512MB RAM Macbook is a slow piece of $#&* - rant.

[Jeonat]

MacBook was OK with 512Mb... but just OK. For Safari, Mail, iTunes etc. etc. it was fine, but Rosetta was a slowpoke. Upgraded to 1.25Gb and you can really feel the difference.

512Mb is still an OK starting point for what is a entry/mid-range laptop model. People only wanting a laptop for simple stuff like I've listed above don't want to pay extra for memory they won't need - especially if price is a big factor in choosing the machine.

 

[JPC]

I personally think 512mb is terrible, i got new macbook and its sluggish, just ordered 1gb stick now cause i cant stand the slowness my apps opening. Having 2 x 256 sticks was not goood by apple. Other than that, everything else seems ok

 

[macman2790]

upgrade the ram. stop complaining.

 

[Jiddick ExRex]

No seriously. Coming from the PPC world I can say that 512 RAM is more than enough on my iBook, even when I run Safari, Firefox, Mail, iCal, Photoshop, 5-6 windows of BB-edit, Transmit, QuickSilver, IntelliJidea and Word. On my friend's 512 RAM MacBook, it crumbles when running Safari and Photobooth at the same time (and no Rosetta apps, I just made a fresh install on it). I don't want to be hearing about those : "get more RAM", since it SHOULDN'T be an ISSUE!, only if people actually uses so many apps, it's not even funny. I don't know why macbooks with only 512 RAM suck so much. Anyways, I am seriously considering that something is wrong with it, since it boots up in the same time as my iBook (even a little slower)... And RAM shouldn't have anything to do with that.

 

[kdum8]

No seriously. Coming from the PPC world I can say that 512 RAM is more than enough on my iBook, even when I run Safari, Firefox, Mail, iCal, Photoshop, 5-6 windows of BB-edit, Transmit, QuickSilver, IntelliJidea and Word. On my friend's 512 RAM MacBook, it crumbles when running Safari and Photobooth at the same time (and no Rosetta apps, I just made a fresh install on it). I don't want to be hearing about those : "get more RAM", since it SHOULDN'T be an ISSUE!, only if people actually uses so many apps, it's not even funny. I don't know why macbooks with only 512 RAM suck so much. Anyways, I am seriously considering that something is wrong with it, since it boots up in the same time as my iBook (even a little slower)... And RAM shouldn't have anything to do with that.

Anybody else find that an iBook with 512GB is faster than a macbook? Why would this be? Is it due to rosetta or what? I thought that the macbook's were supposed to run faster?

 

[dynetk]

Anybody else find that an iBook with 512GB is faster than a macbook? Why would this be? Is it due to rosetta or what? I thought that the macbook's were supposed to run faster?

Remember that the iBook get's the full 512MB and the Macbook has to cough up 64 mb of that to the onboard video. 512MB should be the bare minimum for OSX, and the stock Macbooks are slightly under that.

 

[kdum8]

Remember that the iBook get's the full 512MB and the Macbook has to cough up 64 mb of that to the onboard video. 512MB should be the bare minimum for OSX, and the stock Macbooks are slightly under that.

This is very true, forgot that the macbook shares RAM for onboard video. If the macbook is 64 MB video RAM how much RAM does the dedicated chip on the 15"/17" MBP put out at, are those 64MB as well?

 

[dreamsINdigital]

Anybody else find that an iBook with 512GB is faster than a macbook?

512 GB is quite a lot you know!

If the macbook is 64 MB video RAM how much RAM does the dedicated chip on the 15"/17" MBP put out at, are those 64MB as well?

The MBP has an ATI Radeon X1600 with dedicated 128 MB or 256 MB of memory.

 

[kdum8]

512 GB is quite a lot you know!


The MBP has an ATI Radeon X1600 with dedicated 128 MB or 256 MB of memory.

oops! small typo, big effect

So what will the MBP with 256 MB of video memory be able to do that the Macbook can't? What advantages does that extra video RAM get you?

 

[AndyMulhearn]

Actually since I restarted Opera it seems to be running better and less resource hungry now. I am a new convert so I don't have much experience of browsers on the Mac. On PC's I always used Opera since it was fast and is so user-configurable. Firefox is mighty popular but isn't as good. I also like the fact that Opera enables one to navigate through the page easily using the keyboard, (shift and arrow keys).

What other (good) options are there for Mac browsers that people use/recommend?

I found Safari using huge amounts of RAM and Opera's interface too different for my liking so I use Camino.

 

[generik]

Funny… I can run 7+ apps with no beachballs, and I only have 512 Mb of RAM…

*shrugs* 2 gigs would certainly speed things up, in any case.

Yeah, I can run 7 instances of terminal too

 

[xJulianx]

In my opinion, I think Apple were right in only putting 512MB in, certainly with the low end MacBooks. These are there entry level laptops, and for people who wish to upgrade, they can, but for those that don't need it, why would they want to pay the extra $$$ for RAM when they buy the laptop?

What I am annoyed about though, is Apple supplying 2x256MB modules, I suspect this is to encourage people to upgrade the RAM with Apple when they order their laptop. Having said that the 2x256MB modules will run in dual channel mode, but in my opinion, there is no serious increase in performance from running in dual channel.

 

[todd2000]

What I am annoyed about though, is Apple supplying 2x256MB modules, I suspect this is to encourage people to upgrade the RAM with Apple when they order their laptop. Having said that the 2x256MB modules will run in dual channel mode, but in my opinion, there is no serious increase in performance from running in dual channel.

Yeah Im glade I got my iMac before they started doing that. I have a 1.83 Core Duo, and it only has 1 512MB stick. I hate to throw away RAM, if I don't have to.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

I have a Black MacBook w/ 2GB of RAM and I couldn't be happier.

We have 3 MacBooks, one, mine, has 2GB's, the other two have 512MB's.

I couldn't live with 512, really. HUGE speed increase.

 

[todd2000]

Well I fixed mine a little... Turns out the printer/scanner drivers I installed for my Aunts printer, so I could scan some pictures were running 4 PPC processes in the background. Which was obviously running Rosetta, and slowing everything down. I uninstalled the drivers and my Machine seems much snappier. For example I have iChat set to open when I log-in, before it would bounce up and down for at leat 5 sec. Now it pops open like a window. Safari seems better too. Im still going to up the RAM but at least this helps for now. For all the people with speed issues I would make sure there are NO PPC processes running in the background unless you really need them.

 

[Chone]

oops! small typo, big effect

So what will the MBP with 256 MB or video memory be able to do that the Macbook can't? What advantages does that extra video RAM get you?

Turns out Mac OSX's GUI is very VRAM dependant (the MBP flies in OSX, the MB I had before not so much) not to mention the obvious... 3D intensive apps... oh and you are fully covered for Vista (thats means Aero and all that fancy stuff) with a X1600 and not with a GMA950 (it will still run but not with all the eyecandy... think core image versus no core image on a larger scale).

 

[Sesshi]

When did computer manufacturers ever ship optimum memory for their "po'boy" entry-level machines?

1Gb is minimum, and even then if you're running a huge-ass app like... oh, iTunes (I know it does quite a lot, buy why does it have to be so freakin' large?) along with others it's not enough. 1.5gb is where full usability begins for a number of large apps open at once but in that case you might as well get 2.

 

[Grakkle]

That I don't know, although it says it is Version 0.6.1 (480), don't know if that would be the universal version or not.

So what is going to happen to all these PPC apps, i.e. most of the apps that we all use at the moment? Will they gradually be converted to native Intel Mac status? Will that increase the speed that they run at significantly, or just marginally? To take an example, MS Office 2004 can take a very long time to startup at the moment. Not very good really, considering how often I use it.

You can find out if it's a universal app or not by clicking on the apple away up in the top left-hand corner of the screen, going to 'about this mac', going to 'more info' - 'software' - 'applications' - it will then list all the apps on your computer and whether they're universal or powerpc.

I have a 2.0 ghz macbook with 1 gig ram myself, and find that the only time it really gets bogged down is in garageband (I'm a musician and use it a lot for recording.)

Itunes can be pretty slow, too.

 

[JPC]

Just put a gig stick in, now flying a long so much better

 

[pastrychef]

I have a MacBook and going from 512MB to 2GB made a huge difference. While it seems sufficient now, I'm not sure how it will be as time progresses and apps get hungrier... This played a large role in my decision making when it came time to purchase a new desktop computer. One of the primary reasons I went with a Mac Pro rather than an iMac was because the iMacs top out at 2 or 3GB.

Also, I was always under the impression that on a MacBook, memory should be installed in matched pairs, since the integrated graphics relies on on-board memory, not having them matched will adversely affect performance. Please correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[Jiddick ExRex]

In my opinion, I think Apple were right in only putting 512MB in, certainly with the low end MacBooks. These are there entry level laptops, and for people who wish to upgrade, they can, but for those that don't need it, why would they want to pay the extra $$$ for RAM when they buy the laptop?

What I am annoyed about though, is Apple supplying 2x256MB modules, I suspect this is to encourage people to upgrade the RAM with Apple when they order their laptop. Having said that the 2x256MB modules will run in dual channel mode, but in my opinion, there is no serious increase in performance from running in dual channel.

I agree. The 2x256 is most likely because of the system taking advantage of Dual Channel, and it being cheaper of course

 

[kdum8]

You can find out if it's a universal app or not by clicking on the apple away up in the top left-hand corner of the screen, going to 'about this mac', going to 'more info' - 'software' - 'applications' - it will then list all the apps on your computer and whether they're universal or powerpc.

I have a 2.0 ghz macbook with 1 gig ram myself, and find that the only time it really gets bogged down is in garageband (I'm a musician and use it a lot for recording.)

Itunes can be pretty slow, too.

Did what you said and surprised to find that nearly all of my apps are 'Universal' , with the notable exception of MS Office. Only one or two were listed as 'Intel'. Which is better optimised for the macbook, the 'Intel' or the 'Universal' designed apps, or does it make no difference?

 

[isaacc7]

512mb OK if...

I just got my 2ghz macbook the other day and I have the stock 512mb of RAM in it. My initial impression was, "Yuck! This thing is slow..." I wasn't even doing much, just safari, mail, and a handful of other things. I immediately ordered another 2gb from OWC and should get it tomorrow. After reading this thread, I checked my apps and found a couple background apps that were PPC only. I upgraded them (transmission and Xjournal) and my overall speed has gone up dramatically. If I was only going to do web surfing, mail, etc, I think I could do just fine with 512 as long as I had all universal apps..

Incidentally, no excessive heat, noise, etc, everything looking great!

Isaac

 

[ChickenSwartz]

Maybe not news to anyone here; but omg 512MB of RAM is way insufficient for this machine. Makes me wonder why it shipped with it in the first place.
Even running a few apps it beachballs far too frequently, (Speed is very important to me). For computer novices who don't understand much about RAM (like my friend who owns this MB) it makes OSX look very poor.

I just hope when I buy my 2GB RAM MBP it runs without ANY slowdowns. Anyone with 2GB RAM MB/MBP care to comment about the performance?

OK, I feel better now.

I just wanted to chime in on an observation. Let me applologize in advance, I haven't read most of the posts.

If you go to the Apple store, all of the MB and MBPs have atleast 1GIG RAM in them. I tihnk this is EXTREMELY misleading. You go over and try out the computer, "works great!" you say to yourself, look at the placard and it says 512MB RAM. "Well that must be fine" you say, buy one, get home and don't understand why your computer is running slow.

I asked a salesman if they had one with the stock 512, and said "i don't think so." He said "I recomend at least 1GIG for best preformance." I said "well since the model sells with 512 can I buy more here" he says "no we'll have to order it" (or something like that). I said "well if I buy one of these today I will have a computer that, for a while, will only have 512 MB of RAM, and you don't have any displays that will let me test that set-up out." He says "no, sorry" and moves away and avoids me.

Now, I know how to check to see if what the RAM config is. A lot of people don't. Especially since Apple likes to sell their computers as not needing to know a lot about computers to get it to work. I guess you do need to know what they are showin you aint what they are selling ya.

 

[Zadillo]

I just wanted to chime in on an observation. Let me applologize in advance, I haven't read most of the posts.

If you go to the Apple store, all of the MB and MBPs have atleast 1GIG RAM in them. I tihnk this is EXTREMELY misleading. You go over and try out the computer, "works great!" you say to yourself, look at the placard and it says 512MB RAM. "Well that must be fine" you say, buy one, get home and don't understand why your computer is running slow.

I asked a salesman if they had one with the stock 512, and said "i don't think so." He said "I recomend at least 1GIG for best preformance." I said "well since the model sells with 512 can I buy more here" he says "no we'll have to order it" (or something like that). I said "well if I buy one of these today I will have a computer that, for a while, will only have 512 MB of RAM, and you don't have any displays that will let me test that set-up out." He says "no, sorry" and moves away and avoids me.

Now, I know how to check to see if what the RAM config is. A lot of people don't. Especially since Apple likes to sell their computers as not needing to know a lot about computers to get it to work. I guess you do need to know what they are showin you aint what they are selling ya.

Which Apple Store is this where they all have 1GB of RAM? At my Apple Store, the Tysons Corner, VA location (one of the flagship stores, every MacBook on the floor and the entry level MacBook Pros all have 512MB of memory. The only machines they have with 1GB of RAM are the higher end MacBook Pros.

Maybe some Apple Stores have decided to increase the RAM on the floor models, but at least at the Tysons Corner, VA location, every machine seems to basically be stock (the only difference being that some of the MBP's have some of Apple's pro apps installed on them).