Time to Upgrade the RAM?

[DavidLeigh]

Hi All,

So i bought my MBP15 last year 2012 which came with 4gb of RAM. Only now have i started to get Page-outs of around 200mb to around 1gb (i saw earlier) and i remember someone here saying that this is what i have to look out for. The page-outs was accompanied by lag, which was why i remembered to check the activity monitor. The difference i guess is that i've started to do some photo editing and processing, mostly in the RAW format. I sometimes do this whilst browsing online as well. Apparently this is memory-intensive enough to give page-outs. I'm little surprised actually. So what would you guys advise? An upgrade up to 8gb or 16gb, with 8gb still being the official maximum?

Regards,

 

[GGJstudios]

To determine if you can benefit from more RAM, launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM. If your page outs are zero or very low during normal use, you probably won't see any performance improvement from adding RAM.

Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used

You can find specs on all Apple products, including maximum RAM:

• By visiting EveryMac.com: Actual Maximum RAM
• By selecting your model on the Crucial Memory Advisor™ Tool to find RAM information
• By using Mactracker
• By entering your serial number here to find specs for your model.
  (Be aware that some models can use more RAM than Apple shows. Check EveryMac to verify actual usable RAM.)

 

[mobi]

If you are planning on using this machine for a few years, the extra few $$ is worth it. Future proof your machine and enjoy leaving all your programs open.

16gb @ Crucial is running around $125

 

[johnnnw]

http://s8.postimg.org/db0mrart1/Screen_Shot_2013_03_05_at_9_52_30_PM.png

my pageouts...

I think I may upgrade.

----------

To determine if you can benefit from more RAM, launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM. If your page outs are zero or very low during normal use, you probably won't see any performance improvement from adding RAM.

Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used

You can find specs on all Apple products, including maximum RAM:

• By visiting EveryMac.com: Actual Maximum RAM
• By selecting your model on the Crucial Memory Advisor™ Tool to find RAM information
• By using Mactracker
• By entering your serial number here to find specs for your model.
  (Be aware that some models can use more RAM than Apple shows. Check EveryMac to verify actual usable RAM.)

Forgot to quote, my post is above I should upgrade to 8 right?

 

[GGJstudios]

Imagehttp://s8.postimg.org/db0mrart1/Screen_Shot_2013_03_05_at_9_52_30_PM.png

my pageouts...

I think I may upgrade.

If that represents normal use for you after restarting your Mac, I would say additional RAM would be helpful.

Forgot to quote, my post is above I should upgrade to 8 right?

8 or 16. Whichever you can afford. While 8 may be sufficient for your needs now, think about possible future requirements.

 

[srsub3]

for sure you need to upgrade... after switching to mountain lion i found the ram necessary at least 8 gb.... buy 16... the $ difference is really little

 

[DavidLeigh]

hmmm so according to the everymac website, my macbook is capable of supporting two 8gb rams for a total of 16gb. It says "third parties" have determined this. Is there a reason why Apple would recommend otherwise? Have there been any problems reported for machines using more than the recommended RAM? I'm guessing that 8gb might be sufficient for my purposes. I wouldn't mind spending a bit (and it is a significant amount more) to future proof my machine though.

 

[GGJstudios]

hmmm so according to the everymac website, my macbook is capable of supporting two 8gb rams for a total of 16gb. It says "third parties" have determined this. Is there a reason why Apple would recommend otherwise?

The third parties are typically RAM manufacturers like OWC. Apple has historically understated the maximum RAM for many of its models. It's perfectly safe and reliable to run the maximum RAM as stated on EveryMac.com.

 

[keithOrbit]

upgrade ssd than Upgrade the RAM, my macbookpro 13inch 2011, I upgrage ssd , every good, it faster than upgrade RAM.

 

[snaky69]

upgrade ssd than Upgrade the RAM, my macbookpro 13inch 2011, I upgrage ssd , every good, it faster than upgrade RAM.

You don't understand how computers work.

RAM does not make your computer faster, any perceived difference is in your head. RAM allows you to do more tasks at once before you start using the hard drive as swap. Spinning platter hard drives are hundreds of times slower than RAM, which is why you'll get frequent lag and beach balls when you run out of RAM.

A SSD is only speedier at opening and closing applications or large files, once the application is loaded into RAM, the SSD has no effect whatsoever on speed.

The OP is clearly running out of RAM, and would benefit much more from getting more RAM than upgrading to a SSD.

 

[Count Blah]

RAM first - Enjoy the spinning beachball disappear.
Upgrade HD to SSD second - Enjoy the speedier load times, app starts a large file transfers that take up scant time.

The 1st option is the cheapest and is your immediate need.