What is better, 2.0Ghz 2GB Ram or 2.4Ghz 4GB Ram

Hi,

What is better, 2.0Ghz Core2duo 4GB Ram or 2.4Ghz core2duo 2GB Ram?

I would be using vmware heavily

Thanks



Sorry, I have corrected my question.

 

Of course the 2.4 GHz + 4 GB RAM is more powerful than the 2.0 GHz + 2 GB RAM.

VMware Fusion runs fine on 2 GB RAM though, so if not necessary I don't think you should get 2.4 GHz + 4 GB RAM unless its only a bit more expensive/same price.

Answer edited because original question edited: Hmm...its hard to answer. 2.4 GHz is a significant increase over 2.0 GHz (unlike 2.16 vs. 2.0, or 2.2 vs. 2.0), but 4 GB is also significant over 2 GB.

I'd say get the 2.4 GHz now, as it isn't upgradeable, and you can save money later and add in RAM later on.

 

This seems like a trick question.

All things being equal, I don't see any reason to go with a lower clocked CPU and less memory. Of course, they are rarely equal pricewise.

 

are u sure u didnt mean 2.0 ghz and 4gb of ram and 2.4 ghz and 2 gb of ram?

 

Yes, sorry, that is exactly what I meant to say. I have corrected my original post.

 

You should see much better performance with 4 GB of RAM in this situation, since you have to divvy up your RAM when using VMWare of Parallels. As such, with 4 GB total, you can give 2 GB to both OS X and Windows through VMWare.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that's my understanding of the situation.

 

I have to disagree, if upgradability is what you're looking for. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the CPU is soldered and even if it is not, it will be very difficult and costly to upgrade.

Opposite goes to RAM.

 

That's very true if he's looking to upgrade one day - though at least both CPUs he's looking at have 4 MB L2 cache - but since he said he's goin to use VMware extensively, from my understanding of the program, he'll see much better performance with 4 GB of RAM than he would with the 2.4 GHz processor right now. But yes, certainly RAM is easier to upgrade down the road.

 

exactaly jsis. it all depends on whether or not your willing to spend a little more money to get the 4gbs of ram. right now i think it would be around $180 us for 4 gb, but i could be wrong.

but no, the cpu isnt soldered on, but it is the hardest upgrade you can do to a laptop.

 

I also do a lot of dvd encoding, how much faster would encoding DVD's on the 2.4ghz than the 2.00ghz?

 

VMWare Fusion does take a lot of processor power (I dedicated 2 cores to it ) if you let it. On the other hand, splitting RAM to only 1Gb and 1Gb is pushing it a bit as well.

The CPU upgrade is still better though (especially if you do a lot of encoding) - just upgrade the RAM yourself at a future date.

 

Ahh, I didn't know it was a processor-hog as well. Seems the consensus is in - get the 2.4 now and upgrade your RAM later.

 

i would go with the 2.4ghz... for sure... you can always upgrade memory whenever you desire... but processor? that's gonna be hard to change...

 

Taken from http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro-Core-2-Duo/First-Look/87/1/Page-3/First-Look

No sockets to be found.

"For the optimists out there, you can stop hoping now: the processor is soldered onto the logic board."

Slim notebooks does have its compromises.

 

my bad, again. lol thats the second time today. i think i need a nap.

 

I think it's best to go with the 2.4 now. Keep in mind that until you start using Leopard, you won't really be able to fully use 4GB of RAM anyway, as Tiger and earlier versions of OS X only recognize 3GB of RAM seeing as they are 32 bit operating systems. When you switch to Leopard, then you can upgrade to 4GB of RAM and see the difference.