Macbook Pro - Should I have a 16GB memory upgrade? (info below)

I own a 15-inch Macbook Pro (2012)
Processor  2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory  4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
At the moment my macbook pro has 4GB of memory installed and (450 of) 500GB of storage. I'm having quite a bit of issues due to the amount of space I have left.
I am mainly using Adobe photoshop (Digital Painting) and 3D Autodesk Software (specific:Maya) and will be using it for University (ALOT!) These softwares take a huge chunk of memory when using plus rendering etc. Now, the speed is very slow when doing small projects.
Also, my question is whether having 16gb memory will solve my problem without researching to other things that might help the performance,speed,ram of the macbook pro.
I also know (a little) about SSD which presummally increase speed performance.
I'm not sure if you would call it overkill by having 16gb, personally I don't think it will.
I just need some guidience since I'm not too familiar to finding the best solution out of this?
8gb + SSD?
16GB?
etc..?

danicashmore wrote:
I own a 15-inch Macbook Pro (2012)
Processor  2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory  4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
At the moment my macbook pro has 4GB of memory installed and (450 of) 500GB of storage. I'm having quite a bit of issues due to the amount of space I have left...
If you're saying that there's only 50 GB of HD space left, that would be compounding the problem of only having 4GB of RAM because the Mac (and other operating systems) use virtual memory (i.e., paging RAM contents to disk) when physical memory is insufficient and you don't have much of either. Moreover, Photoshop use a cache on disk for processing, and again, there's not much space for that. I'd suggest looking into more RAM (of which you can never have too much) and then an SSD of sufficient size.

Similar Messages

  • MacBook Pro (Mid-2009, 13", 2.26) Memory Upgrade Question

    I currently own a MacBook Pro (2.26; 13") (Mid-2009) with 2GB of memory. I purchased a single 4GB memory card that I plan to add in one of the slots. If I understand correctly that would leave me with a total of 5GB of memory (4GB   1GB). Is this workable?
    I have heard rumours that both slots must have the same amount of memory. Regardless - will this be detrimental or an improvement?

    Running Lion I would say go for more RAM. 2 GBs is Lion's minimum. If you run more than a couple of applications concurrently then you will quickly find yourself low on memory which would slow down the machine a lot more than the lack of matched pair RAM modules. I would say 4 GBs is a good compromise for casual uses. But if you're trying to run all the Adobe CS5 apps or all of the Office apps concurrently, then you'll be happier with 6 GBs of RAM. But it's hard to know what to suggest since only you know your operating situation, so here's some info that may help you make the decision.
    About OS X Memory Management and Usage
    Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
    Memory Management in Mac OS X
    Performance Guidelines- Memory Management in Mac OS X
    A detailed look at memory usage in OS X
    Understanding top output in the Terminal
    The amount of available RAM for applications is the sum of Free RAM and Inactive RAM. This will change as applications are opened and closed or change from active to inactive status. The Swap figure represents an estimate of the total amount of swap space required for VM if used, but does not necessarily indicate the actual size of the existing swap file. If you are really in need of more RAM that would be indicated by how frequently the system uses VM. If you open the Terminal and run the top command at the prompt you will find information reported on Pageins () and Pageouts (). Pageouts () is the important figure. If the value in the parentheses is 0 (zero) then OS X is not making instantaneous use of VM which means you have adequate physical RAM for the system with the applications you have loaded. If the figure in parentheses is running positive and your hard drive is constantly being used (thrashing) then you need more physical RAM.
    Adding RAM only makes it possible to run more programs concurrently.  It doesn't speed up the computer nor make games run faster.  What it can do is prevent the system from having to use disk-based VM when it runs out of RAM because you are trying to run too many applications concurrently or using applications that are extremely RAM dependent.  It will improve the performance of applications that run mostly in RAM or when loading programs.

  • 13" MacBook Pro (mid 2009) hard drive and memory upgrade

    So I'm looking to upgrade my hard drive and memory for my 13" MacBook Pro. I'm still wondering just how easy it will be to recover my data, and put it back onto my new drive. I currently have everything backed up to an External drive using Time Machine. If I back it up, and then do the replacement, is it really as simple as it sounds to start it up, put in the Mac OS disk and then restore from a Time Machine backup? I have 150 Gb worth of data and would be ticked off if I can't get it back to my MacBook Pro. Any expertise out there? The actual installation looks easy, but it's the loading the new drive that has me concerned. When I install the new drive, is there anything else I need to do to prep it? And how do I do it if there is? Looking at a 500 gb or even 1 Tb Western Digital drive.

    I would say get yourself an external enclosure. Put the hard drive that comes out of your MacBook pro into the enclosure. Put in the new hard drive. Boot up from the external hard drive, use disk utility to format the new drive. Use Carbon Copy Cloner to move everything as it is from old hard drive to new internal one. Re-boot to internal drive, you are done.
    Carbon Copy Cloner is a freeware get it from download.com

  • I have the macbook pro 13" retina display. Can I upgrade my 8gb ram to 16gb? my processor is 2.5Ghz intel core i5

    i have the macbook pro 13" retina display. Can I upgrade my 8gb ram to 16gb? my processor is 2.5Ghz intel core i5

    To save space on the computer, Apple has decided to solder the memory onto the logic board on the MacBook Pro with Retina display and the MacBook Air, and that's why you can't add more memory after buying the Mac. This only applies to these computers, not for the other ones

  • What the Macbook Pro should have

    Hi guys, 2 weeks ago I purchased my first Apple laptop - the Macbook Pro 13", before that (and still sometimes) I used PC. Even though the design is great, there are things that could be done to make it perfect. Here is my list, please tell me what you think about it.
    1 - A delete button one the keyboard, I noticed that the Macbook Pro doesn't have one before purchasing it, but after using if for 2 weeks noticed how important it is.
    2 - The 2 USB ports are quite inconvenient because they are next to each other, it would be more convenient if they are from both sides instead, like Macbook Air. I have devises that are a bit wider than the other ones, so when one of these is plugged in, the other USB port is unusable. Speaking of which USB 2.0 isn't good! The ThunderBolt port is great but there are no devises yet that can take any advantage of it, so in the meantime USB 3.0 would be great.
    3 - HDMI port - most of the laptops already have it, I don't see why none of the Macbooks has it. If I want to connect my Macbook Pro to my TV, I have to spend extra money on MiniDisplay to HDMI adaptor (it's not like Apple products are any cheep, so spending extra money on things that should have been there on first place is NOT good).
    4 - Numerical Keyboard - I know there is no room for it, but a button like Caps Lock could be used, when it's pressed certain buttons from the keyboard could act only as numerical keyboard and when pressed again, the keyboard could be back to normal.
    5 - The screen resolution of the 13" Macbook Pro should have been like the 13" Macbook Air.
    6 - The CD Drive is unnecessary, nobody uses it nowadays. Nobody listens to music from a CD and nobody installs any software from a CD, everyone uses the Internet for these things, the little part of people who are still using CDs, DVDs, etc. have other devises such as: DVD or Blue-ray players, HiFi systems and Desktops. The room that is taken by the Optical Disk could be used for a bigger battery.
    7 - Better cooling system - when watching a move the laptop gets so hot that I literally can't put it on my lap (lol what a paradox, a laptop that cannot be put on a lap), also I would love to be able to close the lid and leave the laptop works (it is great when downloading big files or scanning software is used), but with that cooling system I'm afraid that it would overheat.
    8 - Last but not least - The screen bezel. It's too big, Macbooks should be bezelless, it would make them much better looking.

    DS had some great points, I'll chime in as well.
    1.) I agree, it'd be handy to have. It definitely took some getting use to but once you do and modify your keyboard workflow it becomes second nature.
    2.) I ended up investing a USB extension cable, Apple makes them I believe. At least they use to, I've had mine for years. While the cable dangling off the side of the machine is a bit of an annoyance, it's a necessity if I want to double up my AirCard (USB) with a thumb drive. USB 2.0 is still the "standard" and as such it's going to be the de facto peripheral port. Apple is historically slow about adopting non-standard peripheral interfaces unless they pioneer or champion it. It wouldn't surprise me if Apple still doesn't offer USB 3.0 this time next year. Thunderbolt/Light Peak is brand new tech, and as such it's going to take a while to have peripherals that support it. There are NAS devices that have it, they were just announced this week.
    Here's a link regarding its deployment - http://www.tuaw.com/2011/04/13/intel-distributing-thunderbolt-developer-kits-thi s-quarter-more/
    3.) I agree that HDMI would be nice but with Thunderbolt supporting HDMI, I really don't see Apple adding another video out port. There's no room left on the I/O strip on the 13" MBP for it. Apple use to include adapters (when the MBP first came out) but they've since stopped doing that and gouge with adapters. Thankfully there are numerous 3rd party offerings at a fraction of the price.
    4.) I agree, I forget which "redesign" of the keyboard layout got rid of the Num Lock key. I know my 15" MBP (Santa Rosa) has it. I currently use my iPhone as my numerical keyboard, there's a great little app that pairs the phone to your computer via Bluetooth. It works great as an alternative.
    5.) Marketing 101. By introducing it via a future revision this encourages current owners to want to upgrade/switch and thus move more units and tout it as a "feature upgrade." I was pretty shocked the i5/i7 update to the MBP 13" did not introduce the 1440 resolution.
    6.) This is where you'll get disagreement. Rule #1 of proper Internet forum posting, don't use words like: everyone, everyone, most, all, nobody, no one, etc. Especially without evidence to back it up. While you don't use it, people do. I use mine daily, my co-workers use their drives daily. That's 11 people right there, which is 11 more than "nobody."
    7.) Apple has never called their computer a "laptop." They've always referred to is as a portable computer. Matter of fact, they strongly discourage the use of their portable computers on your lap due to how the heat dissipation process works through the top case. So the problem(s) you're experiencing are to be expected, you're using the machine in a method that is not recommended by the manufacturer. They even discuss that in the "Getting Started" booklet that came with your machine.

  • I have a macbook pro from 2007 and the display memory slows do the screen so much it is almost unuseable  Any help fixing this problem?

    I have a macbook pro from 2007 and the display memory slows do the screen so much it is almost unuseable  Any help fixing this problem?

    Hi,
    Have you tried
    1.leaving the screen flipped open,
    2.connecting power
    3. connecting external monitor; waiting for it to 'wake up';
    then 4. closing lid of MBP to activate clamshell mode?

  • I have the MacBook Pro (retina, 13 inch, Mid 2014) Memoria 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3 and I want to increase the memory. What kind of memory do I have to buy?

    I have the MacBook Pro (retina, 13 inch, Mid 2014) Memoria 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3 and I want to increase the memory. What kind of memory do I have to buy?

    The RAM in the retina model can not be upgraded.

  • Hello, I have a macbook pro 15 ", it has 4GB of memory, when I try to run a video in full hd hd in the system it gets slow. Is this normal?

    Hello, I have a macbook pro 15 ", it has 4GB of memory, when I try to run a videoin full hd hd in the system it gets slow. Is this normal?

    Glauco Neves wrote:
    Where can I find this new version?  Thank you
    10.7.4 is the latest update of MacOS X Lion. Run Software Update in System Preferences.
    Since you state to run 10.7.2, Software Update will have to use the combo updater to bring it up to 10.7.4. This will entail a large download that will take some time so have patience. I suggest the following steps:
    Restart the Mac, press and hold Command-R to start up in Recovery Mode (More info: http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/ ).
    If needed, select the desired language to move to the next screen (only if it is the first time in Recovery Mode).
    Select Disk Utility in the bottom of the list, Continue...
    Choose the hard disk drive device on the list ( xxx.xx GB APPLE HDD ...) by clicking on it.
    Click on Repair Disk button, wait for it to finish.
    Choose the Lion boot volume, Macintosh HD, by clicking on it.
    Click the Repair Disk button, wait for it to finish. If any errors are found and the process does not end with a "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK." message, click on Repair Disk again.
    Click on the Repair Disk Permissions button. This will take awhile to finish.
    Quit Disk Utilities, choose Restart from the menu.
    Now run Software Update in System Preferences, choose to apply all missing updates. This will take quite awhile, depending on how fast your Internet connection is. The Mac will need to be restarted when the updating is done.
    Run Software Update again to have Safari updated to the latest version. This is necessary since Safari 5.1.7 needs OS X 10.7.4 to be running already.

  • Where do I find my "Notes" on my MacBook Pro ?  I have them setup in iCloud, not in my Gmail.  Thanks

    Where do I find my "Notes" on my MacBook Pro ?  I have them setup on iCloud, not on my Notes tab on Gmail.  I think they are in iTunes but, cannot remember where to  find my Notes. Thanks.

    Ok to clarify you don't NEED mountain lion.
    I will say its functionality with notes and other iOS functions is greatly improved in Mountain Lion (notification centre as another example).
    SO
    If you have Lion, your notes should appear in the Mail App. If my memory serves me correct they appear in your inbox like an email. Go to system preferences, then "mail, contacts & calenders", select your icloud account from the list and it should tell you which things you have switched on or off, ensure Notes is ticked to on
    Sorry i cant give more clarification because i've upgraded myself so cant go back in time and check, lol.

  • Can I purchase Mountain Lion and make a flash drive bootable? I do not want to install it on my Macbook Pro. I have Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro now, and due to my hard drive needing repair I need to boot off of another source, like my flash drive.

    Can I purchase Mountain Lion and make a flash drive bootable? I do not want to install it on my Macbook Pro. I have Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro now, and due to my hard drive needing repair, I need to boot off of another source, like my flash drive. I am in Paris and my Snow Leopard DVD is in Texas.

    Mac OS X has a built-in disk diagnostic and repair program called fsck or file system consistency check. Here’s how to verify and repair your startup disk with fsck.  As soon as you hear the startup tone, press and hold Command-S on the keyboard. Keep holding down those keys until you see a black screen with white lettering. This is called “booting into Single User Mode.”  As the Mac boots in this mode, the screen reports each step of the process. The line should end in root#.  Right after the root# prompt, enter the following: /sbin/fsck -fy
    If repairing the disk in single user mode fails, it means one of two things. Either your hard drive itself is failing (a hardware failure), or the directory damage on your hard drive is beyond the capability of the built-in repair procedures in OS X.

  • HT1270 My mid 2010 MacBook Pro has the maximum 8 GB memory cards installed. Can it be upgraded to 16 GB? Are there compatible 8 GB cards available?

    My mid 2010 MacBook Pro has the maximum 8 GB memory cards installed. Can it be upgraded to 16 GB? Are there compatible 8 GB cards available?

    I have a similar question..  13" macbook pro, mid 2010- having problems with spinning beach ball..  like someone from Mars has taken over the computer..   - the specs are below..   would it help if I added more RAM?   If  yes, any suggestions where/ what to buy?  This only started after upgrade to Mountain Lion from SNL. 
    MacBook Pro 13 inch mid 2010
      Model Identifier:    MacBookPro7,1
      Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
      Processor Speed:    2.66 GHz
      Number of Processors:    1
      Total Number of Cores:    2
      L2 Cache:    3 MB
    Memory  4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
      Bus Speed:    1.07 GHz
      Boot ROM Version:    MBP71.0039.B0E
      SMC Version (system):    1.62f7
    Graphics  NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB
    BANK 0/DIMM0:
      Size:    2 GB
      Type:    DDR3
      Speed:    1067 MHz
      Status:    OK
      Manufacturer:    0x80AD
      Part Number:    0x484D54313235533654465238432D47372020
      Serial Number:    0x27A0B2F9
    BANK 1/DIMM0:
      Size:    2 GB
      Type:    DDR3
      Speed:    1067 MHz
      Status:    OK
      Manufacturer:    0x80AD
      Part Number:    0x484D54313235533654465238432D47372020
      Serial Number:    0x2740B300

  • I am experiencing some major problems with my MacBook Pro. I have had some issues with it turning on/off at random times, but today, when starting, I get the grey start-up screen and a recovery bar. After filling in approx 1/4 of the way, the machine dies

    I am experiencing some major problems with my MacBook Pro. I have had some issues with it turning on/off at random times, but today, when starting, I get the grey start-up screen and a recovery bar. After filling in approx 1/4 of the way, the machine dies. After starting it in recovery mode, it will not allow me to download OS X Mavericks- it says the disk is locked. Any ideas? I do not have a back-up and do not want to erase everything before I have explored my options. Help?

    try forcing internet recover, hold 3 keys - command, option, r - you should see a spinning globe
    most people will tell you to do both pram and smc resets (google) and if you still have issues, either clean install (easy) or troubleshoot (hard)

  • How do I take the zoom feature off my MacBook Pro? I have already went to System Preferences and turned "zoom" off in the Universal Access. I saw where someone said to use THREE fingers to double click... ??? Double click what? And 3 fingers?

    Can someone help me?How do I take the zoom feature off my MacBook Pro? I have already went to System Preferences and turned "zoom" off in the Universal Access. I saw where someone said to use THREE fingers to double click... ??? Double click what? And 3 fingers?

    What really cheeses me off here is that Apple isn't allowing users enough customization.  With each update of iTunes (and the OS and iOS) we're forced to give up something that worked well for the way we want to use the app and make do with fewer (and lamer) options.  If Apple keeps this up, they're going to start losing customers fast.  I mean if this isn't fixed soon, I'm pretty sure I'm going to give up on iTunes, and then I'll probably go ahead and get a Galaxy when I need to replace my iPhone.
    What I don't understand about how they won't let users delete the list of available podcasts now is why?  How is this making it a better program?  I can understand that not all users are capable enough to right-click on a feed and select "Show all available episodes", so I can see why they want the complete list to be the default (and, surprise, it already was).  But to not give users the option to delete that list?  It's inconsiderate because it makes navigating feeds with a large back catalogue really frustrating.  I'm flabbergasted that no one at Apple considered all the podcast feeds that keep hundreds of episodes available when they removed this feature.  It smacks of rank incompetence.
    What improvement were they trying to make here anyway?  There was nothing wrong to my mind about how podcasts were managed in previous versions.  Whatever improvement they were trying to make here, they should have realized that many users would at least want the option to keep things the way they were.
    And reverting to a previous version is no solution.  I can't sync my iPhone with the new iOS without this update, and (while I do have some issues--specifically how you can't play podcasts in the Music app anymore) I do like the new iOS.

  • How does one continue to use Mail on the early MacBook Pro, Model 1,1, that is not upgradable to Lion?  I have been running iCloud on my iPhone (OS5) and iMac (Lion) along with the MacBook Pro (OS Version 10.6.8)

    How does one continue to use Mail on the early MacBook Pro, Model 1,1, that is not upgradable to Lion?  I have been running iCloud on my iPhone (OS5) and iMac (Lion) along with the MacBook Pro (OS Version 10.6.8) since November until now.  Mail will no longer download on the MacBook Pro and keeps asking for my password.

    Mail should still be usable with your machine - but you'll need to update the settings to conform to the requirements of your system. Check with your ISP (like ATT, etc.) for the settings that will work with your Mail. Once you've updated this, you should be able to email like before.
    For example, my ISP required that I go to Mail Preferences/Accounts and make sure the details conform to your email settings.
    I have no idea of what your ISP is or what the settings might be, but this is likely the source of the problem.

  • For the 2013 versions of macbook pro should I purchase 32 bit windows or 64 bit version to be able to install it on macbook and use windows with bootcamp?

    for the 2013 versions of macbook pro should I purchase 32 bit windows or 64 bit version to be able to install it on macbook and use windows with bootcamp?

    Then you might check at any of the other university book stores or software stores or any computer store in town for the 64-bit version.
    If you want to use the 32-bit version from the school (you probably get it for free or very cheap) then you could purchase Parallels and run it as a virtual machine concurrently with OS X. There are some caveats:
    1. You have to purchase Parallels (there may be an academic discount.) List is $79.95.
    2. Your computer needs minimally 4 GBs of RAM, but realistically 8 GBs would be better.
    3. Parallels creates a pseudo-drive on your hard drive. It could easily require 50 GBs of disk space.
    Accommodating these might be more costly than buying 64-bit Windows 7. And, if you look online you may find them with an academic discount (or may be able to order it through the school.)

Maybe you are looking for

  • Sync fix for Outlook/WinXP/iTunes 9.1 verified; fix for Win7?

    Hello: As has been described elsewhere, the Outlook sync problem affecting iTunes 9.1.X under WinXP has one workaround that I can verify as re-establishing bi-directional Contacts and Notes sync: - replacing the files: libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll i

  • Error in Xcelsius with QaaWS

    Hi everybody, I try to transport Xcelsius Dashboard with Query as a Web Service from Development to Productive server. Everything has worked just fine with BOXI 3.1 SP 2. We installed SP 3 and FXP 3.5 for BOXI 3.1. And after Dashboard with QaaWS was

  • Unable to drag and drop mp4 movies into itunes but the file will import and play using home sharing

    Strange problem with my brothers MacBook. The movie files were converted to mp4 format ready to be played on an iphone and I imported them into my iTunes on an iMac with no problems. Files were also saved onto a flash drive which I passed on to my br

  • Netboot - AAMEE

    From https://discussions.apple.com/message/12564961 , still having problems creating a image with adobe products installed in it, in that last post Kostas B told me about Adobe's deployment solution (AAMEE), that does create a pkg from the installer,

  • PageFlowScope in ADF not working properly

    Hi. Experts... i am working on oracle JDeveloper 11g and try to consume a remote WSDL service, i have created an adf readonly table with the binding of datacontrol's method it is working fine.. now i want to pass the selected row value on the next pa