2gb to 8gb RAM on Macbook Pro

Wezoin

Just wondering if you guys would think it'd be worth upgrading my mid-2009 (2.26ghz) Macbook pro 13" from 2gb of ram to 8gb. Would it make a noticeable difference in day to day use?

I don't do much other than streaming video, Skype, and occasionally Starcraft 2 or CS:S. The cheapest I've found for it in the UK is £40. I saw a good deal on newegg but of course they won't ship to the UK and using a mail forwarding service is ridiculously expensive.

Organichu

i have a late 2008 mb (basically your computer but before they tossed in the card slot and rebranded all 13" unibodies as mbp's) that came with 2gb of ram.

it's a little cheaper over here in the states but yes absolutely that is the most cost efficient improvement you can make to your computer. ~$65 so you never have to worry about memory management again?

i mean, if your use is truly light enough that you don't see a reason to upgrade then i guess not. but if you have any performance issues at all it's the cheapest, easiest, and most effective upgrade you can do for everyday efficacy.

NibCrom

I upgraded my Mac Mini from 2GB to 8GB of RAM. The number of times I got the spinning wheel and the duration of the spinning wheel has decreased significantly since installing the new RAM.

Wezoin

Not sure if these stats will help but at idle (just this safari window and activity monitor running) and using a wired internet connection (I usually use wifi at home but in the dorm only have wired, not sure if wifi uses more memory):

Used: 1.67gb
Free: 335mb

Drops to about 100mb free if I start streaming a tv show from channel 4od.

I do notice slow downs in Starcraft 2.

admanb

A mid-2009 Macbook should still be going pretty strong, whereas 2gb of RAM has rapidly lost its luster. I would upgrade if it's not much of a burden.

punk

I assume it's an A1278 based on what you've said and the amount of RAM it came with. The laptop will support up to 8GB, so you'd be fine in terms of support from Apple if there is any warranty left. Your particular model supports 1066 MHz PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM. I would say that you could pass off with 4GB, but ~80% utilization for Safari and a TV show is pretty intense. Makes me wonder what else you have cooking in the background.

$50 for Crucial if you want a US price example.

Baron Dirigible

I think going straight to 8Gb of RAM would be overkill, especially as you don't do any tremendously demanding tasks (Photoshop, virtualisation etc) on your machine. I have the same MBP upgraded to 4Gb of RAM (and an SSD) and have experienced zero memory issues. (It's worth pointing out that the SSD also helps mitigate swap performance, but I consistently have over 1Gb free at any given time anyway.)

Organichu

well, it's that if you're going to upgrade at all there's no point stopping at 4.

you can add 2 more gb of ram (since you'll be replacing current chips) for $27 or thereabouts. you can add 6 more gb of ram for like $47.

useless4

Go 8GB... I did it on the first unibody 13" and haven't regretted it yet. The only thing that brings it down occasionally is Firefox with Adobe Flash crashing on youtube. That's only once in awhile though, everything else is sublime.

Wezoin

The reason I was looking at 8gb instead of 4gb was because it is barely any more costly, and would future proof it a bit more. I was also interested in an SSD but I'm not sure if the money is available to pull something like that off just yet. Any good and cheap SSDs around the 250gb mark?

I should also have a look for some software to see if I have any spyware/adware running in the background I guess. I haven't ever used virus protection or anything on this computer so far so I bet there could be something running in the background.

Skeith

250gb on a SSD will run you somewhere around $350.

Esh

Wezoin wrote:

The reason I was looking at 8gb instead of 4gb was because it is barely any more costly, and would future proof it a bit more. I was also interested in an SSD but I'm not sure if the money is available to pull something like that off just yet. Any good and cheap SSDs around the 250gb mark?

I should also have a look for some software to see if I have any spyware/adware running in the background I guess. I haven't ever used virus protection or anything on this computer so far so I bet there could be something running in the background.

It's an Apple. I seriously doubt you have anything going on behind the scenes.

I took my late 2010 MacBook Pro 13" to 8gb and it made a pretty big difference. And if an SSD is out of your price range, look into a 7200rpm HD.

Wezoin

Ok, I'm considering doing the SSD upgrade, I found a 120gb that should be fine (the rest of my hard drive is just an empty bootcamp partition that I don't ever use anyway.) My only issue now is I'm abroad for quite a while and don't have access to an OSX disc. I have the OSX Lion digital upgrade on the app store and read somewhere you could make a disc from that. Would that work?

My plan was to pick up these:
http://www.ebuyer.com/268244-ocz-120gb-agility-3-ssd-agt3-25sat3-120g-agt3-25sat3-120g
http://www.ebuyer.com/164772-corsair-8gb-2x4gb-ddr3-1066mhz-pc3-8500-laptop-memory-kit-sodimm-cm3x8gsdkit1066

Will both of these be compatible with a 13" Macbook Pro?
Also, what tools will I need? (I know I need a small phillips, but do I need a torx? Some places say yes some say no)

useless4

All you need to do is buy a 2.5" to usb adaptor and copy everything with Carbon Copy Cloner to the SSD NOW before it's inside. Then swap the drives.