2.16ghz / 2.33ghz

[wcarr3]

Trust me, 2 GB will be PLENTY to get you started. If, down the road, you find a need for the extra GB, you can always buy a 2 GB stick from NewEgg.

Agreed. You'll be very happy with 2 GB of RAM. I have a 20' iMac, 2.16 Ghz, with 2 GB of RAM, and the thing flies. I couldn't be happier.

 

[slashjunior]

You sure? I get plenty of hangups with 1gb in OS X. Mainly with adobe programs, but occasionally with others as well.

I have 1GB of RAM and that works fine for me. Although, I don't do much. I only really surf the net, type documents and listen to music.

 

[giulio]

1GB is not enough anymore if you use your mac of work. As time goes on programs demand more. Especially all this trendy gradient filled gui junk =)

 

[snoslicer8]

Macs are essentially PCs now with the switch to Intel chips. Programs access RAM the same across both platforms, so it's essentially the same.

I would tend to agree with you in most cases, but I feel I need to flag this as partially inaccurate. My understanding of how anything with a UNIX core (ala Mac OS X or Linux) accesses memory is VERY different than a Wintel machine. Unix core machines "lock down" the memory allocated to each application, so the machine will not let you open many more programs than the available memory allows (though I've seen more and more page file usage in Macs nowadays). Windows, on the other hand, will just keep on shoving open programs into a paging file (virtual RAM) until the cows come home...which is often why you notice a Windows machine crawling to a hault when you have a lot of things open.

1GB is the sweet spot for both OS X and Windows XP. Vista, on the other hand, needs 2GB to run smoothly. So I guess you could say OS X needs less RAM than Vista

I would definitely suggest getting the faster processor and the least amount of RAM as possible. Then you should take a look at a third party vendor such as Newegg for your RAM upgrade. You will save a TON of money this way.

I'll still agree with you here. =)

 

[Kash]

You sure? I get plenty of hangups with 1gb in OS X. Mainly with adobe programs, but occasionally with others as well.

1GB is good for your average user. Once you start using programs that hog up memory, you'll need to bump up to at least 2GB for a smoother experience.

Oh, and the iMac can only support 3GB of RAM, so pairing will only work for up to 2GB.

 

[DoubleCap]

Differences in clock frequencies will affect your computing speeds, but it depends on the difference. But... it is not a good measure of performance, because a computer does many instructions per cycle, and those instructions can vary.

In your case, it won't matter as much. You won't be able to notice the difference.

 

[AK47]

So.

2 x 1GB ram?

or 2GB + 1GB Ram?

confusing.

 

[DoubleCap]

So.

2 x 1GB ram?

or 2GB + 1GB Ram?

confusing.

If you can afford the 2GB + 1GB, go with that. Otherwise, 2x1GB is fine.

2x1GB should be fine, anyway.

Check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel_architecture -- this explains the advantage of dual-channel memory (the 2x1GB setup).