Why do you need 4GB in your iMac?

[mhnajjar]

I am trying to convince myself to get 4GB of ram but I am not finding any use for that :confused: Please give me other reasons beside being cool and Parallels/VMware Fusion because that is not enough for me :p


Thanks :)

[anim8or]

what do you/will you use the imac for?

[iShater]

Depends on what you do on your computer. Most likely you will not need more than 2GB. But if you do plan to use VMWare/Parallels and keep tons of apps open, work with large RAW image files, then the extra RAM could come in handy.

[Dmac77]

IF your doing a lot of audio, video, and photo editing, or if you are playing resource intensive games under boot camp. Or if you are running vista, but if you plan on running vista, you should go get a mac pro and put in 32GB of ram:D

[mhnajjar]

As I said, I do not need the 4GB, because I use my iMac mostly for regular daily uses and school work. (Safari/MS Office 08/Games under Vista/iTunes/Real player/etc.) nothing memory hungry besides Vista but yet 2GB are enough for Vista HP. I am just planning to get a new 24" iMac 3.06 this weekend and I thought of getting it 4GB. I am even thinking of getting 750GB HDD even though 500GB is more than enough for me since I already have a laptop and a Time Capsule so my data is kind of scattered :rolleyes:

[JSF]

(Safari/MS Office 08/Games under Vista/iTunes/Real player/etc.):

If this all you do 4GB would be a waste of money. Why are you even asking if you already know 2GB is enough to meet your needs?

[Mollemand]

I went for the 2Gig standard because I think the upgrade is way too expensive. I'll evaluate my needs as I go along, and buy a 3rd party 4GB kit when needed.

Chances are that it will be less than the 2->4GB Mac option. And I will have 2 x 1GB of perfectly good RAM collecting dust somewhere afterwards.

[flopticalcube]

As I said, I do not need the 4GB, because I use my iMac mostly for regular daily uses and school work. (Safari/MS Office 08/Games under Vista/iTunes/Real player/etc.) nothing memory hungry besides Vista but yet 2GB are enough for Vista HP. I am just planning to get a new 24" iMac 3.06 this weekend and I thought of getting it 4GB. I am even thinking of getting 750GB HDD even though 500GB is more than enough for me since I already have a laptop and a Time Capsule so my data is kind of scattered :rolleyes:
Buy the iMac stock and then, if you feel that it is sluggish because of low memory (lots of disk swapping), buy the 4GB aftermarket (currently $75-$100).

[ShadowXOR]

If this all you do 4GB would be a waste of money. Why are you even asking if you already know 2GB is enough to meet your needs?

Doesn't gaming under Vista like he said need more than 2GB?

[CWallace]

As good as OS X is at memory management, as the new versions release they will need more and more. Plus all the applications will see some "RAM creep" over the years. With RAM so dirt cheap now - 4GB of top-grade stuff is under $100 - why not max it out now, safe in the knowledge that years from now you'll be glad you did?

[mhnajjar]

Doesn't gaming under Vista like he said need more than 2GB?

Yeah I am interesting to know more about this!

[mike81]

As good as OS X is at memory management, as the new versions release they will need more and more. Plus all the applications will see some "RAM creep" over the years. With RAM so dirt cheap now - 4GB of top-grade stuff is under $100 - why not max it out now, safe in the knowledge that years from now you'll be glad you did?

My thoughts exactly when I went to 4gb. It was not an absolute necessity for me, but in the future when I do need it I will be happy I did it. If you got the cash, buy it. If not put $10 aside a week till you can.

The way prices fluctuate nowadays it could be 3xs as much this time next year.

[Darkroom]

The way prices fluctuate nowadays it could be 3xs as much this time next year.

is that really likely? or wouldn't ram continue to become much cheaper?

[Chundles]

I have 4GB on my MacBook - Photoshop, Illustrator, all that stuff launches nigh on instantly (on their second launch of course) but man it's amazing to see the light go on under the icon as it reaches the top of it's first (and only) bounce and have the app ready to go about a second after.

[airjuggernaut]

IF your doing a lot of audio, video, and photo editing, or if you are playing resource intensive games under boot camp. Or if you are running vista, but if you plan on running vista, you should go get a mac pro and put in 32GB of ram:D
Vista 32-bit only supports 3.2 gb of Ram and for 64-bit only 8gb.

This is why MAC OSX ROCKS :P

[JayLenochiniMac]

You'll definitely need it if you have multiple accounts/users.

[cloudnine]

I am trying to convince myself to get 4GB of ram but I am not finding any use for that :confused: Please give me other reasons beside being cool and Parallels/VMware Fusion because that is not enough for me :p

Because you can get 4GB for only $100 nowadays...

[AL2TEACH]

at the moment ram is inexpensive so why not plus it can only be a plus. I got my ram from OWC because they will buy your apple ram. I don't know how much yet because the ram should be here tomorrow and then I will do the rebate thing for the old ram.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/6400DDR2S4MP/

to find your model
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac

[ditzy]

Vista 32-bit only supports 3.2 gb of Ram and for 64-bit only 8gb.

This is why MAC OSX ROCKS :P

Depends what version of Vista, ultimate and enterprise support something like 128 GB of RAM

[mhnajjar]

at the moment ram is inexpensive so why not plus it can only be a plus. I got my ram from OWC because they will buy your apple ram. I don't know how much yet because the ram should be here tomorrow and then I will do the rebate thing for the old ram.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/6400DDR2S4MP/

to find your model
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac


Please let me know how much they pay you for your Apple ram. Actually, I might be getting my ram from Apple directly just to play it safe and save the hassle of removing/inserting/selling!

[airjuggernaut]

Depends what version of Vista, ultimate and enterprise support something like 128 GB of RAM
HOLY CRAP!

That's really stupid, why not just support it on all versions?

[ditzy]

HOLY CRAP!

That's really stupid, why not just support it on all versions?

They want you to buy the expensive versions.

[CWallace]

is that really likely? or wouldn't ram continue to become much cheaper?

If you listen to the pundits, RAM prices are believed to have "cratered" and will start rising again.

[Genghis Khan]

1) RAM is cheap
2) You're getting a top spec iMac apart from the RAM
3) You can never have enough RAM

Why are you even asking? Are you trying to be noble by saying 4Gb isn't necessary for you, even though you shelling out for top spec and RAM is the cheapest upgrade?

[SilentCrs]

VMware (and I have a valid reason for it -- VPN to work works better through Windows XP for me).

[ninjapenguinart]

Trust me get the 4 gig off of newegg. I did and only paid 65 bucks after rebate and tax.

[johnnyjibbs]

Please let me know how much they pay you for your Apple ram. Actually, I might be getting my ram from Apple directly just to play it safe and save the hassle of removing/inserting/selling!
Get the RAM from Crucial. It's the same RAM but you pay a quarter of the price of what Apple charges (it's ludicrous!). Installing RAM is pretty easy, they give you full instructions (including which RAM to get to match your system - just stick in your iMac configuration into Crucial.com), and you do not void your warranty.

Oh and use the ad links to get to crucial.com on this website if you want to support MacRumors! :)

[minik]

I went all the way to 4GB of RAM without thinking. :p

[carlosbutler]

is that really likely? or wouldn't ram continue to become much cheaper?

even though technology in some respects is generally cheaper than before, companies will mainly decide the prices of the products on consumer need. so if lots of people starting buying iMacs and then decide that they want to upgrade the ram for a dead cheap price, the company can make more money by increasing the price (strangely enough) and the price will go up. once the price is too high then less people buy it and then the price goes down and it repeats on and on and on - like this

http://media.carlosbutler.com/forums/macrumours/sinegraph.jpg

[jf8]

Barring no significant events such as supply shortages (IIRC, earthquakes in Asia caused a spike in RAM prices towards the start of this decade), DDR2 RAM prices will rise as DDR3 becomes standard. The same thing happened with DDR. This is far off - mainstream systems do not use DDR3 yet.

[err404]

I upgraded from from 2G to 4G because it was cheap... It was a waste of money. For my needs, I see absolutely no practical improvement in performance.

as for the price of RAM, keep this in mind; 32 bit OSs max out at 4G of RAM or less. This includes all versions of vista (even ultimate). The uptake of 64 bit vista has been slow leaving the vast majority of PCs being 32bit. This is one of those rare crossroads in the industry were a relatively typical amount of RAM is also a technical limit. It will be several years before 64 bit computing has enough mass in the market to make it practical to have more than 4G installed. This will likely play out as a stabilizing effect on the price or RAM until the market can cross this barrier. As for RAM going up in price; that's rare and even if it does, it would only by a small amount.

[ausdave]

is that really likely? or wouldn't ram continue to become much cheaper?

Could depend on the supply of the raw materials that they make them with (if they go up due to shortages, the price may go up).

Also, when particular types of RAM are more mass-produced due to high demand (lots of devices using it) then it becomes cheaper to make. A few years down the track when there is not as much demand (as there is faster/better RAM that all the cool new toys are using) the price will probably go up (as they produce much less of it).

[gehrbox]

I bought an new iMac with 2GB RAM. My Mac is on 24/7. Most of the time with just Safari, Mail, iTunes , Address book, Calendar, Preview and EyeTV open I see RAM in use sitting at 1.4GB. It varies above and below that level 100MB or so. I also use Fusion for Windows XP. When run it allocates another 512MB for the VM in addition to the memory usage mentioned above, plus its own overhead. I would prefer to allocate 1GB for the XP VM.

I recently upgraded to 4GB RAM. The same apps running over the same period of time without Fusion running shows a little over 1.6GB in use. This number also varies by about 100MB+-. Add Fusion with a 1GB XP VM and RAM usage moves into the 2.7GB range. I have not done any FCE or PSE editing with the new memory configuration, but am sure the extra memory will be worthwhile to have in both those applications.

On top of it all I expect more memory will be a good thing to have for each new OS X update coming over the next few years.

[daneoni]

VMWare, Aperture/iPhoto, Safari & iTunes...oh and Leopard itself as an OS

ALL are memory hungry. 4GB for me is just about enough but i see 6GB...or more in my future

[mhnajjar]

Here is why I am asking. I can get the iMac from the retail Apple store for $300 off using my student discount compared to $200 on the online education store. It does not make any sense but this is what is going on :confused:

Now if I want 4GB in the store, my iMac would be undergoing some surgery to replace the stock 2GB by some Apple genius who would care less about the machine getting scrached or whatsoever. In addition, the sticker on the box and machine would state 2GB instead of 4GB making it as if I upgraded the machine myself whenever I list it for sale in the future.

Getting it online, gives me an additional chance to upgrade the HDD (which I do not need but $90 is so cheap to get extra 250GB), but I would pay $100 more as I already explained in the first paragraph.

I might just stick to the 2GB and use the extra $180 I was gonna pay Apple to get their new portable (iTouchMac) in addition to the 3G iPhone if the iTouchMac did not have a SIM feature.

According to almost all of you, the 4GB of ram is more than a luxury that is not used much for most of the regular consumers.

Feel free to comment ;)

[err404]

As stated before: DO NOT BUY RAM FROM APPLE. Apple charges way to much and the RAM is design to be a user serviceable part. User installed RAM vs Apple installed RAM wont affect your resale price.

[mhnajjar]

As stated before: DO NOT BUY RAM FROM APPLE. Apple charges way to much and the RAM is design to be a user serviceable part. User installed RAM vs Apple installed RAM wont affect your resale price.

Why do people keep saying that? I second that when Apple prices used to be $400 to upgrade to 4GB from 2GB but they are $120 now. Getting the same Samsung/Apple ram from online (I forgot which website but it is listed in the MR ram guide) costs around $120. It still costs $60 more but that is forgetting it already installed compared to buying/replacing/reselling.

However, thank you very much for your advice and I will take it into consideration :)

[ShadowXOR]

Why do people keep saying that? I second that when Apple prices used to be $400 to upgrade to 4GB from 2GB but they are $120 now. Getting the same Samsung/Apple ram from online (I forgot which website but it is listed in the MR ram guide) costs around $120. It still costs $60 more but that is forgetting it already installed compared to buying/replacing/reselling.

However, thank you very much for your advice and I will take it into consideration :)

It's $200 to go from 2GB to 4GB with Apple.

[mhnajjar]

It's $200 to go from 2GB to 4GB with Apple.

It is $180 with the education discount ;)

[gehrbox]

It is $180 with the education discount ;)

It's not surgery to install RAM in an iMac. Tilt the screen bottom forward, loosen one screw, cover falls into your hand, pull two plastic tabs and memory pops out, slide in new memory, put small cover back in place and tighten screw. Done.

Cost for 4GB of OCZ RAM at NewEgg is $77 plus it has a $15 mail in rebate making the final cost $67.99 when you add in shipping charges.

Nobody on eBay is going to care that the box says 2GB. Having the box is a plus on eBay, but the labels makes no difference at all if the box has been opened.

[nick9191]

Vista 32-bit only supports 3.2 gb of Ram and for 64-bit only 8gb.

This is why MAC OSX ROCKS :P

No all 64bit versions of Vista, except Home basic and premium support upto 128gb.

So does OS X except no Mac has the capability for 128gb. The Mac Pro is 32gb Max, will be 64gb max if they bring out 8gb chips, which they will.

So Vista wins in that department.

It's up to you. You can sell the RAM on ebay or on here for about 30 dollars, and buy 4gb RAM for about 70 dollars. Meaning for 40 measily bucks you get a whole lot of bragging rights, and better gaming capabilities.

RAM wont necessarily be cheaper, in fact I guarantee it wont. When DDR3 RAM becomes mainstream the price of DDR2 will go right up sense it wont be in production nearly as much. DDR is what $100 per gig, SDRAM is more. Other than that a silicon factory could catch fire tomorrow and RAM prices will increase 500%.

[minik]

64-bit Vista is not supported by Apple officially.

[ShadowXOR]

64-bit Vista is not supported by Apple officially.

Yes it is...

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/bootcampupdate21forwindowsvista64.html

[dpaanlka]

I can't imagine not having 4 GB. Even when I'm not editing video, compiling code, or working with enormous images, I still would describe everything as being very fluid and responsive with 4 GB of memory.

[ShadowXOR]

It is $180 with the education discount ;)

Which most people aren't eligible for, let's give prices based on what most people will pay, not what a small amount of people pay to make it sound cheaper. ;)

[mreg376]

As I said, I do not need the 4GB, because I use my iMac mostly for regular daily uses and school work. (Safari/MS Office 08/Games under Vista/iTunes/Real player/etc.) nothing memory hungry besides Vista but yet 2GB are enough for Vista HP. I am just planning to get a new 24" iMac 3.06 this weekend and I thought of getting it 4GB. I am even thinking of getting 750GB HDD even though 500GB is more than enough for me since I already have a laptop and a Time Capsule so my data is kind of scattered :rolleyes:

Sp let me get this straight -- you're about to spend upwards of $2200 on an iMac and you're agonizing over whether to spend $90 to ensure that it can perform to its maximum potential? That's what people here are wasting their time giving you advice on?