RAM upgrade worth it?

[screamieri]

Hi guys,

right now I have a baseline 13'' MacBook Pro non-Retina and I use it mainly for blogging and coding. I've noticed however that sometimes launching applications can take a bit too much and I was wondering if I should upgrade the 4GB RAM currently installed in the notebook.

Can anyone tell me if this is hard and how much it could cost?

 

[maflynn]

Check out your page outs in the activity monitor, if they're high then yeah you probably could use more memory.

I think going to 8gb will probably help you but to be honest until you see if the slow down is from page outs (which adding ram will help) I'm hesitant to give you a blanket statement.

 

[benwiggy]

I'm hesitant to give you a blanket statement.

I'm not! -- "You can never have too much RAM."

Can anyone tell me if this is hard and how much it could cost?

Apple provides instructions for how to install RAM on each model. It's THE user-serviceable part! Once you've got to the RAM, you just push apart the plastic clips and the card will pop up, then slide it out. Push the new one in till it clicks. It's just like LEGO.

Go to a memory supplier like Crucial, Kingston, NewEgg, etc. Most of them will let you buy RAM specifically for your Mac model, so you don't need to get bogged down in the spec too much. Their websites will show you the price.

 

[hallux]

Just don't be swayed by specific "for Mac" memory. As long as the specs are correct you can use ANY memory.

As benwiggy noted, can never have too much. My 2012 15" was beachballing CONSTANTLY while trying to run a VM with the stock 4 GB. Upgraded to my 16 GB and I can run TWO VM's and not even see a difference.