Mac OS® X Leopard™ All‐in‐One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Add RAM, Hard Drive Space, and Stir

In This Chapter

• Understanding the advantages of extra RAM

• Shopping for a RAM upgrade

• Choosing between internal and external hard drives

• Determining your hard drive needs

• Shopping for a new hard drive

• Installing your upgrades

Most Macintosh owners will make two upgrades — adding more memory (RAM) and additional hard drive space — during the lifetime of their computers. These two improvements have the greatest effect on the overall performance of Mac OS X. By adding RAM and additional hard drive space, you not only make more elbow room for your applications and documents, but everything runs faster: Think of the Six Million Dollar Man, only a heck of a lot cheaper to operate (and no strange noises accompanying your every move).

In this chapter, I steer you around the hidden potholes along the way for those who aren't well versed in selecting memory modules or weighing the advantages of different types of hard drives. However, if you buy the wrong piece of hardware, remember that using a hammer to make it fit is not a workable option.

Adding Memory: Reasons for More RAM

Of all the possible upgrades that you can make to your Macintosh, adding more random access memory (RAM) is the single most cost‐effective method of increasing the performance of Mac OS X. (In fact, your machine will likely run faster with more memory than a reasonably faster processor!) Here is exactly what Mac OS X uses available RAM for:

• Applications: Naturally, Mac OS X needs ...