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ianhhh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2006
62
0
yo.

in a new macbook pro.. 2gb or 3gb ??

does anyone know how much differenc it makes,? i would normally get top spec but £380 extra for 1gb seems a lot.. i do a lot of digitll imagry, pshop, etc.. is it worth it?
 

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
yo.

in a new macbook pro.. 2gb or 3gb ??

does anyone know how much differenc it makes,? i would normally get top spec but £380 extra for 1gb seems a lot.. i do a lot of digitll imagry, pshop, etc.. is it worth it?

Probably not.

The £380 is for the 2GB SO-DIMM because they cost an absolute bomb. They take out one of the 1GB sticks and replace it with a very expensive 2GB stick that's why you pay the extra big bickies.
 

MaaseyRacer

macrumors regular
Oct 30, 2005
160
0
San Francisco, Ca.
2GB is in Dual Channel. 3GB takes the computer out of dual channel. 3GB is going to make a difference if you are working with files over 1GB in size. Rarely do I see images that large, and when I do I just have to wait or work on them on my G5 with 4GB of RAM.
 

Butthead

macrumors 6502
Jan 10, 2006
440
19
2GB is in Dual Channel. 3GB takes the computer out of dual channel. 3GB is going to make a difference if you are working with files over 1GB in size. Rarely do I see images that large, and when I do I just have to wait or work on them on my G5 with 4GB of RAM.

If you do 10+ operations/tweaks on a single 1GB file, you'll run out of RAM and PS will hit the hard disk scracth file(we'll just assume you allocated 2GB of RAM for PS in the preferences panel) which is much slower than RAM based editing, same as on your 4GB G5 (if you're doing enough ops w/PS on that single file, and what if you have 2 images open at the same time, or do 'batch mode' processing?).

so is dual channel better?
Yes, but you'll not likely ever notice the difference. See 'quick takes' barefeats.com Nov. 15th note on 3 GB limitation in a MBP.
http://www.barefeats.com/quick.html
 

merc669

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2006
370
0
Southern MD, USA
2GB is in Dual Channel. 3GB takes the computer out of dual channel. 3GB is going to make a difference if you are working with files over 1GB in size. Rarely do I see images that large, and when I do I just have to wait or work on them on my G5 with 4GB of RAM.

Does that mean in theory that the MBP is capable of using say 2 2G Mem Sticks? I thought the MBP is 2G Max Mem. Thanks!!

Bill....
 

ianhhh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2006
62
0
so.. just to clarify... i use pshop and capture1 simultiously, i regular edit 70mb files, open 50 files at once , batch process etc... so will 3gb make a [£380] difference to my workflow...?
 

taylorwilsdon

macrumors 68000
Nov 16, 2006
1,868
12
New York City
Does that mean in theory that the MBP is capable of using say 2 2G Mem Sticks? I thought the MBP is 2G Max Mem. Thanks!!

Bill....

Yes, but because the operating system is 32 bit, it can't address 4gb memory. It can address 3gb memory, which is the current max. When 10.5 comes out (64 bit) you will be able to put 4gb ram in your Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro.
 

taylorwilsdon

macrumors 68000
Nov 16, 2006
1,868
12
New York City
so.. just to clarify... i use pshop and capture1 simultiously, i regular edit 70mb files, open 50 files at once , batch process etc... so will 3gb make a [£380] difference to my workflow...?

Yes, it will make a huge difference if you're doing that much stuff. If you really need to be editing 50, 70mb files, you should consider a Mac Pro or a dual core G5 workstation, as a laptop really can't do that much.
 

merc669

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2006
370
0
Southern MD, USA
Yes, but because the operating system is 32 bit, it can't address 4gb memory. It can address 3gb memory, which is the current max. When 10.5 comes out (64 bit) you will be able to put 4gb ram in your Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro.
That's something I did not know. I did not know the MBP was able to address 64Bit. I was thinking itr was strickly a 32 Bit processor....This could get interesting!! Thanks!!

Bill......
 

ianhhh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2006
62
0
had a pbook 2gb for a year doin this sort of workload, is pretty fast.. jus cant ignore th 4x increase in speed from macbookpros

from what i read on this thread

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/271671/

puttin 4gb in and gettin full use is impossible due to the chipset, ie is hardware dependent not jus software enabled [although may 64bit changes all this??]

anyone know will 64bt leopard make a big difference to performance on these current intel macs? i think th applications we usin hav to be 64bit?
 

taylorwilsdon

macrumors 68000
Nov 16, 2006
1,868
12
New York City
Isn't that exactly what I said?

Existing programs will run under 64 bit, and new ones will be developed to take full advantage of it. New Core 2 Duo (but not Core Duo) processors are 64 bit but run as 32 bit under OSX 10.4
 

smueboy

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2006
778
1
Oz
Yes, but because the operating system is 32 bit, it can't address 4gb memory. It can address 3gb memory, which is the current max. When 10.5 comes out (64 bit) you will be able to put 4gb ram in your Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro.

Not until Santa Rosa will it be possible to make use of more than 3GB of RAM due to the current chipset - C2D are 64-bit processors, but until the 64-bit santa rosa chipset is released we are using 32-bit chipsets (and thus not fully 64-bit machines).

see this review for comparisons of more or less memory in a MBP (and the effects of putting 4GB in):
http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/review_printerfriendly4208.html
 

EvryDayImShufln

macrumors 65816
Sep 18, 2006
1,094
1
"is dual channel better"
Yes, but you'll not likely ever notice the difference. See 'quick takes' barefeats.com Nov. 15th note on 3 GB limitation in a MBP.
http://www.barefeats.com/quick.html[/QUOTE]

Actually this is true in theory but untrue in practice, because apparently any upgrade in ram taking it out of dual channel will improve performance anyway. So there is NO reason to stick with dual channel.

Then again there is NO reason to get 3 gigs of ram at that price. I have 2 gigs and trust me, it is more than enough. Ram isn't the performance problem, it's the hard drive speed.
 

smueboy

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2006
778
1
Oz
Then again there is NO reason to get 3 gigs of ram at that price.

Yes there is - when someone else is paying for it. :)


I have 2 gigs and trust me, it is more than enough. Ram isn't the performance problem, it's the hard drive speed.

It sounds like ianhhh will be editing large files in photoshop and may benefit from the extra RAM (you can never have too much ram), as i have. But then, it'll still be fast with 2GB, so it boils down to cash.
 

ianhhh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2006
62
0
thanks for that review..seems it must b the 3gb option for max workflow, its gonna hurt but mayb a nice person at appl wil give a littl discount.. [but cant help think that buyin applcare instead might help me resell it for more in th future!]
 

EvryDayImShufln

macrumors 65816
Sep 18, 2006
1,094
1
thanks for that review..seems it must b the 3gb option for max workflow, its gonna hurt but mayb a nice person at appl wil give a littl discount.. [but cant help think that buyin applcare instead might help me resell it for more in th future!]

If you might resell it within 1 year don't get applecare yet, because it will boost the price, but definitely not by the full amount you paid for the applecare. If you think you might actually keep it for the full 3 years then I'd say its worth it.

Also, if you have a Visa, sometimes they offer to double warranties on purchased electronics. You should research that abit because it sounds to be you need the fastest machine possible, and 2 years warranty + you can resell it would be the best bang for your buck.
 

ianhhh

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 1, 2006
62
0
thanks 4 all your help on this.. i think get fastest machin, work hard for a year then buy a new one when th 2nd gen of the redesigned all singin an dancin, led screen/flash memory/dual display/bluray/64bit/touchscreen/5mm thick macbookpro arrives this time nex yr..

jus hop appl wil giv me a free upgrade to leopard in a few months time..
 
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