1gb or 2gb ram?

What is the difference and advantage of getting 2 gb of ram on a macbook? I'll probably be running parallels or bootcamp to run some windows programs but is 2gb ram really necessary? I'm planning to keep the macbook for about 2 years?

 

If you are going to use Parallels you will need 2GB.

 

I can run Parallels fine with 1.256GB of RAM. It really depends if one needs to run memory-hungry apps simultaneously in Windows and OSX. If you'd be happy with ~300MB of memory for Windows, than 1GB may be enough. If you'd like or need Windows to have 1GB for itself, by all means get 2GB.

 

I say if you can afford it, get 2 gigs. It's well worth it.

 

does it matter if we buy 1go of ram and then one year later another gig of ram ?
and what if it's a different brand ? for exampl kingston and corsair ?

 

does it matter if we buy 1go of ram and then one year later another gig of ram ?
and what if it's a different brand ? for exampl kingston and corsair ?

 

It would be alright, but it depends if you are talking about getting a 1gb and then later getting another 1gb stick or if you have 2 512mb and then later get 2 1gb (which is the preferred but more expensive) I say just get 2 1gb sticks straight away unless you can't afford it.

 

I vote for 2 gigs. get it if you can afford it. Especially if you're going to use some programs that aren't UB and if you're going to use parallels.

Go ahead and buy a 1 gig stick so you have 1.5 gigs. That would probably do you good. And if you have money later, you can pop in the 2nd 1 gig stick.

 

I think more ram the better.

 

i don't plan to run parallel, i switched and i'm not nostalgic at of windows.. lol
i meant above "buy 1 stick of 1 go" and then buy another one later ; is it ok to do so ?
because i dont want to spend all my money at once so i prefer to buy it later.

 

That should be fine, but I guess it would mean only making do with 1GB for a bit.

 

It's really all about the money. If you can afford 2GB there isn't a reason not to get it (unless you want 4GB soon after purchase and having two slots taken up by 1GB each would be annoying)

 

So my question is, can the Macbook handle 4GB of RAM?

 

No, it can only handle 2. The CD MBP can handle 2. the C2D MBP can handle 3. Aparantly there are some issues with going over 3 GB of ram. I didn't understand what exactly it was, but some sort of overlap isssues. It aparantly makes the performance gain between 3 and 4 basically less than nill, if not actually making it worse.

Besides, who REALLY needs more than 2 right now?

 

It a matter of the OS being 32 bit. 32 bit OS reserves some address space for itself, and since it can only use 4GB of addressing you actually get to use less than 4GB RAM.

That restriction goes away with 64bit Vista and the next version of MAC OS that is 64bit.

As long as your hardware supports 4GB (check documentation for that) you'll be fine then.

 

INteresting, so I should wait for the 64 bit processors (Santa Rose?)

 

64 bit processors are already out.
It's called Intel Core 2 Duo and recently Apple has made a switch to Intel Core 2 Duo.

You could also wait for Santa Rosa, but it depends on ur needs.
If you need it now, then get it now, but if u don't need it right away, waiting will always be a better solution.

Heck, you could wait for 30 years and you'll be getting a far more advanced computer than now .

Also, on another note, I highly doubt anyone would really use more than 2gb RAM. I have only known high performance gaming dedicated servers to require 4gb RAM and more.
2gb should be more than enough overkill for any single person to use.

 

No, it won't actually matter. Yes, part of it is hardware, and the need for 64 bit.

But Santa Rose will technically be able to support more, I highly doubt you will see a unit supporting more than 4 GB. It's possible that if they start making 2 GB dimms, that you could push it up to 8.

BTW, C2D is 64 and so are Turions I believe. BTW, most desktop motherboards don't support more than 4 gigs, even if it's on a 64 bit platform like the AMD 64bit units. It will probably be a while before we see 8 being implemented on user end boards. And many, many years before we see more than that.

 

You are correct in that most desktop motherboards don't support more than 4gb RAM. However, there are servers which supports up to 32gb of RAM I believe.

Also, to support ur statement. Core 2 Duo and Turions are definately 64 bit processors. AMD were the first to produce the 64 bit processors I believe.

But then again, no one person would really use more than 2gb of RAM so having a 4gb would be of to a waste somewhat.
It probably won't be until another 10 or 20 years before we see 4gb becoming the mainstream requirement for computers.

 

The C2D MBP can only support 3GB due to hardware. Same reason why CD MBP can only support 2GB. And you say that 4GB is unnecessary now, but very recently most people thought 512 was enough.

 

Thanks for the clarification guys!

 

I believe that was about 3 years ago at 2003.
I recall purchasing a desktop around that time and I was very satisfied with the performance from the 512mb RAM.

However, just after a year later, 1gb RAM became the norm.
And now, I think alot of people are headed towards 2gb as the norm, however alot of people are still quite satisfied with the 1gb RAM.

But still, I see that there isn't really alot of programs out there that could really utilize the full 2gb RAM for maximum performance other than games of course. My estimation of 10 to 20 years is certainly overestimated. Probably in 4 years time, we'll begin to see people wanting 4gb RAM as the norm

 

I agree with you Znender. When I purchased my Sony Vaio PCG-FRV25 summer 2005, it came with 512MB. Right now it seems alright but lags when I have multiple programs open. I already purchased 2x1GB RAM from Newegg because I plan on doing a lot of multitasking on my MB (soon) and want to make sure there's no delay.

 

You must not use Photoshop or Aperture. They are VERY RAM hungry and since I usually have both of them running at the same time, I need all the RAM I can get. While I agree that the normal user may not need that much RAM anytime real soon, there are many users who do.

 

I do use Photoshop CS2 in fact. I use it mostly for creating quick photo edits or sometimes some CGing with some sketches I drew.
I certainly agree Photoshop is quite RAM hungry as I experience quite a bit of slow downs when working with resolutions 5000 x 5000 and up.

I'm quite certain that if I do upgrade to 1gb RAM, it should offer quite a performance boost from this measly 512mb RAM and should run Photoshop fine.
What's worst is when I use Photoshop 7.0 on my school's computers, they are terribly slow with barely 256mb RAM. That's way more unbearable lol.

I'll be looking forward for an upgrade to 2gb RAM and never again use this heinously slow computer .

 

If your looking to doing photoshop of anything thats over 5mp, I would recommend using it in XP until CS3 is out. Photoshoph runs okay, but it's noticbly slower than XP right now.

 

Does anyone know what RAM chips are used in or compatible with the Macbook Pro?

I think I'm going to get one (Macbook Pro C2D 2.16GHz), but since I'm not doing heavy duty media stuff or anything like that, I want to just get 1GB and add another GB if I need it. But if I can get away with 1GB I don't see why I would get 2GB.

 

I use Mushkin, and am very happy. A lot of users hear swear by g. skill.

 

i still haven't bought my ram but i plan to buy 2go, but do you know the brand elpida ? someone talked about it so... i don't know if it works with macbooks ?
"As for brands, the brand of the chips is just as important as the memory module brand. Brands like Hynix, Elpida, Samsung, Winbond etc. refer to the DRAM chip brands - Corsair, Kingston or whatever memory module brand you use will likely use those types of chips. Crucial is different as they're Micron's direct seller."
this is the link http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=86210&page=2 at the end of the page is the quotation

 

I don't know about Elpida. Apple uses Hynix though. I know one thing is for certian, I wont' buy crucial again. I have 3 sticks of ram from them and 2 have gone bad. And 1 of those that went bad were form a matched pair of BallistiX ram.

A lot of MB/MBP users use G.Skill ram.

 

is there someone who know elpida ? i went on their website and it's a japanese firm : from google

Elpida Memory, Inc. is a manufacturer of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) silicon chips with headquarters based in Tokyo, Japan, and sales and marketing ...
www.elpida.com/

 

I've been using Crucial/Micron memory on PC's for a lot of years now without (known) incident. I've been using 2x1gb Crucial RAM on my MacBook C2D for a few weeks now - again without incident (with a dozen or more sleep/wake cycles per day).

On all the memory I've gotten from Crucial there was a lifetime replacement warranty, so unless I've just been very lucky I'm not sure why I've heard from at least a couple of sources reluctant to use Crucial stuff in a Mac.

Food for thought

 

wht about elpida ? elpida ? an unknown brand ? ^

 

... so nobody knows the brand elpida ? and if it is safe and works with macbooks ?

 

Never heard of Elpida. If you ask me, I'd say its best to stay with Crucial or the bigger name brands.

 

I bought 2GB a month ago and parallels works really fast now. I'm not using bootcamp anymore, although I hope the bootcamp-support in parallels will get better.

 

ram is so bloody cheap right now, capitalize on it and get 2gb, you definitely won't regret it for the price, just make sure to get it online from a retailer like newegg.com etc.

 

And if you buy from newegg and they're offering a rebate, don't send it in until you're SURE the product works. My memory appears to be defective, and they won't do anything because I sent in the rebate forms. Crucial hasn't responded to my email inquiry. Looks like I might be out $70.

 

it's the memory chip joint venture of NEC and Hitachi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elpida_Memory