VRAM Upgrade? Is it needed

[Subzero3886]

How important is it to upgrade your Vram on a 15'' Powerbook from 64- 128? Is it important to purchase it?

 

[Kokopelli]

Not very important unless you plan on hooking your PB up to a 30" Cinema Display. It will give you a performance boost in general but it is not critical for most operations. On the other hand you quite simply can not drive a 30" display without it.

(Keep in mind you can not upgrade later, this is a purchase time decision.)

 

[Subzero3886]

Im not really planning on hooking it up to a display, but may do some gaming like the new star Wars battlefront for mac

 

[Kokopelli]

128MB upgrade will help with gaming some as well. Particularly texture heavy games like most modern FPS. Keep in mind though, this is not a miracle pill to make a PB into a gaming powerhouse.

Given the model, you are already spending 2K and change. You might as well upgrade the VRAM for $100. (Minus educational discount if appropriate.)

 

[Subzero3886]

If this is what i'll be doing, is 512 mb of RAM enough also: Ichat, safari, cd burning, mail, ical..., Microsoft word/powerpoint for mac, itunes, some gaming, LIMEWire, DVD watching ...?

Thanks in advance

 

[mynameis]

I would go with 1gb, the new PBs comes with 1 open slot so you could just stick another 512mb stick in there.

 

[Kokopelli]

512MB if fine for normal use as you describe, 1.25GB would be better though. Anything above a gig for what you are describing would not be useful 99% of the time. Buy the PB with stock memory and upgrade it yourself. Memory upgrades at Apple are over priced.

 

[Subzero3886]

I didn't kno there was an extra slot... i figure ill just get the standard memory w/ the powerbook and then if i decide I need the upgrade Ill by another 512 mb stick and add it.

Thanks for the help

-DB