Is 512mb Ram enough?

[mac0054]

Hi!
I bought a 1.83ghz white macbook today with 512mb ram. Should be getting it in a week..
I'm getting a bit worried that the ram might not be enough. In the first place I ordered it with 512mb because I'm only going to use the macbook for 'light' things like surfing the web, word, music and storing my pictures.
I never use for instance PhotoShop...
Will 512mb still be enough or should i still upgrade it to 1GB?
Do any of you others have any experience with the macbook using only 512mb?
Thanks!

 

[Planner Dude]

there are plenty of threads around here that talk about this subject...do a quick search to find out how well each mb configuration did with certain apps or games


the bottom line is that 512 is the bare minimum.

it's better to get the extra RAM from a third party anyway (like new egg)...Apple RAM is a ripoff.

So try your MB and then if it is not to yor liking--order more ram---Don't sweat it...you made a good decision

 

[mdickson]

I bought my 2.0 white macbook stock with 512mb of ram. It worked alright but I didn't think I was taking full advantage of the processor.

I upgraded to 1.25gigs of ram by buying a 1gb stick of g.skill from newegg.com for about 80 bucks. I can really tell a difference.

So, in summary, if you can afford it without too much of a financial strain, then buy a gig stick online.

 

[ITASOR]

I would say unless ALL you do is internet/e-mail, no, it's not enough at all, especially when rosetta starts up.

 

[Planner Dude]

You say that you use Word...Is that M$ Word?
If so, that is a non-native app and runs under rosetta, which is amemory hog.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

I would up the machine with a 1gb chip (total 1.5gb). You gotta thing long term on RAM upgrades cause if you upgrade to only 1gb in 2 years you'll waste more money on moving it up higher.

512mb will get old fast so I would consider getting more RAM.

 

[mac0054]

Okej, thanks for helping me out. Since I can afford the 1GB I guess I will upgrade my MB right away when I get it.
I've used Windows for the last 5 years and switched to Mac now, so I'm looking forward to good mac experiences!

 

[Steve Jobless]

i say yes, because i had several app running and several of them crashed with only one 512 stick in my mbp

 

[gadgetgirl85]

I would say upgrade the ram otherwise you will have a lot of beachballing. The more ram the better or as much as you can afford

 

[JAT]

Yes, you need more RAM, your intent to do anything with photos tells me that. Buy the 1GB stick, but notice that this will give you 1.25GB, not 1.5 as mentioned above, since Apple puts two 256MB sticks in.

You should keep the stock 256MB stick you remove in case you have problems. You would want to reinsert it before going to Apple for any repairs.

 

[Dr. Technology]

I just got my new MacBook yesterday with 512 MB RAM. I'm finding that any application that's not optimized for Intel (ie. MS Word) takes a while to start up -- in fact, even longer than it takes on my G3 iBook. I was planning to upgrade tp 2 GB RAM before, and I certainly haven't changed my mind.

 

[Coolerking]

Yes, you need more RAM, your intent to do anything with photos tells me that. Buy the 1GB stick, but notice that this will give you 1.25GB, not 1.5 as mentioned above, since Apple puts two 256MB sticks in.

You should keep the stock 256MB stick you remove in case you have problems. You would want to reinsert it before going to Apple for any repairs.

Or just get the 1 Gig option. Its not THAT expensive.

 

[alexf]

Well, I'm not sure if you need to up the RAM right away, as you are not doing anything memory intensive, but if you can afford it I would go up to a GB, especially since - as someone else mentioned - 512 will "get old" very soon.

Stop by crucial.com and see what they charge; they are very reputable and I have had good experiences with them. In any case RAM is cheap these days... I remember upgrading my Powerbook in 1993 to 8MB from 4... 4MB cost almost $300!

 

[stcanard]

Hi!
I'm getting a bit worried that the ram might not be enough. In the first place I ordered it with 512mb because I'm only going to use the macbook for 'light' things like surfing the web, word, music and storing my pictures.

Easy answer - this machine should be as fast as you want it to be.

Use it for a week or two. If you feel it is kind of slow, yes you need more RAM. If you're happy with it, you don't need RAM at this point.

 

[daneoni]

My rule is, an OSX running machine with integrated graphics requires 2GB of ram....minimum

 

[CyberB0b]

I'm only going to use the macbook for 'light' things like surfing the web, word, music and storing my pictures.

Yes, 512mb will be enough RAM for 'light' things.

 

[pianoman]

512 is not enough, IMO. i would go for at least 1GB.

of course, i'm the guy who can never get enough RAM and is constantly checking RAM usage.

 

[mahonmeister]

My rule is, an OSX running machine with integrated graphics requires 2GB of ram....minimum

I helped get my neighbor a Mac mini core solo with 1GB RAM and it was plenty fast for internet, music, and photos. I think for what this guy needs 2GB is overkill. Besides, 2GB is the max RAM you can get for Apple's integrated machines, at least for now.