RAM Advice Needed for first-time buyer

[hammerly99]

Macsavvy Friends,

I'm hoping to buy a new MacBook in the next couple of days. Having never bought a Mac, I have a couple of questions that I'd love to hear people's opinions on.

Let me say, first of all, that for the last 3 years I've been using a Dell with 1.30 pentium, 256 mb of ram, and 40 gb, so anything new that I get will be a huge improvement, i'm sure.

I'm hoping to buy the 1.83 ghz macbook, and my primary question is how significant the difference is between having 1 and 2 gigs of ram-I've read around enough to know that I don't want the 512mb. I'm a student, so I'll primarily be using the computer for Microsoft Office, web browsing, and some media stuff, but nothing so fancy as heavy duty video/photo-editing. I'm on a budget, but I also know that a computer is an investment, so I'm curious if the 1gb of ram will be enough for me, and what I'll miss out on if I only get 1gb.

Thanks for any advice you might have.

 

[mad jew]

I'd say the average user wouldn't benefit going to 2GB from 1GB, especially considering your needs. Maybe just get a single 1GB chip so that you can easily (and cheaply) install more RAM later if need be.

 

[RPP]

As mad jew already said, 1 gb of RAM should suit your needs fine.
It really comes down to how patient you are ... One would assume patience is something you've mastered by now, having used that particular Dell for the past 3 years .