[krx]

Hi, I'm new here so my apologies if this has been addressed recently. I've got a 1 GHz G4 iBook w/256 MB. I want to do a memory upgrade and could use some advise on where to get good deals on quality products. Also, how much memory should I get and is it something I can install myself?
Thanks!

krx

[wataru]

This is addressed just about every day. Please do a search before posting.

The answer you'll find is that pretty much everyone recommends Crucial RAM. I'd add at least 512MB, but 1GB chips have really come down in price lately and you can never have too much RAM.

[krx]

Thanks. A search of recent posts led me to dealram.com. Excluding the generics, 1 GB of RAM will run $119 from Corsair, $133 from Kingston, $139 from Samsung, and $148 from Crucial (buy.com lists it for $135 but is out of stock). Is Crucial worth the extra money or will any of these suffice? I've read mixed opinions...

[CanadaRAM]

Each iBook-compatible RAM will perform exactly the same speed as every other, since the iBook sets the RAM speed, not the module. Whats left is compatibility and quality. The most important thing, whatever brand name, is to purchase from a seller who tests and guarantees compatibility with your model Macintosh, offers a lifetime warranty and a no-cost return if it doesn't work.

Then, as far as brand goes, it's really personal preference. There is no measurable difference between the long term reliability of Micron, Samsung, Infineon, Kingston and Siemens modules that I have seen (I've been at it 17 years now); there are individual defects of course, but no trend of failures. A reputable vendor will offer tested, first-class modules. A cheap vendor will offer seconds or rejects with a higher failure rate, or modules that don't have the SPD parameters correctly set for Macs. So: Choose your vendor first, and the brand second.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

[krx]

Alright, I think I'm ready to pull the trigger. Found a Crucial 1GB chip at Newegg.com (specs: 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 266, PC 2100) for $120 - $40 less than Crucial sells it for. Is this just a good deal or is there a catch? Don't know much about this company so any feedback on them would be helpful.

[wataru]

I've never bought Crucial RAM from anyone other than Crucial, so I have no idea. I've bought other things from Newegg with no trouble though.

[krx]

Found a reference to a place called ResellerRatings.com in a prior thread about buying RAM. Apparently, Newegg is a good egg - and you can't beat the price for Crucial RAM.

[CanadaRAM]

Originally Posted by krx

Alright, I think I'm ready to pull the trigger. Found a Crucial 1GB chip at Newegg.com (specs: 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 266, PC 2100) for $120 - $40 less than Crucial sells it for. Is this just a good deal or is there a catch? Don't know much about this company so any feedback on them would be helpful.

And... does NewEgg or Crucial guarantee compatibility of this RAM in your iBook? No.
This is the PC generic PC2100 module from Crucial, it is not the CT368655 which is the (only) one Crucial guarantees compatibility on. So you are assuming the risk (time, trouble and shipping charges) of it not working.

[battez]

Hi I just got a 512meg chip of Crucial ram from ebuyer here in the uk, who were cheaper than crucial themselves. It wasn't specified as MAc Ram, but the specs matched the crucial mac chips exactly - see my post below (battez thread)

However, in retrospect I could have saved a bit of anxiety though as by putting it in I got weird error messages upon re booting. But this turned out to be something else, but the realization that it might have been the RAM (because PC chips*can* be set differently from Macs in their equivalent of firmware), got tme thinking that next time I will buy certified MAC ram. It's only a few quid / dollars more, so just do it, is my advice. My RAM ws immediately recognized and listed the exact model etc, and seems fine still.

[ghporter]

The big thing you get when you go with Crucial is that they stand behind the part they recommend being THE RIGHT PART for your computer, and will make it right if it doesn't work. This is more involved than it sounds, as there were apparently several "transitional" iBook versions that would support some types of RAM but not others (that all still met the basic specification). For example, some iBooks will support SODIMMs with "high density chips" while others-supposedly of the same model-won't.

I'm also unclear on exactly when the transition to iBooks supporting 1GB SODIMMs happened, but it looks like it wasn't a straightforward switch. Contrast that to the situation where you order a part from Crucial and they think it will work--odds are they're right. Is that worth the extra money? It's up to you. I've fixed far too many computers in my day to want to roll dice when I buy something for my own computer, so the extra cost of going with Crucial (or Kingston, for that matter) is worth the fact that I don't have to worry about whether it will work or not.

[krx]

Originally Posted by CanadaRAM

This is the PC generic PC2100 module from Crucial, it is not the CT368655 which is the (only) one Crucial guarantees compatibility on.

Thanks for the heads up. I didn't realize Crucial made a generic. As they say, if it sounds too good to be true...

I find this whole RAM business extremely confusing. There are dozens of RAM options (say, on dealram.com or ramseeker.com) that specifically claim to be "compatible" with my pariticular iBook. Some of these options are significantly cheaper than what Crucial or Kingston offers. But it isn't clear which of them, if any, are "tested and guaranteed" to work in my iBook - which seems to be the critical difference.

I'm guessing that if I checked the prices for RAM from other major brands (Samsung, Infineon, Kingston and Siemens), RAM that was "tested and guaranteed" to work on my iBook, I wouldn't find a better price than what Crucial offers. I know Kingston was a lot higher.

Maybe that's why everybody keeps recommending them.

[Forbodium]

In the past, I've been steered towards www.Datamem.com for memory that's garaunteed to work with Macs. I think I've ordered them several different times for various hardware upgrades that I did myself (RAM, and other things that I can't remember off hand). The experiencees were good. Counter to that, I've also ordered cheap RAM from the low-ballers and had trouble with it (one time it was even shipped without the anti-static wrapping). I'll probably use Datamem again. New iBook memory from Datamem.

[krx]

What about Techworks product? Is it in the same ballpark as Crucial and Kingston? A search here turned up some positive reviews of their RAM. And the guy at my local Apple service center swears by it - in fact, it's all they stock. They sell the same 512 MB chip for $85 that the Techworks site has for $105 (model no. 12502-0001. But OWC has the very same Techworks chip for $59. (The 512 MB chip from Crucial is $140.)

Never one to learn too promptly from my mistakes, I ask again, is this just a good deal or is there a catch?

[Krusty]

This Crucial RAM from Newegg looks like it would work for only $116 + $4 to ship (plus one of the reviewers says it works with his iBook). Checking the model number listed at newegg and linking to Crucial's site, you can see that this RAM lists for $160 at Crucial.com (just like the "guaranteed compatible" iBook memory) AND has the exact same spec list as the guaranteed compatible memory.

DDR PC2700 • CL=2.5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR333 • 2.5V • 128Meg x 64

This pretty much convinces me that this RAM will work in the new iBooks ... Crucial for the price of generic. I'm planning to order it in a day or two. I'll report how it works once I get it.

[Lucky8]

Is CS=3 better than CS=2.5?
Anyone got a link to a step-by-step instructions on how to install RAM in iBook?

[Krusty]

No, Cas Latency 3 is slower than 2.5. Basically, lower numbers are better for that spec and 2.5 is recommended for the current iBook. Step-by-step instructions can be found in the User's guide you got with your new iBook beginning around page 54.

[theTechyDork]

Not to highjack this thread, but can someone please tell me if this will work in my new iBook G4 12" 1.33Ghz? Thanks a bunch!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820221205

[CanadaRAM]

Originally Posted by Krusty

This Crucial RAM from Newegg looks like it would work for only $116 + $4 to ship (plus one of the reviewers says it works with his iBook). Checking the model number listed at newegg and linking to Crucial's site, you can see that this RAM lists for $160 at Crucial.com (just like the "guaranteed compatible" iBook memory) AND has the exact same spec list as the guaranteed compatible memory.
DDR PC2700 • CL=2.5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR333 • 2.5V • 128Meg x 64
This pretty much convinces me that this RAM will work in the new iBooks ... Crucial for the price of generic. I'm planning to order it in a day or two. I'll report how it works once I get it.

What leads you to believe that DDR PC2700 • CL=2.5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR333 • 2.5V • 128Meg x 64 is the only specification that matters for compatibility?

Re: CAS Latency - in Macs, the CAS Latency of a module is not relevant. Apple states that the Macs support a range of latencies, and there is no evidence that the logic boards are able to change their timing to take advantage of RAM with lower latencies (as you can do with fiddling BIOS settings on some Intel machines).

Not to highjack this thread, but can someone please tell me if this will work in my new iBook G4 12" 1.33Ghz? Thanks a bunch!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820221205 .

Nobody can tell you if it will work or not in your specific machine, least of all NewEgg or GigaRAM. It is the correct physical size, however compatibility won't be known until you test it. If you are a Mac adept, you could give it a try. If you are a new Mac owner though, I would rather go to an established Mac memory vendor who guarantees compatibility.


Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

[theTechyDork]

Ok, thanks, Trevor.

[ghporter]

Trevor, while a Mac may be able to support "a range of latencies," mixing them is a bad idea. If you're ADDING RAM, you need to match what's already there or you can cause timing issues-or at least slow memory access.

[CanadaRAM]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Trevor, while a Mac may be able to support "a range of latencies," mixing them is a bad idea. If you're ADDING RAM, you need to match what's already there or you can cause timing issues-or at least slow memory access.

If you have some documentation, I would like to see it. As far as I know, the Mac logic board sets both the speed of the memory buss and the latency, not the RAM module. As with the speed, latency is a measure of how fast the RAM module is able to respond. A properly programmed module will run at the latency the memory controller sets, even if that is slower than the rated speed (also, you'll see that most 1 Gb PC3200 CL3 modules will run CL2.5 when running at PC2700 speeds). But if you have found docs to show otherwise, I'll gladly revise my opinion.

There was a problem years back when a Firmware upgrade set Macs to CL3 on PC100/133 RAM. The modules that were improperly programmed to be only CL2 failed to 'downgrade' and stopped working. In that case, CL3 was actually faster than CL2, because CL2 had more waiting cycles when syncing with the other operations of the CPU.

I guess I have 2 questions:
1) Do Apple motherboards dynamically adjust CAS Latency timings based on the capabilities of the installed modules (as reported by the SPD values) -- if so this would be the equivalent of Intel's PAT technology inthe 975 chipset and it would be a reason to buy enhanced latency modules.
Not clear that even so, performance would be impacted by mixed RAM other than the motherboard running at the slowest common latency.

2) Do CL2.5 modules suffer degraded performance in a machine if run at CL3.0? (other than the obvious 2.5 vs 3 difference, if the motherboard were capable of 2.5)
And if so, is that a result of improper SPD programming or something else?

[Krusty]

Originally Posted by CanadaRAM

What leads you to believe that DDR PC2700 • CL=2.5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR333 • 2.5V • 128Meg x 64 is the only specification that matters for compatibility?

What other relevant specs are there ?

Originally Posted by CanadaRAM

Nobody can tell you if it will work or not in your specific machine,<snip>

Attention iBook owners. The RAM I linked above works like a champ in the new iBook. Branded Crucial RAM for the price of generic. Go for it !!

[teerexx52]

I have a new ibook with 512mb. Will an additional 512 or 1GB make a difference is everyday use of apps like ms word and surfing the net? Thanks

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by CanadaRAM

If you have some documentation, I would like to see it. As far as I know, the Mac logic board sets both the speed of the memory buss and the latency, not the RAM module. As with the speed, latency is a measure of how fast the RAM module is able to respond. A properly programmed module will run at the latency the memory controller sets, even if that is slower than the rated speed (also, you'll see that most 1 Gb PC3200 CL3 modules will run CL2.5 when running at PC2700 speeds). But if you have found docs to show otherwise, I'll gladly revise my opinion.

Running with mixed latency RAM will make the controller have to choose, and it will choose the slower rate. Some RAM can run at manually adjusted latencies different from its rating, but that's taking a risk that the RAM will be able to work outside its manufacturer ratings. The controller will take the conservative, "it will work at the slower rate" path every time. Note that Apple uses industry standard parts, and that is how ALL of them work. If the controller sets the bus automatically it WILL select the slowest speed and latency of the RAM present to make sure it all works.

[jam8]

Originally Posted by teerexx52

I have a new ibook with 512mb. Will an additional 512 or 1GB make a difference is everyday use of apps like ms word and surfing the net? Thanks

Everyday apps won't see a tremendous difference, especially not web browsing. You'll notice a difference in programs that use a lot of ram; like video, photo, and audio intensive applications

[Kenneth]

Previously, I bought iBook and PowerBook RAM from transintl.com. I didn't notice any problem.

[wardseward]

I ordered this ram from NewEgg and have been using it for over a week with no problems. Works great.

Originally Posted by krx

Alright, I think I'm ready to pull the trigger. Found a Crucial 1GB chip at Newegg.com (specs: 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 266, PC 2100) for $120 - $40 less than Crucial sells it for. Is this just a good deal or is there a catch? Don't know much about this company so any feedback on them would be helpful.