Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2GB or 3GB ram? big difference?

T

thriii

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 14, 2007
366
0
I want to get my macbook pro but cant decide on these 2.. course 3gb makes a difference but how much is it?
 
going to be playing world of warcraft and using it for photoshop/illustrator
 
You should be ok with 2GB...

WoW is not a very big resource hog. I play on my MBP w/2GB and it's flawless. The larger question is probably around the Photoshop/Illustrator. I don't use those so I don't know for sure....


Then again, you can never have TOO much RAM. So I would say if you can afford the jump up to 3GB, then go for it. You'll only be better off. :)

DJ
 
thx guys :) if i do get the 2gb.. would i be able to upgrade to 3gb later?
 
Yes, you can always upgrade to 2Gb later. However, unless you get the 2Gb as one ram chip you will have to take out one of the 1Gb chips and replace it with a 2Gb chip, this is obviously more expensive than buying a 1 Gb chip to upgrade.
 
Check out OWC's deal. You can get $35 back for your old ram. Pretty good deal.

Nuc

PS the price of the ram and the rebate have dropped a lot in the last two weeks.
 
I would imagine that 2GB of RAM would be fine for you thriii. If you find that you get an excessive amount of page outs then you might want to consider upgrading to 3GB. :)
 
I've got 1.5GB now. I'm thinking about adding a little more ram because I will get from time to time sluggishness when working. I'm powering a 24" Dell LCD so I'm thinking about picking up more ram.

I just can't seem to see why I would go to 2gb from here rather than 3gb, other than price. Does anyone know how much OWC gives for a stock 512mb ram stick on the rebate?
 
HI...i just upgrade my 17" 2.33*ghz macbook pro from stock 2gb to 3gb ram i bought a 2 gb ram module from OWC at a very good price $208 http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/5300DDR2S2GB/ i do not know why, but they sent a micron brand which it is listed more expensive at their web site http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Micron/53SDR2MIC2GB/
well altough the macbook pro with 2 gb ram worked vey well, now with 3gb flies i am able to work with aperture, photoshop cs3, illustrator cs3, safari in mac OSX, and parallels with photoshop cs2, illustrator cs2, truebox shot, corel draw x3 ALL THE APPS OPEN AT THE SAME TIME and working very well i know that situation will not very common i just wanted to know the power of my macbook pro with 3gb of ram...AMAZING!!!
 
If I remember correctly, having paired sticks increases performance. So it may be possible that 2 gigs, 2x1g sticks, performs better than a 2 gig & a 1gig paired up.
 
drewyboy said:
If I remember correctly, having paired sticks increases performance. So it may be possible that 2 gigs, 2x1g sticks, performs better than a 2 gig & a 1gig paired up.
Click to expand...

More RAM is _always_ better. Having chips in pairs give you a very small percentage improvement; more RAM will make much more difference.
 
I've got an iMac 24" and will soon be moving to 3GB from 2GB now that prices have dropped for 2GB sticks.
I use CS2 a lot and once I have several large files open, boom, free memory is gone and performance drops.
I'd suggest maxxing the ram now, 'cause you'll want it soon enough and ditching old ram is a pain and not economical.
 
I was just about to post a thread on OWC when I found this. My question is this: is their memory good quality stuff? I know Crucial is supposed to be really good, but because OWC has a really good price on a 3GB configuration, I naturally wonder about its quality.

When I get my 24" iMac, I, too, want to go to 3GB but really cannot pay what Apple wants for it. I'll be doing 3D and 2D work (with Lightwave and Photoshop). Would I be ok with 2GB for these programs? Ideally, I would want to max it out.:)
 
autechre said:
I was just about to post a thread on OWC when I found this. My question is this: is their memory good quality stuff? I know Crucial is supposed to be really good, but because OWC has a really good price on a 3GB configuration, I naturally wonder about its quality.

When I get my 24" iMac, I, too, want to go to 3GB but really cannot pay what Apple wants for it. I'll be doing 3D and 2D work (with Lightwave and Photoshop). Would I be ok with 2GB for these programs? Ideally, I would want to max it out.:)
Click to expand...

i got a 24" imac which upgraded to 3gb and the original mac was micron brand, as far as i know apple uses micron and samsung brand ram, my original imac was micron and my macbook pro ram was samsung..the same brands than OWC sell at very good price!!! i saved a lot buying from OWC instead of ordering my machines with 3gb directly from apple!!
 
I am just curious to know how the OWC brand stacks up against the Micron and Samsung modules? The OWC branded 3GB kit is much cheaper than buying Micron and Samsung 2GB configurations.

Has anyone bought the OWC stuff and can vouch for its quality? I would probably buy it if it stacks up to the two brand names.:apple:
 
autechre said:
I am just curious to know how the OWC brand stacks up against the Micron and Samsung modules? The OWC branded 3GB kit is much cheaper than buying Micron and Samsung 2GB configurations.

Has anyone bought the OWC stuff and can vouch for its quality? I would probably buy it if it stacks up to the two brand names.:apple:
Click to expand...

i ordered OWC brand 2gb sticks, and got micron 2gb sticks from them at OWC price :eek: and my macines ( 17" macbook pro and 24" imac with 3gb) work flawlessly:)
 
CHUYOLIN said:
HI...i just upgrade my 17" 2.33*ghz macbook pro from stock 2gb to 3gb ram i bought a 2 gb ram module from OWC at a very good price $208 http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/5300DDR2S2GB/ i do not know why, but they sent a micron brand which it is listed more expensive at their web site http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Micron/53SDR2MIC2GB/
well altough the macbook pro with 2 gb ram worked vey well, now with 3gb flies i am able to work with aperture, photoshop cs3, illustrator cs3, safari in mac OSX, and parallels with photoshop cs2, illustrator cs2, truebox shot, corel draw x3 ALL THE APPS OPEN AT THE SAME TIME and working very well i know that situation will not very common i just wanted to know the power of my macbook pro with 3gb of ram...AMAZING!!!
Click to expand...

But what type and size files are you using, I can open every app on my system and receive no page outs if done after a restart (but that is just letting my system rest, not being used)
 
mustard said:
But what type and size files are you using, I can open every app on my system and receive no page outs if done after a restart (but that is just letting my system rest, not being used)
Click to expand...

well mainly work with 30-50mb photographs, some of them with layers at photoshop and raw images in aperture, i am a photographer and graphic designer and some times i need to have open all of those mentioned apps to process my work...i am amazed with my machines and its ability to work with all those apps at the same time!! and when i switch between apps i see no slowdowns..everything works very fast..i dont understand about page outs ..and things like that (i never see activity monitor) what i do know is my machines work like charm for my requirements with 3gb of ram:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back