Macbook pro memory options....

[badboyben3000]

Hi there,

Looking for my first mac and the new macbooks look fantastic.

However, when I go to configure one the memory options list 1gb as either the 'standard' single stick, or 2 x 512mb sticks.

The double stick method is about £70 cheaper.... I'm no RAM expert but I thought I remember seeing about 'dual channel' memory or something..... and that running two smaller sticks was actually faster than a larger single stick?

Any decent performance gains either way or a good way to bag the £70?

Also, would opting for the 7200 rpm drive provide any noticeable speed difference over the 5400 rpm? (I'm looking at the 100gb drive).

Cheers for your help guys,

Ben

 

[macAttack]

the more ram u feed a mac the better it will run, that is the key to a mac

the 7200 rpm drive will also eat up more battery power, i don't think u would notice a huge performance issue, what will u be doing on it?

 

[jram]

the 7200 rpm drive will also eat up more battery power

I was told this isn't the case if you work with photoshop or other intense programs, the reason being the cpu usage will be a-lot less doing projects. In everyday use it should be the same because programs will open up faster. I don't know if this is true, but it sounds good.

 

[LastZion]

interesting about the 2 vrs 1 ram, never heard that.

I wish you could get the 1.83 with 512 as I have 2 gig sticks i can use.

i also wish you could put the 256 graphics card in the 1.67.

(My price point is inbetween the two)

 

[desantim]

The dual channel setup really does make a difference with memory dependent programs, OS X proficiently uses the memory as swap, usually better than does windows, as such, I would assume you would see an even bigger performance jump when using dual channel in a mac. I do believe this is the first time macs have had dual channel (I remember the synthetic numbers on my AMD wintel machine was significantly higher with dual channel compared to single). I would suggest getting the most ram you can, but I would stick with dual channel. Being that OS X loves ram so much, you'd think it would make sense to everyone that ram as fast as it could be, and as fast as you could get data on and off of it, would be important.

 

[CanadaRAM]

The dual channel setup really does make a difference with memory dependent programs

To date, only the PowerMac G5 towers have implemented dual channel. The Powerbook and iMac line have never done so. (Also can't think of any Intel laptops that do either)

I have not been able to find any documentation from Apple that the MacBook or the iMac Intel have dual-channel memory addressing capability. There is only one cryptic note in the Apple Store that "For optimum memory performance install pairs" Maybe when the developers notes are available for these machines we'll see whether or not Dual Channel is available.

 

[Strider]

when I go to configure one the memory options list 1gb as either the 'standard' single stick, or 2 x 512mb sticks.

The double stick method is about £70 cheaper.... I'm no RAM expert but I thought I remember seeing about 'dual channel' memory or something..... and that running two smaller sticks was actually faster than a larger single stick?

Dunno about faster but each laptop has a limited number of slots for adding more RAM. Now if u take 2 X 512 instead of one 1GB then you use up a slot where you could have added more memory. Hence having two slots filled is cheaper than one. Also buying a gig of a memory chip is more expensive then buying two separate ones, hence the difference in price.

 

[LastZion]

Sorry, I'm that educated in RAM, here is my question:

So the new RAM is: 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM

I have an extra stick in my powerbook now:
Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC2700U-25330
Status: OK

Can I take this gig stick out and put it in the new MacBook?

 

[badboyben3000]

Hmm thanks for the info guys,

So besides the one point about I'd take up my last slot and have to ditch a 512 stick if I wanted to upgrade in future.....

Are you suggesting that there is no real performance difference betweent the two configurations? And if there was, the 'dual channel' 2 x 512 config would possibly show a slight increase? If so, why is it cheaper!

Cheers,

Ben

 

[CanadaRAM]

Sorry, I'm that educated in RAM, here is my question:

So the new RAM is: 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM

I have an extra stick in my powerbook now:
Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR SDRAM
Speed: PC2700U-25330
Status: OK

Can I take this gig stick out and put it in the new MacBook?

No. it is completely different. DDR-2 RAM is not compatible with DDR RAM.

 

[desantim]

it's cheaper to produce two 512 sticks than it is to produce 1 - 1 gig stick for some reason. Symantics imho. There IS a difference in dual channel as much as other people want to deny it. imho, get it with a 1 gig stick to begin with, and later go to newegg or crucial and buy a second 1 gig stick. You get dual channel, it's cheaper than doing it at apple, and besides, how can you complain with 2 gigs of ram?

 

[LastZion]

I'm just trying decide between the 2 of them.
Will I notice a difference going from 1.67 - 1.83 and will I see a difference from 128 - 256 in the graphics card? I know its only a $300 difference when you make all other things equal. But I'm already slightly over my budget.