Ram - is 1 Gig enough?

[SJK123]

17" Intel iMac. I need to get MS office as I am in the process of converting my old PC info to my new ibaby. Should I buy a 500mb stick or a 1 GB (for 1.5 total)? Also, does anyone have any advice on what to do about the current version of Office – I have the same dilemma as others that I would like to hold out for the universal coded product. It seems like such a waste to buy it now. Do you think they will allow for a free upgrade? Or, should I try to implement parallels and use my windows version of office until the universal app is released? Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[slackersonly]

i would add a 1gb stick as it sets you up for future upgrading better.
i have 1.5gb in my iMac 20" and have never had any problems.

i am waiting on next version of office. using a pc, bootcamp, or parallels in the meantime.

 

[Silencio]

The more RAM the better, especially since you're running critical apps in Rosetta which makes heavy use of system memory to cache emulated code. I'd go for the 1GB SODIMM, for 1.5GB total.

 

[brofkand]

In the interim, you could use Pages, AbiWord, NeoOffice/J, OOo, or even Apple Works. I'm not sure if Apple Works is included with Intel Macs or not, but it works fine for basic word processing, reports, etc. The interface is kind of clunky, and the font engine is pretty ugly, but it does work. For me, though, I use Pages 1.0 or AbiWord. Pages is my favorite. Unless you're required to have Office for work or school or whatever, there are cheaper (and some would say better) alternatives out there.

 

[QCassidy352]

you'd be fine with 1 Gb. I have 1 Gb on my macbook, and office runs great. Menu meters rarely puts my RAM usage above 600 Mb, and I never have any pageouts. The conventional wisdom is "the more RAM the better," but that's not necessarily true. If you're not getting any pageouts and not using all your RAM, adding more isn't going to do a thing.

 

[brofkand]

I heard that the Intel Core Duo chips work better with two chips of the same size, that's why Apple decided to do 2 256MB chips instead of 1 512MB stick.

 

[7on]

I heard that the Intel Core Duo chips work better with two chips of the same size, that's why Apple decided to do 2 256MB chips instead of 1 512MB stick.

Only with the Macbook and Mac mini as it's the GMA950 that gets around a 10-15% boost from matched pairs. I think the other intels see less of a boost.

 

[CanadaRAM]

All Intels will take advantage of Dual Channel access -- although having more total RAM almost always trumps having less but matched RAM; so given the choice of 512 + 512 Matched vs. 256 + 1 Gb unmatched, take the 1.25 Gb configuration.

The speed advantage IS slightly more on the Mini and MacBook, because the video uses the same RAM. Conversely, thats another reason to have extra RAM because you lose 32 - 80 Mb of system RAM to video.

Undisputed answer: a matched pair of 1 Gb's rules all.