I have a quick question. I'm eyeing the new g4 14in ibook. The $1299.00 one as I don't need/care about the super drive. But, as a PC guy (not switching, 'adding') RAM is really important. Soooo, would it be worth the extra $100.00 to add 256MB of RAM to the machine for a total of 512? Or would even more RAM be better. I'm considering picking one up at the Apple Store in SF tonight.
jr
You're going to be pretty limited on future RAM upgrades in that thing; it's only got one slot + the 256 on board. Are you
sure you don't want a Powerbook 15" instead?
In any case, I'd get as much RAM as you can afford (probably the extra 512, rather than the extra 256. OS X is a memory hog. It might also be worthwhile to shop around for the RAM; Apple's markup is pretty high. However, don't skimp on good RAM. I've seen enough cheap RAM go bad, and it's miserable to troubleshoot.
Yes, I would love a 15in powerbook with the 128mb ati video card instead. But the $1000.00 price difference is a bit daunting!
Thanks for the info. I figured that OSX would be a big hog, but since I have no experience (or next to none) I was not sure.
Who would you recommend getting RAM from?
Kingston or Corsair. Newegg has decent prices. I
think, but I could be wrong, that machine takes PC2100 (DDR266).
You could also check
DealRAM.
Wow. You were not kidding about the mark-up. I guess if I pull the trigger I'll have to wait on the ram upgrade and order from New Egg. The price difference is nearly 50%!
jr
Thanks again for the advice
RAM is like bass - the more the merrier. Take a look at Mac Warehouse, Mac Zone, Mac MAll and Mac Connection. They usually have pretty good prices on RAM. Also, they may have a bundled deal available that includes extra RAM or some refurbished equipment. If you have a teacher or student in the family, Apple has an education store on their site. At the price you are looking at, it could save you $100 (give or take).
RAM is not like cold pizza: when it's bad, it's bad.
I'd think about adding a 512MB chip as an economical solution that will give OS X enough to do most things without excessive disk swapping. Macintouch recommends Ramjet RAM based on reader reports, and I've had excellent luck with their RAM myself. I would avoid bundled RAM from places such as MacWarehouse; you may not know what you're getting, and as others have said, you don't want low quality RAM. Apple's RAM prices are insane, but be prepared to remove any third party RAM if you want Apple to help troubleshoot or repair problems.
Nah, if you take it to a decent Apple service center, we won't make you take out third party RAM. (if anyone in the Bay Area has a warranty Mac problem, let me know...)
Although I would not cast doubt on your experiences, I don't trust Macintouch farther than I can throw Ric Ford. That site tends to be extremeley alarmist, blowing even a single report of a problem into a "THIS IS SO CRITICAL AN ISSUE, APPLE JUST MIGHT GO DOWN BECAUSE OF IT" type of emergency.
So any 'quality' 200pin pc2100 ram will work? What about stuff that says it's 2700 and 2100 both?
jr
PC2700 should work just fine. It'll clock down.
Good to know. That's what I figured (since PC ram does the same), but I don't want to spend the cash then have to return it because I assumed too much.
jr
Nope, it's the same RAM. Double check me on the PC2100 rating before you buy, though... I mostly pay attention to the Pro line of Apple stuff, so I could be wrong about the speed.
Done and Done. I am now the proud owner of a G4 ibook. Yeah me!
Now I need a cafe where I can look super cool browsing the web for tales of gilgamesh and sigurd for my oh so useful PhD dissertation on the similarities between the epic of Gilgamesh and the Niebelunglied, oh and Noah's Ark. Oh, and I need to grow my goatee back.
hehe
jr
Sweet. Congrats. Did you get the AppleCare on it? If not, I recommend it. The laptops have a nasty habit of needing service after 1 year is up. (not to scare you!)
No, I don't work for Apple.
No I did not. Yes I will, but I have spent enough on it for now.... I have 1 year so I'll probably grab it sometime after christmas.
Back to playing around with it. Now I need to grab gentoo or debian and re-partition for some linux fun too!
jr