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PodHead

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 18, 2006
82
0
Boise, ID
Anyone put 8GB of RAM into their base model 21.5" iMac yet? I want to use the money I would otherwise spend on the mid-level 21.5 incher and just add more RAM and a matching firewire 800 external HDD. Graphics card is not an issue for me, neither is 1TB of disk space. How is that extra RAM working out for you?:apple:
 
Probably won't do diddly for you ... unless you are using apps that really load the memory and force you into pageouts at 4GB.

http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp16.html

The money is likely better spent on stuff that will affect the benchmarks now, and upgrade the memory next year or when you need it.
 
So you think 4GB is cool....ok. Thanks for the imput. I'm not really sure what extra RAM does anyway. I heard it speeds things up and makes it so the beach ball doesn't appear as often. I'll try anything to avoid that.
 
What if you run virtual box - would that justify getting more RAM?

Say I allocate 2GB RAM to the virtual machine, wouldn't they be reserved for the virtual machine then, meaning only 2GB available for OSX - sufficient for normal browsing, ituning, mailing, officeing, youtubing in OSX?
 
I haven't thought about that....VMware Fusion is a possibility for me as I will be installing Windoze 7 in one form or another.
 
worth it?

Anyone put 8GB of RAM into their base model 21.5" iMac yet? I want to use the money I would otherwise spend on the mid-level 21.5 incher and just add more RAM and a matching firewire 800 external HDD. Graphics card is not an issue for me, neither is 1TB of disk space. How is that extra RAM working out for you?:apple:

I think above 4G, adding more RAM is diminishing in return as the processor cache is 3mb. 6G sounds ok but 8G? I'm not sure if it's worth it.
 
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