Just switched from an Asus G72GX to a Macbook Pro 13 i5. I love the portability and the quickness of the Mac, I just want a little more speed. Should I just upgrade to 8gb ram, I just want the macbook to be quicker.
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Should I even get ram? MBP 13 i5
- Thread starter bobalob
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what are you doing with the comp? use istat pro widget and see how much ram your currently using.
An SSD or 7200rpm drive would probably give more performance but more ram wont hurt lol
An SSD or 7200rpm drive would probably give more performance but more ram wont hurt lol
The RAM will make the machine faster when multitasking as you'll be able to load more applications in RAM without noticing any slowdown. If you're not using the 4 GB that you already have, odds are you won't notice much of a difference with 8 GB. A SSD would be your best bet. It's going to drastically affect things about your machine that will make it "feel" much faster - boot time, application launch time, etc. I would definitely look into a SSD if I were you.
i am using the istat pro app and it says i am using 481mb, i just want a little extra speed for my games on steam such as portal 2 and css
motulist
macrumors 601
You still haven't defined what you mean by "wanting more speed." Do you want a higher frame rate and higher graphics texture quality setting? Or do you want shorter load times? And if you're talking about online games, do you want shorter download times? What EXACTLY do you want to do better or faster?
i want a higher frame rate, sorry for not telling you that, but yes higher frame rate. i figured ram would be a good place to start, and ssd's are a bit out of my reach at the moment.
this is what im looking to purchase
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231342
this is what im looking to purchase
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231342
acedickson
macrumors 6502a
If you want higher frame rates you need a better graphics card. In essence you need one of the 15" MBPs.
more Ram really wont raise FPS sorry your being limited by the IGP on the 13" sorry.
Ram= better multitasking as mroe can be stored in the rams you need ram fro gaming but your not going to go from 30-60fps with more ram. you might see 1 or 2
Faster HDD/SSD will improve the game load times app launch times and can improve how fast certain aspect of the game loads as it depends when it has to read data off the drive.
your biggest draw is and always will be the IGP on the 13" it can handle gaming but not at high quality or with high fps.
Ram= better multitasking as mroe can be stored in the rams you need ram fro gaming but your not going to go from 30-60fps with more ram. you might see 1 or 2
Faster HDD/SSD will improve the game load times app launch times and can improve how fast certain aspect of the game loads as it depends when it has to read data off the drive.
your biggest draw is and always will be the IGP on the 13" it can handle gaming but not at high quality or with high fps.
oh, i see, what if i want to run windows xp using bootcamp, what will i need to make it less laggy or will the 4gb of ram do just fine?
are you sure? i am planning to download some games on there like maplestory and stuff, do you think it will run fine?
Windows XP will not run on the new MBP's, as of this generation Apple has dropped all driver support for XP and vista, you have to run 7, there is no way around it.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
Edit: Running your games in windows is likely to improve performance a bit, but I wouldn't expect miracles. The Intel 3000HD is a low-end integrated graphics card, it was never meant for gaming in the first place.
Definitely correct, considering if you run the Windows experience index the graphics only score in the mid 4's.
ah I see, I never knew about the xp thing. I just assumed you could run any windows in bootcamp. Thanks for all the information guys, appreciate it. I just got my mac a few days agos so I am still getting accustomed to it. This what I get for getting the base mbp 🙁. Oh well, everything else is great!
one thing to note is that if you are going to run windows 7 using vmware fusion or parallel, then you might want to spring for 8gb of ram. in the setting for these programs, you set how much ram they can use, and let's face it, win7 doesn't work with 2gb of ram...
Yes you will get better FPS by expanding RAM, since VRAM go from 386MB to 512 MB when installing 8GB RAM
acedickson
macrumors 6502a
That won't increase the FPS enough to notice. He's wanting to play games on the highest settings and the 13" just isn't good for that.
SideStepSociety
macrumors 6502
Just curious here, has anyone actually tried installing Windows XP on a new MBP? Just because it's "not supported", doesn't mean it won't work. 😉
I'm sure you could get XP to boot and run on a new MBP (Unless Apple has somehow blocked it. Not sure if this is even possible.) You likely won't have Boot Camp drivers, but you could probably manually install all the drivers you need for the system to work.
I would try it myself, but after all the grief XP has put me through, I told myself I'd never go back to it. 😛
EDIT to add:
Just tried booting to my copy of XP Pro w/SP3. My 2011 17" MBP booted the Windows XP setup just swimmingly! Could've gone further and actually installed XP, but I've already got 7 up and running, so I didn't feel too much like taking a step backwards to XP. 😀
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I have the same spec MBP and played with it for a week before upgrading the ram to 8gb. Honestly, I do not see a difference. I have to admit I did not really stress the computer with a lot of programs running, but overall for my daily task of web surfing, listening to music, and chatting on Adium seem to be the same.
I wish I messed around with Lightroom and Photoshop prior to the ram upgrade, then maybe I can appreciate the upgrade.
I wish I messed around with Lightroom and Photoshop prior to the ram upgrade, then maybe I can appreciate the upgrade.
hi just wanted to update you guys, i plan on buying windows 7, but i dont know which one to get or it doesnt matter?
rockyroad55
macrumors 601
SideStepSociety
macrumors 6502
NickZac
macrumors 68000
Let's see a screen shot of your activity monitor showing RAM utilization. A RAM upgrade can make a big difference for some, and absolutely no difference for others. It depends on your current resource drain. When you take this shot, run all the applications that you normally do to show normal use.