How much RAM does OSX Tiger need?

[Zukatah]

Hi everyone,

I'm used to the PC world and never touched a Mac in my life but I'm now looking to buy a 12" G4 iBook to use in class to take notes (currently doing my Masters in political science), type papers on the go, listen to music, watch dvd, surfing the web and things like that, nothing too intensive. I think that a 12" iBook would do pretty much everything I want to do, has a nice battery life and is on the cheap side considering that I'm on a tight budget.

My question is how much RAM do I need to make everything that I'll use run smoothly? I was debating between 768 mb and 1.2gb and I'd like to have your input to help me decide...

PS: I'm waiting until June 15 or so to order it since I know there should be a revision in the near future, I might buy the RAM sooner though to install it as soon as I get the laptop. I also can't wait until September as I've been hired to do a research and I already have a full time job on top of that, so the laptop would enable me to maximise my time as I can use my breaks at the job to work on my papers and do some research...

Thank you very much

 

[jdogg707]

768MB would be perfect for that laptop. If you can afford more, get it, if not, then don't worry about it.

 

[jdiddy]

Well its always nice to future proof yourself and with the small price difference between a single 512mb stick and a 1 gig stick just go and max out at 1.25. I ran Tiger on my Powerbook with only 512mb of ram in it and its beachballing all over the place. The more ram the merrier.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Zukatah
Hi everyone,

I'm used to the PC world and never touched a Mac in my life but I'm now looking to buy a 12" G4 iBook to use in class to take notes (currently doing my Masters in political science), type papers on the go, listen to music, watch dvd, surfing the web and things like that, nothing too intensive. I think that a 12" iBook would do pretty much everything I want to do, has a nice battery life and is on the cheap side considering that I'm on a tight budget.

My question is how much RAM do I need to make everything that I'll use run smoothly? I was debating between 768 mb and 1.2gb and I'd like to have your input to help me decide...

PS: I'm waiting until June 15 or so to order it since I know there should be a revision in the near future, I might buy the RAM sooner though to install it as soon as I get the laptop. I also can't wait until September as I've been hired to do a research and I already have a full time job on top of that, so the laptop would enable me to maximise my time as I can use my breaks at the job to work on my papers and do some research...

Thank you very much

Got a PB 12.1" 1.33ghz from Microcenter about 2 months ago for $900 ARs; I put a 1G stick in for $150, total 1.25G.

 

[Zukatah]

Thanks for your comments everyone, I guess I'll just shell out the extra money! Did you all get your RAM from crucial.com? Did you get AppleCare for your laptop?

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Zukatah
Thanks for your comments everyone, I guess I'll just shell out the extra money! Did you all get your RAM from crucial.com? Did you get AppleCare for your laptop?

I got RAM from the cheapest vendor I found; don't remember who. Crucial's handy, but 30 seconds spent looking up the RAM type you have can save you 30%.

I'm not into warranties - typically they're very, very profitable for the vendor that offers them because they're so rarely used.

 

[jammur21]

You can get a good EDU discount on AppleCare.

 

[jdiddy]

Outpost always has good deals on 1 gig so-dimms after rebates
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4389075

$115 after a $25 rebate

Not a bad deal. You won't regret it either.