1GB memory enough?

sandilian · November 3, 2005 1:23AM

Hi, I'm soon going to buy my 1st mac. I'm getting the 15 inch powerbook. Ive used macs forever cause im going into photograpy, so adapting wouldnt be a problem, but im wondering if 1GB of ram would be enough. Im probabbly going to use it for school stuff (microsoft office), searching the web, and most of my photoshop stuff will be done on it. I needed something to carry around to and from school. 512mb on my windows pc makes photoshop kind of sluggish at times. Please help me out im soo confused lol.

P.S. - This is my 1st post, I want to say hi to the community.....

-Sando

awill · November 3, 2005 1:50AM

Congratulations on your new PB. I have a 17" and only have 512mb of ram and I can have PS, Illustrator, and InDesign all open and being used and don't see a huge slow down. I do see a some slow down when I am trying to render large photo with a lot of filters, but it sure is a lot better than a PC. I am sure your 1GB will be plenty.

Have fun!!!

sandilian · November 3, 2005 2:12AM

I havent gotten it yet, but thank you for reply....ya, my PC sucks, I hate it, even though i have a newer PC and hardly ever freezes, just way better to get a mac, + its around x-mas time, so mommy and daddy will chip in some money for their college student

nofeer · November 3, 2005 4:38AM

how many dim slots does a pb have. if say they have two, then get the least from apple, buy a gig chip and add it, it's really easy to do. apple ram is expensive. i put a gig chip in my ibook (had to do a airport software upgrade for some reason that helped the system work with the ram--don't ask me why it was somewhere on this forum and mac fixit) now my ibook has 1.2g i was preparing it for using vpc, but with the intel chips coming i won't buy vpc, or a new dell for work. i feel the new intel macs will have some hack to run windows (i have one program that requires windows and IE, yuck i know)

i just checked crucial--the new pb with ddr 15in has two slots, so get the least in one slot, with the other open and add a gig from somewhere not necessarily cruccial i just like it's ram finder advice.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...DDR2&submit=Go

pb · November 3, 2005 5:04AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sandilian

Hi, I'm soon going to buy my 1st mac. I'm getting the 15 inch powerbook. Ive used macs forever cause im going into photograpy, so adapting wouldnt be a problem, but im wondering if 1GB of ram would be enough. Im probabbly going to use it for school stuff (microsoft office), searching the web, and most of my photoshop stuff will be done on it. I needed something to carry around to and from school. 512mb on my windows pc makes photoshop kind of sluggish at times. Please help me out im soo confused lol.

P.S. - This is my 1st post, I want to say hi to the community.....

-Sando

First of all, congratulation for your Powerbook

.

Now, the answer to your question depends on how heavily you use your computers. Especially with memory, this means how many programs you have open/running at the same time, and how big files you open in Photoshop. As a general suggestion, and since the 15" Powerbook comes with one slot filled with 512 MB RAM, I would say leave it as is while ordering and then buy the appropriate type of RAM elsewhere to fill up the second memory slot. There are affordable 1 GB modules out there, which would bring you to 1.5 GB total. With this amount of RAM, you should be ok for almost anything in notebook use.

placebo · November 3, 2005 7:57AM

I'd say that 512 is a healthy minimum allowing you to operate exceptionally in a single processing-intensive app, and pretty well in two or more. One gig will give you even better multitasking performance.

lundy · November 3, 2005 8:16AM

Apple wants $100 for the extra 512MB - Crucial has it on sale for $58.49:

http://www.crucial.com/store/MPartsp...&WSPN=CT479198

A great deal.

sandilian · November 3, 2005 11:35AM

You guys rock, thank you for all ur input. I think crucial would be the best way to go, 40 bucks cheaper than apple...why not....also, im going to get the 100GB ram spinning at 7200, that should speed things up a tad bit also...

formerlurker · November 3, 2005 11:42AM

Quote:

Originally posted by PB

As a general suggestion, and since the 15" Powerbook comes with one slot filled with 512 MB RAM, I would say leave it as is while ordering and then buy the appropriate type of RAM elsewhere to fill up the second memory slot. There are affordable 1 GB modules out there, which would bring you to 1.5 GB total. With this amount of RAM, you should be ok for almost anything in notebook use.

I second this recommendation. Buy a 1 GB, not a 512, to add to your stock RAM.

powerdoc · November 3, 2005 11:56AM

One GB of ram, is a good amount. That's the amount I have on my pbook 17 inch and it's great.

Only monster behemot like the forthcoming aperture is even more RAM angry. But for the typical use of a powerbook including toshop or final cut express, one GB is great.

sandilian · November 4, 2005 4:09PM

its official, I ordered a 15 inch powerbook.....

I got the 100GB (7200 RPM) hard drive and 1 gig of ram from apple (2 x 512) even though crucial would have been cheaper, i got it from apple cause i used aunts credit card, so i just bought it all at one place, and I also got the MARWARE SPORTFOLIO carrying case. And also just bought a Linksys wireless-G router...so im all good to go.

I can't wait till it comes in, im soo excited, this week is gonna go by soooo slow lol....

chromos · November 4, 2005 4:17PM

The Marware case is fantastic, fits the PB snugly and sportily, and is easy to carry by either the handles or the shoulder strap. There's a nice springiness to the entire case.

sandilian · November 4, 2005 5:19PM

Sweet, I just got one cause i needed a case, then after more "research"/cutomer comments

I found out that it was a good case....and I figured apple wouldnt sell anything 3rd party unless it was really good

1GB memory enough?

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