[fireloss]

Has anyone tried to put in two 4GB SODIMM making it 8GB? I read that the 965 Mobile Express chipset is supposed to support up to 8GB but Apple says it's 4GB.

Please share your thoughts and experiences here!

[adamfishercox]

Well, I do know that APple says that the Mac Pro can only address 16 GB, when in fact they can at least take 32 GB. When the Mac Pro was released there weren't 4 GB chips, so Apple didn't think of an 8x4GB config.

Don't know if it applies with a MacBook.

[Simon]

The chipset Apple's using (Mobile Intel PM965 Express) only accepts a maximum of 4 GB. Intel's tech specs confirm that.

Apart form that, it's close to impossible to find 4GB SO-DIMMs. Most of the "4GB SO-DIMMs" are actually two 2GB SO-DIMMs being sold together as a "4GB kit".

[fireloss]

According to Intel:
http://www.intel.com/business/casest...ncepts_dcs.pdf

-Supports 8GB of Memory
The Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset Family supports a main memory size up to 8GB.
-36-Bit FSB enables full 4GB memory addressability and capability to scale up to 8GB memory (pending SODIMM module validation)

So, what do you think?

[Simon]

The MBP (as every other Mac) isn't Centrino. It's also not Centrino Pro.

As I already said, it uses a vanilla PM965 chipset. The max RAM capacity is 4GB.

[fireloss]

It is definitely Centrino:

Centrino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Simon]

No, it is definitely not. And that very link you posted also tells you why (hint: Kedron). Anybody else here who knows what they're talking about will confirm that. As ghporter did in this other thread on a very similar topic.

Hasn't it occurred to you that there is no Centrino sticker on your MBP or on its box?
Hasn't it occurred to you that although Centrino requires an Intel WiFi adapter your MBP has one from Atheros?

Here's a TidBITS article that should help you get a clue about why Macs aren't (and in the past never have been) Centrino.

[mduell]

There's no change to the 965 mobile MCH when you complete the Centrino platform... I wonder if it's a mistake case study (since 965 desktop MCH does support 8GB as 4x2GB) or just that they haven't added it to the 965 mobile spec since there aren't any 4GB modules out yet.

[ghporter]

It is not a Centrino platform because the MBP does NOT have a Santa Rosa chipset. It lacks the required Intel WiFi component, though it does use the Crestline chips.

[fireloss]

But the chip should determine how much RAM it can take. That has nothing to do with the WIFI card!

[Simon]

Originally Posted by fireloss 

But the chip should determine how much RAM it can take. That has nothing to do with the WIFI card!

Yes, and the chipset is Crestline. And Intel clearly points out that the current Crestline implementation (Mobile Express PM965) supports up to 4GB. There is no mentioning of 8GB RAM with this mobile chipset. At least not in its current implementation.

[tinkered]

I duct taped 3 GB to the case of my MBP. Now it has 6 GB total and runs the interweb fastester!