Memory

sammick

I just bought an Apple laptop and added memory and I have a question:



Why is some memory so expensive--I can buy 512 megs of RAM for a reasonable amount of money but if I add one GB it becomes quite expensive, like almost 3 times as much.



Please explain,



Thanks in advance,



Sam

costique

Because there is only a built-in number of memory slots on a motherboard, which is a limit in itself. It can be overcome only with big sticks. Such big sticks mean you want very much RAM, more than 1GB (1GB is much even these days), which means you are a pro, which means you earn money with your comp, which means you can pay the premium.

sammick

Don't gamers need memory?

costique

Quote:

Originally posted by sammick

Don't gamers need memory?

Of course, everybody needs memory The thing is, any computer made these days has at least 2 RAM slots. In case of 512MB sticks it's 1GB, which is more than enough for anything except real-time audio/video production, massive 3D rendering and Oracle-scale database serving. I haven't yet seen an available game which needs more than 1GB of RAM. This implies that if you go for 1GB sticks, you want at least 2GB of RAM, that is, you need them for more than gaming. But if you use your computer to make a living in audio/video and 3D, you should be ready to shell out more bucks than a schoolboy who likes Wolfenstein.



I'm not saying this is how things must be. I'm just trying to explain the logic behind pricing memory modules.

sammick

Thanks for the info--

In my case I bought a new Ibook--it has 2 slots, but one has a 256 which I don't think can be changed and the other slot could hold a 256, a 528 or the one GB (which I added) and I paid a lot for it and wondered why.

Your explanation helps. I guess what you're saying is that in most cases, the 1 GB are being bought by the pros.

ethar

Um...no. It's just a density issue. It's a hell of a lot more expensive to get 1GB of memory onto those 4 or 8 chips than it is to get 256MB or 512MB.