3gb of ram aren't enough everyday tasks at any sane resolution. That we still don't have 1200 ppi desktop monitors is as stupid as using black and white screens in 2000.
I am not an expert in book printing from the 1800s. That being said, I don't think they had tolerances anywhere near 1200ppi. You'd need extremely smooth paper with almost no grain for that level of resolution to be possible at all, and you would need to distribute the ink so that it did not smear or bleed at all. Older books I've seen don't seem to possess those qualities.