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(First Post) Advice Needed: More RAM or Faster Processor?

J

JDSPGA

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2008
17
0
Hello everybody my name is Jeffrey. I have been lurking here at macrumors for quite some time. To start off, I am on many other forums and know how a forum should be run. I know how annoying it is to see the same threads over and over because people won't use the daggum search button. I hope to find that this is a pleasant place!

Moving on,

I have been wanting a macbook for the past year, and my mom agreed to get me one for graduation(I'm a freshman in college). I was going go get the 2.4ghz 2.0 GB macbook at 1,299$ with the student discount and ipod promotion, but when I heard about new macbooks coming out, I decided to wait.

Basically my debate is this. Do I go with the cheaper one, and upgrade to 4 GB ram for 150 bucks from apple? Or do I get the more expensive one and keep it at 2 GB ram, but a faster processor. What will have the better performance? More Ram or faster processor? I'd really like the backlit keyboard, however....it's not VITAL.

I plan on using it alot for internet, school work, making an occasional presentation, music software, and some games, maybe tiger woods or fifa. Given these uses, what is my best option?

Thank you for your time!
 
lildudejds said:
Hello everybody my name is Jeffrey. I have been lurking here at macrumors for quite some time. To start off, I am on many other forums and know how a forum should be run. I know how annoying it is to see the same threads over and over because people won't use the daggum search button. I hope to find that this is a pleasant place!

Moving on,

I have been wanting a macbook for the past year, and my mom agreed to get me one for graduation(I'm a freshman in college). I was going go get the 2.4ghz 2.0 GB macbook at 1,299$ with the student discount and ipod promotion, but when I heard about new macbooks coming out, I decided to wait.

Basically my debate is this. Do I go with the cheaper one, and upgrade to 4 GB ram for 150 bucks from apple? Or do I get the more expensive one and keep it at 2 GB ram, but a faster processor. What will have the better performance? More Ram or faster processor? I'd really like the backlit keyboard, however....it's not VITAL.

I plan on using it alot for internet, school work, making an occasional presentation, music software, and some games, maybe tiger woods or fifa. Given these uses, what is my best option?

Thank you for your time!
Click to expand...

I would get the 2.4 model -- you can easily upgrade the ram at a later date... it doesn't void the warranty or anything either.
 
The new one has a much faster bus with 1066 memory instead of 667 memory. It's also got a theoretically much faster and better video system. I'd think the new basic model would perform about equally to the previous top model.
 
If you've got money to splurge - get the higher model. If not, get the standard model and upgrade RAM as it becomes cheaper.
 
Best bang for the buck right now:

1249+99.95=1348+80.88=1428.88-14.29-100=1314.64 2GHz MB and HP Printer after $100 printer rebate. (Buy online and use ebates for 1% rebate).

139.99+94.99=234.98+4.95=239.93-15-25-20=179.93 4 GB RAM and 320 GB Hitachi 5400 RPM HDD after rebates from OWC

1314.64+179.93=1494.57 total

For 2GHz MB, HP PSC 4480, 4 GB PC-8500 DDR3 RAM, 320 GB 2.5" 5400RPM HDD
 
well i don't have money to splurge...my mother is paying for 1300 of it...it's up to me to pay the rest. I will get a 15% discount on it as I have a bud who works at the apple store and hasn't used one of his yearly discounts yet. So what do you think will run smoother? 2.0ghz with 4gb ram? or 2.4ghz with 2gb ram?

I would like that backlit keyboard though:)
 
Get the 2.4 GHz, it's much easier to upgrade ram in the future than the processor. 2GB is more than enough for most and with ram getting cheaper everyday it's obvious what you should get.

When my 2.4 iMac had 1GB of RAM it ran fine, I recently upgraded to 4GB for the hell of it and I'm constantly multitasking now, the 4GB of ram only ran me $67 from Crucial.
 
Lexoticstylez02 said:
Get the 2.4 GHz, it's much easier to upgrade ram in the future than the processor. 2GB is more than enough for most and with ram getting cheaper everyday it's obvious what you should get.

When my 2.4 iMac had 1GB of RAM it ran fine, I recently upgraded to 4GB for the hell of it and I'm constantly multitasking now, the 4GB of ram only ran me $67 from Crucial.
Click to expand...


Exactly what I did. You can't upgrade a processor, you'll have to upgrade the whole computer when you feel it's not performing well enough. Also, you can just buy RAM to 4GB anytime whenever you feel the time is good or you've saved enough money. Go for the 2.4GHz and you won't regret it.
 
Upgrading the RAM would have much more of an effect on most things than upgrading the processor, but you can always the RAM later... You can't upgrade the processor later.

On the other hand I think the 2.0GHz model is a better value overall.
 
but with the macbook having 2x1 gb slots, wouldn't you in effect have to throw away both of them to upgrade to the 4gb of ram? i'm in the same boat and can't figure out which one to do...any more information would be most helpful!
 
Munitalp said:
I would get the 2.4 model -- you can easily upgrade the ram at a later date... it doesn't void the warranty or anything either.
Click to expand...

It should also be noted that, should you choose to upgrade the RAM at a later date, Apple can perform the upgrade for you. They'll certainly charge a considerable amount to perform this operation, but if you're concerned about possibly making a mistake or if you're not comfortable with performing such an upgrade yourself, it might be worth it.
 
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