More RAM

[TheChevver]

i am very new to macs, so new in fact that i dont even have one yet. I should be getting one of the original imacs this week with 512mb RAM. Do you think it is worth me gettinng more or will the mac cope fine with it?

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

What are you going to use the iMac for? And which OS will you be running?

From Apple's iMac RAM advice:

The more memory your computer has, the more programs you can run simultaneously, and the better performance you get from your computer. Increasing the amount of memory in your iMac is an easy way to improve performance.

How much memory is right for you?

* 512MB of memory is plenty to support most day-to-day tasks such as email, word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, and using iLife '06 for basic tasks
* Choose 1GB of memory if you'll be photo editing, gaming, creating illustrations or building complex presentations. And if you'd like the flexibility of easily adding more memory in the future, keep a memory slot open by selecting the 1 SO-DIMM (rather than 2x512 SO-DIMMs) option.
* The 2GB option is ideal if you plan to use your system regularly for sound design, video editing, DVD authoring, animation and intensive gaming.

 

[TheChevver]

probably just for work and music, i dont know if their are any other decent pieces of software which work well on an imac.

 

[Killyp]

I have an original 350 MHz iMac, with 512 mb ram and OS X 10.1. Runs OKAY, but I think the version of OS X I'm using is dragging it down. OS X 10.3 should run beautifully.

 

[Killyp]

It won't be sufficient for making music, but for listening to it, it should be fine!

 

[Cloudgazer]

It won't be sufficient for making music, but for listening to it, it should be fine!

don't you mean for listening music it WILL be fine?
Nothing wrong with 512mb RAM - sure more is nice, but the iMac can and does run perfectly with just 512.
I think most people wont actually notice the difference an extra 512 will make.

 

[brepublican]

If you'll be running 10.4, you'll want to get more than the stock 512MB as its been known to be pretty memory intensive (with Spotlight, Dashboard and all). With RAM, more is always nice