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Very basic RAM questions

S

surfer99

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 30, 2006
253
1
VA
I currently have only 512mb in my macbook. I just recently upgraded my HD from 60gb to 160gb and am thinking about upgrading my RAM as well but I have a few questions.

1st question, will it really make a big difference in my performance?

2nd question, it looks as if its just as easy to change my hard drive as it is to upgrade my RAM (based on the apple manuals). Is this correct?

3rd question, it looks as if crucial.com is the most recommended place to buy RAM, is this correct?

4th question, any recommendation on how much RAM I should get. Money is not the biggest issue, especially if its going to improve my performance a ton but at the same time I dont want to spend money just to spend money. Also If I have 512mb already in one slot then I am under the impression that I have only one more slot left so I believe that I would only be able to add a 1gb memory stick, is this correct?

Thanks in advanced
 
With my desktop at least, I am fond of running several different applications simultaneously - including streaming music and photoshop, and I noticed a huge difference in performance after upgrading from one gig to two gigs ram. It's worth it.
 
1. yes, BIIIIIGGGGG difference
2. No, changing harddrive is much more difficult, relatively
3. No, many ppl buy from newegg.com
4. Money not an issue? then max the RAM.

and

4. yes, if u have a single stick of 512MB already in there, u can add another 1G if u don't want to abandon that 512 stick. but normally, ur MB should have two 256MB sticks, not a single 512MB stick.
 
So does my factory macbook have two 256mb sticks of ram in it or one 512mb stick of ram in it? and if it has two 256mb sticks than I assume that I would have to abandon one of those 256mb sticks and put a 1gb in place and have a total of 1gb and 256mb in it...correct?
 
The MacBook comes installed with two 256 MB sticks. If you're adding RAM it is highly recommended that you add the RAM in matched pairs, meaning you should replace the current RAM with two 512 MB sticks (for a total of 1024).
 
So basically if I was looking to upgrade by 1gb I would be better off buying a pair of 512mb, is this correct?

Also I felt as if I had no computer skills what so ever and I was still able to change out my hard drive with relatively few problems, so I was just asking if I was able to change out the hard drive on my own then I am assuming that I should be able to change out the RAM with no problems.
 
surfer99 said:
So basically if I was looking to upgrade by 1gb I would be better off buying a pair of 512mb, is this correct?
Click to expand...
Correct.

surfer99 said:
Also I felt as if I had no computer skills what so ever and I was still able to change out my hard drive with relatively few problems, so I was just asking if I was able to change out the hard drive on my own then I am assuming that I should be able to change out the RAM with no problems.
Click to expand...
If you managed to replace the HD the RAM isn't any harder. As always, remember to ground yourself before handling RAM to avoid electrostatic shock (very harmful to computer components).

Good Luck! :)
 
Get the most RAM per slot you can afford. If you can only get 1 GB, get 1 GB x 1 stick. That way, should you ever want to go to 2 GB, you can fill the other slot with a 1 GB stick and have matched pairs that way.

The performance of matching memory is higher, but upgrade with an eye to the future. If you ever want 2 GB after buying 2 sticks of 512, you'll have to sell/give away both 512s.
 
After G made a goodpoint. I am not sure if I will ever upgrade to 2gb but I am assuming that it is good to have the option. Will it make that much of a difference to have a 1gb stick in one slot and a 256mb stick in the other slot as opposed to having two 512mb sticks?
 
surfer99 said:
After G made a goodpoint. I am not sure if I will ever upgrade to 2gb but I am assuming that it is good to have the option. Will it make that much of a difference to have a 1gb stick in one slot and a 256mb stick in the other slot as opposed to having two 512mb sticks?
Click to expand...
It probably would be minimal, although I really don't know.

Here's the Apple article describing it.
 
Does anybody have any experience in having a 1gb stick of ram and a 256mb stick of ram in their macbook? If so any feedback?
 
surfer99 said:
Does anybody have any experience in having a 1gb stick of ram and a 256mb stick of ram in their macbook? If so any feedback?
Click to expand...
I'm fairly certain that it would be a negligible difference. Having the 1 GB stick would give you more performance than you would lose by having non-matching memory sticks. I did a bit of testing when trying to figure out if the 2G of memory in my Mac mini was bad by swapping with the included 256 sticks and I don't remember anything being slower.
 
I think what I am going to do is just buy one stick of 1gb ram instead of two 512mb in case I want to upgrade in the future. Thanks for all the help.
 
surfer99 said:
I think what I am going to do is just buy one stick of 1gb ram instead of two 512mb in case I want to upgrade in the future. Thanks for all the help.
Click to expand...

i agree, ur choice is right, 1 1G+1 256MB is good enough for your MB. AND u have future option.
 
I was wondering about my iMac 20" Intel as well.
It comes with 1gig already meaning two 512MB DIMMS and I was going to get a 1gig DIMM to replace one 512MB DIMM.

But so far I cannot see any good reason to do so. I have noticed no slowdown of the mac so dont know if I even need 1.5gig of ram.

Everything seems fluid, fast, and very unlike the Dell I had before already!
 
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