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Polofiesta

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2011
51
0
Hi, I just wanted to post my findings and experience with the crucial 8gb upgrade on a MBP 13" i5(early 2011). Couple people had asked me to post my findings so here it is.

Installation: A five year old could do it :)
Boot-up: I noticed my boot up is about 10 seconds faster.
GPU: My Intel HD Graphics GPU is now at 512mb. In WOW I can now play at max fps and at fair graphics compared to me limiting the fps and having to play on low graphics settings. My processor has become considerably cooler when playing games.

4000rpm , 4gb ram: cpu = 79 DEGREES CELSIUS
4000rpm, 8gb ram: higher graphics/fps , cpu = 70 degrees celsius.

Also i noticed that i can finally use after effects, photoshop, premier pro with a considerable amount of ram free except for ae :p

Geekbench score 4gb ram: 5812
Geekbench score 8gb ram: 6209

If there is anything else you would like to know just post here and ill try my best to answer it from what i have experienced with crucial memory upgrade.
 

Spencer Reynen

macrumors member
Apr 3, 2011
77
0
Hi, I just wanted to post my findings and experience with the crucial 8gb upgrade on a MBP 13" i5(early 2011). Couple people had asked me to post my findings so here it is.

Installation: A five year old could do it :)
Boot-up: I noticed my boot up is about 10 seconds faster.
GPU: My Intel HD Graphics GPU is now at 512mb. In WOW I can now play at max fps and at fair graphics compared to me limiting the fps and having to play on low graphics settings. My processor has become considerably cooler when playing games.

4000rpm , 4gb ram: cpu = 79 DEGREES CELSIUS
4000rpm, 8gb ram: higher graphics/fps , cpu = 70 degrees celsius.

Also i noticed that i can finally use after effects, photoshop, premier pro with a considerable amount of ram free except for ae :p

Geekbench score 4gb ram: 5812
Geekbench score 8gb ram: 6209

If there is anything else you would like to know just post here and ill try my best to answer it from what i have experienced with crucial memory upgrade.
Dang that's awesome... I can't wait to get mine! I have the same model MBP as you so this was really good to know! Thanks man
 

happle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2010
501
0
sounds nice. i plan on putting 8 in my new MBP straight away. do you use up all of the 8gbs or do you still have room to spare? specifically when using photoshop with other apps open as well. i produce music but with a bunch of plugs and such going it can eat up some ram for sure. but i dont think i need 16gb at all. and id rather spend $50 on 8gb than $200 on 16gb.
 

TheJing

macrumors 6502a
Jun 13, 2011
676
14
Somewhere in Europe
I also bought the 8GB from Crucial and I'm satisfied as well.

I use Photoshop quite a lot and I always have RAM to spare even when I have 15+ tabs open in Safari, Spotify playing music and Skyping with people.
 

happle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2010
501
0
I also bought the 8GB from Crucial and I'm satisfied as well.

I use Photoshop quite a lot and I always have RAM to spare even when I have 15+ tabs open in Safari, Spotify playing music and Skyping with people.

word. i think im gonna go with the corsair or OWC 8gb kit. think there will be a difference?

in my current macbook i have crucial and have never had a problem.

btw what speed are you guys running for ram 1333mhz? i heard of people putting in 1600 but id rather not for compatibility issues and such. ill use what i know works.
 

Polofiesta

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2011
51
0
I have a lot of room to spare for sure. I just opened Premier pro, photoshop and loaded some projects and left the videos playing. I also had this window open (safari) and i had 4.93gb free of ram. The only program that eats up my ram is After effects. I have about 500mb left of ram when I'm using it. I guess it takes a lot of ram because of all those effects and libraries it has to load:p. But for music production 8GB should be perfect. At IDLE with safari open its 6.00gb free. What music program do you use?

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word. i think im gonna go with the corsair or OWC 8gb kit. think there will be a difference?

in my current macbook i have crucial and have never had a problem.

btw what speed are you guys running for ram 1333mhz? i heard of people putting in 1600 but id rather not for compatibility issues and such. ill use what i know works.

yea. I could of went with higher speeds like the 1600mhz or even the 16gb of ram but I trust apple. Because if anything goes wrong they would say i told you so :p. I sticked with what apple specified would work and I don't need any more than 8GB. The speed would be nice but you never know. Apple must have a reason for only saying 1333mhz memory. Because why wouldn't they say that you could put 1600mhz in the mbp?
 

happle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2010
501
0
I have a lot of room to spare for sure. I just opened Premier pro, photoshop and loaded some projects and left the videos playing. I also had this window open (safari) and i had 4.93gb free of ram. The only program that eats up my ram is After effects. I have about 500mb left of ram when I'm using it. I guess it takes a lot of ram because of all those effects and libraries it has to load:p. But for music production 8GB should be perfect. At IDLE with safari open its 6.00gb free. What music program do you use?

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yea. I could of went with higher speeds like the 1600mhz or even the 16gb of ram but I trust apple. Because if anything goes wrong they would say i told you so :p. I sticked with what apple specified would work and I don't need any more than 8GB. The speed would be nice but you never know. Apple must have a reason for only saying 1333mhz memory. Because why wouldn't they say that you could put 1600mhz in the mbp?

i use Reason 6 and Ableton Live. im hoping 8gb will be perfect. i currently have 4gb which works perfect, although i usually do eat up most of the 4gb...
 

Polofiesta

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2011
51
0
i use Reason 6 and Ableton Live. im hoping 8gb will be perfect. i currently have 4gb which works perfect, although i usually do eat up most of the 4gb...

Yea 8GB is going to be plenty enough so you will be able to run those music programs plus an additional amount of programs like safari. Like when i was running after effects on the 4gb ram, safari was a bit slow because all my ram was eaten up. But now i can surf and run after effects no problem. Im sure abeleton will be more than enough with 8gb and same with Reason. I have abeleton a piece of crap windows pc with 4gb and like you said it runs fine. But with many additional plugins etc. 8gb would be perfect.
 

happle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2010
501
0
Yea 8GB is going to be plenty enough so you will be able to run those music programs plus an additional amount of programs like safari. Like when i was running after effects on the 4gb ram, safari was a bit slow because all my ram was eaten up. But now i can surf and run after effects no problem. Im sure abeleton will be more than enough with 8gb and same with Reason. I have abeleton a piece of crap windows pc with 4gb and like you said it runs fine. But with many additional plugins etc. 8gb would be perfect.

yeah man! cant wait to get my new top of the line 15" MBP next week :))

i think im going to order the 8gb's soon so its hopefully in by the time i get my MBP

also going to be doing a 128gb ssd sata 3 + 7200rpm 750gb hd in optibay. should be a sweet machine.
 

Jigga

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2009
471
74
Do you think it's worth upgrading a 2009 MBP to 8gb from 4gb? If it's even compatible ram..
 

happle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2010
501
0
Do you think it's worth upgrading a 2009 MBP to 8gb from 4gb? If it's even compatible ram..

do you use any intensive applications like photoshop, logic, ableton, final cut, etc?

if you just use your mac for normal browsing and such id say 4gb is plenty.
 

Polofiesta

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2011
51
0
yeah man! cant wait to get my new top of the line 15" MBP next week :))

i think im going to order the 8gb's soon so its hopefully in by the time i get my MBP

also going to be doing a 128gb ssd sata 3 + 7200rpm 750gb hd in optibay. should be a sweet machine.

Wow man thats gonna be a sweet machine :p

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Do you think it's worth upgrading a 2009 MBP to 8gb from 4gb? If it's even compatible ram..

Yea just like happle said. 4gb is plenty for normal uses. What mbp model do you have from 2009? I can find out what memory you can get.
 

happle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2010
501
0
Wow man thats gonna be a sweet machine :p

oh yeah :D very interested in seeing how the ssd + 7200 data drive performs. i can imagine with the already top of the line machine its gonna be a beast. i love snappy computers.
 

Jigga

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2009
471
74
do you use any intensive applications like photoshop, logic, ableton, final cut, etc?

if you just use your mac for normal browsing and such id say 4gb is plenty.

Wow man thats gonna be a sweet machine :p

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Yea just like happle said. 4gb is plenty for normal uses. What mbp model do you have from 2009? I can find out what memory you can get.
I do use Photoshop on occasion.
Would more ram help battery life?
My model is MB990LL/A
 

happle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2010
501
0
I do use Photoshop on occasion.
Would more ram help battery life?
My model is MB990LL/A

it could help battery slightly. if you run out of ram your mac has a reserved spot on the hard drive which will eat up a tiny bit of battery as well as speed. but in your case it doesnt sound like it would affect it much.

next time your using photoshop like you normally do why dont you check out how much ram your using. i use the application MenuMeters to view my ram usage on the top bar, but you can also use istat pro to check it quickly.
 

angrydog

macrumors member
Dec 12, 2009
78
0
Do you think it's worth upgrading a 2009 MBP to 8gb from 4gb? If it's even compatible ram..

I just placed an order for 8GB Ram for for $18.99 (Had Amazon $20 credit), 4GB is fine if the only thing you do is browse and use iTunes. I needed the extra memory due to video editing. It all comes down to your usage, here is the link to compatible 2009 MBP RAM:

1) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00505EZYW/ | $38.99

2) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UNI80A/ | $39.99 - $5.00 = $34.99

I ordered #1 because I didn't care to deal with a $5 rebate. Both ram are same, just one is geared towards Macs.
 
Last edited:

Polofiesta

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2011
51
0
I do use Photoshop on occasion.
Would more ram help battery life?
My model is MB990LL/A

http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=0D805CB0A5CA7304

That would be the best ram you could get for your computer. It doesn't matter what you brand you get , OWC, Corsair, crucial. I just put crucial because i know it works. As long as it has the same specs specified on the apple website. As for battery life it really won't make a difference they all use 1.5V. Photoshop yea is better with more ram but in my opinion i wouldn't bother upgrading it if you use it on occasion. Use iStatpro and check what your free ram is at when using photoshop and then make your decision. I would say buy 8gb if the ram is less than 300mb.
 

Jigga

macrumors 6502
Jun 11, 2009
471
74
Thanks for the links.
Oddly enough Firefox, with 4 tabs open, is taking up nearly 1gb of ram...
 

Polofiesta

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 18, 2011
51
0
Thanks for the links.
Oddly enough Firefox, with 4 tabs open, is taking up nearly 1gb of ram...

Yea i have the same thing with safari. Safari is known to have its leaks with memory, i don't know about firefox but I suggest getting the app FreeMemory. Its a free app and on the mac app store. It works great. So whenever you go to work on photoshop you can free your memory. It has freed a lot of memory every time I use it. Try that out and see what happens.
 
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