pro Retina 2013. Mac OS itself runs fine. However the Windows virtual machine would take either 3GB or 4GB of ram to run. I would have occasional slowdowns in both Windows and Mac OS with Parallel Desktop.
Heh! No problem at all: that iMac is one of the smoothest computers I’ve ever seen! Just saying that even for El Capitan 6 Gb is a must.
Of course, I had my Mojave on 6Gb and it was working. I bet it will work on 4Gb, the question is - will there be difference if you add some more?
So, if even today you can (easily) reach the 8Gb limit, what will you expect for tomorrow?
without a question , getting the most ram is best. however 8gb for a user right now would be plenty. when it comes to virtualizing , I found it much cheaper to get a used a server on Ebay for 300$ , since servers are worthless used since no businesses buy used stuff to trust their data with.
im not saying do not buy 16gb , I'm just not recommending it to someone who doesn't do anything intensive....even some that do video/picture editing 8 is fine , in those cases 16gb could help but wouldn't be game changing
/opinion
The thing about 16 GB though is the software caching that macOS is actually quite helpful. For example, the initial load of MS Office is very, very slow, but subsequent loads from memory cache are very quick.
This is on a 27" iMac with and 24 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD BTW, and on my 12" MacBook with 16 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD.
I just checked the Activity Monitor on my 15 inch MBP and it says that 13.47 GB of RAM are in use. The largest use of RAM is Think or Swim, a trading application from TD Ameritrade. It is currently display 45 real-time charts - I plan to increase that to 80 when I have time to reconfigure the real-time charts section. Firefox is the next largest consumer of RAM. There's 2 GB used for cached files so, if you leave your Mac on for long periods of time, there can be some benefit in performance if commonly used files are cached in RAM. Virtual Machines are one application that can really use up a lot of RAM. I will likely go to 32 GB or even 64 if it is offered, in the future.
My son works in a data science, research and lab environment and they have a couple of servers with a few hundred GBs of RAM (and dozens of CPUs). It would be nice if they could do more work on their laptops but the laptops will never replace servers - maybe just offload some of the work.
My son works in a data science, research and lab environment and they have a couple of servers with a few hundred GBs of RAM (and dozens of CPUs). It would be nice if they could do more work on their laptops but the laptops will never replace servers - maybe just offload some of the work.
Sorry to dig this thread back up, but I am in the same boat as OP. However, I’m looking at the 2019 13” MBP. I will be primarily using this Mac for Microsoft office, email, and Logic Pro X. I’m wondering if I should consider upgrading the RAM to 16GB or if that isn’t necessary. Through my organization I receive an 8% discount if I go with the 8GB of RAM. That is my dilemma. If I opt for 16, then I lose that discount and will have to pay full price. In your (and everyone else’s) opinion, is the 16GB of memory worth it, or will I be completely satisfied with 8GB? Is there anyone using Logic that is using a system with 8GB? If so, how are you liking it?
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
I guess in large part, a lot depends upon if you will keep it more than a few years? Keep in mind a totally new redesign is coming in 2020, so will you be likely to get a new one then? if so then maybe 8 is enough for now? I have friends who have the 2019 8gb and It seem just fine and they push it pretty hard... now I would get the 500 memory for sure at least!
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I think you are just fine with 8gb IMO..
I'm curious when 32gb is needed for video editing. Specially on a laptop, i'm usually always editing in proxy to keep the fans quieter so not sure 32gb is even needed at that point unless editing a Blade Runner sequel or something very complex and long. I feel like Vega 16 would be a better investment over 32gb for most laptop editing but not entirely sure.
Tried my 2012 MBP with various amounts of RAM (4, 6, 8, 10 and 16 Gb) and workloads.
To tell long story short:
- 4 Gb is enough to run Mojave and just one simple task, like Mail w/simple messages;
- 6 Gb is a minimum for comfortable office work - Mail, messages, one or two browser tabs etc
- you have to put some effort to get over 8gb, however, for example Parallels and Windows VM do this easy
- 10-12 Gb seems to be practical limit for Mojave
- you have to put extra effort to make use of 14+ Gb, like running simultaneously VMs, Acrobat w/huge PDFs, 10s of browser tabs etc. this seems to be a bit ridiculous.
To tell long story short:
- 4 Gb is enough to run Mojave and just one simple task, like Mail w/simple messages;
- 6 Gb is a minimum for comfortable office work - Mail, messages, one or two browser tabs etc
- you have to put some effort to get over 8gb, however, for example Parallels and Windows VM do this easy
- 10-12 Gb seems to be practical limit for Mojave
- you have to put extra effort to make use of 14+ Gb, like running simultaneously VMs, Acrobat w/huge PDFs, 10s of browser tabs etc. this seems to be a bit ridiculous.
This seems about right. I only occasionally need more than 8 GB for heavy office usage. It should be noted though that:
1. Having extra memory speeds up app reloads. MS Office is esp. slow to launch. Having extra memory caches it once you have launched it. The second time you launch it, it is very fast.
2. There is a memory leak in MS PowerPoint. If I leave it active for a long time with larger projects, I can get over 1 GB usage in PowerPoint alone. Having extra memory makes this less of an immediate concern.
IOW, in most instances for my usage 8 GB is fine, but occasionally more-than-8-GB is better partially just to overcome the bloat and bugs in MS Office.
BTW, for my old 2008 aluminum MacBook which I was just using for kitchen surfing and recipes, we only had 4 GB in it and it was acceptable for High Sierra. However, I found that even with that very light usage, occasionally I’d still get the spinning beachball of death. Upgrading it to 8 GB made those almost completely disappear. So IMO, 6 GB is a better minimum these days even for light usage. That makes sense from your summary as I consider that light usage to include email, a few browser windows, and perhaps Preview running and showing a few downloaded pictures from emails. I upgraded to 8 GB since it only cost US$35 to do so. I lucked out and got in on a flash fire sale on 8 GB of name brand RAM so I jumped on it when I had the chance.
iPadOS 13 may make this mostly moot though. We’ve been using our MacBooks less and less and iPads more and more. A 4 GB iPad works very well, and I may hand over my 10.5” Pro with 4 GB to my wife and upgrade once the 6 GB 11” model with 128-256 GB storage is available, maybe next year.
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Summarizing the above: if you plan to use your MBP’2019 for 2-3 years, 8 Gb is okay. If you think about longer life in your hands - better take 16 Gb.
I still use MBP’2012 and do not have such trouble
I still use MBP’2012 and do not have such trouble
is your 2012 8gb?Summarizing the above: if you plan to use your MBP’2019 for 2-3 years, 8 Gb is okay. If you think about longer life in your hands - better take 16 Gb.
I still use MBP’2012 and do not have such trouble
Macbooks have soldered ram...I'd get 16gb minimum. 8gb might be enough for today (wasn't for me...but I have a heavier workload), but will it be enough in 4 years? MacBooks are so expensive...I want to get 5 years out of a new one at least.
In my experience RAM usage on average has gone up about 50% every 5 years or so. That said, it also seems to be slowing a bit.
Still, let's say RAM usage only went up 33%. That means a minimum of 6 GB would become a minimum of 8 GB, with a comfortable amount becoming around 11 GB. But you can't buy 11 GB. The only more-than-8-GB option is 16 GB.
Still, let's say RAM usage only went up 33%. That means a minimum of 6 GB would become a minimum of 8 GB, with a comfortable amount becoming around 11 GB. But you can't buy 11 GB. The only more-than-8-GB option is 16 GB.
Right now it has 10 Gb as I had also ‘2011 MBP and transferred one 8 Gb module to it.
10 Gb seems to be enough for me, but as soon as I discover that I need more - I will buy one more 8Gb module and make 16 Gb. This (either 10 Gb or memory upgrade) is impossible, unfortunately, for ‘2019 MBP...
MS office task, email, storing and lookin at some photos etc... maybe watching some videos/movies...
8 GB probably fine, esp. if you plan on only keeping it 2 years.
For battery life, will it be better on an 8 or 16gb RAM machine (2019) assuming 8 runs more efficiently... ?