[dndog]

When is it worth getting 2gigs of ram versus the standard 1 gig on the MacBook Pro? Unless I'm using a pro app, I generally don't fill my 1gig of ram on my powerbook.

[Peabo]

It's generally useful for people who run multiple apps at once. If you're only working with one then 1 gig might be enough, but 2 gigs is just 'extra safe'.

[uicandrew]

for what it's worth. i had a mac mini with 1gb of ram, and i was able to have itunes, safari, Mail, and microsoft word open all at the same time, and I never had any slowdown compared to when the programs ran just by themselves.

1gb is enough.

but read the other threads where they talk about ddr ram and what advantages there are to getting 2 sticks of 512 (and saving $80) vs getting 1 stick of 1gb with room for later.

the answers to all your questions are in these threads. I know this because I started from practically no knowledge of the mac 6 months ago, and after I started reading the threads (old and new) i felt like i had been using macs for a long.

[hickey]

If I had the cash I would get the full 2 gigs of RAM, because as many other users will tell you, you can never have to much RAM. But if you are buying a comp on a budget, 1 gig will do just fine. I run Camino, AIM, iTunes, and BitTorrent at the same time for the majority of the time my pbook is on and it does fine.

[mduell]

I would (and I did) go with 2GB if you use a lot of apps at the same time (or memory hungry apps).
Also, Intel's laptop chipsets support dual channel; 2GB from the start saves you from the 1GB-with-an-easier-upgrade vs. 2x512MB-with-better-performance dilemma.