Should I upgrade my video memory?

[usagent]

Hi...sorry if this has been posted. I'm about to purchase my very first mac...it's going to be the 15" 1.67 PB. I'm going to be using it primarity for video editing on FCP. I'm eventually going to max out regular memory, but I have a question about the video memory. I'm thinking about just buying the stock PB straight form the store...but should go ahead and double the vid memory even if I don't plan on using the 30" display? My real question is: will doubling the vid memory do anything else other than make my PB rock with big display? Will it affect FCP in any way?

Thanks!

 

[Macmaniac]

It may help with every day tasks and making the eye candy of Tiger look nicer, besides if you want to play some games the VRAM increase will help, and when Apple does release a new OS you will have extra VRAM to handle its new eye candy. Its not a huge cost increase and will probably be worth it in the long run.

 

[dmw007]

Hi,
I would recommend going with 128MB of VRAM. More RAM is always a smart move, especially since unlike regular RAM the VRAM can not be upgraded later-what you get now is what you will be stuck with.

 

[dmw007]

2GB RAM, 128MB VRAM, 1.67GHz G4-sounds like a winner!

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Hi...sorry if this has been posted. I'm about to purchase my very first mac...it's going to be the 15" 1.67 PB. I'm going to be using it primarity for video editing on FCP. I'm eventually going to max out regular memory, but I have a question about the video memory. I'm thinking about just buying the stock PB straight form the store...but should go ahead and double the vid memory even if I don't plan on using the 30" display? My real question is: will doubling the vid memory do anything else other than make my PB rock with big display? Will it affect FCP in any way?

Thanks!

I think having more vram will help FCP, it will make your RT stuff run more smoothly. This will make you have to render less often when applying affects as FCP will be able to run stuff from your preview.

At least that's what I think, I may be wrong.

Personally I'd get the extra vram

 

[usagent]

thanks! i think i'm going to just go ahead and upgrade it. i can't wait for my first mac to arrive!

 

[Mechcozmo]

I think having more vram will help FCP, it will make your RT stuff run more smoothly. This will make you have to render less often when applying affects as FCP will be able to run stuff from your preview.

At least that's what I think, I may be wrong.

Personally I'd get the extra vram

VRAM doesn't always help for RT things. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But because you cannot upgrade it later you want to upgrade it which it sounds like you are doing.

 

[Abstract]

I don't care if anyone thinks the extra vRAM will help much or not. This video card upgrade is the cheapest upgrade you can make that may make a huge difference later on, so always get these video card upgrades.

 

[dmw007]

thanks! i think i'm going to just go ahead and upgrade it. i can't wait for my first mac to arrive!

smart move. You will be glad you did.

 

[dmw007]

Congragulations on switching by the way. I almost bought a powerbook G4 just like you are ordering but I went for the powermac G5 instead. Enjoy your new 'book.