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Editing multiple streams of audio, using RAM hungry virtual instruments/processors will quickly swamp 4Gs of RAM.

For video applications, I'm sure it's even more demanding.
 
HP has a workstation you can configure with half a terabyte of RAM. There are people out there who need lots, just not the people doing browsing, watching videos, editing home movies and light photo editing.

My windows tower has 16gb in it, when I'm working on a project & fire up after effects, photoshop, premiere & sometimes illustrator I can definitely take advantage of all that ram(which was relatively cheap anyways).
 
Editing multiple streams of audio, using RAM hungry virtual instruments/processors will quickly swamp 4Gs of RAM.

For video applications, I'm sure it's even more demanding.

Agreed. There are two factors at work here:

1. Files are bigger. 1080P video and 15+MP images are becoming the norm, whereas 5 years ago video was 640x480 and pictures were 3-6MP.

2. A lot of programs are just absolute memory pigs. I was running Aperture and Photoshop the other day, and my MBP was using over 6GB of RAM. For what I don't know, they should have been using maybe a few hundred each at most, but their memory management has gone down the drain now that RAM is so cheap and so many people have so much of it.
 
Virtulization

When people ask why I need so much RAM, I just answer honestly: "Because I'm a badass."

I just upgraded my 2011 quad MBP to 16gb of ram and now I find myself wanting 32gb (which is how I found this thread.) I'm a consultant and like having my whole farm on my MBP because there's no telling where I'll be from day to day.

Currently, I'm running the following in Parallels: FreeNAS, Windows Core for Active Directory, SharePoint Server, 2 Clustered SQL Servers, Windows 7 Workstation, ESXi/vSphere 5 with all the components (vCenter Server, etc), NetApp OS Simulator, and another Win2k8 Core Domain Controller.

Needless to say, I can only run a portion of these at any time with my piddley 16gb of ram ;)
 
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1080p encoding and processing, tens of safari tabs open, running 30 programs at once, crunching big amounts of data via matlab, and doing all of that simultaneously because I want to.

this is the dumbest thing i've read today. you want to do all of things AT ONCE because you want to? :confused:
 
this is the dumbest thing i've read today. you want to do all of things AT ONCE because you want to? :confused:

I currently have 10 other programs sitting idle in the background doing nothing. if I had 32GB of ram I'd just leave everything open while letting a video do it's thing while photoshopping.
 
I currently have 10 other programs sitting idle in the background doing nothing. if I had 32GB of ram I'd just leave everything open while letting a video do it's thing while photoshopping.

its like not all of a sudden 32gb of ram will take away the fact that video rendering will generally try to max out your cpu usage. ram will speed it up, but it will still adversely affect photoshop performance *at the same time*.

even so, your example is not nearly as stupid as the one i was responding to.
 
its like not all of a sudden 32gb of ram will take away the fact that video rendering will generally try to max out your cpu usage. ram will speed it up, but it will still adversely affect photoshop performance *at the same time*.
No, not at all. I worked with x264 (a H.264 encoder, target: 1080p) and with Photoshop and other tools at the same time (Quad-Core Sandy Bridge CPU, 8 GB RAM). No problem. So what you say is probably not your own experience.
 
I could be completely wrong here but I thought the MBP ram limitations were as follows:

8gb = apple claimed max as this was what was available at time of release

16gb = the second gen i5/7 CPU's can only address up to 8gb modules meaning you can not have more than 2x8gb modules in a MBP thus 16gb limits

32gb = iMac as it can address 4x8gb modules.

As I say, could be completely wrong on this but seem to recall reading this on intel's pages.
 
Ahh, it is dumb that someone uses a computer for his/her work? Can you explain that?

That isn't work. That's just someone doing really dumb and inefficient things on the computer just for the sake of it. with that sort of idiotic workflow, he'd need WAY more than 32gb of ram. even so, the guy is a student anyway so i highly doubt its applicable to actual work.
 
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That isn't work. That's just someone doing really dumb and inefficient things on the computer just for the sake of it. with that sort of idiotic workflow, he'd need WAY more than 32gb of ram. even so, the guy is a student anyway so i highly doubt its applicable to actual work.

Actually, I'm not just a student, but also did data analysis in a professor's lab, so 32GB of RAM is something I'd easily utilize. And oh btw, I also have several VMs in use too, one to crunch the data from lab in the background, another one for gaming, and the mac side for multimedia and video rendering. It's my only machine and I like being able to do multiple things at the same time.

And btw, since when did my hardware wants become anyone else's business?
 
I have a machine with 32GB. Only ran me a bout $250 for the ram.

I need it to compensate for inadequacies. :eek:
 
2011 2.2 and 2.3 quads support 32
Best MacBook ever :) retina who?
You're going to be able to get a solid 7 years+ out of that system if you want
(Yes, I know apple will cut off support after 4-5 years)
 
When people ask why I need so much RAM, I just answer honestly: "Because I'm a badass."

I just upgraded my 2011 quad MBP to 16gb of ram and now I find myself wanting 32gb (which is how I found this thread.) I'm a consultant and like having my whole farm on my MBP because there's no telling where I'll be from day to day.

Currently, I'm running the following in Parallels: FreeNAS, Windows Core for Active Directory, SharePoint Server, 2 Clustered SQL Servers, Windows 7 Workstation, ESXi/vSphere 5 with all the components (vCenter Server, etc), NetApp OS Simulator, and another Win2k8 Core Domain Controller.

Needless to say, I can only run a portion of these at any time with my piddley 16gb of ram ;)

Why parallels over Fusion?

It's a shame the new RDMBP's have the RAM soldered on, as you're stuck with what you buy :(

32GB would be great, now only if the ACD's where cheaper, you'd have a truly portable workstation. (as i'd have 2xACD's in the main office and 2xACD's at the home office)
 
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