How much ram is too much ram??

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Hey all, I am a professional ad photographer and I do a lot of imaging and I am thinking of getting the imac with 16gb of 1333 ram. Is that overkill?
 

chscag

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It's not overkill but I can not see ever using that much memory even for large images. If you do decide on adding that much memory, be sure to buy it from a reliable third party reseller like OWC or Crucial and not directly from Apple. You might want to think about starting out with 8 GB first to see if that is adequate for your needs.
 

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No. Better to have more than not enough.
 

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Hi

I do a lot of complex 3D medical imaging manipulation and I have the maximum of 16GB RAM on my newest iMac.

I do not have the technical knowledge to enter the debate on the optimum RAM versus processor speed and all the rest.

But I like to learn and I wonder why chscag advises against Apple's pre-installed RAM in favour of a third party which presumably necessitates that the owner buys the RAM separately and then has to install it.

Are the advantages of doing this so overwhelming that learning how to go about installing the RAM overrides the convenience of a package from Apple?

My computer immaturity means that I am terrified of tinkering with my iMac which would seem to put me a disadvantage.

No offence intended. Genuinely curious.

Ian
 
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But I like to learn and I wonder why chscag advises against Apple's pre-installed RAM in favour of a third party which presumably necessitates that the owner buys the RAM separately and then has to install it.

Are the advantages of doing this so overwhelming that learning how to go about installing the RAM overrides the convenience of a package from Apple?

Money, mostly, probably.. Apple charges probably double the cost of doing it yourself.
 

chscag

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Yes, as s2odin states it's all about the money. Installing memory in your new iMac is very easy and there certainly is no point in paying Apple a premium price for something you can do just as well.

Apple has designed the new iMac and even the new Mac Mini so that the owner could very easily add memory to his\her machine. That's why I recommend doing it yourself rather than spending the extra money.

As far as the amount is concerned, your 16 GB is fine. The new iMac has four memory slots which make it very convenient to add memory in pairs; unlike the MacBook and older iMacs which only have two slots.
 

bobtomay

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HOLY COW!!!!

Apple - $1,000 to upgrade from 4GB to 16GB in the new iMacs

OWC - $260

Crucial - $280

I need to set up a workshop right outside the Apple stores and start selling them for $500. 10 a day and I could retire in another year or two.
 

IWT


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Point taken!

I wave the white flag in defeat.

Thanks to all of you.

Ian
 
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I just got the 27 i7 and stayed with apple default 4 gigs of ram. I plan on purchasing 8 gig from crucial or owc for around 160. So 160 will put me at 12 gigs of ram and I can always upgrade the original 4 down the road when need to.
 
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Too much? More than your Mac can handle.
 
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As already mentioned, too much RAM is better than not enough but everyone can easily check to see if they need more RAM by starting up Activity Monitor in their Utilities folder in the Applications folder.

Check it at the end of the day on a busy computer day and see if you have a lot of page outs and swap usage. If you have zero for both then it's most likely you have enough RAM for most of your tasks.
 

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