It’s amazing how cheap RAM is now. I just bought two 2 GB memory modules from Other World Computing for $120, and, mixing and matching the new modules with the two 1 GB modules that were already in the iMac, boosted both the iMac and the new MacBook up to 3 GB. (Between what came out of the iMac and the MacBook, I now have four 512 MB unused modules hanging around the house.)

I noticed that some of the Leopard animations are less-than-snappy on the MacBook (for example, when I open up the Applications stack in grid view, it stutters a couple times during the animation). I was hopeful that maybe the extra memory would make a difference, but no such luck, so apparently that’s just a result of the MacBook’s on-board video. Too bad. (Kind of strange that Apple would include animations that don’t look perfect on its state-of-the-art shipping machines, though. This MacBook came with Leopard pre-installed.) Exposé and some of the other cool animations work great; so far, it’s only the stacks grid view that seems to hesitate.

I’d upgraded the RAM on the iMac before, but this was my first time opening the RAM access door on a MacBook (come to think of it, it was the first time I’d even opened the battery compartment). It was easy. The video provided by OWC also was helpful (and I didn’t realize that it’d be that easy to replace the hard drive in the MacBook, if I someday desire).

Thanks OWC! This is the second time I’ve bought memory from them, and they’re two for two. The prices are great. I highly recommend them to anybody looking for Mac memory.

From Walt Mossberg’s review of the Gateway One in today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required):

At the high end, the $1,799 Gateway One has a much smaller screen than the comparably priced iMac, which sports a huge 24-inch display with much better resolution for the same price. The $1,799 iMac also has a faster processor. All the iMacs come with a better operating system and better bundled multimedia software.

My emphasis. Ouch. He also gets in a dig at all the bloatware trial crap installed on the Gateway. His conclusion: “The Gateway One may appeal to style-conscious Windows users, but I think the iMac remains the best consumer desktop on the market.”