when do i need more RAM?

[superspud]

i bought my macbook back in august and have been extremely happy with it.

however since joining this forum ive noticed a lot of ppl upgrading the RAM on their books.

mine is a 2.16 core2 duo with 2 gigs of RAM and a 120gig hd

i know that a few months ago that was the top of the line MB and its by no means outdated however when i open active monitor i notice that more often than not im using 1.98gigs of ram. I havnt noticed any major problems but i do get the rainbow pinwheel every now and then.

i guess my question is, do i really need to upgrade my RAM yet? i dont do any major editing, most of the time i just have my downloading program open, ichat, safari, itunes and isquint, but that does seem to work my computer pretty hard as it heats up pretty quickly.

someone help me decide here

 

[clevin]

no, 2G is absolutely enough for what you do, don't waste money.

 

[robbieduncan]

You will never use more than about that: the OS will always keep a small amount free for immediate usage (as soon as it is used it will page out something to disk to re-free it).

If you have a lot of page-outs in Activity Monitor (and your machine supports more RAM) you would see benefit from more RAM. If your page-outs are 0 or a small number then don't bother.

 

[smooth]

I asked the same question a few weeks ago. Basically, you wouldn't need an upgrade for a while - possibly when whatever replaces Leopard comes out, then you may want to think about it.

 

[heatmiser]

i bought my macbook back in august and have been extremely happy with it.

however since joining this forum ive noticed a lot of ppl upgrading the RAM on their books.

That's the problem with comparing your gear to those of other people on a dedicated gear forum. It doesn't sound like there's anything wrong with your computer, yet looking at other people's setups has got you feeling that what you have suddenly isn't enough. If I were you, I'd just let it go, and continue to be happy with what you have for as long as it suits your needs. Otherwise, when is it ever going to be enough?

FWIW, I've got an MB with the same specs as yours, and I've also felt the temptation to upgrade to more RAM, but I know it wouldn't really make a difference in what I do--so I stay away from Newegg, and try to save the money for stuff I could really use :^)

 

[iBunny]

More ram the better. That is my take on it.

You need more ram when you still have room available for more