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iMac G4 - Max. memory?
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
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My sister is giving her 1Ghz iMac Flat panel (the lamp version) to my aunt and I am getting it ready for her. I plan on installing 10.5 for her so I'll need more RAM.
Right now it has 512 meg of RAM (2700) in one slot and the other is empty.
The spec sheets say that max RAM for this 1GB, but I thought I had read that it can actually use more, but there weren't that high of RAM available at the time.
I've seen 1 & 2GB chips online and was wondering if I could just add a 1 or 2 GB RAM chip to the 512 that is already installed. How much will the iMac actually recognize?
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"It's weird the way 'finger puppets' sounds ok as a noun..."
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Cardboard Box
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"It's weird the way 'finger puppets' sounds ok as a noun..."
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Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aberdeen, UK
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Originally Posted by cjrivera
It looks like the 2nd slot isn't too hard to get too, so I might buy 1GB x 2 and just get her the max RAM.
It isn’t impossible to get to, but it’s certainly harder than it looks. I know — I took a couple of them apart, and getting it back together (especially making sure the power connector goes in) is not easy. It helps if you have someone else to hold it while you align it, though it can be done solo.
Two warnings: make sure that the display cable is connected to the motherboard, otherwise the screen will look like it’s broken (watch out, it can pop out very easily); and, be absolutely sure to use a thin, even coating of thermal paste to stop the iLamp from cooking itself.
Whilst you’re in there, maybe pop in a larger hard-disk. It’s easier to do it all at once, rather than take it apart multiple times.
It's her first Mac, so I wanna make sure it's quick enough and stable for her.
In that case, I recommend sticking to Tiger, even with a full 2GB of RAM. Leopard will work, but it’s nowhere near as smooth as Tiger is on a G4. Also, if you’re putting iPhoto et al on it, I say stick to ’06 — in my experience, ’08 can drag a little, and seems very slow.
Good luck!
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
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hmmmm... maybe I'll stick with just adding the 1GB to make it a total of 1.5GB of RAM.
I guess I'll have to dig up my old copy of iLife 06,.
Thanks for the advice.
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"It's weird the way 'finger puppets' sounds ok as a noun..."
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Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Aberdeen, UK
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Originally Posted by cjrivera
hmmmm... maybe I'll stick with just adding the 1GB to make it a total of 1.5GB of RAM.
I guess I'll have to dig up my old copy of iLife 06,.
Thanks for the advice.
I ran Tiger for the best part of a year on 768MB of RAM, and never found it to be anything other than smooth and responsive. It only beachballed very occasionally, usually when I had a stupid number of Safari windows open and I hadn’t quit it for days (this was before Safari 3, which I think solved a lot of the memory leaks). So you should do pretty nicely with 1.5GB of RAM.
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Oct 2008
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Apple says 1GB max, but that's just due to the lack of availability of 1GB chips at the time. 2Gb is the best you can get.
Don't be put off, it's not that hard to swap the internal ram, you'll need a T8 spanner to get the four bolts undone, then you have to crack open the lower case. It comes apart just fine but there are connectors between it and the rest of the internals so don't just yank it off.
When you put it back together don't forget to scrape the old thermal paste off the heat transfer blocks and reapply new paste or your upgraded iMac will pop from heat stress.
Honestly it look daunting but it's not that hard.
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