Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
do standard macbooks come with enough RAM?
- Thread starter miles01110
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
most people prefer to up their RAM to at least a gig - OS X loves RAM, and you'll see a huge difference.
I would probably suggest, though, to go third party for your RAM (OWC, Datamem, Newegg, etc) and install it yourself. The new macbooks make this very easy to do, and you'll save yourself quite a bit of money.
I would probably suggest, though, to go third party for your RAM (OWC, Datamem, Newegg, etc) and install it yourself. The new macbooks make this very easy to do, and you'll save yourself quite a bit of money.
Ditto to what xfiftyfour said.
I personally don't think that 512MB cuts it, and it's easy enough to do the upgrade yourself.
I personally don't think that 512MB cuts it, and it's easy enough to do the upgrade yourself.
No.. The need at least 1Gb to help cover the IIG.... the should ship with 1Gb, as should Mac Mini and the 899 iMac*edu*. The iMac with out IIG, MacBook Pro and PowerMac do better with ony 512Mbs becase a) the fast computer all around b) have a GPU with its only RAM
I agree - going up to 1 GB is pretty much required, especially with integrated graphics and rosetta. I don't think you'll save that much money by buying 3rd party RAM, will you? Isn't the upgrade only $100 at apple, which is about what it would cost 3rd party? The 2 GB upgrade is where apple really gouges you...
512 is not thaaaaat bad in my opinion. Sure more would be nice but 512 is definilty usable. And by usuable I don't mean painfully slow
depends on what you want to do.
i think it is ironic that the mac/pc adds make fun of the pc "bundled" software of calculator and clock but then releases a mac standard with 512mb which is just enough to run calculaor and clock under osx.
get 1gb extra and you will be lovin life.
i think it is ironic that the mac/pc adds make fun of the pc "bundled" software of calculator and clock but then releases a mac standard with 512mb which is just enough to run calculaor and clock under osx.
get 1gb extra and you will be lovin life.
Do the slots have to be symmetric? Meaning, if I buy a 1 GB stick, can I leave the standard 256 MB in the other slot for a total of 1.2 GB of RAM?
Yes, you can add just one 1GB stick for a total of 1.25GB. This is probably the smartest configuration. Down the road, if you think you need it, buy a second module. I think 1.25G is ideal, with 2.0G being overkill in most cases (but there are exceptions).
For the macbook, no, because of sharing of RAM with the graphics. With the Macbook Pro, I notice iWork lags while typing documents and the more text on screen the slower it lags.
2 GB, I'm getting that for my birthday, and ordering it from OWC.
Now, just curious, is EconoRAM any good, or should I definitely get the OWC?
2 GB, I'm getting that for my birthday, and ordering it from OWC.
Now, just curious, is EconoRAM any good, or should I definitely get the OWC?
dukebound85 said:
Not in my experience. With 512 my mini is painfully slow, I assume the MB runs the same way.
You might be OK if you only run one app at a time or never use rosetta or have tiny iPhoto and iTunes libraries. But it's so easy to exceed 512, I wouldn't ever want to run with that.
slackersonly said:
Sure, but that's mostly because of rosetta. When you're doing hardware emulation, it will use more resources. If it makes you feel any better, once Vista ships, most PC users will probably want a gig (or more) as well.
I actually didn't have that much of a problem with 512mb. If all you're going to do is surf the web, use basic office applications, and have a few songs, then 512mb should be OK.
However, I only put on my huge iTunes library and iPhoto and other big apps after I put 2GB in, so I never really pushed 512mb to the limits. I'm also quite good at actually closing apps when I've finished with them (that's what being a Windows user does to you). Even with 2GB I still get the beachball for a couple of seconds when I load up iTunes.
However, I only put on my huge iTunes library and iPhoto and other big apps after I put 2GB in, so I never really pushed 512mb to the limits. I'm also quite good at actually closing apps when I've finished with them (that's what being a Windows user does to you). Even with 2GB I still get the beachball for a couple of seconds when I load up iTunes.
milo said:
Was painfully slow on my MB too. Got 1.25GB in at the moment which will be 2GB when I can afford it. I don't really think 512MB is enough to run the things that come with the MB properly - iLife certainly felt slow.
Seems daft that Apple sell in this config. Sure, they save a bit of money but they aren't exactly showing what the computer can do.
The uninitiated might just think MBs are slow.
blackbook said:
For video I'd go up to the full 2GB, get it as a pair set and it will run as paired RAM (which doubles the bandwitdh)
Is there a certain brand that works better than others? I know certain brands dont jive well with others in PCs...same story for macs?
miles01110 said:Hmm, so is my 106 GB music library going to slow it down?
If your iTunes library is that big, then there's no doubt about it. Get at least 1GB