Looking to upgrade iMac G4 ram, thoughts?

[WeathermanGS1]

Hi everyone,

I would like some opinions. I have a 17" iMac G4 (1.25 GHz) that I bought in the summer of 2004. The computer is so darn reliable. Other than a small problem that Apple Care took care of back in the day, I haven't had a single problem with my trusty iMac. It's a trooper. 7 years, tens of thousands of pictures, thousands of dollars in iTunes purchases, and several girlfriends later, my little computer is starting to lag a bit. Over the past couple of years, he's been sporting his little turning beach ball (or is it a windmill?) a little too much. It's just not as zippy as it used to be.

I have a Gateway laptop with Windows 7 on it (PS, Gateway and Microsoft can bite me...it/they really does/do suck) that I take to school and such, and then use my mac for emails, pictures, music, a game or two, web browsing, etc. I'm planning on purchasing a new iMac as a Christmas present to myself, but am thinking about doing a little upgrading in the meantime.

As I said, my iMac is 17" and has the 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 processor with Mac OS X 10.4.11 installed. It has an 80 GB hard drive (I have an attached external, as well), and is running on 256 MB of ram. 256 is peanuts these days. I mean, I can probably find more than 256 MB's of ram sitting underneath my sofa cushions. I was looking around, and I can upgrade the ram to 2 GB for relatively cheap. I have an iPhone as well, and had to go through the hassle (putting it lightly) of transferring, syncing, and setting it up with my Windows laptop because I can't upgrade iTunes on my Mac anymore because of memory requirements.

So, I was wondering if you all could lend me your professional opinions on this one. Will upgrading to 2 gigs give me a noticeable performance boost? I would probably also then install Leopard (10.5) on the system due to having met the memory requirements.

I'm still obviously going to be getting a new iMac by the end of the year, but still plan on keeping this little guy. He's my little media hub, and I am, quite frankly, emotionally attached ;P

Any thoughts/opinions/advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[pigoo3]

So, I was wondering if you all could lend me your professional opinions on this one. Will upgrading to 2 gigs give me a noticeable performance boost? I would probably also then install Leopard (10.5) on the system due to having met the memory requirements.

Well I can't give you a "professional" opinion...but I'll give you an "opinion"!

Yes...upgrading your ram would definitely help. Like you said...256meg is nothing. Also...if you decide to upgrade your iMac G4 to OS 10.5...if you don't have a 10.5 install disk...gonna cost you $100+ to get one.

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

256 MB Ram is way too small really for even Tiger 10.4.11! 2GB would give you a much snappier machine. With Leopard it will help even more but Leopard might not be as snappy on that machine as Tiger. I have a 1.25Ghz Mini with 1GB RAM and 10.5 and it's quite useable for all the basics. Only issue with the G4 minis is 1GB is the Max I can upgrade.

Check OWC and be sure and get the correct RAM for your Imac G4.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac/G4_1.0GHz_1.25GHz

There is a User upgrade slot and an internal factory slot. This shows how to access the insides to upgrade the Internal RAM slot.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/imac_g4/imacg4_takeapart.html