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RAM upgrade and why the 13" MacBook Pro is even called Pro.

1

13ms13

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 24, 2010
35
0
Tychy, Poland
I have a 2009 13" 2.26 GHz MacBook Pro w/ 2 GB RAM. I do a lot of music editing and I use VST plugins (RAM hogs). And the MacBook is laggy as hell, my songs won't play or render properly. Will adding RAM (2GB->4GB, no money for 8GB) solve the problem?

You don't have to read this part: The thing is everything works just fine on my parents' 2.0 GHz iMac w/ 4GB memory but I went away to college, so I wanted a small laptop. I decided to buy the base MacBook Pro and spend the rest of my money on a new audio interface and upgrade the RAM in the future, if needed (better specs than the iMac after the upgrade) - but now, I'm seriously considering just selling the MacBook. I don't live in the US, so I couldn't try it before buying - but all the reviews (CNET, Gizmodo etc. + Amazon) were saying 'it's faster, it's cheaper, it's awesome!', so I gave it a shot. Turns out, 'faster' doesn't mean 'fast' and also, too many regular joes can now buy MacBook 'Pro's'. Why is the MacBook even called pro? As far as I remember, 5 years ago there was an actual difference between iBooks and MacBook Pro's... The only pro thing about my laptop is its name. Other than that, it's slow as F*CK. What are your thoughts?
 
You should definitely go up to 4GB of RAM, it'll make a difference. Other than that the harddrive is always the largest bottleneck. Get a hybrid disk (Momentus XT) or an SSD.
 
lol I I have 15mb free memory left without even using the plugins (only real instruments). I guess I'm in serious need for a memory upgrade.
 
13ms13 said:
lol I I have 15mb free memory left without even using the plugins (only real instruments). I guess I'm in serious need for a memory upgrade.
Click to expand...

Inactive is also free, so add free + inactive to get the real amount of unused RAM. Anyway, 2GB is not enough for you
 
Apple constitutes "Pro" as being a FireWire 800 port, backlit keyboard, SD card reader, SSD option(granted you can put an SSD in the white MacBook aftermarket), and an 8GB RAM ceiling(you can also put 8GB of RAM in the white MacBook, just can't upgrade directly from Apple like the SSD's).
 
Yes, there's still 450mb inactive memory left... I thought that didn't count because I can't really use inactive memory anyway :)

I'm just wondering if 4GB will be enough - I will have to check the memory usage on my iMac - because 250$ is a lot for me. Anyway, should I stick with my current MacBook and 'pimp it out' :D (8GB RAM, faster hard drive) or is it not worth the investment (that means I'd have to buy a new one with better everything)?
 
13ms13 said:
Yes, there's still 450mb inactive memory left... I thought that didn't count because I can't really use inactive memory anyway :)

I'm just wondering if 4GB will be enough - I will have to check the memory usage on my iMac - because 250$ is a lot for me. Anyway, should I stick with my current MacBook and 'pimp it out' :D (8GB RAM, faster hard drive) or is it not worth the investment (that means I'd have to buy a new one with better everything)?
Click to expand...

If you don't want to take the plunge into 8GB of RAM then you can save 140 bucks and go to the cheaper 4GB solution.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/8566DDR3S4GP/
 
13ms13 said:
Yes, there's still 450mb inactive memory left... I thought that didn't count because I can't really use inactive memory anyway :)

I'm just wondering if 4GB will be enough - I will have to check the memory usage on my iMac - because 250$ is a lot for me. Anyway, should I stick with my current MacBook and 'pimp it out' :D (8GB RAM, faster hard drive) or is it not worth the investment (that means I'd have to buy a new one with better everything)?
Click to expand...

Get 4GB first, then upgrade to 6GB and 8GB if needed :cool: For most tasks, 4GB is more than fine
 
On my old computer, 2gb was annoyingly slow for Internet, music, word processor. Definitely a ram upgrade is needed. It'll really change your computer.
 
Thanks for the help! I think I'll go with 4GB then :) I'll just make sure it is enough before I buy (I'll have the chance to check tomorrow).

Also, would you recommend OWC or Crucial memory?
 
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13ms13 said:
Thanks for the help! I think I'll go with 4GB then :) I'll just make sure it is enough before I buy (I'll have the chance to check tomorrow).

Also, would you recommend OWC or Crucial memory?
Click to expand...

Both are great but I would get OWC, just because their support is great
 
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13ms13 said:
Thanks for the help! I think I'll go with 4GB then :) I'll just make sure it is enough before I buy (I'll have the chance to check tomorrow).

Also, would you recommend OWC or Crucial memory?
Click to expand...
OWC.
 
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4GB RAM, Firewire 800, SD Card Reader, More HD options, Backlit Keyboard... And you're complaining? Please, do some research before posting whinings. All of this for only 200$ more.
 
Yes :) You can get it all cheaper on eBay. But is Samsung as good (reliable) as OWC?

Also, I decided to upgrade my hard drive. I'm constantly low on space and I like using my external hard drive as more of a back-up/ stuff-you-might-wanna-go-back-to drive. I currently have a 160gb drive and I try to keep 10gb free (very hard to do). 500gb would be nice but it seems that people around here prefer smaller drives - why is that? I mean, 500gb would be nice (especially that it's only 20$ more) but 320gb would most definitely do. Any suggestions on which one I should choose (also, which brand)? Also, would the speed difference between my current 5400RPM and the new (hopefully) 7200RPM drive be noticeable?

ramzhh said:
4GB RAM, Firewire 800, SD Card Reader, More HD options, Backlit Keyboard... And you're complaining? Please, do some research before posting whinings. All of this for only 200$ more.
Click to expand...
I was talking about 2009 MacBook Pro's. Also, I was not talking about the SD card reader, backlit keyboard etc. but about how laggy they get when you want to go beyond viewing your photos in iPhoto. Sorry about the misleading thread title, 2010 MacBook Pro's are much improved - more RAM, bigger hard drive, faster processor. Everything the 2009 models lacked.
 
13ms13 said:
too many regular joes can now buy MacBook 'Pro's'.
Click to expand...

What exactly does this have to do with anything? Complain about specs, price, performance, etc. all you want, but the "other people can afford it!" comment just seems elitist and irrelevant. I'll never understand the snobbery about MacBook Pros. Luckily the only place I've actually ever witnessed this is on these forums.
 
Of course, if someone has the money, why not? It's just that such people very often write misleading reviews. MacBook Pro's used to have a noticeable edge over iBooks - but now, it seems to me that the 'pro' standards are lowered. And this is also misleading. You're buying a computer that was supposed to be fast enough for your needs, especially that it's called pro, and it's just not enough. Again, sorry about the title, I'm talking about 2009 MacBook Pro's. I'm sure the 2010 models are much better performance-wise.
 
Queen of Spades said:
What exactly does this have to do with anything? Complain about specs, price, performance, etc. all you want, but the "other people can afford it!" comment just seems elitist and irrelevant. I'll never understand the snobbery about MacBook Pros. Luckily the only place I've actually ever witnessed this is on these forums.
Click to expand...

The only perspective I could see this comment making sense is that a Pro system should meet needs that a consumer (i.e. non-pro) doesn't need or care about. Therefore, it should cost more. So, perhaps he is saying that it isn't 'pro-enough' because it is priced well down into the consumer realm.

But that is kind of stretching to rationalize the statement :)
 
akm3 said:
The only perspective I could see this comment making sense is that a Pro system should meet needs that a consumer (i.e. non-pro) doesn't need or care about. Therefore, it should cost more. So, perhaps he is saying that it isn't 'pro-enough' because it is priced well down into the consumer realm.

But that is kind of stretching to rationalize the statement :)
Click to expand...

PErsonally, as a consumer that cannot afford the higher end laptops, I appreciate they have a cheaper "pro" I can afford. There are plenty of features in the pro that are nice and useful for us "average joes" that I like I can get (the keyboard, the case is nicer, the extra port though I wouldn't care if it was firewire or USB, I want three ports).

Personally though I'd like to see them offer a high end 13". Not that I could afford it, but it would be one I could dream about (I don't really care too much for the 15 or 17 despite having faster processors/better graphics card mainly cause they're just too big for what I would want).
 
Without stretching: they released a laptop that was simply not fast enough to be called pro just to make it more affordable and attract more buyers. It could have been priced 200$ higher but actually serve at least semi-professional purposes. The 2010 models are what the 2009 models should have been from the beginning.

Maybe it's not that much of a problem in the States, but just for your information, here where I live - in Poland - the average salary is 850$ and the laptops are priced *wayyyyyyy* higher. I'm a student, so I was saving for it for three years and I got extremely pissed off when I realized my MacBook is pretty much useless when it comes to music editing.

Call me elitist, I don't care, but when I buy a 'pro' laptop, I don't expect it to be some made up fairytale name, no, I'm expecting a laptop which is fast enough to do semi-professional work on.
 
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