As far as RAM is concerned, your best bet is to max the machine out - pull the 256MB PC-2700 DDR333 SODIMM that's in there now, and replace it with a 1GB SODIMM for 1.25GB total.
With laptops, which usually only have one or two user-replaceable RAM modules, the financially smart move is always to put in as much RAM as the computer is capable of addressing, as long as you can afford it. That way, you eliminate RAM upgrades as an issue down the road, since you've already done all you can.
Apple's published maximum RAM specs reflect the RAM that was commercially available at the time the system was built (and the RAM Apple had to sell you). They usually don't reflect whether Macs were able to use higher-density sticks available after the system was released. A better source for maximum RAM figures is MacTracker, a donationware database of the hardware specifics of every device Apple's ever made:
[http://mactracker.ca/|Mactracker]
You'll want to max out the RAM before installing 10.5, because Leopard's RAM demands are much greater than Tiger (10.4). A lot of things are going to slow down; RAM is one way to mitigate that speed hit. If you're planning on using this machine for a while, you might want to look around for a 7200 RPM ATA/100 laptop drive as well; the speed boost over the stock 4200 RPM and 5400 RPM drives is substantial. I don't think anyone's still making 7200 ATA notebook drives; look for Seagate's 7200.1 series and Hitachi's 7K100 series.
As far as RAM is concerned, your best bet is to max the machine out - pull the 256MB PC-2700 DDR333 SODIMM that's in there now, and replace it with a 1GB SODIMM for 1.25GB total.
With laptops, which usually only have one or two user-replaceable RAM modules, the financially smart move is always to put in as much RAM as the computer is capable of addressing, as long as you can afford it. That way, you eliminate RAM upgrades as an issue down the road, since you've already done all you can.
Apple's published maximum RAM specs reflect the RAM that was commercially available at the time the system was built (and the RAM Apple had to sell you). They usually don't reflect whether Macs were able to use higher-density sticks available after the system was released. A better source for maximum RAM figures is MacTracker, a donationware database of the hardware specifics of every device Apple's ever made:
[http://mactracker.ca/|Mactracker]
You'll want to max out the RAM before installing 10.5, because Leopard's RAM demands are much greater than Tiger (10.4). A lot of things are going to slow down; RAM is one way to mitigate that speed hit. If you're planning on using this machine for a while, you might want to look around for a 7200 RPM ATA/100 laptop drive as well; the speed boost over the stock 4200 RPM and 5400 RPM drives is substantial. I don't think anyone's still making 7200 ATA notebook drives; look for Seagate's 7200.1 series and Hitachi's 7K100 series.