rMBP ram advise for my usage

[sarah3585]

Hi,

My current 15" MBP is a Late 2008 2.4 250HDD, which I upgraded to 8GB ram from its original 2GB, which has really prolonged its yrs of use. It's been a great machine and to be fair still does the job. The battery life is now 1-2hr so it's pretty much become a desktop machine. My main grip with it is how long it takes to boot up (I need to allow 10 mins before it's useable) and using the Finder and opening documents is sluggish, but I suppose that's nothing a new SSD wouldn't solve.

I'm close to pulling the trigger on a 13" rMBP 2.8 i5 with 512GB SSD. I'm drawn to being able to work away from my desk, and taking it to client meeting rather than just my iPad.
I'm a freelance Web designer so I make my living working from my mac. My usage is mostly Sketch App, Sublime Text, Chrome (with lots of tabs) with Mamp and Codekit running. I'll often have some use for Photoshop, Indesign or Illustrator at some point in a day (I'm running CS5 not the new CC suite). I have multiple programs open (I don't like to close, just incase!) I would like to have a virtual machine for IE testing.

So my main question is 8gb or 16gb of ram?

I'll most likely have the machine for 3-4 yrs. I know you can't upgrade the ram in the retina screens so I'm wondering if 16gb is worthwhile in the long run.

I've gone with the top spec 13" as I want the 512 SDD. I currently have 250HDD and it's almost full, every few months I need to do a clean up.

 

[lumencreative]

Hi,

My current 15" MBP is a Late 2008 2.4 250HDD, which I upgraded to 8GB ram from its original 2GB, which has really prolonged its yrs of use. It's been a great machine and to be fair still does the job. The battery life is now 1-2hr so it's pretty much become a desktop machine. My main grip with it is how long it takes to boot up (I need to allow 10 mins before it's useable) and using the Finder and opening documents is sluggish, but I suppose that's nothing a new SSD wouldn't solve.

I'm close to pulling the trigger on a 13" rMBP 2.8 i5 with 512GB SSD. I'm drawn to being able to work away from my desk, and taking it to client meeting rather than just my iPad.
I'm a freelance Web designer so I make my living working from my mac. My usage is mostly Sketch App, Sublime Text, Chrome (with lots of tabs) with Mamp and Codekit running. I'll often have some use for Photoshop, Indesign or Illustrator at some point in a day (I'm running CS5 not the new CC suite). I have multiple programs open (I don't like to close, just incase!) I would like to have a virtual machine for IE testing.

So my main question is 8gb or 16gb of ram?

I'll most likely have the machine for 3-4 yrs. I know you can't upgrade the ram in the retina screens so I'm wondering if 16gb is worthwhile in the long run.

I've gone with the top spec 13" as I want the 512 SDD. I currently have 250HDD and it's almost full, every few months I need to do a clean up.

Hi Sarah, great to hear about a fellow Web Designer using macs

I've currently got a 2011 Macbook Pro which I am looking to replace so I have been looking at all the same things as you have.

In terms of memory, as they are non-upgrade-able, I would strongly suggest you get the maximum that you can afford. Not only will this be a benefit when using the machine but will also boost the resale value when you come to replace it in a few years time.

In terms of the SSD drive, you could save a bit of money by going for the 256GB SSD and something like the Transcend JetDrive which is a high capacity SD Card designed to sit flush in the SD Card Slot. I think they only go up to 128GB at the moment but I'm sure more will follow.

I look forward to reading about what you decide

 

[Meister]

Look here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1756865/

 

[sarah3585]

Hi Sarah, great to hear about a fellow Web Designer using macs

I've currently got a 2011 Macbook Pro which I am looking to replace so I have been looking at all the same things as you have.

In terms of memory, as they are non-upgrade-able, I would strongly suggest you get the maximum that you can afford. Not only will this be a benefit when using the machine but will also boost the resale value when you come to replace it in a few years time.

In terms of the SSD drive, you could save a bit of money by going for the 256GB SSD and something like the Transcend JetDrive which is a high capacity SD Card designed to sit flush in the SD Card Slot. I think they only go up to 128GB at the moment but I'm sure more will follow.

I look forward to reading about what you decide

Buying a 128GB JetDrive and going for the mid-range model with 256 instead of the top one with 512 might be a good solution. I'd save about £150 but I'd lose the 0.2GHz as well as the SSD space of course.

I think 8GB will most likely be enough for my needs (I did the quiz @Meister linked to which confirmed it). However for piece of mind I think I'm going to go with 16GB, that way I'll know for sure it can handle everything I throw at it.

 

[lumencreative]

Buying a 128GB JetDrive and going for the mid-range model with 256 instead of the top one with 512 might be a good solution. I'd save about £150 but I'd lose the 0.2GHz as well as the SSD space of course.

I think 8GB will most likely be enough for my needs (I did the quiz @Meister linked to which confirmed it). However for piece of mind I think I'm going to go with 16GB, that way I'll know for sure it can handle everything I throw at it.

At least with the 128GB JetDrive, if you need more space, you can always keep certain projects on certain cards and swap them out as/when needed. They're fairly new out so I've not tried one yet but will be ordering one soon to give it a go.

In the real world, the extra 0.2GHz won't be noticeable. You will notice a huge performance boost in general purely due to the SSD storage so the extra 0.2GHz won't matter

 

[campyguy]

Hi, not here to advise about your Mac but about the JetDrive, which I own two 64GB drives that I duplicate.

They're Mac-model-specific, in a sense. I bought two for my mid-2012 rMBP and they work great. But in my late-2013 rMBP, they stick out a few millimeters - others have posted about this in other threads. The same would apply to the Transcend SD cards. Some of the cards will fit in one Mac laptop but not be deep enough for other Mac laptops - if you buy one for your current Mac it's going to stick out, and if you buy one for your future Mac laptop/desktop, it won't fit in your current Mac.

And, you won't be able to use any of the recent JetDrive or Transcend SD cards in any other device - they're not "deep" enough. My JetDrive SD cards won't work in a normal card reader, my printers, or my digital cameras. So, I'd suggest forethought here, or just use standard SD cards for now. There's my 2¢!

 

[lumencreative]

Hi, not here to advise about your Mac but about the JetDrive, which I own two 64GB drives that I duplicate.

They're Mac-model-specific, in a sense. I bought two for my mid-2012 rMBP and they work great. But in my late-2013 rMBP, they stick out a few millimeters - others have posted about this in other threads. The same would apply to the Transcend SD cards. Some of the cards will fit in one Mac laptop but not be deep enough for other Mac laptops - if you buy one for your current Mac it's going to stick out, and if you buy one for your future Mac laptop/desktop, it won't fit in your current Mac.

And, you won't be able to use any of the recent JetDrive or Transcend SD cards in any other device - they're not "deep" enough. My JetDrive SD cards won't work in a normal card reader, my printers, or my digital cameras. So, I'd suggest forethought here, or just use standard SD cards for now. There's my 2¢!

Agreed but the idea behind the transcend JetDrives is that if you buy the right one for your Macbook, they sit flush with the Macbook meaning you can leave it in and it's like a second hard drive in a sense, whereas standard SD Cards will stick out and likely get damaged if you don't remove them when on the go.

 

[campyguy]

Agreed but the idea behind the transcend JetDrives is that if you buy the right one for your Macbook, they sit flush with the Macbook meaning you can leave it in and it's like a second hard drive in a sense, whereas standard SD Cards will stick out and likely get damaged if you don't remove them when on the go.

Agreed, however, my note was to the OP was to consider her future as she's an owner of a 2008 device. I know that she wrote she's looking to keep it for 3-4 more years - I have a couple of SD cards that are maybe 8 years old that still work perfectly but for that they're a bit on the small side (for memory). I bought my JetDrive for my 2012 laptop and was a bit bummed that it sticks out a bit on my 2013 - had I known what Apple was up to I would have either waited or just bought standard-configuration SD cards, as my JetDrives do stick out a bit on my newer Mac. That I can't use these short SD cards in anything else is a bit of a PITA sometimes. I also pulled the trigger on the 1TB SSD on the newer Mac so storage isn't so much of an issue now - I use the JetDrive as a scratch disk in PS and AutoCAD and pull it out when I'm done with it.

Also, a note to the OP, you'll want to check Apple's documentation on your Mac - leaving an SD card in the port can pose limitations on your device while sleeping, and there's a few other threads in MR's forums about this matter. Cheers!

 

[sarah3585]

I'm thinking of sticking with my initial thought with the 512 SSD and having the option of a JetLite in the future for VMs, iTunes library, or a backup of client work.
That way I'll give myself loads of options and will still have a very useful mac in a few yrs, maybe I'll even keep it as long as my current 2008 mac.