RAM upgrade VS. Memory upgrade

[ericbanes]

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Got my 13" MBP a week ago and im being torn on which to mod first. I basically wanted to make it a little bit faster because I get a Mac mainly for post process editing of my shots.

I was suggested to rev up the RAM from 4GB to 8GB.

One friend suggested to use SSD


Which one should you guys think is more practical and would address my consern?

TIA!

[mark_17]

RAM = Memory

upgrading ram is the cheapest upgrade with the most impact in your system... upgrading your storage to ssd will also greatly improve performance but for a steep price.

[suavecito]

You mean RAM or Disk?

[ericbanes]

You mean RAM or Disk?

I meant RAM sir.

[bugs]

I meant RAM sir.

well like what mark_17 said: RAM=memory. you must mean hard drive vs memory?

[ericbanes]

well like what mark_17 said: RAM=memory. you must mean hard drive vs memory?

hard drive vs memory - this one po. :P

[suavecito]

hard drive vs memory - this one po. :P

Dude technically if you are looking for SSD, its a Hard Disk not "hard drive" that's why im saying its a choice between RAM (Memory) vs Disk (SSD).

[mystavros]

Dude technically if you are looking for SSD, its a Hard Disk not "hard drive" that's why im saying its a choice between RAM (Memory) vs Disk (SSD).

Hard disk is also a hard disk drive

[elbert]

Many people make the mistake of referring to storage as memory.

Anyway, RAM stands for Random-Access Memory, memory being the operative word here. These essentially are electronic chips that require power to store stuff, as such there's temporary repository for data.

Data storage is where you store information on a more permanent basis, and they can come in different forms.

Traditionally, they're Hard Disk Drives (HDD's) or Hard Disks (HD) for short. They're called such because that's literally what is--a drive with a hard, physical, disk in it.

Lately, those HDs can be replaced with Solid State Drives (SSD's). SSD's take the form factor of HDDs so that it can fit into the same bay where a Hard Drive would sit. As the name suggests, they're SOLID STATE, meaning there are no moving parts inside, just electronics similar to RAM that store your data, even if without power.

Apple uses Flash Storage in the MacBook Air. Although the same principle as SSD, they come in the form of 'sticks' looking more like RAM than drives.

Now, what's the difference between RAM and Data Storage? I like to use this analogy.

RAM = a desk
Storage = a filing cabinet.

The larger your desk, the more work you can so simultaneously without having to swap files in and out of your filing cabinet so much.

The larger your filing cabinet, the more files and folders you can place in it.

Solid state storage is a new kind of filing cabinet that doesn't have doors or drawers, therefore making it much faster to store and retrieve stuff from it.

[Hero33]

If you have very little hard drive space left, then get a bigger and faster hard drive. A full or close to full hard drive will surely run slower than a hard drive with more free space.

If you still have a lot of hard drive space, then increase your RAM/Memory.