Get the most out of my 2017 13'' MBP i5 bi-core 8GB 4TB ports

[UnBip]

Hello here,

My actual mac is starting to be an issue in my workflow. I was not able to spend more when I bought it and I actually start to feel the limits of the RAM capacity and maybe sometimes the CPU.

My specs :

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
Processor 3.1 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Graphics Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB

I'm coding on VS Code and run a dev environment on react + GraphQL server and node + mongoDB for the back end with multiple instances for different micro services + Chrome, and few softwares for work.

My setup, is my computer + 2 external HD monitors for the lot of different windows to show on all my screens at the same time.

I kept my environment under Mojave and don't plan on upgrading. Is there anything I can do to make sure that the maximum of resources are allocated to my work flow? Any tips? Thank you

 

[DesmoPilot]

...bi-core? That's a new one.

 

[UnBip]

Do you ignore the definition of "bi" or the fact there were MacBook Pro with 2 cores ?

 

[jabbr]

switching from Chrome to Safari or even Firefox would help free RAM

 

[UnBip]

I wish, but I need to make sure the project I work on is rendering and running perfectly in Chrome + I'm used to their devtools

 

[glenthompson]

Activity Monitor to see where your bottlenecks are. Look at memory pressure and cpu usage while running your normal workload. Primary suspect would be memory as you’re running a lot of processes.

 

[thekev]

IDEs and various virtual environments suck up a lot of ram. This is likely to be your primary bottleneck. CPU may or may not help. If you are concerned about cpu, buy something with a minimum of 4 cores. I would probably favor one of the latest offerings.

 

[UnBip]

Thanks for the advise I'll keep an eye on the activity to see more in details. I have istats menu that use to show Code, Chrome and mongod with many GB for the first ones. And the memory pressure is often high, I use to close any app I don't use at the moment to try to relieve the system when it's really bad ( system very slow and close to not responding )

 

[UnBip]

I decided to invest in a refurbished MBP 16", 2.3 i9 with 16 GB of RAM.
I'm using my computer for work everyday, I figured it could be the occasion to upgrade and sell my 13" and I don't have to rely on iCloud anymore to store some of my personal files.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Please send a comparison review. As a MBP 2017 owner I’m very interested.