InDesign RAM requirements - 16 or 32 GB

[camillar99631102]

Hi there everyone,

I am wondering if 16 GB of ram will be enough to run a large InDesign document - a magazine of 100 pages with images (photographs) on most pages.

I would probably have Photoshop open at the same time - resizing images as I go.

I am going to purchase a MacBook Pro 15'' - upgrading from a much older model. The extra ram is very expensive - so I'm hoping to avoid it and use another device for any other multitasking I need to do.

I really appreciate your responses, Thanks

[Test Screen Name]

It might RUN (low RAM doesn't stop things working, it could just make them hundreds of times slower). Photoshop is an eager user of RAM. It depends what your time waiting for apps is worth, but almost certainly the 32 GB is a good investment. Also pay close attention to the amound and speed of disk. SSD is faster, but the default SSD size isn't enough for pro use. Adequate size of SSD is hugely expensive. Fusion drives can be a good compromise. Photoshop may benefit from a second external drive. Unless you need the laptop a desktop might be more cost effective. As would be a Windows system.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

16 GB is OK; 32 GB is better. Few people ever complained about having too much RAM.

64-bit software programs don't automatically use all the RAM, they are just capable of accessing the RAM if necessary. If you want to save money on RAM, get the 16 GB and put in your own RAM. However, if you just order it online, Apple will install two 8 GB chips; I go to the Apple store and request/require it be a single 16 GB chip. That makes it easier to install another 16 GB later. (And easier if you need to bring the computer in for repair--the first thing a tech will blame is third-party RAM. Take it out and if the problem does not go away, bring the computer in without the added RAM.)

I have the 1 TB SSD drive on my system--a good investment. You can work with a 512 GB as long as you off-load and archive jobs when they are finished. You can get an inexpensive USB3 drive. If you want better speed, you can get a USB-C (3.1) or Thunderbolt 3 drive but make sure the drive is a SSD too. Otherwise, the speed of the drive becomes the bottleneck and the faster connection won't help much.

[camillar99631102]

Thank you for your response, I really appreciate it.

Regarding the SSD drive built into the laptop - I take it you both consider 256 GB to be too small to run the OS and programs even if I archive all my files on an external drive? Can I have the SSD updated at a later date if I find it's too small?

Also - would I be ok with the 256 SSD if I bought and external SSD to use as a scratch disk for Adobe programs?

It's either RAM or a bigger SSD - I can't afford both. I have seen older Apple certified refurbs with bigger SSD for the same price? I'm thinking an imac might be the only solution if the extra RAM and SSD onboard really are necessary.

Any suggestions of cheaper windows laptops would be useful too. I'm happy to be converted - its just that I can't seem to find any recommendations that are significantly cheaper with the same specs.

I apologise for my ignorance - the computer I work on now is 7 years old - I'm out of touch!

[Colin Holgate]

The others here can answer about InDesign specific needs, though at 256GB and 16GB you have 100x the storage requirement and 8x the RAM requirement. It's even 2x the recommended RAM. If you were also running several other CC apps at the same time I can see how 32GB would be better than 16GB, or that between them all they may benefit from more internal SSD space.

But about the RAM and the SSD on the newer MacBook Pros, they are apparently soldered onto the motherboard. You have to make the decision about how big they are now. I'm also about to go from a mid-2015 MacBook Pro to one of the new ones, I haven't finished thinking it through yet, but I will probably get 1 TB SSD and 32GB RAM. I have 1 TB SSD on my current machine, and it has been useful. I can't decide whether to pay the extra money for 2 TB, on the assumption that during its lifetime I'm likely to need that much space.

Colin Smith did a review of the new MacBook Pro a few days ago, perhaps some of his thoughts will help:

2018 i9 MacBook Pro Review for Creative Pros - (with heat fix) - YouTube

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

>they are apparently soldered onto the motherboard

Good point!

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS · Accepted solution]

@Colin: I assume you are referring to Adobe's system requirements. I don't consider those are not "real world" specs--just enough to do basic jobs. 2 GB is a joke. 8 GB will certainly work, but for large jobs, most likely the hard drive will be used for RAM cache. That could be bearable with a larger SSD drive but not optimal.

The job in question will certainly work on a 16 GB system, but I would go with more RAM since a 512 GB drive could be supplemented with external drives. (My loaded Mac OS and programs take up less than 100 GB.)

Other Computers

I like Macs (since 1985 and former Apple certified consultant), but realized a long time ago that computers are just tools and the Mac OS and Windows OS operate basically the same for most users. See: Macintosh and Windows Cross-Platform Tips for some tips. (I have both a 15-in MBP and a 15-in Dell XPS.)

Since you expressed interest in other options, I like the XPS 15. With the same processor (8th gen. i7), here are the differences:

MacBook Pro with 32 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD: $3400

Dell XPS 15 with 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, and touch screen: $2600

Dell XPS 15 2-in1 with 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, and touch screen: $2600

I always buy addition 3-year warranty coverage for my laptops, the costs between Apple and Dell are about the same; Dell also offers accident coverage, so I don't worry about damage as much.

[Colin Holgate]

Yes, I was thinking of the Adobe specs, but was also suggesting to listen to you for real world advice.

On the topic of RAM though, here's a debate for three years ago, about whether 16GB is needed (in answering a question about whether to get 32GB):

Performance of 16 vs 32 GB of ram. - Ars Technica OpenForum

The advice was on the lines of "I have 16 GB and my system has never gone above using 6 GB. But get a machine that is capable of 32 GB, only buy 16 GB, and it'll probably be enough for the lifetime of the machine". Lot of paraphrasing there, but that's the sort of advice there was.

I would bet that a very high percentage of InDesign work has been done on machines with 16 GB or less, and presumably they succeeded ok. But, the argument you should make is whether within the lifetime of a brand new machine, can you imagine InDesign needing more than 16 GB? And then, yes, of course, that's easy to imagine!

[camillar99631102]

I really appreciate this info, thank you.

I live in Australia (I'm assuming you are in the US) and I have found this Dell model for nearly half the price of the macbook pro I was looking at. With 512GB and 32 of RAM the MBP is $4459 AUD. The Dell is selling for $2399 with the same specs.

I'll definitely be thinking hard about this - It is miles better value! I think I can cope with it not looking very nice for that price!

Thanks guys.

[innovative_adventurer5D56]

Hi, i am using MacBook pro, with 8 G ram, and InDesign cc 2018, with heavy files and hard work and its ok, 16 G will be great.