From: Dan Juarez on
On 2010-06-03 17:15:34 -0600, John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> said:

> All I know in my experience it was not enough and I ran nothing but
> Word and Explorer,

And your experience is what matters. Just for the record, my experience
is the same. Though, since I run some heavy duty (read: memory hungry)
business apps in Windows *and* I run *two* instances of Windows XP with
those beefy apps, my 4GB of RAM is not enough for me and my other apps
(OS X apps) to all run simultaneously. I'm upgrading soon to 8GB of
RAM. :-)

But, for you and Word + Explorer, you'll love it (well, as much as you
can having to run Windows) with 4GB of RAM. If I only ran one VM
instead of two, my 4GB would be plenty. I currently give 1GB of RAM to
each VM.

Parallels is way better than VMWare on using your Macs resources.
Running Windows XP on my Mac with Parallels is truly like running just
another app. Parallels is fantastic.

As far as RAM pricing, I found the lowest price for what I need at
Otherworld computing. But, RAM prices can fluctuate, so your mileage
may vary.

Good luck.
--
Dan Juarez
Cedar City, Utah


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From: Dan Juarez on
On 2010-06-03 20:26:05 -0600, John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> said:

> Oh brother dont tell me that! Well regardless here is the model.
>
> Model Name: MacBook
> Model Identifier: MacBook5,2

The MacTracker app says that model can handle 4GB officially from APPLE
but in actuality can take 6GB.

--
Dan Juarez
Cedar City, Utah


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From: David Empson on
Dan Juarez <dan.juarez(a)mac.com> wrote:

> On 2010-06-03 20:26:05 -0600, John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> said:
>
> > Oh brother dont tell me that! Well regardless here is the model.
> >
> > Model Name: MacBook
> > Model Identifier: MacBook5,2
>
> The MacTracker app says that model can handle 4GB officially from APPLE
> but in actuality can take 6GB.

But in order to use 6 GB you will need to buy a 4 GB memory module,
which are still way more than double the price of a 2 GB memory module,
so not cost effective.

--
David Empson
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
From: David Empson on
John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> In article <1jjkaiy.hub1v61wb55s0N%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>,
> dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
>
> > Unfortunately after I upgraded to Snow Leopard, it appears that memory
> > usage has increased enough that VMware Fusion is now triggering virtual
> > memory paging again, but only a small amount which I can live with. At
> > some point in future I'll upgrade to 8 GB RAM but I'll wait until the
> > price gets more reasonable.
>
> Oh brother dont tell me that!

I'm running a fair number of Mac applications at the same time. I
occasionally want to run VMware Fusion alongside them.

The net result is that I get a brief burst of virtual memory swapping
activity when I start up my XP virtual machine, but the system runs fine
after that.

If I wasn't running lots of Mac applications at the same time as VMware
Fusion, 4 GB would be plenty of memory even in Snow Leopard.

Your experience will depend on the memory allocated to your virtual
machine, and the memory required by the Mac applications you want to run
at the same time as the virtual machine.

It also appears that the situation has improved since I upgraded to
VMware Fusion 3. Just tried it now and I had no noticeable slowdown due
to virtual memory paging as the Windows VM started.

> Well regardless here is the model.
>
> Model Name: MacBook
> Model Identifier: MacBook5,2
> Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
> Processor Speed: 2.13 GHz
> Number Of Processors: 1
> Total Number Of Cores: 2
> L2 Cache: 3 MB
> Memory: 2 GB
> Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
> Boot ROM Version: MB52.0088.B06
> SMC Version (system): 1.38f5
> Serial Number (system): 730050AC9GU
> Hardware UUID: 22AE87A5-8DEF-5F07-B328-0A2BABD69F91
> Sudden Motion Sensor:
> State: Enabled

The Model Identifier indicates it is either an Early 2009 or Mid 2009
model (available from January 2009 to October 2009). The CPU speed (2.13
GHz) narrows it down to the Mid 2009 model.

Your serial number shows a manufacturing date in February 2010, and by
looking it up on

http://www.chipmunk.nl/cgi-fast/applemodel.cgi

I see that the "73" prefix means it is a reconditioned model (which
explains the serial number being after that model was discontinued).


That model will take a maximum of 6 GB of memory (using a 4 GB and a 2
GB module), which costs a fair amount more than getting 4 GB total (pair
of 2 GB modules).

There is a very small speed benefit to having a matched pair of memory
(2+2), but a different sort of speed benefit to having more memory in
total, so it is mainly a question of cost.

According to MacTracker, the Mid 2009 MacBook needs PC2-6400 (DDR2-800)
SO-DIMM memory, and OWC agrees.

<http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?sort=pop&model=351&type=Me
mory&TI=5943&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades>

--
David Empson
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
From: Mike Rosenberg on
John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> $100! Oh well I may wait or may buy it cheaper on Ebay. Wait... That may
> be a bad idea, considering some sellers on ebay.

On one hand, since you get to see the ratings sellers have received, why
would you choose to bid on something offered by anyone who hasn't
received 100% positive ratings or very close to it?

On the other hand, why try to save a few bucks and not have any sort of
warranty beyond a guarantee against DOA? RAM from vendors generally has
a lifetime warranty, and I wouldn't buy any that doesn't.

--
Favorite yoga position: Rosh hashavasana, the high holy pose

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