Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What difference would 8gb RAM make for me?

Starry

Starry

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 18, 2011
89
0
California
I just got a MacBook Pro i5 base 13in model with 500GB hard drive. I bought RAM last week( Kingston 1333MHz 8GB). I'm now having second thoughts about the RAM. I've been told it doesn't make a difference for someone like me who only does Microsoft Office documents, a lot of internet browsing, some iTunes, and some iPhoto. I feel like I shouldn't add the RAM.. But I'm keeping this laptop for a while(3 years). Would I see a difference in speed? I heard about the graphics card being updated.. My Mac's a bit slow right now. I'd love it to be faster, and I don't want/can't afford a SSD. Please advise me. If you've upgraded your RAM, please tell me the difference you saw. Thank you.
 
With that usage, it's doubtful that you utilize even half of your current 4 GB. I mean, if you already bought it though, you might as well install it, it could come in handy for future usage.
 
Archlord said:
With that usage, it's doubtful that you utilize even half of your current 4 GB. I mean, if you already bought it though, you might as well install it, it could come in handy for future usage.
Click to expand...

Could it make my laptop last longer and still be speedy?
 
Don't guess, check.

IMG Courtesy of snApple:
HT1342_2----en.png


First run a typical / normal session so that you can get a real world picture of your memory usage. Include any intensive applications if you think you may be slowed down to to lack of memory usage.

Then fire up activity monitor and look directly the number of PAGE OUTS. Everything else is for all intents and purposes irrelevant.

If you have a high number of page outs (anything greater than a few megs) then that means the OS is having to swap stuff from memory to hard drive, which is fine. It also has to swap stuff from the hard drive BACK to memory which is where the performance hit occurs.

More memory if you are paging out alot = less disk access. Less disk access = more in ram. More in ram = faster operations. Faster operations = happy computing.
 
The laptop isn't just going to slow down over time. With your usage, you won't need the extra RAM. Sure you can get it just to have but ultimately you don't need it. Having it won't make the machine faster either if you aren't using the 4 gigs you already have.

It's like adding more HP to a car you only drive to work and back. Sure you can do it but it won't impact you in a positive way.
 
With your usage, absolutely nothing.

And this isn't windows, the laptop isn't going to bog down and slow down over time.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the answers! :)

This is my daily RAM usage;


Also, it seems a bit high just for safari usage.. Still not sure..
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2011-07-28 at 5.52.48 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2011-07-28 at 5.52.48 PM.png
    34.7 KB · Views: 162
It will depend on how intense you use iPhoto.

I was using all 4 GBs of RAM when I was editing photos so an 8 GB upgrade was necessary.
 
with your usage you will notice no difference ... you bought it so just install it

it will help re-sale value
 
What all do you do? It's one thing to just post a picture of the Activity window but that doesn't really tell us what you do and what you think you want to do with the machine. Mine often looked like that but I never actually needed 'more' RAM.

Do you often have a TON of high intensity applications open that use up your RAM? Or do you open and close the apps you need at will while having some open.

Having at least 30 tabs in Firefox, HD movie, Excel, Word, and Aperture did not slow me down at all. That's on 4 gigs of RAM. If I allocated 1 gig to my VM, I could have all of that sans Aperture and work with ease.
 
Young Spade said:
What all do you do? It's one thing to just post a picture of the Activity window but that doesn't really tell us what you do and what you think you want to do with the machine. Mine often looked like that but I never actually needed 'more' RAM.

Do you often have a TON of high intensity applications open that use up your RAM? Or do you open and close the apps you need at will while having some open.

Having at least 30 tabs in Firefox, HD movie, Excel, Word, and Aperture did not slow me down at all. That's on 4 gigs of RAM. If I allocated 1 gig to my VM, I could have all of that sans Aperture and work with ease.
Click to expand...

I use a lot of iTunes, lots of safari, some iPhoto. Stream a lot of HD content. Lots of Pages, tons and tons of pages... I get the spinning wheel a lot in safari when I am streaming HD content. other than that, thats about it
 
Hook'Em2006 said:
I use a lot of iTunes, lots of safari, some iPhoto. Stream a lot of HD content. Lots of Pages, tons and tons of pages... I get the spinning wheel a lot in safari when I am streaming HD content. other than that, thats about it
Click to expand...

If you do all of that at the same time, then I think you'll benefit; especially if the spinning wheels is due to the lack of RAM and nothing to do with your HD. I got the wheel occasionally but that was whenever I ran a VM and tried to do everything all at the same time.
 
Young Spade said:
If you do all of that at the same time, then I think you'll benefit; especially if the spinning wheels is due to the lack of RAM and nothing to do with your HD. I got the wheel occasionally but that was whenever I ran a VM and tried to do everything all at the same time.
Click to expand...

If by VM you mean windows, I don't have it installed on my comp. I think I am gonna upgrade, just for ***** and grins tho!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back