Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2GB or 1GB of RAM

W

wwhitmire

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 2, 2007
14
0
I am trying to make my final decisions in buying my new macbook. I definitely want 120GB Hard Drive. In that case, if I go through Apple with the Ed. discount it is cheaper to get the white MB with the hard drive upgrade for $135. For about $150 I can upgrade from 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM.

Is this RAM upgrade worth it?

If not, then I can probably get the Black MB elsewhere for cheaper after rebates.

I thought some of you who are more tech savy than me might have some advice.
 
Get the 2gigs. My 2gig macbook smokes my co-worker's 1gig macbook in every way. Anything PPC is going to own your ram, and OS X will use however much you have to no limit caching stuff you've done, so it's never "wasted." Any file you access twice will be super fast the second time-- that kind of thing.
 
I'd go witht he 2 Gigs of Ram, it'll save you a lot of trouble in the longrun.

plus that extra gig is a pretty big difference, especially if you wanted to operate 64-bit Leopard comming around the corner. :)
 
2G will definitely make a difference, but you might want to consider adding it yourself. Memory is cheap, and it does make a difference. In both my 15" G4 1.67Ghz PowerBook and my 15" 2.0Ghz CD MBP the increase from 1G to 2G made a noticeable difference in performance.

If the 1G MB comes with a single 1G module, another one is only around $80 with a lifetime warranty from a vendor like OWC.

MD
 
1gig will run fine and plenty fast. But 2gigs will fly. And maybe you should just buy your macbook from Apple with maybe 512mb? Then upgrade it yourself to 2gb cause its waaay cheaper :)
 
I went for 2gb when I ordered mine b/c of the shared graphics memory and b/c I may run windows xp via parrallels which i have heard is quite RAM hungry.

I can't wait 'till the 13th - estimated delivery date :D


Soon will have: White MAcbook 2.0ghz, 2gb RAM, 120GB HDD
 
Get 2 GB and add it yourself. It will be cheaper than having Apple do it.

I had 1 GB in my Macbook before upgrading it to 2 GB myself, and there definitely is a difference. It becomes noticeable when you run more than about 5-7 apps at a time. With 2 GB, your hard drive will never thrash by having to page out memory to disk, whereas with 1 GB, you'd see it pretty often.
 
MacDann said:
2G will definitely make a difference, but you might want to consider adding it yourself. Memory is cheap, and it does make a difference. In both my 15" G4 1.67Ghz PowerBook and my 15" 2.0Ghz CD MBP the increase from 1G to 2G made a noticeable difference in performance.

If the 1G MB comes with a single 1G module, another one is only around $80 with a lifetime warranty from a vendor like OWC.

MD
Click to expand...


Is upgrading the ram a simple process? In my old sony laptop, one ram slot was very easy to access, but the other required some major disassembly.
 
The more the merrier.

If the option is available get it; fair enough you might not need 2GB's right now, but its better setting yourself for the future too by getting 2 GB's.
 
I suppose it depends on how fast you need yuor computer to run, or want it to run. Also, what you will be using it for and how many apps you have open at once. And, finally, what you're used to.

I bought a Black MacBook last night and it came with the stabdard 1 gig.

It's easily as fast as my G5 iMac - which has 1 gig as well, and that's fine for me.

I may buy more ram in future when and if I need it.
 
I just upgraded my iMac from 1Gb to 2GB, and the difference is HUGE. Not so much when you're sticking with one app, but switching from one to the other. I used to have a 10-15 second delay switching to Photoshop, but now it's instantaneous.
 
cayley said:
Is upgrading the ram a simple process? In my old sony laptop, one ram slot was very easy to access, but the other required some major disassembly.
Click to expand...

I belive upgrading it is quite easy. You just remove the battery and pull a lever, out pops the memory. Then you can just slide the replacement sticks right in, where the others were.
 
I just upgraded MBP C2D from 2GB to 3GB. I didn't think I'd notice it unless I was doing Photoshop or FinalCut stuff. But, the improvement was noticeable right away. Faster boot, faster launch times.

Zero pageouts, so far (14hr uptime). Did some video encoding, a lot of surfing, email - just normal stuff. In the equivalent app environment with 2GB, I had a few thousand pageouts. (not a very scientific method for comparing, but a ballpark nonetheless).

btw: 2GB module from OWC was $234.99 today.
 
Aperture said:
I belive upgrading it is quite easy. You just remove the battery and pull a lever, out pops the memory. Then you can just slide the replacement sticks right in, where the others were.
Click to expand...

Nice. I'll probably be doing just that soon. :) thanks
 
wwhitmire said:
I am trying to make my final decisions in buying my new macbook. I definitely want 120GB Hard Drive. In that case, if I go through Apple with the Ed. discount it is cheaper to get the white MB with the hard drive upgrade for $135. For about $150 I can upgrade from 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM.

Is this RAM upgrade worth it?

If not, then I can probably get the Black MB elsewhere for cheaper after rebates.

I thought some of you who are more tech savy than me might have some advice.
Click to expand...

MY Bad, I thought I saw MBP, need new glasse's bad.

OWC still has outstanding prices, but when I had a MacBook I got the 2 meg kit from 4allmemory.com think it was a 100
 
wwhitmire said:
I am trying to make my final decisions in buying my new macbook. I definitely want 120GB Hard Drive. In that case, if I go through Apple with the Ed. discount it is cheaper to get the white MB with the hard drive upgrade for $135. For about $150 I can upgrade from 1 GB to 2 GB of RAM.

Is this RAM upgrade worth it?

If not, then I can probably get the Black MB elsewhere for cheaper after rebates.

I thought some of you who are more tech savy than me might have some advice.
Click to expand...

You can buy 2 GB of RAM from NewEgg for $125 and try to resell the 1 GB that came with the MacBook, if you're fine with simple RAM installations.

That's what I did, and man, was it worth it. I upgraded my 2 GHz Core Duo MacBook from 512 MB to 2 GB...it SCREAMS.
 
Aperture said:
I belive upgrading it is quite easy. You just remove the battery and pull a lever, out pops the memory. Then you can just slide the replacement sticks right in, where the others were.
Click to expand...

Remove the battery, unscrew three screws, slide out a peice of metal, and pull the lever.
 
phineas said:
GO with 3 gig, get the 2 gig chip from OWC, 237.00 or try GSkills memory over on NEwEgg.

I tossed a coin and have not thought twice , got the 2 gig stick yesterday and am happy. Although if your budget does not allow for the 2 gig look at the 1 gig Samsung at OWC.

Just my input
Click to expand...

Can the MacBook accept 3 GB? I thought only the MBP could.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back