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heliocentric

Guest
Original poster
Nov 26, 2008
385
0
im looking at getting a new 2.4 macbook.

i was wondering if getting a 4gb memory is worth the extra money?

thanks
 
I just got 4 gig and I have to say I hardly notice any difference. Perhaps after 10+ days you would notice the extra memory, but for now I am on day 3 and don't really notice much difference. And you should also not buy it from Apple, there's plenty of reliable and cheaper RAM out there.
 
depends on what you use it for

i use my mbp for running windows in vmware

with the 2 gig of standard ram is barely got off the ground, with 4gb ram i can run windows xp and vista 7 simultaneously in vmware, put them in a different space and forget about them it runs so fast

i would definitely recommend it
 
More RAM is only going to make a difference if you actually use it. The only way to consume RAM is to perform more processes simultaneously. So if you just read email, listen to music and chat on AIM or something then you probably don't need 4GB.

The only people who will really see a benefit from 4GB are those who run RAM intensive applications like Final Cut Pro or Parallels/VMWare. If you don't use these, then you likely won't see any benefit to having 4GB.

As for the 2.4 model, it's a waste of money too - it's significantly more expensive than the 2.0 model and is only marginally faster. Again, the extra speed is only going to be noticeable if you are at 100% CPU usage.

I have the 2.0GHz model with 2GB RAM and it is more than sufficient for my needs.

Even when I use Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Imagewell, Microsoft Messenger, Safari and iTunes all at the same time I don't see any slowdown.

It would be useful if you could tell us what you intend to use the computer for.
 
well im going to use it for all the usual like surfing,music...that kind of thing.

also i use handbrake to encode videos for my ipod and maybe play some games on a windows partition.

im going from a imac 2.66ghz with 4gb of ram

so i thought going to a macbook with 2ghz would be to much of a slow down from what im used to.
 
I run a VMware XP session a lot of the time, so extra RAM helps. Its cheap enough these days to do anyway. If you're going to keep the machine a long time, then it will come in handy at some point.
 
well im going to use it for all the usual like surfing,music...that kind of thing.

also i use handbrake to encode videos for my ipod and maybe play some games on a windows partition.

im going from a imac 2.66ghz with 4gb of ram

so i thought going to a macbook with 2ghz would be to much of a slow down from what im used to.

it doesn't sound like you are using all the RAM you had before. You probably wouldn't notice much difference. That said, RAM is pretty cheap. I just wouldn't get it as BTO from apple. Order with the stock RAM, (preferably as 1 chip) and buy the extra RAM from Crucial.com or similar.

BTW, I have a 2.2GHz MBP with 2GB RAM and run Fusion, Handbrake, etc. and have never had a speed issue I would associate with low RAM.
 
I don't use my MacBook for anything heavy, but I went from 1GB to 4GB and really noticed the difference. RAM is so cheap now, it seems silly to not upgrade. You can NEVER have too much RAM. You can very easily have too little.


Exactly, having too little is just a few clicks away...
 
I went for 4GB in my mid-2007 blackbook ... although I later found out the chipset only supported 3GB so that's all is uses of it ... but it was definitely worth it

I'd rather be looking at it than looking for it, if you know what I mean ... At least you'll have the potential of using max RAM rather than kicking yourself if you ever need it and didn't invest

Crucial seems to be the place to go for mac-RAM at any rate...
 
When running only OS X apps, I do not notice a difference.
As soon as I load up my windows VM, I notice a big difference. with 2gb I would only be left with 100mb of ram, and that would limit what else I was doing at the same time.

Now with 4gb, I can run my windowsXP VM with 1gb of memory used to be 512) along with some other programs like firefox, adium, Office word etc and STILL have around 1.5-2gb of ram to play with!:D
 
new white macbook 2.0

I just purchased my first mac. I'm really excited. I bought the white macbook.

I am planning on using my mac for web browsing, iTunes, MS Office (large powerpoint & excel files), and maybe possibly through windows on there. I know the RAM in it is DDR2 667mhz, anyone installed 2x2gb RAM chips in the new whitebook? which ram can I use that is reliable? I hear that some people have installed new RAM and their machines will occasionally crash.


Second, is a 7200 rpm hard drive that more obvious? Does it make that big of a difference? I mean if it does I'd definitely consider getting one, just one thats compatible with my new machine. And once I stick a new hard drive in, how would I get all my info from the one HD to the other?

And tips? I'm pretty new at this. Thanks for any help

-mike
 
I'd say it's worth it, for only $80 from OWC and a $25 rebate if you send yours in, it's a good price for the 2GB more. I think I'll use mine b/c I do a little bit of gaming and use VMWare Fusion like the rest of the folks here.
 
I've got the 2.4 with 2 GB RAM but will be upgrading the memory soon, because i am always low and my Page Outs are pretty high. Running Entourage, Safari, iTunes, Adium, VLC is enough to make my Free Memory low.
 
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