[spreadlight]

Sorry, lost connection midway thru posting.

Question: is 90$ extra worth the upgrade to 128MB VRAM ?
I'll used the PB for:
MS-office stuff
internet
Matlab

thanks

[NYK Ace]

id go for the 128 just because you might want it later and you wont be able to upgrade that

[EvanV]

90 bucks thats it? I'd def. go for it...

I wish I had the option when I bought myn.

[osxisfun]

its a good option if you already buying from the apple store.

But if i buy one i hope to save on the sales tax and buy from amazon and apply that money towards applecare protection so it ends up being a lot more that $90 if you go the apple store route. (I am assuming only the apple store can BTO?)

[ericssonboi]

I just purchased a BTO 15" and i went with the 128MB of Vram just cause you can't upgrade it in the future.

When you need the extra Vram in future.. your gonna wish you spent the $90 on it and not on 2 months worth of coffee..

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by ericssonboi:
When you need the extra Vram in future.. your gonna wish you spent the $90 on it and not on 2 months worth of coffee..

I will never regret two months' worth of coffee!

[ericssonboi]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
I will never regret two months' worth of coffee!

Or.. if your a high roller..
Instead of going to Starbucks everyday, use instant...

But anyways...
If you plan on keeping your PB for a few years.. its a good thing to consider.

[Umit]

Originally posted by EvanV:
90 bucks thats it? I'd def. go for it...

It's not just $100 ($90 for education)...
You have to go for 1.67GHz to get the 128MB VRAM... If you think of buying 1.5 GHz, you'll pay $250(+tax) more to get the 128MB, which is kinda steep...

[ericssonboi]

Originally posted by Umit:
It's not just $100 ($90 for education)...
You have to go for 1.67GHz to get the 128MB VRAM... If you think of buying 1.5 GHz, you'll pay $250(+tax) more to get the 128MB, which is kinda steep...

You could always take out the SuperDrive... which makes it a bit better

[spreadlight]

OK guys,
I hear you clear and loud.

Besides "having it when I need it" and "be glad I got it down the road", what would the extra VRAM do for me, specifically??

[Pierre B.]

Originally posted by spreadlight:

Besides "having it when I need it" and "be glad I got it down the road", what would the extra VRAM do for me, specifically??

As OS X likes to have much RAM available to deploy its power, so it likes much VRAM for its graphics subsytems. More VRAM makes the windowing system run more smoothly under heavy "graphics" load (i.e. when many windows are open). You can see this in Expose, which runs sometimes choppy in Macs with 32 MB VRAM and many windows open, but much smoother on Macs with 64 or more MB, under the same load.

[McFarmer]

Quite a few of Tiger's eye candy features are happier with 128MB VRAM.

Also many of the CoreImage and CoreVideo features like to have 128MB VRAM. Whether this makes a difference depends on whether you intend to use applications that will employ these features. QuickTime, iMovies and iChat (video conferencing) for example do.
The way these are implemented by Apple is that in case you don't have enough VRAM the features will still be there but done in software instead of on the GPU. Which means: slower.

Point is, Tiger and many of the coming apps will feel snappier with 128MB VRAM. Not just games.

But again, if you intend to use your PB just for Word, Excel and web browsing then 64MB is enough.

Also if you intend to upgrade within a year to yet another PowerBook (one with a dual core CPU or G5 (or whatever comes next)) then you should not bother about 128MB VRAM at the moment. 64MB will last you a year. Just not three.

[Scooterboy]

Max out the VRAM. It's worth it. Especially a year or two down the road when most laptops will ship with 128 MB VRAM at least. Already you can buy PC laptops with 256 MB VRAM, Apple shouldn't be too far behind. C'mon Mobility X800, you can fit in a PowerBook!

[spreadlight]

Thanks Pierre and McFarmer for your specifics as to where extra VRAM is likely to help.