4GB on my MacBook Pro

[PerfectCr]

I decided to jump on a 4GB upgrade kit from Other World Computing. It was only $78 Shipped. Anyone upgrade to 4GB? I always know generally more Ram is a good thing (tm), but just looking for any comments on if performance increases under Leopard. I am did some reading and found out Vista 32-bit can only address about 3GB of ram, not 4. I guess that's better than 2 anyway.

[Usacomp2k3]

Can OSX see 4GB of RAM?

[torax]

Can OSX see 4GB of RAM?

Leopard - yes
Tiger - no

[PerfectCr]

Can OSX see 4GB of RAM?

Leopard - yes
Tiger - no

What he said. I have the latest Santa Rosa MBP 2.4Ghz.

[derFunkenstein]

Just like with Windows, it's really only going to make a difference if you were paging alot previously.

I know I could use 4GB - sometimes Logic Express will use 1.25GB or more of memory on its own if I'm using alot of tracks and also trying to use the Jam Pack software synths. Then again, I'd need a Mac that can see 4GB (Leopard doesn't help the 945GM chipset's problem with seeing only 3GB).

So the short answer is I don't think it'll be as big of a deal in Leopard as it is in Vista, and it depends on what you're doing, but if you're seeing paging issues now, doubling the RAM should drop that considerably.

[PerfectCr]

Cool, thanks! I am mostly using Vista for gaming. I have Steam installed and am currently playing through Gears of War Windows and I just got Mass Effect PC. I am hoping the extra Ram helps with the games. In Leopard I don't do much gaming but occasionally do some video and sound editing.

[tanker27]

PerfectCR, Make sure you keep the original RAM handy just in case you need your MBP serviced. Some places wont service it if "something" was changed by the consumer and undocumented in Apple's Database. I ran into that when I wanted a larger HD. I had to go dig around for the original 2gb. I was also told that if i ever had to send it to Apple that it would be refused without original parts or documentation.

[PerfectCr]

PerfectCR, Make sure you keep the original RAM handy just in case you need your MBP serviced. Some places wont service it if "something" was changed by the consumer and undocumented in Apple's Database. I ran into that when I wanted a larger HD. I had to go dig around for the original 2gb. I was also told that if i ever had to send it to Apple that it would be refused without original parts or documentation.

Really? Ok I'll do that. Oddly, I had my Black MacBook serviced at the Apple Store last month under warranty (needed a new HDD) and they never mentioned the fact that I had upgraded the Ram from 1GB to 2GB. But to play it safe, I'll take your advice and keep the original 2GB. Thanks.

[derFunkenstein]

I guess it depends on who does the repair. Like with my Mini's logic board, it was done by an Apple-authorized shop, and they were nice enough to take the RAM that I'd purchased and install it for me while they had it open. They just said that if something happened that the memory was bad, Apple wouldn't cover it (nor would I expect them to).

But I have heard of people being bitten by what tanker mentioned, so it's definitely a good idea to hold onto the original RAM (which I've done in my Mini's case as well).

[PerfectCr]

So I installed the 4GB. Bootup is snappier in Mac OS X and generally things are a bit faster. Nothing crazy but it's nice when I am doing some serious work in there to not see the pinwheel color icon spinning anymore. Vista recognizes that 4GB are installed but only uses 3GB. This is Vista 32. Games in Vista didn't see any huge increase either.

[derFunkenstein]

that's kind of what we all figured, I guess. What's your workload in OS X like?

[Usacomp2k3]

This is Vista 32. Games in Vista didn't see any huge increase either.

Does bootcamp (or whatever you use) support the 64-bit version?

[derFunkenstein]

Yes, at least now it does. The 10.5.2 disc that shipped with my Mini has Vista 64 drivers, and Apple has an updated driver pack available:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ ... sta64.html

Stupidly, though, for some reason it requires the original disc with boot camp v2.0 with Vista 64 support to be in the optical drive. PerfectCr's should probably support 64-bit Vista too.

It seems to me that at Leopard's initial release, it did *not* support 64-bit Vista and therefore Leopard retail discs and possibly early Leopard OEM discs don't have 64-bit drivers and therefore can't use this update. I might be wrong on that tho.

[Usacomp2k3]

Thanks

[Voldenuit]

The sooner everyone moves to 64-bit, the better. (cf Win16-Win32 transition).

Of course, the benefits to the end-user are minimal. Although x64 exposes more registers, Core 2 Duo has some architectural limitations when running 64bit code, like uop fusion being disabled, so the net gain is not always as great as expected*. Still, the sooner the industry moves to 64-bit, the better.

I've been using XP x64 as my main OS for two years now, even before I had more than 4 GB of RAM (currently running 8 GB on my desktop).

* Nehalem fixes this shortcoming iirc.

[PerfectCr]

that's kind of what we all figured, I guess. What's your workload in OS X like?

Nothing too crazy but I will occasionally do some video and audio editing plus email, web, and UT2004 Mac version. And yeah my MBP does support Vista 64 but I didn't feel like bothering with it since I own a 32 bit Vista license and the performance different is negligible.

[derFunkenstein]

I guess I should make that updated in quotation marks ("updated" driver pack)...I didn't realize until now those drivers are from APRIL. Geez.