Upgrade RAM on G4 Powerbook 1.5Gb >> 2Gb ?

[elensil]

I do some photoshop work at home (wedding album design, average file size 150 Mb). Currently my fastest machine is 15"PB G4 1.5Ghz with 1.5Gb Ram. Its painfully slow. Should I invest another $150 to increase Ram to 2Gb (will have to sell 512Mb later) or put that money aside for an iMac purchase in near future.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

P.S. Does anyone has experience with a similar upgrade and its effect on PhotoShop performance with large files.

 

[Veritas&Equitas]

Here's what I think: Photoshop CS3 is universal and will be out probably March(ish). By that time, I'd think it wise to upgrade to an Intel iMac, if a desktop is what you want, or one of the portables. The PB G4 is getting to be a dated machine, and throwing another $100 for another gig (assuming that's what you need because you have 1x1 gb stick and a 1x512 stick and you'd need another 1x1 gb stick to make 2 gb b/c there aren't 3 slots) might hold you over for a little while, but in my mind, it's money that could go towards a better machine a couple months down the road.

If you have the money, by all means go ahead, and wait 'til CS3 comes out before upgrading. If not, I'd save it hold off on the big powerhouse for a couple of months!

 

[JKitterman]

Are you running out of memory? Are you seeing a lot of paging? Is this more of a processor problem? (Being at 100%) I really don't think going to an iMac, as they are currently are, would help much as they are pretty much stuck to 2Gb unless you want to spring for the very expensive 1Gb/2Gb chip combo for the max of 3Gb. If you go to a Mac Pro you will have a lot better memory expansion options going forward.

 

[CanadaRAM]

How many jobs will you do between now and when you can buy the intel machine and get the CS3 upgrade?

If it is more than a couple, then invest the money in the 2 Gb for the current machine. Photoshop will use it.