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Late 2006 Macbook 2x1GB or 1x1GB 1x2GB Ram?

5

5ringdon

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2008
6
0
Not very RAM/HD savvy

I own a late 2006 white macbook

2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
1GB DDR2 RAM

I'm going to upgrade my RAM because I often use illustrator, photoshop, imovie and itunes and know that there is a 3GB limit on 2006 macbooks (from what I have read).

a. If i install a 2GB stick and a 1GB stick, will loosing the dual channel RAM be worth it? Or would I be better off installing 2 1GB sticks?

b. I'm also going to upgrade my Hard drive to a 250GB WD Scorpio Black.
It is SATA 3.0Gb/s and the 80GB Toshiba HD i currently have is SATA 1.5Gb/s. Does this matter and can I still install the WD Scorpio?

thank you very much
 
Go for the 2GB and the 1GB option - more ram is better than matched ram.

The other option which is probably just as cheap is to go for 2 x 2GB. The MacBook will only be able to use 3.3GB of it but it will be matched....

The Scorpio will be fine - the transfer speed of the hard disk bus in the MacBook is a lot lower than either of the transfer speeds (3GB and 1.5GB) so don't expect it to be quicker (although it will be quicker - but not for that reason).
 
not doubting anyone here but i was always under the impression you want to match your ram?
if im wrong, sorry...
 
bozz2006 said:
and that's what the suggestions are... that he/she use 2x2GB, thus having matched RAM
Click to expand...

oh really!?

from an above post:
"Go for the 2GB and the 1GB option - more ram is better than matched ram.

The other option which is probably just as cheap is to go for 2 x 2GB. The MacBook will only be able to use 3.3GB of it but it will be matched....

The Scorpio will be fine - the transfer speed of the hard disk bus in the MacBook is a lot lower than either of the transfer speeds (3GB and 1.5GB) so don't expect it to be quicker (although it will be quicker - but not for that reason). "
 
there is one recommendation to use 1x1 + 2x1 there are 2 suggestions for using 2x2, along with the reasoning as to why 2x2 is the more attractive option... whereas the 3 GB recommendation has no reasoning. even the guy who recommended 3 GB actually sounds like in the ends he's recommending 4 GB
 
bozz2006 said:
there is one recommendation to use 1x1 + 2x1 there are 2 suggestions for using 2x2, along with the reasoning as to why 2x2 is the more attractive option... whereas the 3 GB recommendation has no reasoning. even the guy who recommended 3 GB actually sounds like in the ends he's recommending 4 GB
Click to expand...

i see what your saying. im not trying to say your wrong or anything like that!!
in my original post i was just saying i was under the impression you want to match ram..
thanks.
 
The original question was whether to go for (2GB + 1GB) or (1GB + 1GB)

my answer was that the 3GB option was better than the 2GB one (more RAM is better than matched RAM) and I also suggested that since DDR2 was very cheap at the moment to go for 4GB (even more RAM although 3.3GB in reality and also matched)

Best solution is 2 x 2GB
next best is 2GB + 1GB
last come 2 x 1GB
 
I think I'm gonna go for the 2x2GB since I can get it for so cheap. Thanks everyone
 
Should I clone the drive using a cloner, or should I do it through my Time Machine backups?
 
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