Is 4GB of Ram worth it?

[murc585]

This weekend I am goign to an Apple Store and I;ve decided I want to purchase a new Macbook. I am buying the white model with superdrive and 1gb of ram. I am definately planning to upgrade the ram as soon as I get it. My question though is, do any of you think its worth it to get 4GB of ram or should i stick with buying a 2GB stick and leaving one if the originals in for a total of 2.5GB?

I used to own a powerbook G4 12" and it had 640gb of ram and at the time i felt it was quite limiting. My general use of the laptop will be office '08, i'll be using parallels with XP or vista(havn't decided yet), I use photoshop from time to time, ecode movies, used imovie sometimes...

For this kind of general use, do you think i should jsut go ahead and buy two 2gb sticks, will it make a difference for me? I havn;t used leo yet and I'm not familiar with how many resources it uses. I like my computer to respond well all the time and i'm nto very patient for when physical ram is used up. This is mostly a question to those of you who have 2gb and wish you had more. I was also curious, does loosing dual-channel really make that much a difference as well?

[Andrmgic]

You can get 4gb of compatible ram from newegg.com for $80... At that price, I'll be buying 4gb whether I truly need it or not :)

4GB is worth it.. as long as you're not buying it from Apple

[markdeman]

Yeah, i agree.
It's better to buy 4GB now instead of buying 2GB and in a couple of years buying 4GB.
The prices will probably be higher and you have to updgrade two times.

[djinn]

I just ordered 4gig of RAM from Crucial. Paid a lot more cause I need it asap but I'm totally down with 4gig.

I think I'll go pick up a Macbook tomorrow or something, if I get bored.

[Niko]

Although it really depends on what you are going to do, I would go ahead and say NO. Stick with a 2 GB ram and save yourself the extra money.
As I post before, RAM isn't everything - it is just one part of a much larger processing cycle. All it can do is store commands, so the more RAM u have the more commands you can store at once. However, unless the rest of the computer can match up, the extra RAM will be useless as the 'slower' components will cause bottlenecks everywhere. This includes, Processor, cache, bus speed etc.

Besides, I have a macbook with 1 GB RAM, and I rarely have glitches. I think 2GB will be ideal.

[Freyqq]

not quite sure what you need a macbook for if you already have a mbp as depicted in your sig..but ok

and if it's about size...the mbp is roughly half a pound more..not much of an issue..i bring my mbp to class to take notes on w/ no problem

[Surely]

This weekend I am goign to an Apple Store and I;ve decided I want to purchase a new Macbook. I am buying the white model with superdrive and 1gb of ram. I am definately planning to upgrade the ram as soon as I get it. My question though is, do any of you think its worth it to get 4GB of ram or should i stick with buying a 2GB stick and leaving one if the originals in for a total of 2.5GB?

I used to own a powerbook G4 12" and it had 640gb of ram and at the time i felt it was quite limiting. My general use of the laptop will be office '08, i'll be using parallels with XP or vista(havn't decided yet), I use photoshop from time to time, ecode movies, used imovie sometimes...

For this kind of general use, do you think i should jsut go ahead and buy two 2gb sticks, will it make a difference for me? I havn;t used leo yet and I'm not familiar with how many resources it uses. I like my computer to respond well all the time and i'm nto very patient for when physical ram is used up. This is mostly a question to those of you who have 2gb and wish you had more. I was also curious, does loosing dual-channel really make that much a difference as well?

If you're planning on buying the RAM at the Apple Store, then no, it isn't worth it.
If you buy it from newegg or crucial or memoryamerica.com, then it is very worth it.
I upgraded to 4GB a week after I got my MacBook (I ordered it right away but had to wait for the delivery), and there was a noticeable performance difference, especially when I had multiple programs open and running.

[djinn]

not quite sure what you need a macbook for if you already have a mbp as depicted in your sig..but ok

and if it's about size...the mbp is roughly half a pound more..not much of an issue..i bring my mbp to class to take notes on w/ no problem

If you are referring to me it will be strictly for work. And seeing how my job has me travel 95% of the time I didn't want to take my MBP, rather a macbook for size. Weight isnt an issue.

And about the 4gig of RAM. I do a lot of VM work so thats why I require the 4gig.

[DaLurker]

Although it really depends on what you are going to do, I would go ahead and say NO. Stick with a 2 GB ram and save yourself the extra money.
As I post before, RAM isn't everything - it is just one part of a much larger processing cycle. All it can do is store commands, so the more RAM u have the more commands you can store at once. However, unless the rest of the computer can match up, the extra RAM will be useless as the 'slower' components will cause bottlenecks everywhere. This includes, Processor, cache, bus speed etc.

Besides, I have a macbook with 1 GB RAM, and I rarely have glitches. I think 2GB will be ideal.

Actually NIKO, you're mistaken. Ram doesn't JUST store commands. It is a buffer for the more frequently used information, be it commands or data.

Also I have never heard of anybody refer to the computer's processing as a processing cycle.... anyways, none the less the RAM is here to remove a very important bottleneck, your hard drive.

You're conclusion that the processor, cache, and bus are the bottlenecks is once again wrong. The processor is by far the fastest piece of hardware in your system. It is almost never the bottleneck in a modern consumer computer. Same with the bus speed, and cache. In fact, the cache is on the order of 10x faster than your RAM.

So in short, don't listen to NIKO. The more RAM you have, the more the system can keep in it. This means it doesn't have to go into the hard drive as much, and will mean better performance for you when you have more applications open.

With the prices the way they are, you may as well use 4gb of RAM.

[Surely]

Actually NIKO, you're mistaken. Ram doesn't JUST store commands. It is a buffer for the more frequently used information, be it commands or data.

Also I have never heard of anybody refer to the computer's processing as a processing cycle.... anyways, none the less the RAM is here to remove a very important bottleneck, your hard drive.

You're conclusion that the processor, cache, and bus are the bottlenecks is once again wrong. The processor is by far the fastest piece of hardware in your system. It is almost never the bottleneck in a modern consumer computer. Same with the bus speed, and cache. In fact, the cache is on the order of 10x faster than your RAM.

So in short, don't listen to NIKO. The more RAM you have, the more the system can keep in it. This means it doesn't have to go into the hard drive as much, and will mean better performance for you when you have more applications open.

With the prices the way they are, you may as well use 4gb of RAM.

Agreed x10. WTF is he talking about?

[murc585]

ah yes, i know very well the uses of ram, its just i have leaned toways windows lately and I havn;t use d anew mac ina while so i was curious if anybody ever reaches 2gb of ram used. The only time i use more than 2gb in vista is when I am running crysis. I don't live in the states so i can;t order frm newegg, but on ncix i can get 4gb for $80 anyways. I know very well nto to buy from apple, thats why i said i was buying the 1gb model. I guess i could pay the 80 dollars, but do any of you ever go over 2gb of ram usage??? I have 4gb of ram in my pc, and pretty much the only reason I got it was for crysis and the x64 versions seems to use a little more ram than the x86 version. If its actually worth the 40 dollars extra i guess it wou;dn;t be that bad, but if its not i;d rather stick to two. Thank you for the help.

[esvee]

ah yes, i know very well the uses of ram, its just i have leaned toways windows lately and I havn;t use d anew mac ina while so i was curious if anybody ever reaches 2gb of ram used. The only time i use more than 2gb in vista is when I am running crysis. I don't live in the states so i can;t order frm newegg, but on ncix i can get 4gb for $80 anyways. I know very well nto to buy from apple, thats why i said i was buying the 1gb model. I guess i could pay the 80 dollars, but do any of you ever go over 2gb of ram usage??? I have 4gb of ram in my pc, and pretty much the only reason I got it was for crysis and the x64 versions seems to use a little more ram than the x86 version. If its actually worth the 40 dollars extra i guess it wou;dn;t be that bad, but if its not i;d rather stick to two. Thank you for the help.

It all depends what you're using the computer for. If I'm running the usual gammut of firefox, pidgin, illustrator, indesign, photoshop, and bridge, having more than 2gb is almost crucial to keep things smooth.

If all you're doing is browsing the net, then no you won't need that much.

[snickelfritz]

Although it really depends on what you are going to do, I would go ahead and say NO. Stick with a 2 GB ram and save yourself the extra money.
As I post before, RAM isn't everything - it is just one part of a much larger processing cycle. All it can do is store commands, so the more RAM u have the more commands you can store at once. However, unless the rest of the computer can match up, the extra RAM will be useless as the 'slower' components will cause bottlenecks everywhere. This includes, Processor, cache, bus speed etc.

Besides, I have a macbook with 1 GB RAM, and I rarely have glitches. I think 2GB will be ideal.

This is pure hogwash.
Install 4GB.

[DaLurker]

ah yes, i know very well the uses of ram, its just i have leaned toways windows lately and I havn;t use d anew mac ina while so i was curious if anybody ever reaches 2gb of ram used. The only time i use more than 2gb in vista is when I am running crysis. I don't live in the states so i can;t order frm newegg, but on ncix i can get 4gb for $80 anyways. I know very well nto to buy from apple, thats why i said i was buying the 1gb model. I guess i could pay the 80 dollars, but do any of you ever go over 2gb of ram usage??? I have 4gb of ram in my pc, and pretty much the only reason I got it was for crysis and the x64 versions seems to use a little more ram than the x86 version. If its actually worth the 40 dollars extra i guess it wou;dn;t be that bad, but if its not i;d rather stick to two. Thank you for the help.

Here's my Usage pattern and I'm hitting over 2GB right now:
Mail, iCal, Safari, Address Book, Preview, Textmate, iTunes and TaskPaper.

That's not to say the OS isn't memory efficient, but its likely to leave as many things in the memory as it can.

Definitely got for 4GB.

[maryanny]

does anyone have the link for the 4gb from newegg? I'm looking now and see the cheapest as $94.

[murc585]

I decided to go for the 4gb of ram. I got two 2gb sticks of this ram which according to some research i've done has no issues with the macbook and macbook pro.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27441&vpn=D2N667C-2G&manufacture=Buffalo&promoid=1006

39.99 each, not bad.

[senorfrog97]

I just want to be clear, there's NO performance difference or any other major difference between the Apple ram and the $80 ram?

[Freyqq]

it's basically the same thing

just apple puts their sticker on it..

APPLE DOES NOT MANUFACTURE RAM!

[chrisbeebops]

The only real difference is that RAM you buy through Apple is covered through AppleCare. If you add in RAM yourself the new RAM isn't covered by AppleCare.

[Freyqq]

The only real difference is that RAM you buy through Apple is covered through AppleCare. If you add in RAM yourself the new RAM isn't covered by AppleCare.

yes

instead it has a warrenty from the manufacturer..usually a lifetime warrenty

[aiterum]

The only real difference is that RAM you buy through Apple is covered through AppleCare. If you add in RAM yourself the new RAM isn't covered by AppleCare.

you can't tell me that THAT is worth 620 dollars more than what I get off newegg :rolleyes:

[hierobryan]

i noticed no difference at all with 2.5gb vs. 4gb. everything was a bit more smooth when i went from 1gb to 2.5gb, but it stayed the same when i bumped up to 4gb. it's okay though; the 2gb stick was only like $38.

[Yaboze]

There have been many posts on this and I followed what most people said here and just got 4GB right away. I ran my Macbook with the stock 1GB for a little while to make sure it was OK and did the initial setup and got the Leopard updates. Once I was confident it was fine, I shut down, popped the battery and carefully installed 2x2GB modules.

[harrymohan]

I just recieved Powerbook G4 1.33 Ghz 17" with 512 MB Ram, I think performance is comparable to my macbook specs in my sign.

[Derbus]

So WHERE exactly is the best place to get my 4GBs of RAM? Crucial, OCW, NewEgg etc? Sorry, new at this...

Or is memory just memory?

[bking1000]

So WHERE exactly is the best place to get my 4GBs of RAM? Crucial, OCW, NewEgg etc? Sorry, new at this...

Or is memory just memory?

Memory is just memory, though really cheap memory may have manufacturing defects and consistencies, so try to buy from a better brand (tons are listed in threads in these forums).

As stated above, memory removes the bottleneck that is your hard drive if you are running multiple programs. The more programs you run, the more memory you use. If it exceeds your RAM memory, then the operating system starts "swapping" data between your hard drive and RAM. RAM is MUUUCCCHHHH faster than reading data from a hard drive. So, the more RAM you have, the more can be stored in RAM, and the less often the operating system has to "swap" to the disk.

I use my MB for a number of tasks, and rarely shut the applications down (especially with spaces running). So, at any one time, I might be using Safari, Firefox, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes and maybe another application (like WOrd or something) and can often run up to about 2.5GB RAM. So, the 4GB helps. You could also do 2.5 or 3GB, but for reasons that I wont' detail here, having matched memory sticks (i.e. 2GB+2GB instead of 1GB+2GB) helps boost performance of memory reads about 7%. So, if you figure you should at least buy one 2GB stick, then you are really talking about should you buy a second stick for $40 for a 7% memory performance boost and assurance that you want do any disk swaps (frequent memory swaps to disk also puts a strain on the harddrive over time).

I suppose $40 might be tight for some, but when installing in my $1500 laptop, I think it's a pretty good spend.

Just keep your original memory (and original HDD if you swap that out) so if you send in your laptop for service, you can pop in the original equipment before sending it.

[murc585]

i guess this could also highten the resale value, especially when apple charges $700 for 4gb of ram. I bet in about 3 years, when you are ready to part with your laptop, 4gb of ram will be quite normal, especially when more applications make use of 64-bit. When i use 64-bit applications in vista x64 i notice a higher ram usage, but a much smoother operation.

[Derbus]

Memory is just memory, though really cheap memory may have manufacturing defects and consistencies, so try to buy from a better brand (tons are listed in threads in these forums).

As stated above, memory removes the bottleneck that is your hard drive if you are running multiple programs. The more programs you run, the more memory you use. If it exceeds your RAM memory, then the operating system starts "swapping" data between your hard drive and RAM. RAM is MUUUCCCHHHH faster than reading data from a hard drive. So, the more RAM you have, the more can be stored in RAM, and the less often the operating system has to "swap" to the disk.

I use my MB for a number of tasks, and rarely shut the applications down (especially with spaces running). So, at any one time, I might be using Safari, Firefox, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes and maybe another application (like WOrd or something) and can often run up to about 2.5GB RAM. So, the 4GB helps. You could also do 2.5 or 3GB, but for reasons that I wont' detail here, having matched memory sticks (i.e. 2GB+2GB instead of 1GB+2GB) helps boost performance of memory reads about 7%. So, if you figure you should at least buy one 2GB stick, then you are really talking about should you buy a second stick for $40 for a 7% memory performance boost and assurance that you want do any disk swaps (frequent memory swaps to disk also puts a strain on the harddrive over time).

I suppose $40 might be tight for some, but when installing in my $1500 laptop, I think it's a pretty good spend.

Just keep your original memory (and original HDD if you swap that out) so if you send in your laptop for service, you can pop in the original equipment before sending it.

Ok, cool thanks. Whenever someone asks me to explain memory I'm going to use the whole bottle neck concept. Thanks for the lesson, I guess i'll go with Crucial, macworld magazine is all over them

[MacDude415]

I'm with you OP, I have decided to purchase 4GB of RAM. But from where? I'm thinking Newegg and OWC are best price-wise.

[Twilight Elk]

I used to own a powerbook G4 12" and it had 640gb of ram and at the time i felt it was quite limiting. My general use of the laptop will be office '08, i'll be using parallels with XP or vista(havn't decided yet), I use photoshop from time to time, ecode movies, used imovie sometimes...

640GB: Either that was a typo or you've got some SERIOUS speed issues @_@

[murc585]

at the time it was sweet, 640mb of ram was awesome at the time. It was a first-gen 12" Powerbook G4 fully loaded, thing was $3000 at the time, lol.

[JS4]

The macbook specs show a 800MHz frontside bus.

Is it possible to use PC2-6400 DDR2-800 200PIN Dual Channel DDR2 SODIMM memory and would there be much of a performance advantage to doing this?

Right now the pricing is too high but maybe it would be worth it when prices drop.

[murc585]

the processor has an 800mhz fsb, but the memory controller only supports up to 667mhz, so if you put 80mhz ram in it will scale the speed down to 667mhz.

[Twilight Elk]

640GB: Either that was a typo or you've got some SERIOUS speed issues @_@

Oh, 640MB, not 640GB...it threw me off, lol, sorry.

[murc585]

haha, yeah, sorry dumb on my part, didn;t catch that.

[stevegmu]

From what I understand, Apple uses Samsung RAM, so that's what I would go with for after-market RAM.

It is unlikely you will notice a difference, however, between 2GB and 4GB, except maybe for the placebo effect.

[Creibold]

Bought mine at Fry's for 39.99 for a 2gb stick (transcend memory) Great Deal.

Just wait till Fry's or someone has it as a "weekend special" then jump all over it and don't look back because your mac will run silky smooth. :cool:

You hear that? That's right, you just blazed past windows and your only in 2nd gear.

[MIDI_EVIL]

1GB stick for my PowerBook G4 chimes in at £60

4GB for a MacBook Pro chimes in at £50

This is sickening.

Max it out now, or pay the premium down the line.

[officerdick]

I just got some (2x2GB), picking them up today, i will post benchmarks before/after to my blog (se sig) running a SR MBP 15".

[gnasher729]

I just want to be clear, there's NO performance difference or any other major difference between the Apple ram and the $80 ram?

There is never any performance difference.
There is no difference in reliability as long as you buy from a reputable source.

[gnasher729]

I just got some (2x2GB), picking them up today, i will post benchmarks before/after to my blog (se sig) running a SR MBP 15".

Benchmarks often don't catch all of the benefits. A lot of the benefit of 4GB RAM is that your Mac will keep remembering things that it read from the hard drive, so if you read the same data again, it will not access the hard drive at all. You don't catch that in a benchmark, only by using the Mac over a long time. Another huge benefit is that you can run lots of applications simultaneously and switch between them; a benchmark won't catch that.

[djinn]

I just installed 4gig in my MBP, even though it only supports 3072MB of RAM. I'm curious how a Macbook with the 4gig of RAM would run compared to this MBP.

[Csmitte]

depends on what your doing! but your its a good upgrade in any
event.

Cheers!

[Techguy172]

I just installed 4gig in my MBP, even though it only supports 3072MB of RAM. I'm curious how a Macbook with the 4gig of RAM would run compared to this MBP.

It would beat it in every task that isn't graphics intensive.

[Brianstorm91]

If you can get it, most definately.

[bking1000]

I just installed 4gig in my MBP, even though it only supports 3072MB of RAM. I'm curious how a Macbook with the 4gig of RAM would run compared to this MBP.

That's a complicated question.

A MBP w/4GB and a 2.4GHz C2D will beat your 2.33 w/3GB in everything. HOWEVER, your 2.33 will beat the 2.2 in SOME processes (if you look at the benchmarks that are all over the web, there are some processes that are really processor speed dependent where the 2.33 will beat a 2.2).

Now, a MACBOOK 2.2 w/4GB will still mostly beat a MBPro with 2.33 (because of different bus and architecture) UNLESS you are running certain apps that require heavy video processing (certain advanced games and some heavy duty video production apps, etc). Interestingly enough, the MB 2.2 actually (very slightly) beat the MBP 2.2 in some benchmarks. Since they use the same architecture, excepting the video card, it makes sense they should be virtually identical.

The difference between 3GB and 4GB will ONLY be seen if you exceed 3GB RAM in use, which is not frequent unless you are running Pro apps (Lightroom, Aperture, Final Cut) and then usually with more than one app running.

So, if you already have a 2.33 w/3GB RAM, you would be just fine. However, a 2.2 probably and a 2.4MBP both with 4GB could definitely outperform the 2.33, but only when pushed to the extreme. I think in day-to-day use, you wouldn't even notice it.

Most Mac users I've talked to, who are heavy multi-app users, tend to run about 2.5GB RAM at any given time, so getting above the 2GB seems to be the (current) threshhold, so 3GB will likely suffice.

Side note -- installing 2 2GB matched sticks for RAM in your 2.33 does actually benefit you, because your machine should be able to address 3.3GB, not just 3 (at least, that's the case with iMacs of the same generation. Does your system report 3 or 3.3GB RAM?), so you (might) get some extra mem there. And matched sticks, because of DDR, does give you a 7% boost on memory reads.

So, a 2.33 w/3GB a 2.2 MB w/4GB and a 2.2 MBP w/4GB would all, for the most part, perform functionally equivalent in day-to-day operations. Each one actually performs a little better at certain tasks than the others, and either MBP should beat the MB on graphics-intensive rendering.

[djinn]

Thank you for the posts and the detail. The main apps I have been running that are memory hogs are VM sessions and Photoshop CS3.

Even though my MBP says 4gig installed and activity monitor reports 4gig I think only 3072MB is being seen. I have noticed a slight speed increase with running Parallels and doing work stuff.

[bking1000]

Thank you for the posts and the detail. The main apps I have been running that are memory hogs are VM sessions and Photoshop CS3.

Even though my MBP says 4gig installed and activity monitor reports 4gig I think only 3072MB is being seen. I have noticed a slight speed increase with running Parallels and doing work stuff.

Good point. A VM will eat memory for lunch. So, if you are running Parallels or VMWare, more RAM will certainly help. I have exorcised Windows from my private life altogether (still stuck with a Dell at work), so I forgot about running VMs.

[djinn]

Thats the funny thing is I have a Dell laptop that work gave me. I was thinking of purchasing a Macbook for work. I only need the Windows VM for certain stuff, not a whole lot.

[bking1000]

Thats the funny thing is I have a Dell laptop that work gave me. I was thinking of purchasing a Macbook for work. I only need the Windows VM for certain stuff, not a whole lot.

Seems like a lot of folks are stuck with "dells at work." We have a great tech who is trying to build the argument that we need to move to MBP, because we sell a product that runs on both platforms. In the past, we'd demo on Windows and then say "it also runs on Macs." Hopefully, he wins the day, and we can have a MBP and jettison the Dells for good!

[rmwebs]

I got 4 gigs for my MacBook (q4 2007) a few weeks back. Its well worth it. I got the crucial ones direct from their website. I have noticed a huge improvement. Especially with Parallels. I set XP to have 1.5GB RAM and 64MB Graphics and it works really well. No lagging at all.

Highly recommend it, especially from crucial - it took a day to arrive. (UK)

[AstrayCliche]

I've seen little difference in my day to day computing (internet, email, etc) after upgrading to 4gb. However, when it comes to intense After Effects and other renders, my computer no longer slows down during or afterward (which is why I made the upgrade).

[lavrishevo]

Hey guys, I just want to confirm this because I am getting conflicting information. On an older MBP 17" 2.16 non SR, websites are telling me I max out at 2gb which I have but correct me if I am wrong in thinking that this MBP will address a little over 3gb if I put 4gb in there? Thanks.

[djinn]

Looks like you have a CoreDuo 2.16 which will only support 2gig (2048MB) ram.

[Akira1980]

I got 4GB ram from Crucial and it works great on my MBP. And yes, 4GB is worth it. My MBP runs very fast.

[sldout22]

i've got a 2GHZ Intel Core Duo MB running 1gb of ram. How much can my machine handle? is there somewhere I can go to find out??

[Andrmgic]

I just ordered 4gb of ram for my macbook pro from Newegg.com

I don't really need the memory, but for $79.99 with no tax and no shipping, I figured what the hell? :)

[Everythingisnt]

Short answer: no. Unless you're not buying from apple.

[jinpak]

anyone hear of gskill? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231147

I was thinking about buying that one and wondered if the company is reliable. Or do you guys have any other suggestions?

[djinn]

anyone hear of gskill? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231147

I was thinking about buying that one and wondered if the company is reliable. Or do you guys have any other suggestions?

gskill is known to be good. Its the weird off brands you have to worry about. When the RAM is like $19.99 for 2gig sticks is when you have to scratch your head and think.

[jinpak]

ok thanks, and one more question. If I just buy one 2gig stick, can i still use my original 1 gig stick to get a total of 3gigs?

[djinn]

ok thanks, and one more question. If I just buy one 2gig stick, can i still use my original 1 gig stick to get a total of 3gigs?

Depends on the laptop you have. Tell me your laptop specs, CPU, etc..

[jinpak]

Depends on the laptop you have. Tell me your laptop specs, CPU, etc..

I have the latest Black Macbook with the 2.2 intel. Just tell me what company that makes ram would work best with my labtop and id appreciate it, thanks!

[djinn]

Oh cool, I just bought one of those today. You can toss the 1gig in with the 2gig but RAM Rumor has it that you would get better performance using the same amount of RAM to equal your total. I bought 4 gig of Crucial for 140.00 bucks. Granted I paid more then a lot of people on here but I like Crucial Ram.

Check out newegg.com and check on Kingston. They have some good deals for Notebook memory that is mac compatible.

[letswastetime]

i've got a 2GHZ Intel Core Duo MB running 1gb of ram. How much can my machine handle? is there somewhere I can go to find out??
the core duos max out at 2gb so your best bet to upgrade would be buying 2x1gb sticks.

[aphexacid]

Is 4GB of Ram worth it?

Hell yes.

[djinn]

Some people truly benefit from the RAM upgrade. For instance I'm the kind of person that runs a couple of Virtuals along with Garageband and five Firefox windows open.

[northernmunky]

I had no idea laptop memory was so cheap! I happen to be in Taiwan where laptop memory is made so I just walked to the shop and got some 2Gb sticks for $1450 each (about £22) and now I have 4Gb and my missus now has the 2Gb in her Windows craptop (upped from 512mb). :D

Its definitely 'snappier' ;)

[RamenBooko]

I'm picking up a MBP next week or so. I'm going to use it for school mostly (very Windows/Linux intensive), and would be running a lot of VM. I also do a lot of creative stuff (PS, Audio stuff).

I'm just sick of being stuck using the laptop that my college MADE me purchase. I'm a Mac user at heart, and will always be.

So, my question is (which I think we all know the answer to, but there is a BUT), should I upgrade to the 4GB of RAM? I know I probably should because of all the virtual OS' that would be running (XP and Suse probably), but are these 4GB pairs for $90 reliable at all?

I'm still used to last year, when you'd pay $150 for 2GB. These prices are all shocking to me.

So, what do you guys have to say?