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Upgrade of ram from 2 to 4 gb?

G

Gordon90s

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 11, 2008
23
0
Hi everyone!

I know this question has been posted a lot of time, but I did a little bit of research on the forum and read all the 14 pages that had something to do with ram (when searching "ram" on the forum), but none of these posts did really answer my question :/.


I have a unibody macbook pro 2,4 GHz, the one from Oct 08 with 2 gigs of ram, and i'm still not sure if a should update to 4 gigs or not.


I use my macbook pretty often (couple of hours a day), firefox + itunes + skype + msn open kind of 24 for 7, and quicktime + iphoto + imovie + preview + Adobe reader also open very often. (all at the time sometimes).

(I will also upgrade to SL when I'll get it from Apple!)


So i wanna know if it would make a big difference if I update my ram (from 2 to 4 gb)!


Right now i have 1,7 gigs used, 1 gig activ, 600 mo passiv, 30 mo free (on my monitor)




Thanks in advance for your answers! =).

P.S. : I'll be happy with just one good link that matches pretty much my question, I couldn't find the right one for me!
 
I would say you'd see a difference in some of those programs, but probably not all. It's only ~$60 for 4GB of Corsair and it's pretty easy.
 
Definitely upgrade to 4GB. It is very cheap and you will see a speed increase in just about all your apps. More RAM the better, and the more apps you can have open and run.
 
I wouldn't upgrade to 6 if I were you. Your MBP has 2 ram slots, and if you use a matched pair (same size, timings, etc.), you will see a performance increase due to the RAM running in dual channel mode.

Conversely, with 6 GB, you will be using an unmatched pair, one stick of 4 GB and one 2 GB. These will not enter dual channel mode, and thus will be slower.
 
Ptyger said:
I wouldn't upgrade to 6 if I were you. Your MBP has 2 ram slots, and if you use a matched pair (same size, timings, etc.), you will see a performance increase due to the RAM running in dual channel mode.

Conversely, with 6 GB, you will be using an unmatched pair, one stick of 4 GB and one 2 GB. These will not enter dual channel mode, and thus will be slower.
Click to expand...

not that slower.
 
DAMNiatx said:
not that slower.
Click to expand...

Perhaps not. But with running the apps that they are, the trade off probably wouldn't be worth it. 4 GB should be more than enough RAM to handle those at the same time. Why take a performance hit when you don't absolutely need to?
 
Check the Activity Monitor (Applications, Utilities) and tell us your page in to page out ratio. If you're getting a lot of page outs, then an upgrade will help out. This is a good way to check if you're using up all your RAM. If you get 4 GB and are still getting page outs, then you might want to get 6 GB instead.
 
Thiol said:
Check the Activity Monitor (Applications, Utilities) and tell us your page in to page out ratio. If you're getting a lot of page outs, then an upgrade will help out. This is a good way to check if you're using up all your RAM. If you get 4 GB and are still getting page outs, then you might want to get 6 GB instead.
Click to expand...


Right now i have 1,7 gigs used, 1 gig activ, 600 mo passiv, 30 mo free (on my monitor)
Click to expand...


That's from my Activity Monitor ^^.


Thanks for the help, I'll upgrade to 4 gigs ;).
 
spend the money now and get 1 x 4GB stick because you can always upgrade to 6GB at a later date if you need to without spending much money
 
Can I do the upgrade myself?

I heard that it can end the warranty if I do it myself (and I bought apple care, my warranty still has a little bit more than 2 years..).


P.S. : In Europe it seems that Apple now offers 2x2 for 90 euros. I want to do it myself but if it cancels the warranty, I probably won't have the choice!
 
Gordon90s said:
Can I do the upgrade myself?

I heard that it can end the warranty if I do it myself (and I bought apple care, my warranty still has a little bit more than 2 years..).


P.S. : In Europe it seems that Apple now offers 2x2 for 90 euros. I want to do it myself but if it cancels the warranty, I probably won't have the choice!
Click to expand...

It won't void the warranty unless you break something while doing it. RAM is meant to be a user serviceable part. Some people, however, suggest keeping the old RAM. In case you need to ship your laptop back to Apple for repair, some suggest putting the old RAM back in just to avoid potential problems. Personally, I've never done that and have never had any trouble with Applecare.
 
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