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Will the upgrade to 8gb ram be worth it for a web designer/developer?

A

aaron118

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 18, 2010
5
0
I am about to order my first Mac and im looking to buy the new Macbook Pro 17" core i7 and im wondering whether to just go all out and pay the extra to get the full 8gb ram. I am a web designer and developer so I use a lot of applications like Photoshop and other development tools, im going for the 17" for the screen real estate and im not worried about carrying the extra weight for the 17". But I just want to know if you guys would recommend the ram upgrade and would I notice a difference with it or not? I will also use my laptop to enjoy movies and all my other day to day things like browsing etc.

Thanks
 
It is hard to know without knowing exactly what programs you use but 2 pieces of info

1. Generally apple charges a good deal more for their RAM upgrades then anyone else.

2. You can always upgrade later the cost of memory only goes down.

So I would say get the 4gb, and if you feel like it is too slow, get it upgraded later either for the same price that apple asks for on the website at an apple store, or bye RAM from a vendor (MacMall, iFixit, NewEgg, TigerDirect to name a few) and install it yourself and save some money.

Good luck
-spg
 
Ok well after looking around and Crucial for example want £380 for the 8gb ram kit (2 x 4gb) which is what I would need to replace the standard 2 x 2gb ram, this works out with Apple being cheaper, where should I be looking for this cheaper ram?

Thanks
 
It's not as ridiculous as it has been sometimes -- there have been times when Apple was charging >$200 for memory you could buy for $80.

The other thing is, if you upgrade it yourself, you have 4GB of spare memory you might be able to sell to someone. If you buy the upgrade from Apple, you only get the 8GB.
 
Hey Aaron. As a former web designer I would say no, its not worth the upgrade. You will be fine with the stock 4GB of ram for using photoshop, illustrator, indesign, etc. etc.

Look at it this way, when newer computers come out in a couple years, you can upgrade the ram on your machine then to make you feel like you are at least trying to stay current. :)
 
therealseebs said:
The other thing is, if you upgrade it yourself, you have 4GB of spare memory you might be able to sell to someone. If you buy the upgrade from Apple, you only get the 8GB.
Click to expand...

I just bought an 8GB MBP -- the first time I've ever let Apple do the upgrade, but the price actually seems right this time. Besides, finding a buyer for 2 2GB sticks might be tricky. Because you have to pair the memory, you'd have to buy a full 8GB (rather than just an additional 4GB).

On the other hand, 4GB should be plenty for a while, and the 8 GB upgrade may be cheaper by the time you want it (I'm currently using a 3GB 2.16 model, and it does fine). Still, really looking forward to the speed boost of the i7 15" w/ 8GB.
 
It is not necessary, but it will improve the performance of Adobe CS4. I use ordered 8GB of Crucial RAM through Newegg.
 
I have a new 17" and went for 8GB

After a few hours I find most of my major apps open and 2-3 browsers, and I just want the breathing room.

Also, it gives me flexibility should I want to run a Linux VM for a dev environment.

Lastly, I do use CS4 Production Premium, and soon, CS5 Production Premium and After Effects and Premiere Pro can gobble up the ram easy.
 
I would say yes, i'm pretty sure it will give you more insurance on system freezes so less chances for work loss. I just ordered Crucial 8GB from Amazon for myself today.
 
Appel are charging less for 8gb of ram in the UK then crucial are. I would rather buy from apple.
 
shoppy said:
Appel are charging less for 8gb of ram in the UK then crucial are. I would rather buy from apple.
Click to expand...

Some of us bought our systems from local Apple Stores, thus did not have the opportunity to get the RAM installed in the machine... hence why we're buying 3rd party memory (crucial).
 
Apple is charging $400US for the 8GB.

I see prices out there from $350 maybe, more in the $375 range? Crucial even has it for $500.

Unbelievable, Apple's price is pretty reasonable.

The only real downside is you don't get to keep the 2x2GB chips when you pull the ram. I'm going to put my ram on CL, but I would not be surprised if it draws very little interest.

I walked in an bought a base 17" so, it just came with 4GB.

I thought about for about 1 day and went on an ordered an 8GB kit from OWC.

I have 12GB in my Win7 desktop and it's already be very handy several times.

Weird, seemed like 512 or 1GB was enough just yesterday....
 
£320 for 8GB of RAM is just not worth it! :eek:

I just bought the 17" i7 from my local Apple Store and wanted to max the RAM but they only carried stock 4GB machines.

However now I've got over the excitement of finally getting the MacBook Pro after such a long wait, reality kicked in and I realised what a lot of money it was.

I'm waiting for the price of third party RAM to come down below £200 before I even consider it.
As a professional commercial photographer, I work with large 16bit images files every day and while I know the computer will work better with 8GB (especially when Photoshop CS5) arrives, I also recognise when I'm being taken for a mug.

Personally, I would order with 4GB and see how you get on.
 
If you don't know why you would need 8Gb of ram then you most likely don't need it.
 
mesq said:
If you don't know why you would need 8Gb of ram then you most likely don't need it.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I feel many people get that much RAM only because they can without even looking at how much they're using in the first place. I'm a web developer and I can tell that I have no need for over 4 GB in any situation.
 
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