Converting to Mac - Help Ram Question & More

Hello everyone. I have been a PC users for years, but the Mac has caught my eye. I am going to purchase a 15.4 inch 2.4GHz Macbook Pro. I saw that Apple charges $200 for the upgrade to 4GB of RAM. I have reviewed the forums and I have seen many people say it is fairly simple to do yourself. I saw many people say that they used Crucial to purchase the memory. I went on the site and they suggest:

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpa...Core 2 Duo (15.4-inch)&pl=MacBook Pro&cat=RAM

Do I need to buy matching RAM or can I just buy another 2GB of RAM and if so where? Some other questions not related to RAM. Are there any programs or applications you guys suggest that I get for my new Macbook Pro. I am very new to Mac and I just want to have all my bases covered. Thanks.

Matching memory modules are always better and Crucial is a good place to purchase your memory. And yes, you should buy two each for a total of 4 Gb as the MBP and MB are populated with two modules from the factory. You can always sell the removed modules or trade them in depending on the memory supplier. Here's a supplier that offers a trade in:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/MacBook/DDR2/

Regarding your other inquiry.... Do a search in this forum as those questions have been answered many times.

Regards.