Ram question!

C

captcha

Registered
Hello,

Sorry my stupid question, I'm totally new at mac world and on this forum!

Is Macbook Pro uses all 4GB of ram, or is there some limitations like on WinXP 32 systems? The reason i ask, cose I'm about to buy Macbook Pro for the audio works and i need to know if 2GB will do the job or shell i go for the 4GB?

Thanx in advance ^^
 
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html

All information you need is on that page.

The MacBook Pro is not a 32-bit system, nor is Mac OS X a 32-bit operating system, like the "Win32" system you referenced.

Whether or not 2GB is enough for you or whether you should install 4GB is completely subjective and dependent upon the type of work you will be doing (4MB audio files? 4,000MB audio files?) and your personal preference in terms of speed.
 
Yes, it's a limitation of 32-bit operating systems like Windows XP and 32-bit Vista. Theoretically, all 32-bit operating systems can address a maximum of 4 GB. However, it seems that 32-bit Windows operating systems can only address about 3-3.5 GB of the maximum 4 GB.

More information regarding the issue on MS operating systems:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx
____

EDIT: Dammit....too slow. :p
 
nixgeek said:
Yes, it's a limitation of 32-bit operating systems like Windows XP and 32-bit Vista. Theoretically, all 32-bit operating systems can address a maximum of 4 GB. However, it seems that 32-bit Windows operating systems can only address about 3-3.5 GB of the maximum 4 GB.

More information regarding the issue on MS operating systems:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx
____

EDIT: Dammit....too slow. :p
Click to expand...
hey you confuse me now, the article you link me to is about windows, in fact i know that already about windows and that's da reason I'm actually here to see if MAC's are different and got no limitations...
 
captcha said:
hey you confuse me now, the article you link me to is about windows, in fact i know that already about windows and that's da reason I'm actually here to see if MAC's are different and got no limitations...
Click to expand...

The limitation is due to the 32-bit operating systems, not OS X nor the hardware. As EDCC mentioned, your MacBook Pro can recognize the maximum amount of RAM possible for itself.

Additionally, OS X Leopard is 64-bit, so it can read the entire 4 GB. Even a 64-bit GNU/Linux distribution would be able to recognize all of the RAM. The issue is only with 32-bit operating systems.
 
BTW, the scenario is the same with PCs. If you have a 64-bit Intel/AMD processor on a motherboard that supports 8 GB, for example, all 64-bit operating systems that can run on this PC will be able to see over 4 GB of RAM on the motherboard. Even 64-bit Vista and 64-bit Windows 7 can see beyond the 4 GB limit. It's just the 32-bit operating systems that experience this issue.

In short, it's not a hardware limitation, but a software limitation.
 
nixgeek said:
OS X Leopard is 64-bit...
Click to expand...


aha, yes now i understand why all my dude's goes for Mac's....think is that 64-bit Vista and 64-bit Windows do NOT have stable software yet that guys like me (audio-freaks) use to work with, so we all working on WinXp 32-bit, but OK Mac is 64-Bit in nature, that's explains it all!

Thanx :p
 
Well, Mac OS X Leopard also allows you to run 32-bit software transparently, which is something that's not inherent in 64-bit Windows that I know of. So yes, that is one of the reasons why 64-bit Windows hasn't caught on as quickly. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft does do something similar in the near future to what Apple has accomplished with Leopard.
 
nixgeek: What are you talking about? 64 -bit windows can run 32-bit software. Windows use a thing called WOW64 (yeah), i.e. Windows-On-Windows. It emulates 32-bit Windows to the 32-bit program, so the program thinks it is running on 32-bit machine. There are some restrictions, like you cannot use 64-bit libraries on 32-bit program or vice versa. I guess Leopard (and Snow Leopard) do not have these restrictions.
 
artov said:
nixgeek: What are you talking about? 64 -bit windows can run 32-bit software. Windows use a thing called WOW64 (yeah), i.e. Windows-On-Windows. It emulates 32-bit Windows to the 32-bit program, so the program thinks it is running on 32-bit machine. There are some restrictions, like you cannot use 64-bit libraries on 32-bit program or vice versa. I guess Leopard (and Snow Leopard) do not have these restrictions.
Click to expand...

Well, that's why I said "that I know of" because I haven't experienced 64-bit Windows myself yet. My information has been based on what I've read about 64-bit Windows, specifically XP x64. Has this feature been around since XP x64, or was it introduced afterwards?

Didn't mean to spread misinformation, and for that I apologize... :eek:
 
OK, I see that I was completely off about the ability to run 32-bit software in 64-bit Windows. Thanks to artov and Wikipedia, I learned more about WOW64 and that it was included in Windows XP Pro x64 Edition and subsequent 64-bit Windows OSes. Sorry for my errors. :eek:
 
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