I am about to order my first Mac and im looking to buy the new Macbook Pro 17" core i7 and im wondering whether to just go all out and pay the extra to get the full 8gb ram. I am a web designer and developer so I use a lot of applications like Photoshop and other development tools, im going for the 17" for the screen real estate and im not worried about carrying the extra weight for the 17". But I just want to know if you guys would recommend the ram upgrade and would I notice a difference with it or not? I will also use my laptop to enjoy movies and all my other day to day things like browsing etc.
Thanks
No! Buy the Macbook Pro but buy it with as little RAM from Apple as possible and get a third-party vendor from where you can get much cheaper RAM of identical quality.
Apple’s RAM are insanely overpriced. I have a Mac Pro (desktop) and a Macbook and for both I chose the min. RAM configuration and bought my RAM from other vendors.
With that said, yes, I definitely recommend getting at least 8 RAM. It matters quite a bit.
I’m not in the US, but pretty much all colleagues I know buy their RAM from Newegg or [URL=“http://www.crucial.com/”]Crucial. You won’t lose waranty on the machine for opening it and adding third-party RAM.
If you’re using Adobe products (or using virtualized Windows) you’ll want at least 4GB for a smooth browsing experience, the more the better… but I agree you should get your RAM from a 3rd party because Apple hike their RAM prices literally to through the roof, I know people who use Corsair and Crucial RAM. 
PS: You may well be able to get Apple to install it for you in your local Apple store, that would certainly ensure the warranty.
Ok well after looking around and Crucial for example want £380 for the 8gb ram kit (2 x 4gb) which is what I would need to replace the standard 2 x 2gb ram, this works out with Apple being cheaper, where should I be looking for this cheaper ram?
Thanks