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1 GB RAM vs. 2 GB RAM for MacBook

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wasabifish

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 15, 2006
11
0
I'm considering upgrading my RAM for my 2.0 Ghz MacBook. A few questions I want to ask:
- How much performence increase would you get for the 1 GB vs. the 2GB?
- Price: What do you consider a good deal for RAM (1GB and 2GB)?
- Where: I'm looking for a good price and reliable customer service
- How hard is it to install the RAM? Should I get Apple to assemble it for me?

Thanks.
 
1) Depends on your workload. If you have a lot of intensive apps open,more is better
2) When I get my macbook/macbook pro I'm going to buy a no name third party ram from newegg.com for about 80 dollars a gig.
3) Newegg.com is pretty reliable, but I don't know anything about the brand of ram
4) Installing ram and a new hard drive on a macbook is easy as pie. Look it up at ifixit.com
 
1) Depends on your workload. If you have a lot of intensive apps open,more is better
Click to expand...

Well, I usually have the following apps open:
Adium
Firefox
iTunes
DesktopManager
SubEthaEdit
Terminal (to compile Java)
My Java App (Takes up around 60% on both processor)

Just sometimes I find the apps a bit slow. Also, does upgrading the RAM = less heat for my MacBook?

So what do you recommend?
 
Heat on the macbook is mostly caused by the CPU. Having more RAM probably wouldnt not have an effect on the CPU.


1gig should be fine. However if you dont want to experience any slow downs, 2gigs is always best. I had 1gig on my PowerBook before and I had to watch my memory usage carefully to make sure it doesnt use too much or else it would bog down the system. With 2gigs I always have alot of freedom because I really dont need to worry about how much memory is being used.


FYI: from what i notice it seems that Firefox is a resource hog. If you have it on too long and surf alot of web pages it begins to use alot of resources. Its as if it stores its cache on your RAM or something. So if you go the route of 1gig make sure you quite out and open it back up from time to time.
 
Alright. I think I'll go for the 2GB. What do you consider a good pricing?
 
wasabifish said:
Well, I usually have the following apps open:
Adium
Firefox
iTunes
DesktopManager
SubEthaEdit
Terminal (to compile Java)
My Java App (Takes up around 60% on both processor)

Just sometimes I find the apps a bit slow. Also, does upgrading the RAM = less heat for my MacBook?

So what do you recommend?
Click to expand...

Open "Activity Monitor", click on "System Memory", look at "Page ins/outs". Each page in and page out costs you a few milliseconds, and that is what more RAM will reduce. If you have a few thousand per day, more RAM doesn't make a difference. If you have 100.000 a day, get more memory.
 
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