I just bought an 8GB (2 4GB) off of Amazon because it was a great deal ($40) and got great reviews in a MBP. I have a 2011 MBP with 4GB RAM and 750 GB HDD. My question is this:
What should I look for as far as increased performance? Will the machine run faster overall, i.e. boot faster, load applications faster etc. Will I notice an increase in internet browsing speed? Or will the difference not be noticeable?
More than likely you won't see much of a speed increase in the operations you mentioned going from 4gig to 8gig of ram. More ram is good if you have specific applications that require lots of ram (such as some Adobe programs)...or more ram helps when you have lots of applications open simultaneously.
Specifically:
- to make a computer run faster overall...a faster cpu or gpu is needed (or both)
- boot times & app. load time are improved via a faster hard drive
- faster internet...you would probably need a faster internet service plan
But going from 4gig to 8gig of ram (for the average user)...is not really going to speed anything up to the point that you will notice it.
But when you need it...the extra ram is nice to have.
- Nick
p.s. BTW...if you only had 1gig or 2gig of ram...yes you might have seen a speed increase going to 4gig or 8gig of ram. But going from 4gig to 8gig (for the average user)...not so much of a speed increase.