What is the point getting 32GB and i9 on a laptop?

[alex0002]

There might be a few applications. A few years ago I attended a VMware vSphere training course, where the trainer had a 15 inch Macbook Pro with 16GB ram and was running VMware Fusion. Under VMware Fusion, he had installed several esxi hypervisors and under those esxi hypervisors he had guest operating systems. He also had a windows guest under Fusion to run the vSphere client.

Once you start doing nested virtualization, you tend to need a lot of ram and with a number of VMs running, you can benefit from having plenty of CPU cores.

Obviously there are only a few people that need to take this sort of power on the road and most would be better off using a desktop/server and a remote connection.

Most people will probably just use the extra power to keep more tabs open, instead of closing some.

 

[FrozenDarkness]

I think 32GB is YMMV. But an i9 is 15%-30% faster on clocks alone for $300. Seems like it's completely worth it if you actually use the laptop for work.

 

[leman]

Even with normal usage, I use about 12 GB of RAM, which is getting uncomfortably close to the 16GB limit. I tend to keep a lot of browser tabs open and even more so when I'm working on Google Spreadsheets and other intensive web apps for work (which literally can take up 1GB of memory PER tab). It's crazy how even keeping a MacRumors tab open in Safari can take up so much memory.

Given that my next MBP upgrade is more than likely going to have 32GB.

Memory management of a modern OS is insanely complicated and its very easy to misinterpret what you are seeing. Especially on a system like macOS which has pursuable memory pages and will aggressively preload stuff to anticipate your actions. A good chance is that you see such high RAM usage simply because you have this much RAM. I would bet that you'd notice no difference to a 8GB machine in a same scenario.

Besides, examples like browser tabs are looking at the wrong end. Even if you didn't have enough RAM to keep all of them resident, loading the tab memory from backing store (a modern SSD) is faster than the tab switching animation. You won't notice a thing, even if the relevant memory has been offloaded to the disk. What matters with RAM is that you have enough to do what do are currently doing. Applications that are currently not doing anything useful can be safely discarded in most cases. This is why the most useful measure is memory pressure, not memory usage.

 

[hajime]

When I do upgrade, which I'm trying to hold out until 2019, I feel like I'm going to go for the maxed 15 inch configuration. Why? Well, VM's are one major reason, I keep two Windows 10 VM's active and trust me, I'm putting my MacBook Pro 13 at the edge with those two. I want to keep my Windows 7 Pro VM up too so I can have it for some additional testing, but its just not possible. In order to keep up with some requirements for work because of the changing direction of a particular software behemoth, I would also like to have some Windows Server VM's in the mix for testing but can't obviously. The 32 GBs and Core i9 would really give me the breathing room and the 4 TB would ensure I'm not constantly having to offload to my external.

It would also be a long term investment paying for itself over time. Think about it, Macs tend to last long. There are users in this forum who are just upgrading 2009 or 2010 MacBook Pro's, thats almost 10 years.

Speaking of Windows7, Apple does not support Bootcamp running it natively. Can it be done easily?

 

[Spazturtle]

Unless you are getting large amounts of page outs you arn't running out of memory, even if you upgrade to 32GB macOS will find something to fill it with.

 

[hajime]

I think 32GB is YMMV. But an i9 is 15%-30% faster on clocks alone for $300. Seems like it's completely worth it if you actually use the laptop for work.

It is not so expensive to upgrade to i9 but the problem is we don’t know yet about its effect on heat, fan, throttling and battery life yet.
[doublepost=1531640625][/doublepost]Is i9 mbp faster than desktop with 8700K?

 

[teohyc]

When you are squeezed for time everyday and wish the computer is faster, you would get the 32gb ram and i9.

I had FCP crashed once while exporting a lengthy 4K video because it ran out of memory. After that, I knew I had to keep the length of 4K videos under a certain limit.

I'm actually seriously considering the new MBPs. But I've two Macs and two is always going to be faster than one.

 

[Gata]

For me, it's a combination of a few things:

• It's going to be my laptop for a while
• The CPU and the memory are the only two parts that can't be augmented through high-speed I/O
• Memory is the part of the MBP that's most likely to age poorly, at this point.

 

[macduke]

The same reason I got 16GB in my personal machine back in 2012: I’m still using it and it’s actually decent. I can’t imagine 16GB being enough in 2024. I’ve only recently began to hit up against issues on my personal machine but my work machine I was hitting it all the time and then got a 5K iMac 2017 with 32GB and that was great but then switched jobs and have a 15” MBP 2015 with 16GB and it sucks again. Basically running a bunch of Adobe CC apps with developer tools and utilities and VMs running at the same time while I work on web redesigns and photo editing.

Honestly though with the crazy fast SSDs in these machines that will only get faster over time I feel like RAM is becoming less important than it used to be. My hope is that we one day won’t need it any more and can just run everything persistently from the disk. Then even power failure won’t require a reboot…I think…in theory, lol.

24GB might be a good option but it doesn’t come in that size.

 

[Valdna]

I don't necessarily need 32GB. However, it would be nice taking my Windows Server lab environment full of VMs on the go.

Mac is the last thing that you should use in that scenario......

 

[hajime]

There are some features (vPro, SIPP, Intel Trusted Execution Technology) that the 8850H has but i9 lacks. Are those features important? I don't know about them but I think I read somewhere that vPro speeds up visualization?

https://ark.intel.com/compare/137979,134899,134906,134903

 

[baypharm]

I run a small media company... doing mostly video work, but some photography as well. Truthfully, sitting at my desk editing - day in and day out, gets boring as hell. My favorite local coffee shop is down the street, and I spent a lot of time working from there. For what I do - my current machine, a 2015 15" MBP is plenty. But when I do upgrade, and possibly soon. I will get the 32GB of RAM for sure.

Yes absolutely. Working from home has definite advantages but does get boring. I relish the times when I travel - working from a nice hotel room or upscale coffee shop - it gets the creative juices flowing and I can get a lot accomplished.

 

[maflynn]

Why invest on more RAM and i9 on the MBP2018 given that it may not be as powerful as a desktop due to thermal throttling and other limitations?

I'd probably say many people who need a mobile solution for their work that requires 32GB of ram.

 

[Mr. Dee]

iJustine bought the maxed out 15 inch config to make YouTube unboxing videos of Apple products. I think for her work, the iPhone 3GS would be more appropriate.

 

[Sciomar]

iJustine bought the maxed out 15 inch config to make YouTube unboxing videos of Apple products. I think for her work, the iPhone 3GS would be more appropriate.

Same goes for all the youtube vloggers.

 

[ofarlig]

iJustine bought the maxed out 15 inch config to make YouTube unboxing videos of Apple products. I think for her work, the iPhone 3GS would be more appropriate.

I think her performance needs are well beyond what most people do on these laptops they get for work, video editing in 4k+ does require quite a bit of resources.

 

[macpanzer]

...but I think I read somewhere that vPro speeds up visualization?

vPro is an enterprise-level (hardware) management feature. Has nothing to do with daily performance.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Speaking of Windows7, Apple does not support Bootcamp running it natively. Can it be done easily?

I think they stopped after the 2016 models (not sure, need to check). I can still run Windows 7 natively in Bootcamp on mine.
[doublepost=1531664483][/doublepost]

I think her performance needs are well beyond what most people do on these laptops they get for work, video editing in 4k+ does require quite a bit of resources.

MKBHD claims the reason he started recording at 8K is because, 10 years from now, when you want to watch his videos at 8K, you will have that option.

I watch old episodes of Computer Chronicles at 360p and I didn't die.

 

[ofarlig]

MKBHD claims the reason he started recording at 8K is because, 10 years from now, when you want to watch his videos at 8K, you will have that option.

I watch old episodes of Computer Chronicles at 360p and I didn't die.

Yeah and I agree with him, if you are going to do something, why not do it properly? They both most likely make decent money into their companies so why not spend a small amount of it on making even better quality videos?

 

[fathergll]

I understand some people need 32GB for work and I may need that as well. For those who do, they can probably afford a powerful desktop with 32+GB ram with powerful GPU and an ultraportable. They can run computation intensive stuffs 24/7. Why invest on more RAM and i9 on the MBP2018 given that it may not be as powerful as a desktop due to thermal throttling and other limitations?

One thing to note is the Apple doesn't have a proper desktop for sale. Mac Mini is basically a ancient underpowered laptop in desktop form....they have an all-in-one(iMac) and a ancient workstation(Mac Pro). In some ways the closet thing to a desktop is a Macbook Pro with external display(s).

 

[Flabasha]

I think they stopped after the 2016 models (not sure, need to check). I can still run Windows 7 natively in Bootcamp on mine.
[doublepost=1531664483][/doublepost]
MKBHD claims the reason he started recording at 8K is because, 10 years from now, when you want to watch his videos at 8K, you will have that option.

I watch old episodes of Computer Chronicles at 360p and I didn't die.

Stuart Cheifet!!

 

[maflynn]

they have an all-in-one(iMac) and a ancient workstation(Mac Pro)

They have the iMac pro as well

 

[jerwin]

I think her performance needs are well beyond what most people do on these laptops they get for work, video editing in 4k+ does require quite a bit of resources.

"If you guys are looking to save money, and you are looking to upgrade, I think the biggest thing you can do is not upgrade to the 4 Terabyte drive. I would recommend getting the two terabyte drive if you are doing a lot of heavy data stuff because my sister did get the one terabyte and she said that she is running out of space so many times when she's editing videos ..." --wisdom from ijustine

 

[Wahlstrm]

I understand some people need 32GB for work and I may need that as well. For those who do, they can probably afford a powerful desktop with 32+GB ram with powerful GPU and an ultraportable. They can run computation intensive stuffs 24/7. Why invest on more RAM and i9 on the MBP2018 given that it may not be as powerful as a desktop due to thermal throttling and other limitations?

There is always people on MR who say its a waste of money to upgrade RAM..
There are literally millions of (basically unusable) Macbook Airs/Pros laying around with 4GB/8GB of non upgradable RAM. Majority these computers would be just fine for another 5 years if someone just spent $200? extra when they bought it.

 

[KarmaRocket]

Yeah and I agree with him, if you are going to do something, why not do it properly? They both most likely make decent money into their companies so why not spend a small amount of it on making even better quality videos?

I'm not disagreeing with you. I think you should always create the best quality you can. But honestly, shooting 8K for youtube videos that are heavily compressed is kind of a waste of money. Especially since once 8K video becomes the norm, most of his content and other youtube creators content will be irrelevant and out of date.