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Crucial RAM

lpshean

lpshean

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 30, 2005
129
0
Hey, i know this has probably been asked like a million times, and i have searched the forums, but have not found a definitive answer!

I have a 1.33Ghz iBook with 512Mb ram.. And according to some threads, the large pageouts on your Acivity Monitor is not that great. I currently have like 925845/328657 pgins/pgouts. And each time ive only got about 5 to 8Mb free RAM left.

So i was thinking, the OS runs fine as it is, but it is times when i load iPhoto that it lags a lot. Plus, i don't think im the average iBook user. I usually have Word, Excel, iTunes, Safari, Flash, Azureues, Limewire, System Prefs, Messenger, Quicktime, all open at the same time. Sometimes i open up Photoshop as well. So occasionally things beachball for a bit before returning to a normal pace. So my question is will upping my RAM help to smoothen the operation of everything since i have that many apps at once? And how much? The difference is that its only £40 for extra 512Mb from Crucial, and £100 for the 1Gb if i wanna max it out.
 
The pattern of usage that you're describing suggests that you should just get as much RAM as you can comfortably afford. If you use a lot of different applications at the same time you will quickly make use of all the RAM.

More RAM will not make you iBook run any faster, but the delays and beachballs will go away if you stick to using a reasonable number of apps in the same timeframe.
 
Rightt... thats what i was sorta thinking too. I'd say 1.5Gb of memory would be overkill, since i don't usually run photoshop all that often.

Can the RAM be re-used on a pc? I mean, after i discard this iBook in the future, would it be possible to use this piece of RAM for my pc? Or would the pin sockets and stuff not fit?
 
Nah, the iBook uses DDR RAM. DDR2 is taking over. But even if it used DDR2 you would probably not be able to use it in a new Mac/PC a couple of years from now because they would use faster DDR2 anyway. You can always sell it on eBay with the iBook or to someone else who're still hanging on to their iBooks when the time comes.

By the way, when you look at the Activity Monitor, remember that inactive RAM (blue) is essentially free RAM too.
 
Yeahh.. from some of the posts ive read by mad_jew, the blue ones are actually memory allocated to programs but those programs are not curently used.

One of the other reason why i think i need more ram is because i only have 800Mb free space left out of 40Gb! So my fan runs probably few times in one day. So what with all the virtual memory thats being sucked up.. i think its wise to get that ram. £114 for a 1Gb is a lot of money tho. :) Need to cough up serious dough.
 
Yes, the blue RAM is owned by open applications but it has been pushed out to disk as well because it hasn't been needed lately. If any other application urgently needs RAM, that blue RAM will be instantly claimed.

You should keep at least 4 GB free hard drive space on your iBook at all times to not interfere with virtual RAM. Read more about that here.
 
4Gb!!! Woah.

Okayyy... it is true... i think i need a balance between RAM size and disk space if i want a more responsive unit. Thanks for the link. Shall see what i can delete.
 
One more quick question, i sometimes use Garageband, and whenever i play music files, or record something... it sometimes stops and says that i need to optimize my computer and adjust my processor settings and that too much effects are in the music im editing on garageband.

Would extra RAM help in this case?
 
Maybe, I haven't used Garageband much, so I can't say for sure. I think I've heard that it's memory hungry, or at least resource hungry, so it would probably benefit from more RAM and more free hard drive space.
 
Alrighty. Thanks. You've been a great help. I'll try and see whether emptying more hd space will help before i get another stick of 512Mb.
 
I've done quite well with my old 800 MHz PowerBook on 768 MB RAM, and I run all kinds of stuff including Cinema4D, PS, ID, Xcode, and so forth. If I were doing it today I'd probably get 1 GB or more, after that you're probably going to see diminishing returns, even for heavy multitasking. However, one thing you might consider after getting a bit more RAM is to replace your hard drive with a faster 7200 rpm model. Whether using a lot of VM or not, it'll make your machine feel faster in general. I put a Hitachi 7K60 in my PowerBook and it made a big difference, and was actually quieter than the original drive while being no hotter and no more power-hungry.
 
HiRez said:
I've done quite well with my old 800 MHz PowerBook on 768 MB RAM, and I run all kinds of stuff including Cinema4D, PS, ID, Xcode, and so forth. If I were doing it today I'd probably get 1 GB or more, after that you're probably going to see diminishing returns, even for heavy multitasking. However, one thing you might consider after getting a bit more RAM is to replace your hard drive with a faster 7200 rpm model. Whether using a lot of VM or not, it'll make your machine feel faster in general. I put a Hitachi 7K60 in my PowerBook and it made a big difference, and was actually quieter than the original drive while being no hotter and no more power-hungry.
Click to expand...

dont you run the risk of it really over heating with a fast/different HD???
 
HiRez said:
Go outside, the graphics are amazing!
Click to expand...


That is hilarious. I only like the outside graphics in the spring, summer and fall here. I find indoor graphics to be much better during the winter.
:D
 
thumper said:
dont you run the risk of it really over heating with a fast/different HD???
Click to expand...
No, it generates no more heat than the stock drive (I guess drive technologies improved between when I bought the computer and when I bought the 7200 rpm drive for it). It actually uses slightly less power than the stock 4200 rpm drive did! It was a win-win deal and the speed difference is noticeable in everyday use.
 
brett_x said:
That is hilarious. I only like the outside graphics in the spring, summer and fall here. I find indoor graphics to be much better during the winter.
:D
Click to expand...
But but...that's when you get all the cool particle effects!! ;)
 
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