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Whats the more noticeable speed increase with RAM upgrades?

A

anotherarunan

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 18, 2007
372
61
London, United Kingdom (UK)
Hey guys, i have a macbook (2.2 SR, 1gb RAM) and was thinking of upgrading. Ive seen a lot of people put in 4gb's into their macbooks, but am not sure if i really need it. To be honest, im not sure if i need more than the 1gb i have now. So will i need the extra RAM, and how much should i put in? and is it better to go from 1 to 4gb or 1 to 2 to 4 over a long period of time. I mainly use it for general use (web, downloads, music, occasional retouching of photos, and very basic imovie stuff..athough i do plan to install windows xp on it in the near future)

Thanks!
 
I think that 2GB should be fine for what you're doing. I do basically the same tasks and 1GB has done pretty well for me. I would suggest that you get one stick of 2GB for now and replace one of the 512MB sticks for a total of 2.5GB. Then if you want more later, it's much easier to go up to 4GB.
 
akonradi said:
I think that 2GB should be fine for what you're doing. I do basically the same tasks and 1GB has done pretty well for me. I would suggest that you get one stick of 2GB for now and replace one of the 512MB sticks for a total of 2.5GB. Then if you want more later, it's much easier to go up to 4GB.
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Agree with this. Besides that, the difference between 1 and 2 gigs will exceed the diff between 2 and 4, unless you're really tasking the computer.
 
anotherarunan said:
So i take it the additional 512mb of RAM outweights the benefit you get from having matched pairs of RAM (2 x 1gb) , right?
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Yes, by far. It also opens up more options for future expansion. Getting one stick of 2GB should have a cost pretty close to that of two sticks of 1GB. Plus you get a bit more RAM in your computer as well.
 
nikhsub1 said:
I dunno, call me crazy but for $65 I'd just get 4GB and never have to ask the question again.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1309121116+1309221136&name=DDR2+667+(PC2+5300)

Take your pick ^^
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Except in the UK, they dont use dollars :D

And yeah, might have to import from the US, as the prices are WAY different

2gb kit = £35 ($70)
2gb single stick = £49 ($100)
4gb kit = (around £100) ($200)

importing from the US is beginning to make sense, wheres the best place over there that will post to the UK?
 
I have a related question.

My black MacBook is currently shipping, I've already purchased 2 x 2gb sticks of RAM for it. What would you advise - upgrading the RAM as soon as I get the MacBook out of the box, or turning it on and going through the initial set up before upgrading it? Would there be any advantage doing it one way or the other?

Thanks.
 
kg1984 said:
I have a related question.

My black MacBook is currently shipping, I've already purchased 2 x 2gb sticks of RAM for it. What would you advise - upgrading the RAM as soon as I get the MacBook out of the box, or turning it on and going through the initial set up before upgrading it? Would there be any advantage doing it one way or the other?

Thanks.
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What would be the point of upgrading the ram before you even booted up the machine to see if it worked. :eek:
 
kg1984 said:
I have a related question.

My black MacBook is currently shipping, I've already purchased 2 x 2gb sticks of RAM for it. What would you advise - upgrading the RAM as soon as I get the MacBook out of the box, or turning it on and going through the initial set up before upgrading it? Would there be any advantage doing it one way or the other?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Personally, I would use the machine on 1gb for a while, so you can fully appreciate the speed increase! :D
 
Just the general drek, and I get very few pageouts on 2GB of memory -- little to none.

But the difference between 1 & 2 is very noticeable.

While the bump to 4GB wouldn't really be felt unless you really like to open up a ton of apps at once and flip the channels like a meth monkey hogging the cable remote.
 
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