Buying a Macbook Pro, 4GB vs 8GB?

[AMT]

I'm buying a Macbook Pro to run REAPER on and I'm considering upgrading from the stock 4GB to 8GB for $200 (buying from Newegg). I'm already replacing the HDD with a 128GB solid state drive (again from Newegg). Will I really see a difference with 8GB? The computer as it stands will be the 13" model with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 RAM, and a 128GB SSD. I'll be using it with a Presonus Firestudio Mobile, Addictive Drums, and Amplitube 2.

[Josh Whelchel]

I'm buying a Macbook Pro to run REAPER on and I'm considering upgrading from the stock 4GB to 8GB for $200 (buying from Newegg). I'm already replacing the HDD with a 128GB solid state drive (again from Newegg). Will I really see a difference with 8GB? The computer as it stands will be the 13" model with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 RAM, and a 128GB SSD. I'll be using it with a Presonus Firestudio Mobile, Addictive Drums, and Amplitube 2.

I'd say if you have the choice to get more RAM on an audio device, go for it. I'd honestly say avoid using a laptop as an audio-workstation, but I see the situations where it could come in awful handy - anyway, if you can afford it, go 8GB, but I'd imagine you'd be fine with just 4GB.

[prophetik music]

8gb means 64-bit. as long as everything can run on it, you'll be fine. even if you're planning on upgrading to 8 down the line, make sure you've got a 64-bit OS.

also, ssd? really? buy a 1tb internal drive and don't stream from a USB/FW external instead. more worth your money.

more is that you're buying this nice system (well, decent if you want to use a mac and have a laptop...two choices i wouldn't make), and then you're going to run REAPER on it. just use some of the cash you're getting by not buying 8gb of ram and get a real DAW.

biggest bottleneck on that system is the old processor. do macbooks have i3 processors yet? if not, at least try to get a bit better than that cpu, since the merom processors (it's a T7700, right?) were introduced mid-2006.

i'm assuming that you know that you could easily get a monster desktop and a great notebook if you went PC, and it'd cost much less, right?

[zircon]

Absolutely NOT worth it to upgrade with those plugins. I just finished up a massive orchestral project with 8+ live tracks and over 25 VERY RAM-heavy instruments. Didn't even crack 3gb. Unless you are using the very latest orchestral samples - and a LOT of them - 4gb is absolutely fine.

Also, REAPER is a real DAW Both Will and I use it regularly. It's among the most powerful, stable and efficient ones out there. The only thing it doesn't have is a lot of built-in plugins, but the ones it does come with are insanely useful. The tuner, pitch engine and EQs are all great.

[prophetik music]

i'm just teasing him, andy =)

yeah, everyone talks about 8gb as being this godly amount, yet i rarely see anyone actually utilizing it efficiently. not really worth the money, IMO.

[dannthr]

Absolutely NOT worth it to upgrade with those plugins. I just finished up a massive orchestral project with 8+ live tracks and over 25 VERY RAM-heavy instruments. Didn't even crack 3gb. Unless you are using the very latest orchestral samples - and a LOT of them - 4gb is absolutely fine.

Also, REAPER is a real DAW Both Will and I use it regularly. It's among the most powerful, stable and efficient ones out there. The only thing it doesn't have is a lot of built-in plugins, but the ones it does come with are insanely useful. The tuner, pitch engine and EQs are all great.

i'm just teasing him, andy =)

yeah, everyone talks about 8gb as being this godly amount, yet i rarely see anyone actually utilizing it efficiently. not really worth the money, IMO.

Heh, I just upgraded my farm computer from 8GB to 16GB because I was capping out my system with some new orchestral templates.

Though, admittedly, I've just started integrating Altiverb instances into my system as well.

[zircon]

Yeah, like I said, tons of RAM is great for orchestral stuff (though I've never gone above 4gb for a project.) But this guy is using Addictive Drums (the entire library of that in RAM is like... 2gb) and plugins. No way he should blow $200 on 4 additional gigs.

[dannthr]

Yeah, like I said, tons of RAM is great for orchestral stuff (though I've never gone above 4gb for a project.) But this guy is using Addictive Drums (the entire library of that in RAM is like... 2gb) and plugins. No way he should blow $200 on 4 additional gigs.

Yeah.

I do agree with the Core 2 Duo vs i3+ comment though.

[prophetik music]

Heh, I just upgraded my farm computer from 8GB to 16GB because I was capping out my system with some new orchestral templates.

Though, admittedly, I've just started integrating Altiverb instances into my system as well.

if he was working with stuff that large on a regular basis, he wouldn't be asking for help here

but seriously, even just the laptop version of an i3-530 would be light-years beyond that ancient t7700.

[dannthr]

Yeah, like I said, tons of RAM is great for orchestral stuff (though I've never gone above 4gb for a project.) But this guy is using Addictive Drums (the entire library of that in RAM is like... 2gb) and plugins. No way he should blow $200 on 4 additional gigs.

if he was working with stuff that large on a regular basis, he wouldn't be asking for help here

but seriously, even just the laptop version of an i3-530 would be light-years beyond that ancient t7700.

Ah that's right, my girl just bought a Macbook Pro.

The 15" or higher screened versions carry the i5s or i7s, I would definitely press to go to one of those.

Though I understand how that's a fairly large leap in price from the smaller 13" or non-pro versions.

Personally, I don't know how much you're spending on the SSD upgrade, but I would even suggest maybe chucking that and going with the 15" i5 or i7, upgrading the RAM, and loading to RAM for your samples rather than streaming from disk.

Just a thought.

I always thought it was annoying that laptops rarely came with a faster than 5400rpm HDD.

Or just go with the 15" i5 or i7 and keep the RAM at 4 and stream off of an external drive.

[AMT]

Thanks for the responses! Yeah, it's at least a $600 difference for the 15". I'm getting an SSD for $200 then selling the original HDD. I went with the 13" because I've always hated larger laptops and I intend to get a more powerful desktop down the line. Right now I'm still chugging along on a 2GHz Pentium Dual core and I can almost get the performance I need, but not quite. I basically just want to be able to run REAPER with one instance of AD, a max of 5 instances of Amplitube 2, and a halfway decent reverb all at a playable latency. The MBP should do that fine for now and if I need to expand later then it's small enough to still use as a day-to-day laptop in addition to a desktop. I'll stick with 4GB for now and maybe save the $200. If I need it I can always buy it later.

(And yes, REAPER is a real DAW =P)

[prophetik music]

get in touch with me when you're looking at a desktop =) i do hackintosh systems as well as PC builds.

[djpretzel]

if he was working with stuff that large on a regular basis, he wouldn't be asking for help here

but seriously, even just the laptop version of an i3-530 would be light-years beyond that ancient t7700.

Current gen MBP 13" actually has a P8600, which really ain't that bad. Gotta be good enough for DAW work since it's faster than an E6600, which is what I was using without huge problems before moving to i7.

[prophetik music]

whoops, bad information on my part then. the P8600 is a surprisingly capable chip, all told.