pb question... 64mb v. 128mb vram...

BelgianHokie · Jul 15, 2005

make a difference?

i will be doing mostly home use stuff and probably wont have an external monitor since i am taking it to afghanistan for 18 months for my tour. i will be recording music and what not and watching dvd's on it. basically an entertainment center sort of. but i don't play a lot of games and might not have too much time to.

would the 128 help with watching dvd's?

i looked a few pages back and didn't really see an answer (or I overlooked it and am sorry). i am thinking of ordering this weekend. this would be the one upgrade over a regular 1.67 15" and if it isnt' needed then.....

will order extra ram from crucial in a month or two when i get to the states for training.

thanks-

dhc

sw1tcher · Jul 15, 2005

won't do anything to help with watching DVDs.

Would help with gaming, if you span your monitor, etc. But if you don't plan to do anything like that, then save your money and use it to up the RAM.

mkrishnan · Jul 15, 2005

It doesn't sound like it'd do much for your setup. One of the other bigger draws, unless you are doing a lot of graphics/video intensive stuff or games, is that the 128MB cards, IIRC, provide support for the dual DVI adaptor that the 30" Apple display uses.... But if you are mostly doing audio, I'd agree that spending the money on audio h/w or ram would be better....

Good luck! And I hope your tour in Afghanistan is a success...when you say tour and music, do you mean you will be perfomring there? For international soldiers present there, or for the public? What kind of music? Or, do you mean that you are going on a military tour of duty?

Mechcozmo · Jul 15, 2005

You can't upgrade the VRAM later. The hard drive and RAM can, but not the VRAM. Get as much VRAM as you can-- in 5 years, you won't regret it. Because in 5 years you will have been able to upgrade your RAM a few times, selling old pieces and buying new sticks. Hard drive, maybe an upgrade in a few years. But VRAM doesn't change.

Get the 128MB of VRAM. You'll be happy down the road.

bellang · Jul 15, 2005

I've just been in exactly the same place as you, 1.67 with or without the extra ram. decided that for the slight increase in price, its worth it. we dont know whats round the corner, and you never know, todays ripple not working on the mac mini, in Leopard could be something not working on 64mb VRAM or less.

Yes, subjective view, but as has been said, you cant upgrade later on.....

My 2 penneth.

dmw007 · Jul 15, 2005

I also think that you should go with the 128MB DDR VRAM. Even if in the short term you do not plan on using the extra memory, more than likely you will need it in the long run. So buy it now and save yourself the remorse of needing it later and not having it (and not being able to do anything about it). Good luck on your tour.

BelgianHokie · Jul 16, 2005

thanks for the replies...

i'm going to be working at the embassy there. i'm a sysadmin and i hate xp. liked 2000 but for some reason hate xp.

i play guitar and since the environment is very restrictive on travel, i will be recording some of my songs and some covers. i want to get better (and recording and listening should help) and i want to send some songs to friends i play with in a band here in belgium.

the fact that you can't upgrade it later sort of swings me that way. to upgrade it i mean.

thanks again-

dhc

joepunk · Jul 16, 2005

I also support the notion of upgrading the VRAM for it is one the only things that cannot be upgraded later, unlike RAM and HD. That step in my purchase was an easy one to make.

Oh, and be safe and take care of yourself while you are in Afghanistan.

Mechcozmo · Jul 17, 2005

BelgianHokie said:
i'm going to be working at the embassy there. i'm a sysadmin and i hate xp. liked 2000 but for some reason hate xp.

i play guitar and since the environment is very restrictive on travel, i will be recording some of my songs and some covers. i want to get better (and recording and listening should help) and i want to send some songs to friends i play with in a band here in belgium.

the fact that you can't upgrade it later sort of swings me that way. to upgrade it i mean.

Very cool, good decision too.

Care at the embassy there. But don't listen to the news... always biased. Still, though, be safe.

eXan · Jul 17, 2005

128 MB allows you to load more textures in games than 64 MB, so they will look much nicer with no performance drop.

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pb question... 64mb v. 128mb vram...

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