Old MacBookPro: Performance Gain 3GB to 4GB?
- Thread starter Durbrow
- Start date
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
Yes, in two ways:
1) You'll have an extra 1GB of memory for "breathing room" with your apps. You could theoretically increase the amount of memory assigned to your Parallels virtual machines for a slight performance increase with them.
2) You'll now be running in true, dual-channel memory mode -- meaning memory access will be slightly faster now that you're running two, identical RAM chips (2GB + 2GB) versus unmatched memory chips (1GB + 2GB).
If you truly have the late 2006 model, though, you're limited to a maximum of 3GB of addressable RAM (3.3GB to be exact, I believe). This is a hardware limitation and there's nothing you can do about it.
So, my number 1 point may be moot. My number 2 point still stands, though -- even though you'll only be able to use 3GB out of the 4GB installed, you'll still get the slight benefits of having matched pairs of RAM in the machine.
1) You'll have an extra 1GB of memory for "breathing room" with your apps. You could theoretically increase the amount of memory assigned to your Parallels virtual machines for a slight performance increase with them.
2) You'll now be running in true, dual-channel memory mode -- meaning memory access will be slightly faster now that you're running two, identical RAM chips (2GB + 2GB) versus unmatched memory chips (1GB + 2GB).
If you truly have the late 2006 model, though, you're limited to a maximum of 3GB of addressable RAM (3.3GB to be exact, I believe). This is a hardware limitation and there's nothing you can do about it.
So, my number 1 point may be moot. My number 2 point still stands, though -- even though you'll only be able to use 3GB out of the 4GB installed, you'll still get the slight benefits of having matched pairs of RAM in the machine.
Thanks for the info! Given that memory is incredibly cheap I am going to try it. I purchased so-called "optimized" memory from OWC and I intend to remove all my current memory and put in 2 x 2GB upgrades. (I can resale the original memory). About $40. I am curious whether I will notice a speed bump. Thanks again.
Mikuro
Crotchety UI Nitpicker
Open Activity Monitor (in /Applications/Utilities), and go to the System Memory tab. There are a few things you should check here: the "free" memory, the "swap used" and the "page outs". If you have high free memory, low swap, and low page-outs, that means your system has plenty of RAM, and adding more will not help much. If the page-outs and swap used are high, then it's likely to help.
But more important than those numbers, which are hard to interpret well, is your experience. Have you noticed slowdowns in any particular cases? For example, when switching applications? When you have too little RAM, you'll often have excessive delays when switching apps, sometimes over a full minute in extreme cases (5-10 seconds is more typical, in my experience). With more RAM that delay can be reduced to nothing, so it's a huge difference.
But more important than those numbers, which are hard to interpret well, is your experience. Have you noticed slowdowns in any particular cases? For example, when switching applications? When you have too little RAM, you'll often have excessive delays when switching apps, sometimes over a full minute in extreme cases (5-10 seconds is more typical, in my experience). With more RAM that delay can be reduced to nothing, so it's a huge difference.