[indigoimac]

I'm wondering which is the better bang for the buck in my 700MHZ iBook g3. Should I add 256megs (44$) to the original 128 or should I add 512 (120$)? The real question is Which will I get better performance out of for everyday mousing around in OS X.2. And the occasional image edit. As well as resource guzzling Word and Office.
Thanks for any help
-indigoimac

[Rev-O]

The added 256 would probably be adequate, but if you plan on doing Word and photo editing and maybe a bit of Safari at the same time, absolutely get the 512.
There's no replacement for displacement!

[SupahCoolX]

Well, as the old saying goes, "you can never have too much RAM."
The 256 will be a nice improvement, but 512 will be better, if the money isn't an issue. If you do a lot of things at once (Word, email, Safari, iTunes, iCal, etc all open at the same time) then seriously consider the 512.

[RadarBob2]

Yes a 256MB module will be adequate. I'm typing on an iBook 700mhz w/ 384MB total memory.

HOWEVER, Remember that you have only one memory slot.

I predict that two, three years at the outside you will *wish* you had more. If you replace it then, then your total memory cost will have cost more than $120. Maybe 1MB modules will be less expensive and you'll feel it's worth it.

OK, so you're asking, "bob if that's such great advice, why don't you have more memory?" Easy. The extra memory was free when I bought the computer.

Here's how memory demands have been growing exponentionally:

• 1994 - my Macintosh PowerPC comes with 8MB on board. Double of any other computer at the time
• 1996: I upgrade to 72MB, maxing out my PowerPC. Running OS 7.5.5 I NEVER run out of memory
• 1999: I buy original iBook with 32 MB on board. 8x more than my PPC, but 32 is barely enough
• 2001: upgrade w/ a 128MB module for $200 which was a very good price at the time.
• 2003: I want to upgrade to OSX - Got a new 512MB module. IMHO I now have enough memory to run OSX.
• 4MB to 512MB in 10 years. So average (which means nothing) memory demands increase over 50MB per year.
• In the last 4 years "enough" memory has increased by a factor of 8 to16 (depending on your definition of "enough")!

oops. PPC came w/ 8MB on board, not 4.