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RAM: 2GB vs 4GB?

N

neifichicken

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 14, 2008
12
0
I am definitely going to be picking up a new Macbook soon, but I just wanted to hear some opinions on processor speed and RAM.

Is it worth it to double the RAM (from 2 to 4) for 180 dollars?
What about buying the macbook with 2.4 GHZ vs 2.0 GHZ???

What are the pros and cons?

My usage for laptops: Primarily just internet, music, watching videos, hooking it up to my TV and watching videos, office programs, and sometimes using stats programs (like mySQL or R). I might also occasionally dabble in some light video editing, such as turning small video files into GIF's

Advice?

Thanks in advance
 
how easy is that? I see the guide on this forum about RAM, but is it really that simple? I've never really done anything like this before
 
There are very few people who actually need 4GB. Your use sounds like you won't need any more than 2GB.
 
neiltc13 said:
There are very few people who actually need 4GB. Your use sounds like you won't need any more than 2GB.
Click to expand...
There's a difference between needing 4gb, and finding 4gb to be useful.

None of the programs that the OP mentioned are especially RAM-intensive, but if he plans on using several at the same time, the 4gb could be very handy. I recently upgraded to 4GB, because my MBP would become a bit laggy when running several programs at once - Word, a couple windows of Safari, Skim (a PDF reader), and maybe iTunes and/or a torrent client in the background.
 
I think more importantly will these machines support more than 4 gb in the future when you'll really want it. Snow leopard promises 64 bit, but will these machines support more RAM?
 
MikeyTree said:
There's a difference between needing 4gb, and finding 4gb to be useful.

None of the programs that the OP mentioned are especially RAM-intensive, but if he plans on using several at the same time, the 4gb could be very handy. I recently upgraded to 4GB, because my MBP would become a bit laggy when running several programs at once - Word, a couple windows of Safari, Skim (a PDF reader), and maybe iTunes and/or a torrent client in the background.
Click to expand...

Currently with Transmit, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, NetNewsWire, iTunes, Safari, ImageWell and Adium running I'm not noticing any slowdown with 2GB. Activity Monitor says I'm using 1.6GB.
 
If it's only $180 to upgrade from Apple, you might as well go that route if that's what you want/need. From what I've seen, the prices aren't much better for 1066Mhz DDR3 So-dimms from Newegg. (GSkill = $169)
 
applefriend2008 said:
i thought it was $135 to upgrade from 2gb to 4gb ram on macbooks.
Click to expand...

150 non student 135 student. The ram upgrade is actually worth it this time the cheapest i found was in the $160 range unless someone found it cheaper. Crucial 140 with it being so close in price i would just buy from apple
 
Same here in Europe.... looks like the best deals from other internet shops are just a bit cheaper than Apple... so not worth the trouble.
 
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