For "normal" use.

Ruling out multiple VMs, video composting, or high-dpi publishing work.

8 is more than enough.

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Stoicism and chill.
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I can get an "Late 2013 open box" 15.4 Retina 8 for $1275 - that's a tempting price.

The 16GB 2014 model goes on sale for $1799 once in a while.

Just trying to decide.

and here: http://deals.appleinsider.com/

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Stoicism and chill.
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This one:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i7-2.5-15-dual-graphics-mid-2014-retina-display-specs.html

That's a 15.4 MacBook Pro 2.5Ghz Quad i7, 16GB of RAM, 512 SSD with the GeForce GT 750M*.

It retails for $2499 +tax. (In CA that's a total of $2692)
Best Buy Certified Open Box + 10% coupon from USPS Change Of Addrewss Packet can to $1782.

but its nearly 190,000 tracks and this thing hit my desktop in 2008. Between the upgrade to Mavericks/Yosemite and upgrading from 4GB to 8GB of RAM this computer still performs about as well as my girlfriends 2012 iMac with 4GB of RAM, which is to say it browses the web and watches Youtube fine.


I don't get the impression I could do a lot of powerful importing/editing of creative content though. I can still barely run Civilization V.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

get some cores, max out that RAM... get that fast SSD. There's no excuse to have a slow PC/Mac out here.

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or at least, as max as the factory kit allows. not sure about home modding, only time I did that was with PS2s. not really my confidence area, especially with Macs since all I've ever heard is everything is soldered together.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

There's a limit to upgradeability in any system, given that the motherboard's architecture eventually becomes a bottleneck for RAM speed and various integral functions. Those clock speeds are continuously improving.

Even 32GB on a snazzy mobo from 2008 simply wouldn't keep up with 8GB on a nice mid-level board made 6 months ago.

http://twitter.com/RSoon
http://soonsounds.com <--- Peace for the Fiery Heart
https://soundcloud.com/marianmereba/blue-for-mr-green-real-soon

The difference was amazing.

you should not have performance problems, whether pc mac or whatever

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I just got "used to" having 16GB in my Mac Mini - but I doubt I ever really used it.

I have 8GB in my PCs and SSDs and they rarely slow down.

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It seems like your Mac (and some version of Linux, and some versions of Windows) will use all available RAM to cache things it thinks you might use, but the second you need the RAM for something you are absolutely going to use it for it'll give that RAM away.

Now, when you're using all your RAM for "real" things then it will start to swap and page out.

The metric to worry about isn't available memory, but something called "Memory Pressure."

It's a little nebulous to me (and very technical) but 8 is probably enough unless you know you have processe that demand the RAM. (<-song)


http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/107126/what-scale-or-measure-does-mavericks-memory-pressure-adhere-to

http://newosxbook.com/articles/MemoryPressure.html

I'm on 4GB and go HAM on my PC usage whenever so... this may be a plan for me as well. Gonna check out Crucial memory prices for 8 and 16GB after I confirm how much moar my PC can support.

You'll be happy with the performance boost. Get an SSD for your OS volume. It's a noticeable crispiness. So nice.

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Just tricky since I have a 600GB C:\ drive but only 250GB full and figuring how to get this onto my 512GB drive - bleeeeh... gotta look up tools or see if I have to do a resize on my C drive or something something with EaseUS -__-

http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows

Just move the files off the HD you can live without, then follow the guide.

...

Running the rMBP at 2K resolution with iTunes, dashlane, pages, chrome, and garageband open causes it to overheat and shut down. I'm running at 2014 rmbp 13 with 8 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. Let's not talk about running it in 4K mode.

However, this was back when HDD prices had spiked because of the flooding in Taiwan. I picked up a Crucial Ballistix Sport 8x2 pack for $72. Sadly the price seems to have doubled these days. Still, if I were going to do a build today, I'd go with at least 8GB

<-- Dave Thomas knows what's up...
__________________________

Jay: Look here homie, any nigga can get a hit record. This here is about respect.
Game: Like Gladys Knight.
Jay: Aretha Franklin.
Game: Word, I like her too.
Jay: Nigga...