Has anyone recently moved from 768mb RAM to 1.25GB?

[spaceballl]

If so, how big was the difference?

I'm on a 1.2 ghz G4 iBook right now and I really can't stand how sluggish things can run after being on for a while. Rebooting temporarily fixes it, but when I have iTunes, Adium, a few dashboard widgets, and a browswer w/ a few tabs open, this thing is SLOW.

But I thought 768mb ram was a good amount. I'm about ready to plunk down the money, but can someone out there tell me if i'm wasting my time.

 

[Lacero]

It might help a little bit but I think you might need to free up more HD space. Try running Delocalizer or run fewer widgets.

 

[Passante]

I have 768 in my 12 inch Powerbook and noticed how widgets really eat up available RAM. I start to get spinning beach balls with Safari, Mail iphoto and Photoshop elements open, Waiting for 1 meg chip to drop to $80 before I upgrade.

 

[munkle]

Basically check out your activity monitor, a high page out number indicates that more RAM would definitely be beneficial.

Instead of rebooting my computer, if I see my RAM is running low, I just quit and restart the offending apps. Normally it's Safari ballooning to ugly proportions, a simple quit gets things going again. And keeping widgets to a minimum is definitely a good idea, I normally only have 5 running at a time.

I'm in the same boat as you and currently cruising for a good deal to go from 768MB to 1.25GB.

 

[neocell]

Like Lacero said, make sure you have at least 8 GB of free HD space or else Tiger doesn't run very well and will noticeably slow down. More RAM would help but you should easily have enough for what you're running without noticing slow downs. You can also try Main Menu to clean up your system and get some more free space with clearing out caches etc. What Size is a good app to figure out what's using up your HD space, if you need to use it
Hope this helps

 

[Jedi128]

I have the same exact problem. I have been wondering if going up to 1.25GB of RAM is worth it from 768MB on my 1.2Ghz iBook. SO far the response is that its probably something else slowing the comp down. I though 768MB was a good amount of RAM as well.

My problem has been with playing games like KOTOR. It gets real choppy if I even try to move around in the game. But from what I've heard the extra RAM won't do too much to help.

 

[spaceballl]

No I have 14 gigs of free space so it's highly doubtful that is what's slowing it down. Besides, if disk space is the issue, that means OS X is paging to the HD and I think more RAM would help limit HD access. Well i'm going to bite the bullet and make it happen. What I REALLY want is for Stupid Seagate to release their notebook 7200.1 100gb 7200 rpm harddrive. They keep doing press releases about its release every few months but I have NEVER seen one of these in the retail channel.

 

[Abstract]

I don't think the RAM upgrade is going to help. In case it might, go to Terminal, type "Top" and hit enter/return. See how many PageOuts you have. Then type in "uptime" in Terminal and tell us how long your computer has been on. That'll give us an idea of whether you need more RAM.

If so, how big was the difference?

I'm on a 1.2 ghz G4 iBook right now and I really can't stand how sluggish things can run after being on for a while. Rebooting temporarily fixes it, but when I have iTunes, Adium, a few dashboard widgets, and a browswer w/ a few tabs open, this thing is SLOW.

But I thought 768mb ram was a good amount. I'm about ready to plunk down the money, but can someone out there tell me if i'm wasting my time.

If it feels sluggish, it may be your internet connection acting pissy sometimes. The programs you mention access the internet (except iTunes. Also, it depends on what widgets you use).

 

[spaceballl]

Ya know... I think it is the RAM, maybe. I mean it's not my internet connection cuz it is just AE and i'm talking about overall sluggishness, not just the net.

I really want that Seagate 7200.1 7200rpm 100gb notebook drive when they release it. I put the hitachi 60gb 7200 rpm drive on my iBook g3 and it was great, Apps booted much quicker and when a pageout was necessary, it got the info in nearly half the time it takes for a 4200 rpm drive to do it.

I'm gonna upgrade the RAM - half to try and fix the computer up and half just to max it out so I won't need to do it later.

Oh and whenI say the thing is 'sluggish,' keep in mind it is relative. OS X is known for not being a very zippy OS so what is sluggish for me might be quick to others. Regardless, I'll let people know if OS X feels better w/ 1.2 gigs of RAM.