RAM vs SSD

[corndog]

I'm new here and have been reading lots of great threads. But something I can't seem to wrap my head around...I'm about ready to get a MBP, but while looking at several sites, I'm seeing lots of variety..and all within a close price range. I'm hoping to get some much needed advice..My main usage will be browsing, school work for kids (word processing etc) photo and video editing for youtube. Maybe editing some 4K in the future, but working w/ GoPro and iPhone videos at the moment. I'm also on the fence about the 2015/2016 w/o the touch bar (outta my price range right now).

Is it more important to have more RAM than storage? Meaning, I'm seeing 2015 with the 2.7/i5/8GB and 256/512 SSD or some with 2.7/16GB and 128 SSD? I understand I can always, and probably will, get an external HD. I'm also looking at the 2.0/i5 MBP and the same questions arise... Any advice? Thanks,

 

[New_Mac_Smell]

The best policy is to get as much RAM as your budget can afford. 8GB is enough for most people, and certainly in your case. However 16GB will be better, however isn't necessary. Think of it more than "I need 8GB" and that's it, 16GB will potentially be useful at some point down the road if your uses change, and can therefore potentially increase the life of the machine.

Storage is mostly the same thing, except I'd look at how much you need and double it. 128GB is really only enough for word processing and internet browsing, as the OS takes up room and what you end up with is very limited storage. Which is important if you decide to work on a big file and have to work from external. And even if you want to instal a large app, which might not have enough room to download and instal at the same time. So personally I'd say 256GB minimum, as having extra head room for just working with files creates a better experience.

So, kind of long explanation but hope that helps. In your case, I'd consider getting 8GB RAM, 256GB storage as what you need. If you can get 16GB of RAM it'll possibly make the machine last longer, and if you can get 512GB storage it again can make the machine last longer. However if you could only have one you should always choose RAM as this cannot be upgraded, whereas as you've noted, you can always work from an external drive. Oh another point in storage, solutions such as NAS drives are becoming more usable so you might consider one of them in a few years time to add more space.

Hope that helps!

 

[doitdada]

If you edit any video, go for a 15" with quad core CPU and dGPU. They all have 16GB memory.

 

[corndog]

The best policy is to get as much RAM as your budget can afford. 8GB is enough for most people, and certainly in your case. However 16GB will be better, however isn't necessary. Think of it more than "I need 8GB" and that's it, 16GB will potentially be useful at some point down the road if your uses change, and can therefore potentially increase the life of the machine.

Storage is mostly the same thing, except I'd look at how much you need and double it. 128GB is really only enough for word processing and internet browsing, as the OS takes up room and what you end up with is very limited storage. Which is important if you decide to work on a big file and have to work from external. And even if you want to instal a large app, which might not have enough room to download and instal at the same time. So personally I'd say 256GB minimum, as having extra head room for just working with files creates a better experience.

So, kind of long explanation but hope that helps. In your case, I'd consider getting 8GB RAM, 256GB storage as what you need. If you can get 16GB of RAM it'll possibly make the machine last longer, and if you can get 512GB storage it again can make the machine last longer. However if you could only have one you should always choose RAM as this cannot be upgraded, whereas as you've noted, you can always work from an external drive. Oh another point in storage, solutions such as NAS drives are becoming more usable so you might consider one of them in a few years time to add more space.

Hope that helps!

This helps a lot and it was kinda what I was thinking. My minimums are 8Gb, 256GB storage, but if I find a 16GB/512, even better. And to piggyback, from what I've been reading, I'm not seeing ALOT of difference between the 2015 2.7i5 and the 2016 2.0i5, correct?

 

[tryrtryrtryrt]

This helps a lot and it was kinda what I was thinking. My minimums are 8Gb, 256GB storage, but if I find a 16GB/512, even better. And to piggyback, from what I've been reading, I'm not seeing ALOT of difference between the 2015 2.7i5 and the 2016 2.0i5, correct?

MBP 2016 2.0i5 is a non-TouchBar 13" version. There was no counterpart for it in 2015 MBPs, it is more or less a MacBook Air (same type of 15W processor used) with Retina Display on few steroids. You should compare 2016 TouchBar 13" vs 2015 13" as they both use 28W processors.

 

[therealseebs]

It is easier to get an external drive than to get external memory, but... It also depends some on workload. Only one thing at a time? Whatever is probably fine. Lots of things? You probably want 16GB. 8GB will start compressing memory and thus taking some performance hit pretty quickly.

Disk, again, depends somewhat on workload. Lots of video? You might need more space, but more importantly you need external drives. Just text email? Anything's probably fine.