I intend on buying an Apple Powerbook at the start of next year when I have the money ready,
I was wondering, how much RAM would I require in my Apple Powerbook, I will be browsing the web, painting in photoshop, talking in messenger and listening to music at any one time.
I really want a Powerbook that will take anything i throw at it, but i dont want to overkill on the ram if i wont use it.
Oh, and I also want to know if I will need lots of ram to make use of all those new Tiger features like those realtime ripples and widgets.


Other question: When is the next powerbook revision due, and is a price-drop likely on the powerbooks?

RAM really doesn't matter for the ripple effect, VRAM does (Video Card Mem), but I'll assume you already know that and I'm just reiterating. The PBs already come with 512 pre-installed. 1GB wouldn't hurt at all and unless you're doing high-instensity stuff on Photoshop, you should be fine with either 512/1GB. The next PB revision is really unclear right now, as its still been less than a year since the last PB revision came out. Price-drop? can't determine that either. I say price is ripe right now, considering Apple did a generous thing by lowering the price and upping the RAM (if you're an educator or a student, take advantage of the discount by all means).

BTW: what model are you thinking of buying?

Yeah I know it depends on Vram for the ripples, thought normal ram might be involved also though, guess i was wrong
How much is the discount for student's of Uni?
I am thinking of getting something in the range of 15" 1.67GHz with 1GB ram 1-so-dimm (want 2dimms but its very expensive) and a 9700 128MB,
I am thinking Apple will cut about £300 off the price by next January at least, that would be nice, mean's I can get more extra's like a digital camera and printer.

I need this to last a long time, my current Windows machine has lasted since late 2001 and I am starting to feel the age now, I have upgraded only the graphics card in that time, and that was only for gaming which will not be done on the mac.
Will this last me years also?

I have 512MB on my PowerBook and with Tiger anything beyond basic tasks causes pageouts. Panther works fine with 512MB, Tiger doesn't.

2x512MB should be fine for what you want. A single 1GB module would be significantly more expensive and unless you really needed that much RAM (1.5 or 2GB) it wouldn't be worth it.

well yeah, but I need to make sure its future proof, if i get 2-so-dimm of 1GB ram, i take it that it means i get 2 512sticks in the powerbook right? whereas 1-so-dimm would mean i get a 1GB stick.. leaving a spare ram slot for upgrades in future?
Huezo, I added you to MSN, also anyone else who wants to talk on msn please PM me.
but keep posting here, I prefer a hard copy of people's thoughts on this.

Yes.

Somebody told me that one of the RAM sticks is hardwired into the powerbook, is this correct? that would mean if I bought a 2sodimm 1GB model, I wouldnt be able to go over 1.5GB ram because one of the two 512s is unremovable.

That only applies to the 12" PowerBook and iBook line. The 15" and 17" PowerBooks come with two RAM slots, both of which are user-replaceable and upgradeable.

IMO: 512Mb is simply not enough for general use in any mobile device, let alone if you plan on doing all that at once. It's not too much, but it would almost certainly kill 512Mb. I would personally go for 1Gb as it would not really require 2Gb (I only have 2Gb for hardcore gaming etc.). Within that 1Gb bracket it's really your choice. Firstly consider your budget at the time; a single module is better, but then 2 would be fine if moneys a little tight. Secondly, assuming you will be using this as a main "workstation" and not as a secondary unit, and that you will also be planning on keeping it for a while, I would suggest that you get 1Gb if you can afford it. No doubt in the future you will want to upgrade and this will certainly make it cheaper to do.

[DISCLAIMER: I know you probably already know and/or disagree, but *I* think it's a common sense way of thinking and future proofing. If anyone disagrees... Oh well. Happy shopping ]

You would require 512MB in your Apple Powerbook.
Anything above that is fine if you can afford it.
Dont go under 512

thanks dark and huezo!
I will probably be getting 1GB 2-SO-DIMMs because if both are removable, as soon as my powerbook dates, I will just throw both out and get two 1GB sticks to give me 2GB.
That is, ofcourse based on how somebody told me that Mac's are more dependant on RAM than processor speed, and a current processor will last quite a time and not really date as much.
is this true? will the processor last?

hotdog963al: the min it can be bought with is 512 i think anyway;)

I just swapped my 512Mb for 768Mb in my iBook, makes a hell of a difference when running Photoshop. Bridge even has no sluggishness now!!

My GF has my old G3 500, it has 576Mb in it, runs lovely. Is 4 years old now!

Dougal.

cool, I *may* be able to get it far sooner than thought, within the next 5 months, not sure if i will wait for the revision next year though.

If you are seriously worried about future proofing an investment such as a Powerbook, no matter what spec it is, the more ram the better. You never really know how much is enough until you don't have it. Plus the fact remains that in a year or two down the road from after you get it in your hands, exactly how hard will it be to find ram that works with the powerbook and at what cost. Personally, I'd max out the ram and just not worried about it, besides, Apple Powerbooks depreciate extremely slow and overtime if your needs grow you won't suffer that much of a loss. Just something to consider.

Ditto - what He Said!!!

Bill

Well I will probably be getting it with 1GB, i dont think it would be too hard to get new ram in the future, crucial still sell ram for the pre-g3 powerbooks.
I am glad that the powerbook's ram is not hardwired, this means it will definately future-proof ram-wise because i can jsut take it all out and up it to 2GB when i feel the age.
I was down at the local PCWORLD today and noticed they have the older powerbooks with 256mb ram but with 10.3.5 or something to that effect, even they ran nicely, but ofcourse there WAS slowdown when i did certain things, and that was with only garageband open.
the ones at the Apple Store down in regents street are great, so yeah I think 1GB 2-sodimms will be my choice.