I want more speed!

In the past the best way to speed up your computer was to add more RAM. Typically the motto was “you can never have too much RAM”. Lately that has changed. The rise of reasonably priced solid state drives (SSD) to replace the hard drive in your computer has meant that we can all get a major speed-up for our slightly older machines.

Why the speed boost?
Modern computer operating systems have a concept called virtual memory (VM). VM is used when you push your computer beyond the physical RAM limit and it starts to use your hard drive as extended memory. This isn’t good – accessing data from RAM is thousands of times faster than accessing data from the hard drive. (Hard drives are just spinning – magnets similar to an old record player! A SSD looks like a hard drive, but is all memory chips, no moving parts and FAST).

When VM is used off an SSD – it is quick. So even a Macbook Air with 2GB of RAM can keep up with a Macbook Pro in your studio (obviously not in graphical tasks as the Macbook Air has a pretty weak graphics card compared to a Macbook Pro or iMac).

Something to think about
If you have a Macbook Air – you already have an SSD. If you have a Macbook, Macbook Pro, Mac Pro or some models of iMac, you can get an SSD retro fitted (get your tech guru to check it out for you). The performance gain is huge! It’ll give you a little bit more life out of your existing hardware. Applications launch quicker, files open faster, Mail/Safari/iCal all operate far more smoothly. All pluses. (The only downside is the price per GB – a 256GB SSD costs around $450). This is a highly recommended performance boost for any computer. If you already have 8GB of RAM and are looking for a bit more speed, an SSD will beat more RAM hands down.

 

New Apple Macbook Pros

Apple have given us a small update to the Macbook Pro range which adds faster processors, faster video and a new connector called Thunderbolt. The processor update includes a new quad core processor which should be great for video editing or Photoshop on the run.

Thunderbolt is a new connection technology from Intel which runs at 10Gbs (really fast). It is the same connector as the mini-display port. You can daisy chain up to 6 devices including your Display. Thunderbolt will be a great technology going forward – but there will be a limited number of options at the moment. More information about the new Macbook Pros here

If you have a Macbook Pro and want to get some serious performance out of it – talk to us about upgrading the hard drive to a SSD. In our experience, this is the best performance boost you can do to a Macbook Pro!