1Gb versus 2Gb in an intel based iMac??

[vakej]

Hello:

So I've had my intel based iMac for over a week now, and everything is great!

I upgraded the memory from 512 to 1GB. The performance gains were definitely noticeable. It's seems much quicker at handling multiple applications. Curious to know if there would be considerable/noticeable gains with increasing the memory to 2GB? What are you thoughts?

I found an article on the internet, in which they tested the speed of mac mini with 256, 512, and 1GB of memory. There were huge gains stepping up to the 512, but very little with the 1GB versus the 512. Curious if this would apply to the imac.

I don't use photoshop, or play games. I mostly surf the net, work with excel & filemaker internet windows open, itunes, and Word. I usually have multiple applications going as well...

Just curious to hear some opinions. Great if someone actually tested this...

Regards,

VJ

 

[theheyes]

I have 1GB in the iMac and I use it for surfing, messenger, itunes, office etc. (usually at the same time) and its fine, I don't think I need more.

Restart your computer, use it normally for a short while, then open up Activity Monitor and have a look at the page outs under system memory. If its quite low or even 0 then adding more ram isn't really necessary. Also, just generally keeping an eye on the pie chart will give you and indication as to whether you need more ram.

 

[Artful Dodger]

If you use several apps. then yes it will matter since it can handle more of (a heavy load) things. I have mine maxed and when using Flash 8 and iTunes and a few other things it helps out. If your going to become a heavy user then you should go for as much as you can afford and if not 1GB is fine for everyday stuff

 

[Josias]

With your tasks, you wouldn't notice a difference.

 

[FF_productions]

You won't notice a difference if you went up to 2gb's, you aren't running apps that eat away ram. I run apps like FCP and AE, and wish I could afford another gig of ram.

 

[screensaver400]

Not to derail the thread, but on my 12" PowerBook with 512mb, my pageouts are at 9,000 at the moment. Does that mean I need more memory?

 

[biohazard6969]

EDIT: double post, my bad

 

[biohazard6969]

ok i have a question, my page outs are 12001 is that really high? the application i have open right now are: 2 safari windows (1 with 8 tabs), activity monitor, acquisition, microsoft messenger, itunes, dvd player, iphoto, and mail. it doesn't SEEM to be running that slow. would i benefit from the added RAM?

 

[Caitlyn]

If you only do basic stuff, 1GB will be more than enough. If you plan on trying out pro apps, I say either up it to 1.5GB for a bit cheaper or take the plunge for 2GB.

 

[steve_hill4]

First off, I am assuming that you upped it using another 512MB rather than replacing the 512Mb with a gig stick. If so, it would be quite costly going to 2GB, even if you did sell the used 512MB modules for a good price.

from my own personal view, I run Photoshop CS2 on a semi-regular basis answell as one or two other Pro apps. I also multi-task like there's no tomorrow a lot of the time. I struggled through about 2 weeks of using my MBP with the stock 512MB, but went up to 1.5GB for comfort. If I compared 512MB, 1, 1.5 and 2GB, (theoretically with that last one), going above 1GB only helps when you run memory hungry apps. For the usual stuff you have described, 1GB should work fine. I felt the difference near instantly when I added more, but it was much more noticeable with certain apps over others.

In other words, keep checking Activity Monitor and the levels of Active, Inactive and Free memory. My free memory often doesn't go any higher than the level under 512MB, but my Active has gone up a fair bit and Inactive mysteriously went up a lot, (with no apps that are arowed in the Dock, but all windows closed). When I say open Photoshop with only 50MB left, it largely takes it from my Inactive allocation.

 

[theheyes]

ok i have a question, my page outs are 12001 is that really high? the application i have open right now are: 2 safari windows (1 with 8 tabs), activity monitor, acquisition, microsoft messenger, itunes, dvd player, iphoto, and mail. it doesn't SEEM to be running that slow. would i benefit from the added RAM?

In *my* experience I wouldnt say that was particularly high. I'm basing this on my two computers - an iMac with 1GB and an iBook with 512. Using both for a similar amount of time, doing similar tasks, the iMac recorded ~3,000 whereas the iBook chalked up ~50,000. I'd say the iBook needed more ram, but it isn't getting any.

Its hardly accurate, but take what you want from those numbers.