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think new MBP will have 16 GB ram?

pesos

pesos

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 30, 2006
702
196
This will probably be the deciding factor for me, as I want to set up a mobile Hyper-V lab. The HP Envy would be my second choice - 16 GB ram (4 dimms) and two drive bays for dual SSDs. Hope Apple realizes there is a demand for large ram configurations in their high end machines!
 
pesos said:
Hope Apple realizes there is a demand for large ram configurations in their high end machines!
Click to expand...

There really isn't aside from a few select people like yourself. I have no idea how they would physically fit 4 slots in the current configuration unless they eliminated the optical drive, and even then they probably wouldn't use the extra space for 4 slots.
 
Doubtful.

It fails to fit the need for laptops. That's why apple sells Mac Pros - for folks who need some high end computing capability.
 
Dell and HP are already offering i7 laptops with 16 GB ram. You may be right, especially, since Apple has really consumerized the MBP and pretty much taken all the "pro" out of it. And yes, the i5's power requirements preclude 4 dimms, so the i7 is necessary for those configs. but the chipset is the same, so the same machine can be configured with either i5 or i7 and appropriate ram config to match...
 
Design being one aspect, I don't think Apple would really give the option of 16GB of RAM in their portables. With Apple's mindset of how they view their lineup, they figure if you needed that much power, the user would be better off with a desktop. Of course there would be others who say otherwise. Back to the design aspect of it, typically the more power, the more heat that's going to be generating. I could only imagine if you really needed 16GB of RAM, you're really pushing your computer to do something and that's obviously going tax the CPU and with Apple's design being slim, I really don't think that would be ideal. At least not for the upcoming update.
 
16gb of ram isn't that much these days, even the imac can do it. Pro level machines are pushing 64/96/144 configs with the new chipsets. HP has 4 dimms and two SSDs in the same physical form factor as the MBP, but the optical drive is sacrificed, which I don't see Apple jumping to do...
 
Maybe in the 17" if it comes with a mobile i7.

I'd love 4 slots actually because it would mean cheaper 8gb with 4x2gb but it doesn't seem possile to me.

We'll probably see 8gb dimms in 2010. It will be nice if those will be supported by the chipset. Prices will be insane but they are targeted at enthusiasts in the first place.
 
I as thinking of the possibility of a different mobo for the 17" model that would accomodate 4 dimms (plenty of space there)... Would be a great way for them to drive people to the bigger/more expensive model. I would buy a 17" with a high res screen and 4 dimms in a heartbeat. luckily 8 gb dimms will eventually come down in price making that another option some day...
 
pesos said:
16gb of ram isn't that much these days, even the imac can do it. Pro level machines are pushing 64/96/144 configs with the new chipsets. HP has 4 dimms and two SSDs in the same physical form factor as the MBP, but the optical drive is sacrificed, which I don't see Apple jumping to do...
Click to expand...

It really isn't if you're in that field which requires it but for the majority, 4GB is more than enough and 8GB is almost suicide. Also it's really not about is it a lot. It has more to do with Apple. We all know how Apple likes to design their products and with that, we can almost predict what to expect (not the exact specs but what not to expect like 4 DIMM's due to the lack of room).
 
pesos said:
Dell and HP are already offering i7 laptops with 16 GB ram...
Click to expand...
My personal experience with Dell is they offer products like this, but the design is flawed, and the things overheat and shutdown when you actually try to make full use of the capability. I went through two Dell Inspiron XPS laptops that just wouldn't work as advertised. After numerous catastrophic failures over the course of 2.5 years, Dell finally gave me a brand new BTO Precision M90 laptop. By then I had given up and gone to Mac. I still have the M90. It overheats and shuts down within 15 mins. if I try to play a game like HL2, so I just use it to access a corporate VPN for Outlook email and Office Communicator IM.

The point being, just because Dell offers something doesn't mean Apple can or should follow suit.
 
miles01110 said:
There really isn't aside from a few select people like yourself. I have no idea how they would physically fit 4 slots in the current configuration unless they eliminated the optical drive, and even then they probably wouldn't use the extra space for 4 slots.
Click to expand...

Correct; 16GB of RAM in a notebook seems overkill. You may be one of few , but not enough to justify the addition of 16GB of RAM.

Habitus :apple:
 
... Would you REALLY want to pay whatever outrageous price 2 SODIMMs of 8GB RAM costs (do they even exist and are they even supported?)? The 27" iMac can do 16GB because it has 4 slots.
 
Although 16GB would be really nice for some users, it would be better to see RAM prices declining in consumer cost first. I mean, come on.. 8GB of RAM still isn't very accesible to the average consumer. (Still costs $600). Even Dell memory isn't cheap either.

Imho; 8GB should be at least half the current price before 16GB hits mainstream.
 
Gabriel GR said:
Ram consumes some electricity too. It's not an issue on mobile workstations that are constantly plugged in but it would be on a macbook.
Click to expand...
And if two of the slots don't have modules in them?

butterfly0fdoom said:
... Would you REALLY want to pay whatever outrageous price 2 SODIMMs of 8GB RAM costs (do they even exist and are they even supported?)? The 27" iMac can do 16GB because it has 4 slots.
Click to expand...
The OP has talked about 4 slots.
 
pesos said:
You may be right, especially, since Apple has really consumerized the MBP and pretty much taken all the "pro" out of it.
Click to expand...
The "pro" moniker is pretty much marketing anyway, since even Apple's (and pretty much everyone elses) high-end laptops have always been built with consumer grade hardware.

A real "pro" laptop would be to consumer laptops what a Sun or SGI server is to a whitebox server IMO. And they probably wouldn't sell due to costing $8000 a pop.
 
rgarjr said:
would cost a fortune to get that much RAM on a Book. Not that they don't cost that already. :p
Click to expand...

No no no! TWO fortunes! One for each ram slot. Coincidentally, the ram slots will be adapted to the form factor of a credit card reader.
 
pesos said:
This will probably be the deciding factor for me, as I want to set up a mobile Hyper-V lab. The HP Envy would be my second choice - 16 GB ram (4 dimms) and two drive bays for dual SSDs. Hope Apple realizes there is a demand for large ram configurations in their high end machines!
Click to expand...

No.
 
im sorry but this is totally pointless...

whats the use in having all that ram?

your macbook pro will never use that to its capacity, total overkill
 
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