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Who needs 8GB of memory

Who doesn't?

For the average user, 4 MB is plenty in 2010. You gain speed by having more of a program running in RAM. In fact, RAM is usually the most cost-effective way to speed up a computer. If your programs/project size exceeds your RAM space, you spend more time accessing the HD. Also, having many programs open at once is possible.

That having been said, I'll repeat: for the average user, 4 MB is plenty in 2010.
 
eawmp1 said:
Who doesn't?

For the average user, 4 MB is plenty in 2010. You gain speed by having more of a program running in RAM. In fact, RAM is usually the most cost-effective way to speed up a computer. If your programs/project size exceeds your RAM space, you spend more time accessing the HD. Also, having many programs open at once is possible.

That having been said, I'll repeat: for the average user, 4 MB is plenty in 2010.
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I think you mean GB :p
 
More RAM = more multitasking.

2 GB is sort of a bare minimum these days (see my sig :eek: ), though I have seen folks on here getting by with less!

4 GB is just about right for most use. 8 GB is better if you are running big apps or need to run a bunch of apps at the same time.
 
The more, the better. But $300 (to upgrade to 8GB) is a lot of money.

I have 4GB RAM on my current laptop and it runs Photoshop just fine (with moderate use - not too heavy). But when I run Photoshop with several apps (mostly iPhone, Safari, iTunes, and some times VLC?), it lags a lot. But that's because my Macbook is really old. I don't think you will have any problem with 4GB on current models.
 
Virtual machines like Windows XP on VMWare can used a decent amount of RAM. When I'm multitasking and using VMWare, I like to have more than 4 GB of RAM. This is where 8 GB would be useful.
 
I'd argue that 2GB is adequate for the average user.

I get on fine with it. I only upgraded from 1GB because it was cheap.

Though of course, the more the merrier really.
 
8GB is not necessary for the avg. user. It's more of a luxury--not really cost efficient either unless you are a graphics or video pro or use Win virtualization s/w.
 
Nghia Nguyen said:
The more, the better. But $300 (to upgrade to 8GB) is a lot of money.

I have 4GB RAM on my current laptop and it runs Photoshop just fine (with moderate use - not too heavy). But when I run Photoshop with several apps (mostly iPhone, Safari, iTunes, and some times VLC?), it lags a lot. But that's because my Macbook is really old. I don't think you will have any problem with 4GB on current models.
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I run Parallels, pshop, mail, firefox, and itunes with 8Gb and have about 500Mb of free memory. It reduced pageouts to a very minimal number, and the beach ball very rarely shows up. with 4Gb, pageouts were very high, and lots of lags and beach balls. totally worth the $340 price to me. ymmv.
 
If you have multiple apps loaded, it comes in handy.

If you run Photoshop, Compressor (Quick Clustering), Motion, and/or After Effects (multiprocessing mode), you can run out of memory in a hurry with only 4GB.
 
I have 8GB on my desktop, since it's my work machine (Photoshop, virtual OSes, etc.). But for my laptop, I only have 2GB. If I were to buy a MBP now, I think I would stick with the standard 4GB.
 
Regarding more ram, I keep telling myself that 4gb is plenty and it is. However I want my new MBP to last for many years and I bet in 2011 6GB of ram will start to become more standard and new applications will require more and more and if you get 8gb of ram now you'll be all set. If I'm spending over 2k for something I know I want it to last for several years. Of course RAM prices will drop but I just checked a few sites and 8gb of ram is very similar to what apple wants. The real question is how much will these ram prices drop in a year?
 
I work in a software dev group that uses exclusivly Microsoft tools so I have a VM running with Visual studio and SQL mgt studio open pretty much all day. 8GB would be really cool as I can only give two to each OS. 5GB to OS X and 3GB to windows would be ideal.

I'm not spending $350 on RAM while I have a mechanical HDD though. I think an SSD would net more improvement.
 
Thiol said:
Virtual machines like Windows XP on VMWare can used a decent amount of RAM. When I'm multitasking and using VMWare, I like to have more than 4 GB of RAM. This is where 8 GB would be useful.
Click to expand...

This is one of the biggest reasons. If you want 4gb on your VM, it only leave 4gb for the system. If you keep VMWare or Parallels running all the time, 8gb is a huge boost.
 
I put 8GB in my i7 and have no regrets. I do larger raw files in CS and a good bit of AutoCad 3D rendering + iTunes and have not even seen the beach ball. It is likely not required and 4 will get more by but 8gb is a lot of breathing room.:)
 
I do, but can't afford it yet. :( One or two Adobe apps plus a VM (or three) open pretty much demands it. If you're just doing email, web surfing, media consumption (as opposed to production) and managing a personal photo collection, it probably isn't any use.
 
It wasn't too long ago that 4GB's was a luxury. When you can get 8GB's of ram for 100 dollars, that's when I'll buy it.
 
The extra RAM comes in really handy for your virtual machines. Other than that you should be just fine with 4GB RAM.
 
Do applications need to be 64 bit for it to be able to utilize more than 4 gigs? I know that is the case for Windows, so I was wondering if it applies to Macs as well.
 
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