I am buying a macbook, should i get 2gb ram or 4gb ram?

Question

I will be using it for college, and I want it to last me 4 years, should i stick with the 2gb ram that comes with it or should i upgrade to 4?

Answer 1

4 gigs if you download a lot of stuff

Answer 2

4 gigs, but don't get it from Apple. Upgrade it your self with cheaper third party RAM. Just make sure it meets Apple specs and is compatible.

Answer 3

If you plan on using it for 4 years I suggest getting th 4gb. But, you really don't need that much unless you plan on running multiple apps at the same time. And by the way the first answer is completely wrong. Ram has nothing to do with storage.

Answer 4

Go for the 2gb.  You'll save a lot.  If you ever need to add RAM it's far cheaper to buy it from a reseller like OWC and put it in yourself.

I opened my Macbook about a year ago and replaced both the HD and two RAM chips. It took exactly six and one half minutes.  And I know NOTHING about technical or mechanical things!

Answer 5

ram isn't long term storage.   More is better.. but its for running programs in the "now." hard drives space is what you should look for for actual storage over time.

Answer 6

2gb ram is all you need for a notebook. unless your an extreme gamer all you need is 2gb ram.

most games out there dont often go higher then 1gb ram to play anyway.

Answer 7

I completely agree with 80sGuy. Go with 4GB if it tickles your fancy, but do not get it through apple. They overprice their RAM upgrades to an almost ridiculous extent. If you get a 2GB system, however, keep in mind that Apple uses both RAM slots (1GB each), so you won't be able to just buy another 2GB to make 4GB, you'll have to get the whole 4GB.

Answer 8

i would get the 2gb for now, cos like others have said, you can buy another 2gbs of ram much cheaper from other places other than apple. Apple way overprice theres. Its not hard to install either.

Google komplett...they sell ram for a good price, but i think its only if ur in europe. In canada, try ncix (not sure if they cater for the US as well).

Answer 9

if you will be using it for college then i don't think you need very high perfomances. I have a small macbook with the 2 gb setup and it works very well. in my oppinion save the money. you can always upgrade it later if you feel like it.

Answer 10

get 4 gb.

you can hold lots of music & videos.

good stuff.

Answer 11

MAC uses less RAM then PC.  

I dunno how it is for MAC but on PC a 32bit OS such as XP only sees 3.something GB of ram as 4 is too much to be recognize unless used with an OS of 64bits.

Why a MAC?  aim for a high processor and get a large HD with high RPM.  With MAC you can't customize as much can you?

Answer 12

4 years is alotta time so i would say 4gb

Answer 13

The rule Jerry Pournelle used to say in Byte was "get the best you can afford now".   Always seemed a good rule for buying computer equipment to me.

Answer 14

i would go with the 2 gb ram i dont think you will be needing 4 gb ram and if you decide that you do its cheaper to put it in yourself  

Answer 15

Well, the obvious answer would be that the 4 is better.

FYI  If you have never owned a Mac before, I personally don't like mine. I find that a lot of websites do not cater as well to Mac's, so you will be missing out on some things. Like Ebay for instance, i tried to sell things on there, and i couldn't do as much on my Mac, as i could using the Windows program.

  Also you will have to add extra programs that dont come with it, especially in college, you will definitely have to get Microsoft Word, because that is the program that college classes require.

    I know some people just LOVE their Macs, so they wont agree with me, but there are a lot of annoyances for me.