First upgrade for new ibook

[Jeff5i]

Hi all,

After spending a few days with my beloved new toy (ibook 12" 1.333, 60g hd, 512mb ram).

Ive decided that I need to reward it with an upgrade. I have about $60 that I would like to use, and I have found 2 choices.

1) 512mb DDR 2700 stick of ram to give me 1gb total

2) Mighty Mouse (I think that over time i will want to use an external mouse for photo editing etc)

Do you guys have any suggesions of which I should do? Would 512mb be ok for a few months until I could actually afford the full 1gb replacement (giving me 1.5 total)?

thanks

Jeff

 

[mkrishnan]

If you want 1.5GB total later, I'd get the mouse or keep saving, right now, since it sounds like cash is a little tight, and it's a waste of money to pay $50 for a 512MB stick and then turn around and get a $100 1GB one in a few months....

I hope you enjoy your machine.

In terms of easiest ways to tell if you could use more RAM: do you slowdown? And do you see the mouse pointer turn into a spinning beach ball frequently when you try to do compute intensive stuff, switch between apps, etc? Sometimes, it always does this on a specific task regardless of the load, but usually, when it does this sometimes, and more often when lots of things are going on, it's because of caching to virtual memory.

 

[AJ Muni]

Hi all,

After spending a few days with my beloved new toy (ibook 12" 1.333, 60g hd, 512mb ram).

Ive decided that I need to reward it with an upgrade. I have about $60 that I would like to use, and I have found 2 choices.

1) 512mb DDR 2700 stick of ram to give me 1gb total

2) Mighty Mouse (I think that over time i will want to use an external mouse for photo editing etc)

Do you guys have any suggesions of which I should do? Would 512mb be ok for a few months until I could actually afford the full 1gb replacement (giving me 1.5 total)?

thanks

Jeff

Hey jeff, i was in your shoes 2 weeks ago. RAM OR MOUSE?? sooooo i went to my nearest apple store, and tried the mighty mouse. IMO, i really didnt find it THAT COOL, even though it is. and since i carry my ibook everywhere, i figured, im not gonna have a surface to use the mouse on ( I.E. laying on my bed), and just thought it was annoying with a cord hanging around. SO IMO, i would save up for the RAM. its useless to spend on a 512, (trust me, your gonna always be thinking "how much faster would it be with 1.5 instead of 1gb??", and itll kill ya. save for the ram, 512 should be good for now.

p.s. i bought the ram, and went from 256 to 1.2gb

 

[Jeff5i]

I'm definitly not seeing that kind of slowdown. I generally am only running 1-2 applications at once anyway. Im using my ibook for photo editing, safari, itunes, html development etc. I'm pretty sure 512mb will be enough for me at least for now.

I have a desktop PC that is a gaming machine that I build. Athon 64 3700+ Geforce 6800 ultra. and 1gb ram. I only use this machine for gaming.

Will 512mb suite my needs for the casual use as a second mobile device in addition to my gaming pc?

thanks

Jeff

If you want 1.5GB total later, I'd get the mouse or keep saving, right now, since it sounds like cash is a little tight, and it's a waste of money to pay $50 for a 512MB stick and then turn around and get a $100 1GB one in a few months....

I hope you enjoy your machine.

In terms of easiest ways to tell if you could use more RAM: do you slowdown? And do you see the mouse pointer turn into a spinning beach ball frequently when you try to do compute intensive stuff, switch between apps, etc? Sometimes, it always does this on a specific task regardless of the load, but usually, when it does this sometimes, and more often when lots of things are going on, it's because of caching to virtual memory.

 

[Jeff5i]

Well what about a second question of.. is 1gb enough? My desktop PC uses 1gb ram and i cant imagine needing more for it.

Is going to 1.5gb really worth double the cost of a toal of 1gb?

I can get 512mb ram for $50 on www.macsales.com

How much was the ram you purchased at the apple store?

jeff

Hey jeff, i was in your shoes 2 weeks ago. RAM OR MOUSE?? sooooo i went to my nearest apple store, and tried the mighty mouse. IMO, i really didnt find it THAT COOL, even though it is. and since i carry my ibook everywhere, i figured, im not gonna have a surface to use the mouse on ( I.E. laying on my bed), and just thought it was annoying with a cord hanging around. SO IMO, i would save up for the RAM. its useless to spend on a 512, (trust me, your gonna always be thinking "how much faster would it be with 1.5 instead of 1gb??", and itll kill ya. save for the ram, 512 should be good for now.

 

[AJ Muni]

Well what about a second question of.. is 1gb enough? My desktop PC uses 1gb ram and i cant imagine needing more for it.

Is going to 1.5gb really worth double the cost of a toal of 1gb?

I can get 512mb ram for $50 on www.macsales.com

How much was the ram you purchased at the apple store?

jeff

Apple store Ram = The enemy.
Crucial.Com Ram= Your Best Friend...

1gb from apple is $500 ...
1gb from crucial.com is around $140 ....i got mine from crucial, and it works PERFECT.

If your not sure, do a seach on iBook RAM, and youll see that
A) everyone recommends that if u buy ram, make sure u max it out and
B) DONT BUY FROM APPLE, buy from crucial dude

 

[godbout]

I know that everyone says to max out your ram but in all honesty I put in a 1GB stick about a week after I purchased my PB and I did not see any dramatic difference. It is all about what you do on a regular basis if you have over a dozen apps open yeah 1.5 might be better than 1 but if you only have a few open you will see no difference in actual speed. I would say wait for a while with your 512 and keep the activity monitor open so that you can see how many page outs you have when you are doing your thing. On the other hand ram is pretty cheap and it would not take long to have the money for the 1Gb stick. So if money is a HUGE concern then just get another 512... if you can pull it off and still get a nice mouse then go for the 1GB... you can never have too much I guess

I'm not sure what you should do about the mouse though. I am trying to make a decision on one myself! Logitech MX510 is up near the top! I would get it over a mighty mouse (although the thought of a multibutton mouse from apple is pretty awesome!)

 

[Jeff5i]

I kinda wish there was a bluetooth version of the mighty mouse

jeff

I know that everyone says to max out your ram but in all honesty I put in a 1GB stick about a week after I purchased my PB and I did not see any dramatic difference. It is all about what you do on a regular basis if you have over a dozen apps open yeah 1.5 might be better than 1 but if you only have a few open you will see no difference in actual speed. I would say wait for a while with your 512 and keep the activity monitor open so that you can see how many page outs you have when you are doing your thing. On the other hand ram is pretty cheap and it would not take long to have the money for the 1Gb stick. So if money is a HUGE concern then just get another 512... if you can pull it off and still get a nice mouse then go for the 1GB... you can never have too much I guess

I'm not sure what you should do about the mouse though. I am trying to make a decision on one myself! Logitech MX510 is up near the top! I would get it over a mighty mouse (although the thought of a multibutton mouse from apple is pretty awesome!)