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Philberttheduck

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 15, 2006
526
6
HB, CA
I was just wondering what's the difference between each other and which is more important, assuming you're a gamer or if you're more internet-word-processing type. I was thinkin of gettin a macbook 1.83 and install 2GB of ram or just stick to 1GB into a 2.0 (white), but I'm not sure which would be faster.
 

Heb1228

macrumors 68020
Feb 3, 2004
2,217
1
Virginia Beach, VA
Rendering long video files would probably be slightly faster on the 2.0 with less RAM, but most everyday stuff would probably be quicker on the 1.83 with more RAM, especially if you keep a lot of apps open all the time.
 

C00rDiNaT0r

macrumors 6502
Jan 12, 2006
254
49
New York, New York
Last I heard gamers won't consider the MacBook at all :p

Generally speaking, the more RAM you have the better. Plus, I doubt the .17GHz difference would be very significant... so if I were you, I'd rather have a 1.83GHz MacBook and put in 2GB RAM.
 

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Not possible to answer.
It depends entirely on exactly which programs you are using and how many you have open at once.
When you open more programs and data than you have physical RAM for your performance drops because the OSX starts paging out to the hard drive. So a machine with 1 Gb RAM and only one program open, could outperform a machine with 2 Gb RAM but 8 programs open and overflowing the RAM.

As soon as you mention the word "Game" it then becomes a question of - which game, and how does that particular game balance its demands between the main processor, RAM, hard drive and the video processor?
 

Philberttheduck

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 15, 2006
526
6
HB, CA
So in a nutshell, RAM = good if you run lots of apps. GHZ = good if you like one to three apps (or some relatively small #).

Gaming, in terms of light gaming such as WC3 TFT.
 

Makosuke

macrumors 604
Aug 15, 2001
6,661
1,242
The Cool Part of CA, USA
It would be generally more accurate to say RAM = Good unless you're only doing basic word processing and internet surfing. GHz = Good if your app is a "number cruncher".

Although I'd think of it this way: the difference between 1.83GHz and 2.0GHz is about 9%, so at best that's the speed increase you'll see between the two. It's there, but it's not huge for most things, and generally won't even be noticible.

The difference between 512MB or RAM and 1GB on OSX, however, is likely to "feel" like more than a 9% increase. For any given operation it might not amount to that much, but the overall feel of speed will be greater, since OSX LOVES RAM. Now, 1GB vs 2GB may not make as much (if any) difference, depending on what you do--that boils down to the particular app you're using, how many apps you like to keep open, etc.

One more thing to keep in mind: The Core Duos in all current Intel Macs like RAM in pairs--that is, two sticks of the same size. They get about a 3-5% speed boost from pairs of RAM, although I've seen benchmarks in one particular game that showed a much larger gain for some reason. Generally the benefit is minimal, but if you have the choice between one 1GB stick and two 512MB sticks, you're going to get a slight speed boost by going with the pair. Of course, you'll have to chuck both if you later want to go to 2GB, so you'll have to decide on a priority.
 

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
Gaming needs the most of Everything! I think in the long run more RAM is important. Allows for more consistent speed with less lagging moments. It will NOT add mhz to your machine, but it will keep your machine smooth.

And the MacBook is not a gamer's machine because of the integrated VRAM. That will take care of Gaming performance instantly.
 
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