What do people think about RAM in the new MacBook Pro?
I've been following the MeromBook Pro threads with interest, because I'm in the market for an Intel Mac for professional-level photography (lots of Aperture, also Photoshop and I'd like to be able to run Qimage under Parallels). Ideally, I'd like a portable, but a Mac Pro is also a possibility. One question that I haven't seen any real speculation on is RAM capacity in the new MacBook Pros. One major drawback of the current MBP for photography is the 2 GB RAM limit - Aperture would really like more than that, and right now only a Mac Pro can give it more (iMacs have exactly the same RAM slots as MacBook Pros). I can see three ways Apple could go as far as RAM is concerned on the MacBook Pro- either keep the 2 GB limit, give it a 4 GB limit, but only two memory slots (making 4 GB hard to get to for now, but leaving the possibility open for the future), or (ideally) put four SODIMM slots on at least the 17 inch model. There's certainly room for more RAM on the huge 17-incher.
My other question is higher resolution screens. Many PC laptops offer a 17 inch 1920x1200 display (at least as an option). A few even offer 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 on a 15 inch display! So far, all MacBook Pro displays are comparatively low resolution. Will this change with the Merom models? Any speculation on either of these points?
-Dan
My other question is higher resolution screens. Many PC laptops offer a 17 inch 1920x1200 display (at least as an option). A few even offer 1600x1200 or 1920x1200 on a 15 inch display! So far, all MacBook Pro displays are comparatively low resolution. Will this change with the Merom models? Any speculation on either of these points?
-Dan
Comments
David
The limit is actually 4GB, but prepare to be gouged for 2x2GB SODIMMs.
i hear (read read) people have tried and failed. one 2GB stick works ok apparently, but not any combination of 2+x GB.
some say the memory controller can only handle more than 2GB with ddr2-533 memory and using such memory or running ddr2-667 at 533-speeds isn't possible due to limitations of apple's efi implementation. (using ddr2-533 memory none of the intel-macs will even boot...)
i hear (read read) people have tried and failed. one 2GB stick works ok apparently, but not any combination of 2+x GB.
That's for the MacBook, not the MacBook Pro.
Yep, you can do 4 GB with MacBook Pros already; it just doesn't come cheap.
But is it usable?
So you can allow Photoshop to use zB 3GB of the available ram?
Wow, that's really sucky, and hard to explain. I sure hope the MeromBook can address 4GB
The limitation could merely be a firmware bug.
That's for the MacBook, not the MacBook Pro.
that would be great news!
but i can't find a single success story...? (quite a few failure reports though...)