I heard that the max Ram allowed is 6GB, but Apple says 4GB. Has anyone used the 6GB in their MBP and have you noticed a better functionality of the computer? I am thinking of upgrading. Sorry if this is a dumb question everyone.
NightNinjaPDX🙂
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7), 750GB (7200), 4GB Ram, 2.5GHz
I have a late 2007 MBP, and just recently went from 4 GB of RAM to 6 GB. It seems to have boosted the performance quite a bit. I got the RAM from OWC.
I have a late 2007 MBP, and just recently went from 4 GB of RAM to 6 GB. It seems to have boosted the performance quite a bit. I got the RAM from OWC.
Adding more RAM will only help if what you do causes the computer to run out of RAM, thus forcing it to use disk-based VM which is much slower than physical RAM. But adding RAM will not make the computer run faster. Only a more powerful CPU will accomplish that end.
About OS X Memory Management and Usage
Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
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.
I have a late 2007 macbook pro, model ID 3,1, 2.4ghz core2duo. I'm curious if 6gb of ram made a difference to system performance. I'm doing a lot of video editing and could use the extra horsepower. Appreciate anyone's comments on this.
Thanks!
-Jeremy
It certainly did on mine running Lion. Don't do any video editing though, but I expect it would help there.
Upgrading Ram in Macbook Pro (Early 2008)
