New Mac, should I upgrade the memory?

Hi everybody, I recently got a Macbook Aluminum (the 2.0 Ghz), and i'm really impressed with it. Well, i haven't really explore everything (first time using a Mac, so please be gentle, ).
One thing's for sure is that i absolutely love the trackpad. The swipe thingy is incredible.

Anyway, any advice on applications that I should be using? I mean, other than the ones stated here (a superb guide by Sam if i might add)

I plan to install Windows to do some programming (job requirements, visual studio 2008 bla bla bla). Should I upgrade my memory to 2 x 2gb? Currently considering between boot camp and vmware...

Thanks for the input

 

You're going to run into problems playing certain video formats. I use VLC player for mac and it plays any video file type. Must have for me.

If you're going to do VMWare I think you should get the 4gb of ram. 2 GB is enough for most tasks in Mac I think, but 4 gb wouldn't hurt.

 

I have 4GB of RAM in my MacBook, and most of it isn't being used by OS X. I would really only suggest getting it if you use VMWare or have some other type of resource-heavy software that you use. For example, right now, I have 2.76GB of RAM not even being used as cache on my computer.

Also, 32-bit Windows XP in Boot Camp only recognizes 2.75GB of RAM, which is not a huge difference over 2GB. I think Windows Vista and Windows 7 see more RAM, but I can't swear to it.

 

From experience, VMWare is much happier with a little more than standard memory, although it can run with 2 GB. I ran it with the standard amount, but found I needed to shut almost everything else down to make things zip along. Remember you'll be running Windows and it always needs *lots* of memory! I run VMWare with 4 GB (2 GB allotted for Windows) and it gives me more than enough power to run anything I need.

If you do the upgrade yourself be careful of opening the back of the new Macs. I understand the screws are a little delicate to open. Check some YouTube videos on the subject.

 

Like my youtube video (not the best, I had bad lighting) But anyways be careful the one of my screws got stuck. I managed to get it out, but it's a little stripped, still usable.

 

Thank you for sharing your opinions, guys.
I can understand that by adding memory, the performance of the OS (both Mac OS & Windows) will definitely increased by some margin.
For now, let's just see how well i run my applications in windows.

If I need to add some memory sticks, should I get them at an apple store or any other store? I mean, apple's memory price tags are quite "surpising".

 

nono,get ram from 3rd party.

btw,congrats on your mac

 

For ram for all my Apple computers crucial has always worked just fine.

 

Congrats on the new Mac! Go with newegg or crucial for ram, because it's a whole lot cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146878

 

Thanks guys, really appreciate all the inputs.
I'll be sure to post in the forums if i need any help.

This forum and the users has really been big help. Thanks again.

 

no problem m8!thanks for kind words btw,cos usually...

 

Maybe you can wait a little bit more. DDR3 prices would drop out ^^!

 

I would think he'd need the DDR3, wouldn't he? Being it's the new uni-body model and runs on the faster ram?

 

OS X runs pretty well in 2gb for routine use. Keep in mind that on the MB the video system consumes .25gb though. If you tend to run a lot of apps or are planning on any virtual machine use I would highly recommend going to 4gb though. It will improve both your performance and battery life for a pretty modest cost.