01-31-2011, 10:16 PM

I just traded my new compaq laptop i got to replace my g4 tibook first gen model since i didnt want to spend over $100.00 for a battery on a 10 year old laptop that had water spilled in it and needed to be used with an external keyboard for a g4 ibook 1.2/512. Windows 7 is better than any windows version, but it cannot compete with os x. I've had the ibook for a week now and love every minute with it. question is should i update the ram to 1.25gb or leave it alone.... is there going to be much of a performance differance with maxed out ram? I swear I will never go back to windows again.

02-01-2011, 09:34 AM

Think of RAM as workspace, like a desk. The less RAM you have, the smaller your workspace, so the fewer things you can have open and active at one time. Your computer uses swap memory to free up RAM for other tasks. So, just as if you were sitting at your desk, if you run out of desk space, you have to fold up a project you haven't touched in a little bit and put it away in your book bag to free up desk space for a new project. How unproductive is it going to be to keep swapping files from the desk to the bag back to the desk?

Same thing with RAM - your system will write a file you haven't touched in a while back to the hard drive in order to free up RAM for something new. If you go back to that original file, it has to pull it from the drive and move something else to the drive to make room. Increasing RAM is like increasing the size of your desk. You can now have more files open simultaneously before the system has to start moving files back to the drive again. Maybe you'll never have to move files back and forth to the drive - that's the goal.

When folks ask if they should be upgrading RAM, I recommend they check their Activity Monitor under Memory and look for Page Outs... every time your system writes out a file from RAM to the HD, that's a page out. The more you have, the more your system is choking from lack of RAM. Increasing RAM will cause a decrease in page outs, with the goal of keeping it as close to 0 as possible.

02-01-2011, 02:44 PM

Nice pick up. What were the specs of the laptop though. If it was running windows 7, it must have been pretty new and maybe not worth that trade.

02-01-2011, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by the awakening

Nice pick up. What were the specs of the laptop though. If it was running windows 7, it must have been pretty new and maybe not worth that trade.

I don't know about that, as a test I put Windows 7 on my old Acer Laptop that had 1.2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 60GB HDD, about 5 years old.

- Simon

02-03-2011, 01:53 PM

it was about 6 months old, but it was already acting like windows to an extent, ie still sucks had to install chrome, and the constant updates it wanted to do to both the os and the antivirus was enough to drive someone who was used to os x nuts. it may have been worth more money wise but to not have to completely learn how to use the new type of windows it seems worth it! im much happier with my sweet little ibook, plus its much lighter to carry around! easier to use too Apples os just works, no constant thinking about how to use it!

02-03-2011, 02:41 PM

When I had an iBook G4 1.2 ghz it made so much difference maxing the RAM out, especially running Leopard. You're only on the minimum RAM for that at the moment.

Cheers

Hugh

02-03-2011, 02:46 PM

im planning on getting a 1 ghz ram stick in the next few days, just had a monster of a snow storm here. the weather service says chicago got 20.2 inches but it sure seems more like closer to 3 feet.