What do people think about RAM in the new MacBook Pro?

dan wellsdan wells
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
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

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    imacfanimacfan Posts: 444member
    The display size wont change much, if at all, until Leopard ships. That includes scaling for the GUI, otherwise the choice for those with less than absolutely perfect vision will be miniscule or murky.



    David
  • Reply 2 of 11
    zandroszandros Posts: 537member
    Unless they change chipset, which they won't, since Intel has no replacement available, there will be no change in the memory capacity as far as I know.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    The limit is actually 4GB, but prepare to be gouged for 2x2GB SODIMMs.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Yep, you can do 4 GB with MacBook Pros already; it just doesn't come cheap.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    tubgirltubgirl Posts: 177member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R


    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...)
  • Reply 6 of 11
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    Wow, that's really sucky, and hard to explain. I sure hope the MeromBook can address 4GB
  • Reply 7 of 11
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tubgirl


    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.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    gargar Posts: 1,201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker


    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?
  • Reply 9 of 11
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R


    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.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    tubgirltubgirl Posts: 177member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker


    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...)
  • Reply 11 of 11
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    Yeah, ditto, Chucker, where did you read that? 2GB sticks only go for $250 and I'd be willing to drop $500 on this.
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