How much memory for Macbook Pro?

[nph]

Hi,

As a proud owner (on the 14th according to Amazon) of a Macbook Pro 1.83 I want to maximize battery life and performance.

Since it only comes with 512 meg RAM I wonder if I should through in just another 512 module to save battery life and higher performance (by having the same memory in both slots) or go straight for another 1 Gig stick for a total of 1.5.

What is the general thoughts about the effect on battery life and performance with 0.5 or 1 gig extra RAM?

Thanks

 

[ncook06]

I'm just spending the extra $50 and going for another gig. But as everyone is going to say here, "It depends on what you're using it for."

 

[netb0y]

I'm just spending the extra $50 and going for another gig. But as everyone is going to say here, "It depends on what you're using it for."

Where are you getting a 1GB stick for $50?

 

[kretzy]

I found when I put an extra 512 MB in my PB (to equal 1 GB) the battery life stayed pretty much the same and the performance increased greatly. Also, due to Rosetta on the MBP, you'll want at least 1GB so that everything runs nice and smoothly. If you can afford 1.5GB then go for it.

 

[KD7IWP]

I would say get over one gig. That's what I have, and I'm surprised how easy it is to fill up that RAM and get pageouts. I have thousands upon thousands of pageouts after opening iphoto for a few minutes. So I would recommend more. I can see it slowing down when I scroll through photos.

 

[Heb1228]

Buy a 1GB stick for the open slot. That way when you won't get a 512 stick thats useless when you want to upgrade again in the future. Tiger needs at least 1 GB to run smoothly anyway, and with Rosetta, you're going to need even more.

 

[ncook06]

Where are you getting a 1GB stick for $50?

I was only trying to point out that the price difference is usually a little over $50.

 

[powerbook911]

I've used my iMac 1.83 Core Duo with 512, 1 GB, and 1.5 GB.

The 512 was pretty unusable, in my opinion. I could use *some* applications one at time. Rosetta applications (intensive ones) were dream on.

1 GB was pretty much ok for just about anything I wanted to do natively and ok for doing light work under Rosetta. However, together, I'd still get bogged down sometimes doing things that didn't seem too too intense.

1.5 GB - I don't notice any problems. Rosetta applications and Intel apps are smooth and enjoyable. Eventually I'll get 2 GB total, but it's perfectly fine at 1.5, for what I do.