My iMac is only 4 GB. How should I change it to something more.

[piatti]

With triple-channel DDR3, most people install three, 2GB sticks for a total of 6GB of Ram. While it seems like 8GB would be better than 6GB, that's not true. 8GB of Ram in a triple channel system is unbalanced and therefore slower, and less desirable than 6GB.

I read from here that 6GB is better than 8GB. http://lockergnome.net/questions/86971/6gb-or-8gb-ram-for-imac-27

What would be the cheapest way to upgrade? I know that 4GB is not enough from using a MacBook Pro that is 4GB. Should I opted for the 6GB option when I first bought it? Unfortunately I didn't specify which one I wanted I guess when I bought it at Best Buy, It was on sale for 1600 dollars.

Also does this mean that it's better to build your own hackintosh because you could make it 8GB (or more even?) while on the iMac the maximum it will go is 6GB? How long does it take to learn to build your own hackintosh computer?

Also how can I stop the word hackintosh from being changed into macintosh on Lion?

 

[Gav2k]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Upgrading ram is cheap and simple. You should never waste money getting apple to do it for you!

The speed difference between 6gb and 8 like they are making out is marginal and you wouldnt notice the difference.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I guess, you have one of the 21.5" or 27" iMacs, thus you can get up to 16 GB of 204-pin DDR SO-DIMM RAM from anywhere, Crucial, OWC, Corsair, Newegg and Amazon are good sources.
iFixIt and your iMac User Guide have instructions on how to change the RAM.
It is also best ot get either an 8 GB (two 4 GB modules) kit or a 16 GB (four 4 GB modules) kit.

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[piatti]

Ok I found this (16GB)http://www.ramexperts.com/corsair-c...pin-ddr3-so-dimm-ddr3-1333-laptop-memory.html

Is this installable on the MacBook Pro as well?

Could it have been cheaper if I bought a 6GB iMac in the first place or is that not worth it and one should just skip over to the 16GB for a little more?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Ok I found this (16GB)http://www.ramexperts.com/corsair-c...pin-ddr3-so-dimm-ddr3-1333-laptop-memory.html

Is this installable on the MacBook Pro as well?

That is quite expensive, as it meant for 2011 MBPs, which only have two RAM slots and can currently accept 16 GB RAM.
If you have a 2011 iMac, you can of course buy that RAM, as it accepts 32 GB RAM, but you can also buy 4 GB modules like these kits, as it is cheaper.


And to answer your question: Only in 2011 MBPs.

 

[piatti]

The link you gave in the previous post shows 8GBs. The guy earlier in the thread said there's not much difference in 6GB and 8GB. So if I want to buy 16GB should I buy two of 8GBs? What would be some stuff you'll be able to do with 16GB that you wouldn't be able to do with 8GB/6GB?

 

[gnasher729]

The link you gave in the previous post shows 8GBs. The guy earlier in the thread said there's not much difference in 6GB and 8GB. So if I want to buy 16GB should I buy two of 8GBs? What would be some stuff you'll be able to do with 16GB that you wouldn't be able to do with 8GB/6GB?

You shouldn't buy two 8GB chips. 8GB chips are an awful lot more expensive than 4GB chips, about five times as much. If you have an iMac then get four 4GB chips for less than half the money.

The only time when you would buy 8GB chips is if you want more than 16 GB in an iMac (so four x 4GB isn't enough) or more than 8 GB in a MacBook (so two x 4GB isn't enough).

 

[piatti]

I think I just realized that since the interiors of the iMac are so hard to access, I would have to pay someone to insert the extra 4GB memory. How much would that cost? Maybe if I still want an iMac I could exchange this iMac for another one that has 8GB?

Or maybe I should just buy Mac Mini with i7 option. But Mac Mini can go up to 8 GB while iMacs can go up to 16GB. AND Mac mini has slower GHz of speed. I don't know if I might ever need that 16GB. What would you need 16GB for? I would like to do some heavy music stuff as well as FCP although I haven't done it yet and don't know exactly how much power you need to do that.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I think I just realized that since the interiors of the iMac are so hard to access, I would have to pay someone to insert the extra 4GB memory. How much would that cost? Maybe if I still want an iMac I could exchange this iMac for another one that has 8GB?

Or maybe I should just buy Mac Mini with i7 option. But Mac Mini can go up to 8 GB while iMacs can go up to 16GB. AND Mac mini has slower GHz of speed. I don't know if I might ever need that 16GB. What would you need 16GB for? I would like to do some heavy music stuff as well as FCP although I haven't done it yet and don't know exactly how much power you need to do that.

PAGE 39 of the USER GUIDE, that came with your Mac, explains how easy it is, unless: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/imac_mid2011_ug.pdf
16 GB RAM should cost less than 100 USD, as noted several times before, and the actual process of upgrading the RAM can take less than five minutes, as it involves unscrewing three screws, removing the already present RAM (if necessary), inserting the new RAM, putting the screws and the plate back in.

As for how much you need, use Activity Monitor (shown below), to see, if FCP X is using that much RAM (FCP pre-X can't use more than 4 GB RAM anyway).

 

[piatti]

That's good news that it is very easy to add more RAM. What could I do with 16GB ram that I wouldn't be able to do with 8GB?

And I heard that FCP X is worse than the previous versions, so that you shouldn't use it, right?
Would having lower Ghz for the Mac mini make a difference?

You told me an option to move everything except the Snow Leopard OS from time machine, but I don't know how to do that and can't find the thread where I asked that.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

That's good news that it is very easy to add more RAM. What could I do with 16GB ram that I wouldn't be able to do with 8GB?

If you ask that question, you probably don't need more than 4 or 8 GB RAM.
Anyway, more RAM allows you to access more applications and open documents at the "same" time.

What is a Hard Disk Drive? - measured in Bytes (B), MegaBytes (MB), GigaBytes (GB) and TeraBytes (TB)

The hard disk drive is the main, and usually largest, data storage device in a computer. The operating system, software titles and most other files are stored in the hard disk drive.

What is a CPU? - measured in MegaHertz (MHz) and GigaHertz (GHz)

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is responsible for interpreting and executing most of the commands from the computer's hardware and software. It is often called the "brains" of the computer.

What is RAM? - measured again in MB and GB

Random Access Memory (RAM) is the "working memory" in a computer. Additional RAM allows a computer to work with more information at the same time which can have a dramatic effect on total system performance.

And I heard that FCP X is worse than the previous versions, so that you shouldn't use it, right?

It is different, not worse or better, as that is subjective. It got rid of many functionalities of the old Final Cut Pro and gained new functions and techniques. It is not for professionals as it is more for so-called prosumers. People, who want more than iMovie, but less than a fully fledged editing application.
It is a good application, if one knows, how to use it and knows its limits.

Would having lower Ghz for the Mac mini make a difference?

As the Mac mini only has a laptop i7 chip, yes and more than yes. The iMac is faster.
http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/

You told me an option to move everything except the Snow Leopard OS from time machine, but I don't know how to do that and can't find the thread where I asked that.

Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6: How to use Migration Assistant to transfer files from another Mac
Pro Tip of the Week: Move All Your Stuff to a New Mac — Quick
Migration Assistant - Use Migration Assistant to Copy Data from a Previous OS
6 easy steps to migrate your Mac using Time Machine

Time Machine FAQ - 14. How do I restore my entire system?

Using Setup Assistant on Snow Leopard or Leopard

Setting-up a new Mac from an old one or its Backups

Target Disk Mode

Using MacRumors Forums - Finding your own posts and threads​

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[piatti]

If you ask that question, you probably don't need more than 4 or 8 GB RAM.
Anyway, more RAM allows you to access more applications and open documents at the "same" time.

Okay actually I knew that that's for multitasking so I guess 16GB instead of 8GB just means you can multitask a lot more than with 8GB.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Okay actually I knew that that's for multitasking so I guess 16GB instead of 8GB just means you can multitask a lot more than with 8GB.

That is correct.

 

[piatti]

As the Mac mini only has a laptop i7 chip, yes and more than yes. The iMac is faster.
http://www.primatelabs.ca/geekbench/mac-benchmarks/

Does that hold true even when my iMac has i5?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Does that hold true even when my iMac has i5?

Then the Mac mini is a bit faster, but it lacks a dedicated GPU, and if you want to go into video editing and maybe even more, and plan to use FCP X, a dedicated GPU might come in handy.

Anyway, here is a screenshot from the link you quoted:

 

[piatti]

If I wanted to upgrade the i5 into a i7 is that possible by buying i7 or is this something you have to buy it with when you first buy the iMac?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If I wanted to upgrade the i5 into a i7 is that possible by buying i7 or is this something you have to buy it with when you first buy the iMac?

Yep.

 

[meatballs]

How long does it take to learn to build your own hackintosh computer?

An afternoon perhaps? Here is where I started www.tonymacx86.com

It's best to start from scratch.

 

[Chorny]

I'll try

1) The RAM upgrade is very easy
2) I ran with 4 GB for the first 6 months I had my iMac, and kind of got used to the sluggishness. I started monitoring RAM usage and discovered I was using all of it pretty much all the time. I upped the RAM to 12 GB and now I find most of the time I use somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7-8 GB (although at the moment I have less than 2 GB free.) So 12 seems to be enough. 8 would not be.
3) If you upgrade to 16 you will have to remove 2 2 GB chips that you won't have a use for, and aren't worth a whole lot in resale value
4) This is what you want:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/1333DDR3S08S/
5) I can tell from your questions that you would not have an easy time building a hackintosh or keeping it running through OS updates.

 

[redache]

I read from here that 6GB is better than 8GB. http://lockergnome.net/questions/86971/6gb-or-8gb-ram-for-imac-27

What would be the cheapest way to upgrade? I know that 4GB is not enough from using a MacBook Pro that is 4GB. Should I opted for the 6GB option when I first bought it? Unfortunately I didn't specify which one I wanted I guess when I bought it at Best Buy, It was on sale for 1600 dollars.

Also does this mean that it's better to build your own hackintosh because you could make it 8GB (or more even?) while on the iMac the maximum it will go is 6GB? How long does it take to learn to build your own hackintosh computer?

Also how can I stop the word hackintosh from being changed into macintosh on Lion?

Firstly, that link you posted is full of misinformation and it's incredible that people can say such things whilst being so wrong. 6GB is ONLY faster if you have triple channel, this means that you have either 3 or 6 DIMM slots and have an enthusiast class Intel Processor/Motherboard combination of the X58 variety. In normal dual channel configurations (which the iMac has) it is actually a performance detriment to not populate even numbers of slots since that is how dual channel is designed to be used. The only way RAM is faster in any scenario comes down to clock speed and memory latencies, which are rarely tangible and even when it is, it won't be enough to satisfy any feeling of low speed in a system. The typical benefit is the perception that a computer is faster, modern Operating Systems pre cache applications and data to increase the speed at which both data and applications can be accessed and a lot of the 'extra' memory usage you see in OS X Lion/Windows 7 has a lot to do with this precaching, Apple didn't rewrite software to make it more RAM heavy. 64-bit systems also have a higher RAM overhead as the data types used in the programs are larger but this again is not that much of an issue as 64-bit systems tend to be designed with this in mind. As for the right RAM to go for, I'd go with either an 8GB set (which would give you 12GB overall) or I would replace the DIMMS with a 16GB set. Apple are actually fair with the iMac and they leave 2 slots unpopulated so the extra 8GB option is cheaper but you might be happier buying a complete, matched set of memory to ensure optimal performance.

A Hackintosh isn't difficult to build in a hardware sense but I would avoid it if at all possible due to the numerous issues that can arise and the higher level of maintenance necessary.

As for your Hackintosh to Macintosh question, I don't know if you're actually serious. Apple sell Macintoshes that run OS X, OS X is designed to only run on these devices, every piece of hardware information and system configuration is geared towards these devices, it is not going to detect a 'Hackintosh' and then decide to call it by its real name. The whole point in a Hackintosh is to trick OS X into running on similar/same hardware.

 

[piatti]

As for the right RAM to go for, I'd go with either an 8GB set (which would give you 12GB overall) or I would replace the DIMMS with a 16GB set. Apple are actually fair with the iMac and they leave 2 slots unpopulated so the extra 8GB option is cheaper but you might be happier buying a complete, matched set of memory to ensure optimal performance.

How much is the 8 option and 16 option respectively?

what are the numerous issues that can arise and what kind of high level maintenance do you have to do?

As for your Hackintosh to Macintosh question

I was saying the actual word as I type the word 'hackintosh' it automatically corrects it to 'macintosh'. Sorry for being unclear.