What is the difference between storage and memory?

I'm going to buy a MacBook Pro with Retina Display. When I look online, it tells me to choose how much storage I want (128 GB, 256 GB, or 512 GB) and then tells me to choose how much memory I want (8 GB or 16 GB). What is the purpose of each of them, and what is the difference?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 8.3

Posted on Jun 18, 2015 2:37 PM

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5 replies

Jun 18, 2015 3:53 PM in response to Kappy

Ok, that makes sense. So the more memory you have, the more times you'll be able to update the operating system?


Also, I'll be using the laptop mostly for school, and at home too, but I won't be playing those high-performance games, etc. I'm thinking that I won't have to upgrade the memory or storage, but I don't know. Do either of those fill up fast?

Jun 18, 2015 3:54 PM in response to a098

a098 wrote:


Ok, that makes sense. So the more memory you have, the more times you'll be able to update the operating system?


Also, I'll be using the laptop mostly for school, and at home too, but I won't be playing those high-performance games, etc. I'm thinking that I won't have to upgrade the memory or storage, but I don't know. Do either of those fill up fast?

No, the more memory (Ram) you have the greater the number of apps you can run simultaneously

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What is the difference between storage and memory?

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