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Just got my new iBook! Ram question...

TodVader

TodVader

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 27, 2005
596
0
Quebec, Canada
Hi!
I just got my new 12'' G4 iBook. I love the look and feel of the computer.

Once thing ive noticed is that its clealy missing some RAM for multitasking and all. (it gets buggy really fast at 512mb and I understand that)

heres what im wondering:
Is it worth it to max the laptop at 1.5G or is 1gig (another 512MB) enough?

What Will I see in difference between the 2?

Heres what I want to do :

-Dreamweaver and some minor photoshop,
-some games (ex: Halo, RTCW:ET, Starcraft, ETC) (Mostly online)

Thanks!
Todvader

p.s. I know you like pics of brand new mac so I will post a pic of my setup later today :p
 
Get the full 1.5GB if budget allows. Remember that it'll be much more expensive to upgrade from 1GB to 1.5GB later and based on what you're using it for, you'll be wanting as much RAM as possible. :)
 
I have an iBook with 640 MB of RAM and I wish i could add some more.
The 1 GB modules are only 40 $ more - you won't regret it.
 
the only 1Gig modules I see are over 100$ and the 512mb sticks are under 40$.

I dont know what to do but the computer definitly needs more memory thats for sure. I max that 512mb with ease.
 
I upgraded my iBook's ram to 1gb this was becuase for what i am using it for i couldnt justify paying more than double what i did for a 512mb stick for a 1gb stick, anyway my iBook runs pretty sweetly with 1gb, and can handle most i throw at it..

At the end of the day its your choice of how much RAm you wanna upgrade to, but it will largely depend on how much you want to spend,


Shadow
 
yeah the price is my issue too.

I COULD afford a 1Gig stick but am wondering if paying more than double the price of a 512Stick is really worth it.

Knowing myself, If I buy a 512Stick, Ill end up saying what if...

I really dont know what I should do :confused:
 
jadekitty24 said:
I have a question concerning ram as well. Is there a minimum of "unused ram" you should have? I know you should have around 8 gb's on your hard-drive free, I wonder if the same applies to ram.
Click to expand...
RAM is RAM you use it no matter what. It doesn't matter, cause it all gets flushed anyways. As for free RAM, if you plan on using a program that takes a lot, you may want to quit a program you're not using to free up some so you can run that program a bit more effortlessly. As for should you have a certain amount free? Nope, when RAM fills you just use HD space (that's where the 15% comes in a lot of the time that most say you should have free). If you run out of RAM though, just upgrade to more. Things will be smoother and run faster.

To answer the original posters question:
Gaming is a big yes on upgrading RAM. Some games will leave textures loaded so that it doesn't have to reload them each time you hit a different level/part of a level. But if you don't have enough it'll flush/free those textures, then you may do more wear on the harddrive just loading them up. RAM is a good way to put ease your hard drive. I say go with the 1 GB. You never know when you'll need those the extra 512MB or 1GB.
 
TodVader said:
the only 1Gig modules I see are over 100$ and the 512mb sticks are under 40$.

I dont know what to do but the computer definitly needs more memory thats for sure. I max that 512mb with ease.
Click to expand...

You are right - it was the wrong type of RAM I was looking at. So the gap is more like $80. I would still buy 1 GB.

When I bought my iBook I was in the same situation you are in now (but with 512 vs. 256 MB) and I'm happy I bought the bigger module.
 
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