RAM comes in the following sizes: 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. The higher the GB, the more storage your RAM has. You can get by on 4GB but your laptop is going to be pretty slow when it comes to doing anything beyond basic tasks. Most newer Macbook Pros come with at least 8GB of RAM. [2] X Research source
You use programs like Lightworks, Photoshop, ProTools, Audition, or IDEs, like Eclipse. You’re a professional coder, programmer, animator, photographer, videographer, or musician. You multitask for work or school and frequently have dozens of web tabs, programs, or documents open all at the same time. You connect your laptop to multiple external displays to swap between multiple programs and tasks.
If your MacBook is on the older side, it’s probably more cost effective to just buy a new computer than it is to upgrade the RAM. Think of RAM like a hard drive: your hard drive stores all of your files, and you might need a huge hard drive if you have a ton of photos or videos. Programs use RAM in a similar way—if you’re using a bunch of complex programs, you’ll need a beefier RAM.
To go back to the hard drive storage example: if you have 1 TB of storage on your hard drive but only 250 GB of files, will upgrading to 2 TBs make your computer faster? Not really. You simply don’t need the extra space.
RAM is one of those things where if it is defective, you’ll know it. Your computer won’t just be a little slow—it won’t work. If you’re thinking about upgrading your RAM because you think it will fix something that’s broken on your computer, you’re probably barking up the wrong tree.
Even if you could upgrade the RAM and you knew how to solder it, Apple has started throttling RAM on their motherboards. In other words, even if you perfectly installed a 32GB card in a 2018 MacBook Pro that was built with 16GB, your computer will still act like there’s only 16GB of RAM there. [9] X Research source
There are two 2012 models that have upgradable RAM: the 13-inch from mid-2012, and the 15-inch from mid-2012. The other 2012 models have the soldered RAM sticks. [11] X Research source
Between 2008-2018, there were a mix of HDDs and SSDs on the market. SSDs were new technology and they were really expensive. These days, there’s no good reason to use an outdated HDD. An SSD is just light years ahead when it comes to speed and reliability. [13] X Research source
If you’re on 4GB of RAM, it’s probably time to get a new computer. It’s been quite a few years since Macbooks were packaged with 4GB of RAM. You could upgrade the RAM, but your computer only has a year or two of life left in it anyway.
