I bought the default superdrive 15" 1.25Ghz Powerbook from the Apple store a few months back. It came with 512MB RAM, so I figure that was fine to run basic things.
I have since found that running Mail, iChat, Safari (with about 6 open tabs), Terminal, and then occasionally other apps that don't stay open all of the time (Excel, Word, iTunes, XJournal) - the machine pages out so much that it becomes unusable without a reboot after about 3 days.
It has gotten better with the updates, but it hasn't resolved it. The real killer seems to be Safari. I have posted up on here in the software forum about it and they suggested I just need more RAM and that I should get at least 1GB.
Aside from any comments on whether I feel that is a bit much as the "minimum" amount and why it doesn't then ship with that - I have additional questions.
1) Is 1GB really "enough"? I will be starting to use GarageBand in about a month on a regular basis and don't want to upgrade to 1GB of RAM now and then find out later that it really should have been 2GB.
2) Will 1GB resolve the issue that I have? I am loathe to spend the money only to find out I will have to do so again. I don't live in the States, so for me to order RAM means that I have to pay to ship it to NYC, then pay to have it shipped from there to Bermuda, then pay the duty to have it brought in, and then I also don't really have an easy way to get any money back for the 512MB of RAM in my machine - so it is a write-off (the same way my white spots are on my screen).
3) At the Apple store, they have a 1GB module, and I have read on here that it is the same as the memory here
http://memoryx.net/apl200e1024.html (which is obviously much cheaper, but still quite expensive). What advantages are there to using a single 1GB module (aside from the ability to upgrade to another one later on) over just getting two 512MB cards off of Crucial?
I rarely use my laptop without being attached to the power supply, so battery life is of little matter to me - so if choosing one RAM type is going to impact the battery life and that is it, then I'm not sure that is enough to merit it.
I just want to clear up these issues before I shell out $400-1200 on this.
thanks!
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