New powerbook (RAM and iSight questions)

crowes

I'm going to finally take the plunge and buy a new Powerbook, particularly since they went and made it easier by including the Airport card and other fun stuff. I'm switching from a Windows machine so this is heavy stuff for me.



I'm also going to get all of the toys (ie. iSight, iPod) to go with it.



However, I have two sets of questions:



1) Should I buy my increased RAM (want to upgrade to 768MB) from Apple or go with a 3rd party vendor? Can anyone recommend a reliable 3rd party vendor? How difficult is it to install the RAM myself?



2) With respect to iSight, has anyone used the iChat Beta that allows you to videochat with a AOL 5.5? I'm in a long distance relationship with my girlfriend and this would lower my phone bill and make life a lot easier for both of us. Any tech support help or personal experiences?



Thanks in advance.

cake

Congrats on your pending purchase.

I have a 12" PB and love it.



Question 1 - No, don't buy the extra RAM from Apple. You'll save money by getting it yourself and dropping it in. It's easy to do.

Check RamSeeker for RAM prices.



Question 2 - According to this article the two work seamlessly although I haven't tried it myself:

Quote:

America Online and Apple have worked to ensure that users of AOL Instant Messenger and Apple's iChat can now link up for live video conversations. The video messaging feature in AIM 5.5 is fully compatible with Apple's new iChat AV version 2.1. Updates to both clients that enable this interaction were launched this week.

Good luck!

tacojohn

1. I have a powerbook with 512MB and its fine (I do photoshop, director, final cut, etc). I would love to have 1 gig though- I'm sure it would speed things up! Go to ramseeker.com and find the cheapest deal.



2. I have the iSight and have used it with AIM 5.5 (no longer in beta). It did work seamlessly for me. Although the video quality from the other side wasn't as good as doing iSight to iSight. But it was still usable...