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To those with rMBP 16 GB RAM

T

timsaxman

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 13, 2013
92
0
Those of you who ordered the rMBP with 16 GB RAM, why do you need it? I'm having a hard time to choose and I wonder what you use it for and if there are any regrets going with this upgrade? What makes it worth upgrading without discussing what I will use it for, just tell me why you need it. :)
 
I spent a couple of days considering it and opted to save the $200 (might be cheaper now).

People will doubtlessly tell you they are "future proofing" their machines by getting 16GB of RAM. Honestly, if you don't need it now, you probably won't need it later.

My workflow consists of:
- Parallels / Windows 7 (2 GB RAM allocated)
- MS Word, Excel, PPT always open
- Chrome
- Misc education and programming tools (nothing heavy)

I have never run out of RAM with 8 GB.

I also play games in Windows 7 and I haven't found a single game that even "recommends" more than 4 GB of RAM.

In the end, it all depends on you and your workflow.
 
I find it useful when I have lots of programs open. I run many times Lightroom + photoshop and basic stuff (safari, spotify, itunes, word, excel, powerpoint) at the same time.

With 16gb I can run all those smoothly at the same time and my macbook is also future proof. For my needs it was great upgrade, but it depends how you use your computer.
 
I am in the same situation with the previous poster. I run several VM's, with Oracle applications and databases running on them to provide POC's and data cleansing for my clients. I usually assign 4GB of RAM to the Oracle VM's and 2-4 GB for the app servers. This is in addition to running all of my Mac apps in managing several clients' infrastructure.

On a side note, I wish VMware would hurry up and make a Mac client for VSphere.
 
Trubbles said:
I spent a couple of days considering it and opted to save the $200 (might be cheaper now).

People will doubtlessly tell you they are "future proofing" their machines by getting 16GB of RAM. Honestly, if you don't need it now, you probably won't need it later.

My workflow consists of:
- Parallels / Windows 7 (2 GB RAM allocated)
- MS Word, Excel, PPT always open
- Chrome
- Misc education and programming tools (nothing heavy)

I have never run out of RAM with 8 GB.

I also play games in Windows 7 and I haven't found a single game that even "recommends" more than 4 GB of RAM.

In the end, it all depends on you and your workflow.
Click to expand...

You didn't but I did, just got a 2012 Mini a couple of weeks ago and had pageouts and I am doing the same or less than you, Safari also seemed to be a RAM guzzler, this might have changed with the 10.8.3 update.
8 GB is quite a lot but if you run iTunes with a huge Library, Safari with multiple Tabs open and a Virtual machine + Kerneltask is now using more than 1 GB on startup it's fairly easy to hit that 8GB.
From the 8 GB I already "loose" 2 GB right after login!
 
I have a friend who, simply put, never want to close any programs or shut down the computer and he regrets not buying 16 GB. But that is maybe just plain stupid or could it be a valid argument? Since you don't have to shut it down like a pc.
 
I got 16GB RAM and now I kind if regret it. My rationale was that I develop data mining algorithms for fairly large and complex datasets and my algorithms sometimes tend to eat lots of RAM. However, 16Gb is just too much, I would have done just as well with 8GB. The only time I saw a page out is when I made a mistake in my code and the algorithm ended up grabbing 25GB of memory within a few minutes :)

P.S. Anyway, the department payed for the machine, so well...
 
Last edited:
I only have 8 gigs in my rMBP, however, with that machine, I feel 16 would've been better. Many processes just seem to need a lot more memory than they used to (maybe in part because of the high res?), and I suppose it'll only get worse in the future.

So my vote would be for 16 if you can afford it.
 
it depends on what you plan to use it for, Photoshop (especially the latest suite) loves having more RAM. If you plan to bootcamp and run any VM, the ram will be used up quickly unless you don't multitask much..
 
I opted for 16gb as the plan on keeping this beyond 2 years and the way software is increasing in terms of being bloated.

Since the rMBP has its memory soldered onto the logic board I did not want find myself dealing with performance issues and unable to alleviate the issue.

I typically run Vmware, photoshop, lightroom and a handful of other apps and they can all easily chew up the 8gb, so in the future any one of those apps could be demanding more resources then I may have if I opted for the 8gb model.
 
willgreene99 said:
On a side note, I wish VMware would hurry up and make a Mac client for VSphere.
Click to expand...

They won't. Their direction is to continue adding new features to the vSphere Web Client, until at some point it will have everything that the thick client has, and more. For example, with 5.1, in order to use Replication, or local storage vMotion, you need to use the Web Client.
 
I do not regret getting 16GB at all. I run parallels and some work related programs with lots of tabs. It feels good I can open any windows and many window on internet and just keep going with choices. In fact I think often I am glad I came to this site and learned before ordering my rMBP. I came from a 2011 MBA with lots of pages out with my 4GB. I needed ram and not necessary a increase in cpu.
Very pleased.
 
I use my rmbp for basic stuff, itunes, Office 2011, browsing web, some youtube, movie watching and thats about it. i dont have windows in there, i dont do photo or vid editing.

everytime i check istat i usually have 4GB free on my 8GB machine

i always feel like getting 16gb even though i know i dont need it but im sure to knowing if i had it is cool haha, but to each their own, 8gb is enough for me.

i future proof by selling the old and buying the new.

its not like a house, a computer is like a car, its not forever, yet people treat it like its the last one they'll ever buy, get what u need know and worry about the future in the future, maybe in the future we wont even need laptops, maybe it will be all tabs

:apple:
 
I get the impression that the people who needs 16 GB uses either VMVare or Photoshop on a daily basis. I do neither, and would only use Photoshop occasionally and then I could just shut down some programs if the RAM would be running out at the moment? Or do you still think I should go for the 16 GB for future proofing? Because I'm not the one who sells it and buys a new one every year.
 
You will never regret spending the extra money once it is spent but you may regret not getting the RAM once you have the computer. It's not like you can upgrade it later so if you are debating it this much..... just get it.
 
timsaxman said:
I get the impression that the people who needs 16 GB uses either VMVare or Photoshop on a daily basis. I do neither, and would only use Photoshop occasionally and then I could just shut down some programs if the RAM would be running out at the moment? Or do you still think I should go for the 16 GB for future proofing? Because I'm not the one who sells it and buys a new one every year.
Click to expand...

Even so, I wonder if those people are actually monitoring the RAM usage to see if it ever spikes above 8GB...
 
timsaxman said:
Those of you who ordered the rMBP with 16 GB RAM, why do you need it? I'm having a hard time to choose and I wonder what you use it for and if there are any regrets going with this upgrade? What makes it worth upgrading without discussing what I will use it for, just tell me why you need it. :)
Click to expand...

I can answer that for you:

1. Everything grows in memory usage. OS X, Office 20xx, CS x, FireFox, Chrome, et al are not going to get any slimmer. They grow in functionality which will eat more memory.

2. Extended life. You can't upgrade 8 GB to 16 GB. Maybe you think I'm not going to do that much work on it, but if that should change you are locked in. I could never survive on 8 GB of ram. I would have considered going 32 GB if it were offered.

Now, I do work with many, many applications open at the same time including one or two VMs for development. Each VM has a minimum of 4 GB assigned to.

As you can see, memory can get eaten up quickly.


3. Resale value. 8GB might seem 'good enough' now but if you sell it later on it will be a hinderance.


My best suggestion is asking yourself what you plan on doing with it today and however long you plan to keep it.

-P
 
duervo said:
They won't. Their direction is to continue adding new features to the vSphere Web Client, until at some point it will have everything that the thick client has, and more. For example, with 5.1, in order to use Replication, or local storage vMotion, you need to use the Web Client.
Click to expand...

Yep, we just migrated one of our big Vcenters to 5.1 and we are shifting to Web client as VMWare has told us that in 2 or 3 versions the thick client will dissapear.
 
Considering how much you're already spending- what's an extra $200 that will DOUBLE the RAM?
Also- the 16gig will be an easier re-sell- (if need be)
IMO- it's a no brainer.
 
timsaxman said:
Those of you who ordered the rMBP with 16 GB RAM, why do you need it?
Click to expand...

I needed it for intensive Photoshop editing of large, RAW files. I have an early 2013 15" Retina MBP with 16GB RAM (which I'm returning to the store), and a late 2012 cMBP with 8GB RAM (which I'm also returning). In my estimation, the cMBP with 8GB of ram is much faster than the retina with 16GB. Don't ask me why. :rolleyes:
 
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