Advice needed (iMac / eMac)

kelib

Hey all,



I'm gonna order a new Mac from the Apple Store but I'm yet to decide if to but iMac or eMac. The reason I buy at the Apple Store is a special offer of printer + Brittanica DVD virtually free of charge. (AppleStore Europe).



However RAM prices are less than attractive at the Apple Store so I'm going to purchase my extra RAM elsewhere. And now to the question, what type of RAM should I buy? Is it safe just to buy any pc100 compatible RAM or should I go for pc133. Should I buy 'No Name' or should I stick with some well known producers like Samsung or Kingston?



Thanks in advance

kelib

defiant

1. please use a more descriptive title name like "buying RAM for mac, need advice"



2. get pc100. the eMac and the iMac don't have a 133Mhz FSB, so you wouldn't have any advantage speedwise. you can use pc133 in a pc100 slot, but not the other way around.



3. buy quality RAM. quality is always better. that's why we have macs, no ?

paul

becareful

if you are getting an iMac rememebr that you CANNOT install regular PC-100 ram into the user accesable slot...



only So-DIMM sticks (laptop ram, more expensive) will work (on the iMac)



the emac is a different story and it uses regular Ram and you can install it yourself...

xaqtly

Go to <a href="http://www.ramjet.com"; target="_blank">Ramjet</a>, figure out which RAM you need (it's real easy, just click on the model Mac you have), and buy it from them. Their prices are always good.



By the way, Apple specifically recommends PC-133 RAM for the iMacs, even though it's only a 100 MHz bus. They don't do that for all their models so I would assume they have a good reason for recommending PC-133 over PC-100.

hobbes

I'd recommend a place like <a href="http://www.dealram.com"; target="_blank">dealram</a>.



The bottom-barrel, most generic RAM may be a bit risky. Anything else -- you should be fine.

luca

I think Crucial offers the best prices for "premium" RAM. I don't have any idea on how reliable it is compared to other vendors, but if you have any problems, they will take care of them. They even have a compatibility guarantee. If it doesn't work in your machine, you can return it and get some that does. Smaller vendors may be more prone to problems, and they usually have lifetime warranties but no compatibility guarantee. Also, smaller companies are more likely to go out of business, so having a lifetime guarantee isn't that useful if the company is gone.



So get "premium" RAM if you think it's worth it, or at least avoid the bargain-basement stuff. I also recommend Other World Computing for RAM - they're also not as cheap as some places but they're much less expensive than Crucial and probably more reliable than the really cheap stuff.

kelib

Thanks for all the advice. Just placed my order at the Apple Store, went for the 15" Combo model. Yet to buy the extra RAM but will buy me some 512 SO-DIMMs when I get the puter. Now it's the process of waiting



Just can't wait, nothing like getting a new Mac, my first brand new one since my graphite Kihei. Thanks again

altivec_2.0

Buy as much ram as possible.