How much RAM for iMac 17"?

[bmkiely]

Hello all,
I am about to purchase an iMac and am not sure if I need to go to 1GB of RAM or not.

I will be doing some light-duty photo and movie editing, but I'm not sure if 512k will be enough...

Any advice?

Brandon

[holbox]

YEP! Get the 1GB of RAM.

More if you can afford it .......

[faramirtook]

As much as you can afford; however, Apple's RAM is very expensive and installing RAM is very easy, so I wouldn't recommend buying Apple's RAM.

You need DDR2 PC2-4200 RAM. Search for that at Newegg.com. 1 gigabyte is a good amount, but if you can afford a 2 gig stick, it'll just make your iMac faster. Kingmax, Corsair, gigaram, and crucial are good brands, but there's a few more that I don't know of. The new iMacs only take one stick of RAM, so don't buy doubles.

Here's (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=GO&Range=1&Category=17&InnerCata=147&bop=and&Range=1,%201,%201,%201&description=DDR2+PC2%2D4200&Order=description) a link to a search for the type of RAM you need. You may want to ask here before you buy, because Luca will be here soon enough and he's the RAM guru in these parts.

[AWR]

If I was you I'd purchase a 1 GB stick of 3rd party RAM to add to the 512 MB that comes with the computer to bring it up to 1.5 GB. Playing around with digital photos and video is fun, especially when it's fast.

As said above, the third party memory is easy to put in by yourself (I did it, which makes the theory a law :) ). Crucial is a well regarded supplier and has a handy selector that ensures that you are buying the RIGHT STUFF for your computer.

Have fun.

[bmkiely]

Thanks for your reply. I checked out the link, and noticed that each of the brands you recommended had 2 versions of 1GB memory sticks - one that was close to $100, and another that was closer to $150 - do you know what the difference would be?

Thanks again,
Brandon

[AWR]

About 50 bucks. ;)

Can you be more specific: names, specs, etc...

[AWR]

If you're looking at Crucial, it looks like this is the one (http://www.crucial.com/store/MPartspecs.Asp?mtbpoid=39AFE4ACA5CA7304&WSMD=iMac+%28G5%2D1%2E9GHz%2C+17%2Dinch%29+DDR2&WSPN=CT477872)

Product no. CT477872

It matches exactly the specs of the 17" iMac G5. (http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html#store)

This other one that came up at Crucial is PC2-5300, speed 667 (http://www.crucial.com/store/MPartspecs.Asp?mtbpoid=F65363ADA5CA7304&WSMD=iMac+%28G5%2D1%2E9GHz%2C+17%2Dinch%29+DDR2&WSPN=CT477873), which might work as well (but don't take that from me ( :D ), but it doesn't match the 533 PC2-4200 specs of the 512 MB that comes with the iMac.