Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

dale · Apr 26, 2006, 05:33 AM

My wife and I use our new iMac a lot, and are constantly switching users. Running MS office and iMovie is causing the thing to slow own. A lot!

I thought I would check out the memory prices a few weeks ago and noticed that apple sold 1GB at £210 and crucial sold the same spec memory at £130. I went online today to order, and the price has now dropped again!!

Crucial UK - 1GB £99 (inc vat)
Crucial US - 1GB $135
Apple UK - 1GB £210 (inc vat)

Is this memory cheaper for a reason? Is it poor quality, and should be avoided?

Also, if it is any good, are the prices likely to keep dropping (i.e should I hold out a couple of weeks or so).

Many thanks in advance.

harrisjamieh · Apr 26, 2006, 10:58 AM

I bought 1 GB of RAM for my Intel iMac for £69 inc VAT, and it works perfectly. Its Transcend RAM, FYI. And no, the memory will not be lower quality.

Timetheus · Apr 26, 2006, 11:40 AM

Crucial is (or at least was) actually an Apple supplier, so reall the RAM Apple is the same as the RAM on Crucial, Apple just charges WAY to much for RAM. You also might want to check Newegg.com, it's actually under notebook memory in the hardware section. You're looking for DDR2-5200 SODIMM at 667 mhz. It's down under $100 US here (for some lesser brands like Gigaram, Transcend, etc - just be sure to read the user reviews).

dale · Apr 26, 2006, 03:52 PM

Dohh!!!!

I have bought already. Thanks for the advice everyone, I went with Crucial in the end. the 1GB stick will treble the memory we have in the iMac (currently running on standard 512Mb). I read around and I only got a warm feeling about crucial. its worth the £30 to guarantee it will work.

I hope I get the memory in advance of the weekend, as I am showing the iMac to the parents in law. They have never seen a Mac before, so I am hoping it flies.

Having spent 2 days a couple of weekends ago, trying to work out how to connect a DV camera up to a PC laptop, I'm hoping that they will be impressed at how easily the iMac can convert mini DV holiday footage into a chaptered DVD (hopefully in around a couple of hours).

dale · Apr 28, 2006, 08:43 AM

I now have 1.5GB in the iMac. What a difference it makes!!

I read that if the two memory banks have the same memory inserted, you can get an aditional improvement! Can anyone confirm if this makes a difference in real terms.

mduell · Apr 28, 2006, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by dale

I now have 1.5GB in the iMac. What a difference it makes!!

I read that if the two memory banks have the same memory inserted, you can get an aditional improvement! Can anyone confirm if this makes a difference in real terms.

It is true with the older chipsets like the G5s use, but Intel has implemented asymmetric dual channel so you get the same performance boost with two unmatched sticks and you do with two matched sticks. As far as how big the boost is from dual channel, it depends what you do.

dale · May 1, 2006, 05:23 PM

The in-laws are blown away with OSX and the iMac. They will replace their 18 month old Windows XP PC laptop with a Mac!! I would have been happy with "Wow" but I guess this move is compelling enough!!