I got 4GB of ram on my new macbook. i got some spare cash and i was thinking of upgrading the ram to around 6-8GBs. would a upgrade like that really make a difference on the performance that I'm getting right now with 4Gbs?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Will ram really do much?
- Thread starter purpletacoz
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Open Activity Monitor and go to the System Memory* tab and look for Page Outs and Swap used and report back.
Open activity monitor and choose the memory tab. After some use, if youre running low on memory you should get "page outs" If you play games more than will very likely help.
Edit: Sim beat me. I love you sim, always exceptionally helpful.
I hope your job is within support thanks for the heads up, I'm still getting used to the whole mac thing. i got 177 pages outs and 77swap used. is this good or bad?
----------
Open activity monitor and choose the memory tab. After some use, if youre running low on memory you should get "page outs" If you play games more than will very likely help.
Edit: Sim beat me. I love you sim, always exceptionally helpful.
thanks for the heads up
You have Mac OS X 10.7 Lion I suppose?
What does it say in MB or GB?
If your page outs accumulate to more than 1 GB during one day of your typical usage (after you restarted in the morning), then more RAM is useful.
----------
Thanks, but gladly no. I work in film production, currently switching from editing to on-set production (grip and so on), since sitting in front of a computer is not that good for me.Edit: Sim beat me. I love you sim, always exceptionally helpful.
It's a loaded question. Ram doesn't speed things up. It helps prevent slowing when working with larger data or many applications. Lion is pretty ram hungry, so assuming it's cheap and you're going to keep the computer a long time, this would improve its longevity. A nice side effect if you rely on the gpu much at all is that at 8GB or above, it allocates a bit more ram to the gpu. It's referenced somewhere on Apple's site.
dang.. does anyone know what ram brand is best compatible with a late 2011 macbook pro? I've had issues with windows before where my ram would cause so many issues that i literally just gave up on it
Almost any 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM module is compatible, many use Corsair and Crucial RAM, I for instance use some no-name RAM as far as I know.
Is this true for dedicated gpu's too? Like will my early 11 6750 1GB get more with 8 than 4?
@Sim
Hehe ok, you rock as help desk staff anyway.
No, since it is dedicated. Only the integrated graphics processor (IGP) gets more VRAM that way.
Sim sort of beat me to the response there. It just applies to integrated gpus as they share ram. I haven't tested how much performance is contributed by this, but I thought it was worth mentioning, especially for those who play games on 13" MBPs.
thanks for the heads up, I'm still getting used to the whole mac thing. i got 177 pages outs and 77swap used. is this good or bad?
----------
thanks for the heads up
What is your pagein, pageout, and uptime? 177 page outs doesn't tell us anything unless we know how long your computer has been booted and how many pageins we can compare it to.
for instance, right now I have 500,000 in and 700 out with a 2d uptime. 4gigs on a macbook air.
Go to crucial.com they have a walk through process do you input your hardware and they will give you the compatible RAM. I just did it, very smooth. I got 8GB's for under $50 with free shipping, can't beat that.
Great site and scanner.
Can I used mixed ram?
If I buy the 8GB stick can I use it with one of my existing 2GB sticks to give me 10GB ?
Is there any advantage in going with the single 8GB stick instead of two 4GB's, other than having a free slot for future upgrades?
There are only two slots in a MBP. I went from 4 to 8GB with OWC memory for about $60. Two 4GB stick will probably be cheaper than a single 8GB stick. Stick count does not matter.
Not necessarily as often the logic boards have some hard programmed limit.
I don't know where the current 2011 are but there have been earlier models which only supported 8GB and no more, or 16GB and no more.
Theoretically the CPU and the Software can handle pretty much any amount of RAM.
I don't know where the current 2011 are but there have been earlier models which only supported 8GB and no more, or 16GB and no more.
Theoretically the CPU and the Software can handle pretty much any amount of RAM.
You lose the benefit of dual channel if you mix sticks. The best way to go is to buy a matched pair.