IMO, RAM will definitely give more bang for buck than an SSD, as RAM prices are (relatively) cheap vs SSD prices which are still somewhat high.
Best to upgrade RAM first, and then if you find you still need it, go for SSD.
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When are the 12/16 GB RAM and 6.0 GBPS SSD Upgrades Worth It?
- Thread starter NickZac
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IMO, RAM will definitely give more bang for buck than an SSD, as RAM prices are (relatively) cheap vs SSD prices which are still somewhat high.
Best to upgrade RAM first, and then if you find you still need it, go for SSD.
Yep, the SSD's speed allows your Mac to have fast access to the pagefile. So, a SATA-III SSD should theoretically be a good compromise between more storage and more RAM in most applications.
For the majority of the users in this forum, I agree heartily, especially for the price. I got 16GB for $140 from newegg which is downright insane, and last I checked 8GB was going for right around $50. If you even open Aperture or Photoshop, that's a hell of a upgrade.
That said, we've been putting small (60GB) Intel SSD's as boot drives in older Dell workstations for replacement shared desktops in our offices. Even with only 2GB of RAM and Windows 7, the users think it's the best thing in the world. I'm going to replace the machines directly under my purview at work with Mac Minis with SSD's next year.
For the average user the "wow" factor of the SSD is pretty substantial. Power users still have some trade-offs, like being able to either stomach the high cost of a large capacity SSD or adding a second drive for storage (what I did).
Regardless, when I was working in FCPx Friday and recalling how much time I spent in Premiere Pro on my old Dell Latitude when I first started my job just doing basic edits, we live in wonderful times
.You're fine. As you correctly stated, you only need more ram when your page outs are high. Much higher than that number. Looks like you are barely caching to the HD at all.
Returning my OWC SSD. Yes, it made my MBP fly. But $ to benefit ratio was quite high. Been using my MBP with HDD and it works just fine - the 16GB RAM was the best bang for the buck upgrade.
I do admit stuff launching in a bounce or less was great. When prices drop and I can get a ~500GB SSD for a decent price, I'll definitely go for it. Remember, last year the RAM was over $1K. Wish SSD prices would drop as fast - I think a drop is coming tho because of all the promotions/rebates we're seeing on SSD's these days. *hopeful look*
I do admit stuff launching in a bounce or less was great. When prices drop and I can get a ~500GB SSD for a decent price, I'll definitely go for it. Remember, last year the RAM was over $1K. Wish SSD prices would drop as fast - I think a drop is coming tho because of all the promotions/rebates we're seeing on SSD's these days. *hopeful look*
That's normal. Basically, if ram is used and then no longer needed, it is inactive. It is easier to keep things inactive than going through the trouble of writing 0s to everything. Also, it is highly probable that you may open one of those files again, so it is good to keep it inactive just in case.