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Seamoose17

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 29, 2010
20
0
Hi

I'm looking at getting a macbook and I have seen an aluminium unibody macbook with specs of 2.0GHz 2GB Ram and a 160GB hard drive.

Is this enough for my needs of general web browsing, itunes etc or would it be too slow?

Any advice welcome.

Cheers.
 

Dybbuk

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2006
976
35
Yes, it should be fine. You can always upgrade the RAM and HDD later if you want (as I have). The unibody MacBook is a solid machine.
 

Seamoose17

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 29, 2010
20
0
Hi

I'm not really very good at all the technical stuff but how much does it cost to upgrade RAM and can Apple do it for you?

Cheers
 

sheppy1

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2008
739
1
That's pretty much exactly the same as the one I bought last week, I'm a student too and as fast as it already was I upgraded the RAM to 4GB which set me back £40, I bought the RAM through eBay though and fitted it my self, it's very easy to do and there are many YouTube videos which show you how to do it. Apple will do it for you but they charge roughly double for the parts and labor so it will set you back about £70-£80 if you have Apple do 'it for you
 

Seamoose17

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 29, 2010
20
0
Hi Sheppy

Is it the white uniboday or aluminium uniody you have out of interest?

And was there a noticable difference with 2GB and 4GB RAM?

I wouldn't really mind paying extra for Apple to do it because I really wouldn't trust myself!
 

sheppy1

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2008
739
1
Hi Sheppy

Is it the white uniboday or aluminium uniody you have out of interest?

And was there a noticable difference with 2GB and 4GB RAM?

I wouldn't really mind paying extra for Apple to do it because I really wouldn't trust myself!

I have the Aluminium Macbook, it has the 2.0Ghz processor, 160GB Hard Drive and it originally came with 2GB RAM. The difference is quite noticeable indeed, especially when you start running memory hungry tasks and multitasking. I would say that if you only plan on web browsing and using word processing apps then 2GB will be more than enough for you as they still run VERY fast with 2GB RAM, much faster than windows PCs with 2GB RAM but if you plan on doing anything more then I would definitely recommend that you upgrade to 4GB

Also even if you don't need it, it's definitely worth having, you can never have too much RAM so if you can afford it I would just go for it
 

Seamoose17

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 29, 2010
20
0
Thanks Sheppy.

I was just wondering, is it better to have more GHz or more RAM?

Because I have seen a 2.26GHz 2GB RAM white unibody macbook and I was wondering how that differed from a macbook with 2.0GHZ with 4GB RAM?
 

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,183
3,343
Pennsylvania
I have a 2.1ghz machine, with a 120gb hard drive and 3gb's of RAM, which I use to edit video on. It's a good machine. The only thing I'd worry about is the battery life. Newer machines can squeeze out 10 hours of battery life, while an older one will get 3 at most.
 

machewcoy

macrumors member
Aug 20, 2010
65
1
CA
I'm still on my black Macbook from 2006 - specs are in my signature. It's MORE than enough for the everyday chores of a college student.
 

mosx

macrumors 65816
Mar 3, 2007
1,465
3
Check and make sure the battery is not swollen. Just had mine in that same model swell up and Apple wouldn't replace it. Even though it's a fire hazard and a well known design flaw, they said tough luck.

I just put a 320GB 7200RPM HDD in mine. On sale at Fry's for $40. Had already upgraded to 4GB of RAM. It's a significantly faster machine now than it was 2 years ago. Faster to the point where its almost like I bought a new machine.

The original stock specs will be fine for moderate use. Spending the extra $150 or so for a 7200RPM HDD and 4GB of RAM will make it almost like its a brand new system.
 

Messy

macrumors 6502
Sep 5, 2010
426
12
It's better to have more RAM than more MHz

Not really true, since the proc is something you can never upgrade it's always best to buy the fastest you can at the time. RAM upgrades are cheap, and always something you can upgrade at a later time.
 
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