Would I benefit from more RAM?

[nangariel]

I'm considering an upgrade to 8 GB of RAM, as the 4 GB sticks are very cheap at the moment.
Would my MB Pro benefit from such an upgrade? These are my stats after about a day of casual usage (mostly browsing, dealing with office stuff etc.):
PhysMem: 878M wired, 1963M active, 903M inactive, 3744M used, 350M free.
VM: 211G vsize, 1092M framework vsize, 512419(0) pageins, 412(0) pageouts
The thing I'm concerned about is the rather low amount of free memory after doing practically no heavy computing. Would I need to quit my running programs in order not to experience any slowdowns in say Aperture? On the other hand, wouldn't it take longer to hibernate with 8 GB of RAM?

 

[DavoteK]

For something like £18 or about $30 I'd say do it, regardless of the low RAM issue you're getting. Very simple to install as well and will only make your machine better.

 

[The-Pro]

Well your system would feel smoother with more RAM even if you dont need it because the system loads more things into the RAM.
Although you have a little free memory, that is probably not always like that and its very likely you have days where you haveno free RAM. For the current prices I think you should definitely get it. You wont regret it.
Well you can check which programs you are using is using lots of RAM. If you need more RAM, and dont need, lets says safari, quit it yes. The videos you watch are stored in the RAM and they can be hundreds of MB's.
It would take longer to fall asleep with 8GB then with 4GB yes, but only when you are using more then 4GB of the 8GB. But then would that be a problem? So it might take 10-30 seconds longer, but since your not using it, I dont see that being a problem

 

[photographypro]

Go for 16GB! only $109.99!

I have 16GB, and you can too!

Here's the link: http://www.frys.com/product/6932057?site=sa:adpages page:Tues_P29

Lifetime warranty too!

This is the exact memory I have. I paid $135, with a $25 mail in rebate, but now you can get it for $109.99.

And, no, I don't work for Fry's. This will work in latest 2011 MacBook Pros and I think it is backwards compatible with 2010 machines.

 

[Vantage Point]

Go for it. Your mac won't always need it but when it does it will keep things humming. If you open programs and then quit them, they are stored in the RAM so if you open them again (assuming you haven't yet shut down your computer) then they will open instantly. More ram is also very useful for doing photo editing.

These days, the price makes it an easy decision - two years ago the price would have been roughly 10x more. 95% of the time I don't need the extra ram but when I do it makes a huge difference like when I was stitching 35 photos to create an HDR panorama I needed everything I had - see below. If I had a 2011 mac I would be considering 16gb now that the prices have come down - they were about 6x higher this time last year.

 

[eawmp1]

Would I benefit from more RAM?

Almost anyone could benefit from more RAM. RAM upgrades offer the most bang for buck of all computer performance upgrades.

 

[nangariel]

Thanks to everyone for their input!

I think I'm all set to get an 8G kit (sorry, photographypro, maybe next year . However, I can't decide between Crucial and Corsair (both in stock at my local shop), any personal experience with either of these?

 

[Moonjumper]

You can never have too much RAM.

Crucial has always been recommended to me, and I've had no trouble with them.

 

[GGJstudios]

To determine if you can benefit from more RAM, launch Activity Monitor and click the System Memory tab at the bottom to check your page outs. Page outs are cumulative since your last restart, so the best way to check is to restart your computer and track page outs under your normal workload (the apps, browser pages and documents you normally would have open). If your page outs are significant (say 1GB or more) under normal use, you may benefit from more RAM. If your page outs are zero or very low during normal use, you probably won't see any performance improvement from adding RAM.

Mac OS X: Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor

 

[LlamaLarry]

I have 16GB, and you can too!

Here's the link: http://www.frys.com/product/6932057?site=sa:adpages page:Tues_P29

Very nice, I picked up 16GB from Amazon for $112 last week with free shipping (via Prime), but it is up to $117 this week.

 

[nangariel]

Thanks, Moonjumper.
Anyone else has any experience re Crucial vs. Corsair? Both are sold for the same price...