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nickw311 · May 29, 2006, 07:33 AM

I need to upgrade the RAM in my 'Book but it is kind of pricey now. Should I just buy the ram and complain or is it worth waiting a few months for the prices to come down? I would really like to have 2.0GB but that is upwards of $200. Is there a huge difference between 1.0GB and 2.0GB?

Severed Hand of Skywalker · May 29, 2006, 08:36 AM

Buy it from someone other than apple and you'll see how cheap it is today.

mexicali100 · May 29, 2006, 08:42 AM

You can get it as low as $160 for 2 gigs (which is an INCREDIBLE price for sodimms):

http://www.wiredbynature.org/comp/mac/macbook/mods.php

uicandrew · May 29, 2006, 09:55 AM

i don't think people realize that they don't HAVE to get the same speed of memory that comes with the macbook.

all the macbook needs is ddr2 memory. It can take the slightly slower (but considerably cheaper) ram that the last powerbooks used. I am using my old powerbook ram in my intel imac, and it works nicely. and i paid $60 for 1gb (after a mail in rebate) for cosair ram.

there are many brands of ram, for varying amounts of price. I would personally stick to name brands you trust or have used before and not deviate from it. it's not worth the hassle trying to return ram or having system crashes due to faulty ram.

i personally trust corsair, kingston, and to a lesser extent, pny. but this is just my opinion.

my basic point is: you don't need to blindly follow the crowd. you can get slightly slower ram and save money instead of paying the highway robbery prices of the fastest ram right now.

Hi I'm Ben · May 29, 2006, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by uicandrew

things about ram.

Or you could spend the extra $40 (20 more a stick) and buy the correct speed of RAM. Why buy a machine for $1100-2000 and get cheap on the performance parts?

uicandrew · May 29, 2006, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by Hi I'm Ben

Or you could spend the extra $40 (20 more a stick) and buy the correct speed of RAM. Why buy a machine for $1100-2000 and get cheap on the performance parts?

it's more about not wasting money. i already had a stick of ram lying around, and i don't like people trying to "up-sell" something as if it was the only option.

almost analagous to being told that you have to buy high octane fuel for a car, while completely ignoring the fact that a car will run just as well with cheaper lower octane fuel. Yes, there is a slight decrease in performance, but will you notice it at all?

jokell82 · May 29, 2006, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by uicandrew

it's more about not wasting money. i already had a stick of ram lying around, and i don't like people trying to "up-sell" something as if it was the only option.

almost analagous to being told that you have to buy high octane fuel for a car, while completely ignoring the fact that a car will run just as well with cheaper lower octane fuel. Yes, there is a slight decrease in performance, but will you notice it at all?

With the integrated graphics, it is quite possible that you can see a difference.

powerbook867 · May 29, 2006, 08:54 PM

I think it all depends on what you are doing with the machine. Seems like a lot of people are maxing out the ram to two gig as soon as they purchase the machine (I have mine on order from new egg).

I'm pretty sure your Macbook will run with just one simm, so why not buy one now and if you are happy with the performance let it be. If you are beating it up hard with a lot of apps running at once and start noticing the beach ball, pop another one in later on...

It all depends on how hard you are working the box..

andgarden · May 29, 2006, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by powerbook867

I think it all depends on what you are doing with the machine. Seems like a lot of people are maxing out the ram to two gig as soon as they purchase the machine (I have mine on order from new egg).

I'm pretty sure your Macbook will run with just one simm, so why not buy one now and if you are happy with the performance let it be. If you are beating it up hard with a lot of apps running at once and start noticing the beach ball, pop another one in later on...

It all depends on how hard you are working the box..

Shove a SIMM in your new mac, and you have to replace the motherboard.

jchen · May 29, 2006, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by uicandrew

i don't think people realize that they don't HAVE to get the same speed of memory that comes with the macbook.

all the macbook needs is ddr2 memory. It can take the slightly slower (but considerably cheaper) ram that the last powerbooks used. I am using my old powerbook ram in my intel imac, and it works nicely. and i paid $60 for 1gb (after a mail in rebate) for cosair ram.

there are many brands of ram, for varying amounts of price. I would personally stick to name brands you trust or have used before and not deviate from it. it's not worth the hassle trying to return ram or having system crashes due to faulty ram.

i personally trust corsair, kingston, and to a lesser extent, pny. but this is just my opinion.

my basic point is: you don't need to blindly follow the crowd. you can get slightly slower ram and save money instead of paying the highway robbery prices of the fastest ram right now.

The Macbooks have been reported to be particular when it comes to RAM so that using slower PC4200 DIMMs may not even work or will cause errors. In any case, it would be advantageous to purchase PC5300 simply for longevity - you know for a fact that the Macbook won't be able to utilize anything faster than PC5300.

unix · May 30, 2006, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by jchen

The Macbooks have been reported to be particular when it comes to RAM so that using slower PC4200 DIMMs may not even work or will cause errors. In any case, it would be advantageous to purchase PC5300 simply for longevity - you know for a fact that the Macbook won't be able to utilize anything faster than PC5300.

am currenty running my macbook with 1 GB of pc-4200 ddr2 ram...works like a beauty...i c no difference in performance....my thinkpad tho seems to have bcum real fast with the pc-5300 memory! works well for me...

Neo.cmg · May 30, 2006, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by powerbook867

I think it all depends on what you are doing with the machine. Seems like a lot of people are maxing out the ram to two gig as soon as they purchase the machine (I have mine on order from new egg).

I'm pretty sure your Macbook will run with just one simm, so why not buy one now and if you are happy with the performance let it be. If you are beating it up hard with a lot of apps running at once and start noticing the beach ball, pop another one in later on...

It all depends on how hard you are working the box..

The MacBooks can take and recognize 4GB of RAM via 2-2GB DIMM modules. It's just that the price for 2GB DIMMs makes this unreasonable to do so at the moment. By the way, both of my thumbs are still numb from installing the RAM upgrades from last Saturday. Talk about difficulties in seating that stuff...