Hi, I will be a business major in the fall, and I am wondering what computer to get. I have settled on a MacBook Pro, and I’m only unsure about whether to go with 4 or 8 GB of RAM. Will I need 8 GB, or is that overkill?
I’m a longtime Mac user. I wouldn’t consider a Mac with only 4GB. Can you get that model with 16? That’s what I have in my office.
Depends on what you’re planning on doing outside of your major. Most web browsers are absolutely horrible with resource management and absolutely eat up RAM. However, beyond 8GB I don’t think you’ll see much of a boost if all you do is surf the web, do some word processing, and watch Netflix. 4GB is certainly too little for most tasks and even if you don’t experience slowdown at first, I think if you want your laptop to last you for more than a few years you should seriously consider getting 8GB of RAM.
I built my desktop with only 8GB of RAM and I’m completely fine so far. I can play intensive games on it with little to no slowdown. 16GB would probably increase performance slightly on most computers, but if money is tight then it’s not a necessary upgrade. Buy a backup hard drive and make sure you use it frequently.
Thank you! I think I’m going to go with the 8 GB, especially since I my hope is that this computer lasts me for at least my college career. I don’t plan to be doing gaming, it will be pretty basic stuff.
More is better. Aside from being a good idea with computers, this is a common human value.
If the memory in directly soldered to the motherboard and cannot be upgraded then I would go for the extra memory, Nothing is worse then needing more memory in a system that cannot be upgraded. A 4 gig machine will also have lower resale value if it cannot be upgraded.
If you have the option to upgrade it yourself (not soldered in), then sometimes it can be cheaper to get the machine with 4 GB and add 4 yourself (or if it has 1 slot, replace the 4 with 8). I did this for my computer. If that’s not an option, though, (which I think is the case here), then definitely go for 8.
Yes that is correct, it is a Macbook with a permanent setup. I ordered the 8 GB today. Thanks for everyone’s help!