Installing new ram in Macbook

Well I just spent a lot more time that I had anticipated installing two 1gb memory chips in my new Macbook. The amount of pressure I had to use to get these things seated was more than I was comfortable with. Has anyone else upgraded their memory yet? All is well... so far.

Pretty snappy with 2gb :P

Btw, I used Gigaram from newegg.

Good to here. I'd be more inclinded to try the patriot ram for a few buck more. Patriot is supposed to be great.

It doesn't matter the ram brand, these macbooks do need an ungodly amount of pressure to seat the ram in the slot! :)

Hi all,
I bought a gig of ram from new egg like Draco and am waiting for it to arrive. Can anyone post instructions on how to install the RAM into the MacBook? Thank you!
iChelle

It tells you how to do it in the user guide. There is also a diagram on the machine when you remove the battery.

Thanks. Sorry, I've had this MacBook for just a day. I haven't had a chance to sift through the box lol.

I have a dual core iMac, bought 2 gigs, and when I installed the chips the first time, the iMac failed to boot. So I installed them again. And again. And reinstalled the RAM that came with the thing, and one of the new chips, blah blah blah.

After all of the possible combos, I came the conclusion the RAM was bad and took it back to where I bought it, The Chip Merchant in San Diego. The tech in the back actually came out when he heard me trying to return the RAM and said you have to use an unusual amount of force to seat them properly.

I took them back home, and tried again, this time really pressing them in there like crazy, all the time scared I was destroying my new iMac.

But he was right. Worked like a charm.

I'm assuming you have to do the same with the MB since the installation procedure--the levers, etc,--look to be exactly the same. I'm getting some RAM for my MB tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it goes.

So how much credence are people paying to this advice to have two RAM chips that are the same size? Would it really matter if you had a gig chip and then left one Apple chip in?

The whole 'paired RAM' thing is because of the integrated graphics. When you have two memory modules that are the same spec and size, the RAM can work at almost double the speed, and since the MB uses system RAM for its graphics, the faster it can access that RAM the better

I am just using the MB for web and the Adobe CS apps. Would it have been a significant boost if I paired the RAM?

Yes, because even if you aren't using graphics intensive apps, the overall system will be slowed down because it is sharing the slower running RAM with graphics

Forgot to mention a good technique that might save some people some trouble is to leave one of the factory installed chips in place so you can see how far in it should go for comparison.

Sad Panda...

To reiterate what others have said, it takes a whole lot of effort to get those RAM sticks in there.

What was worse for me, however, was getting the existing RAM out. I did not have enough faith in the levers, tried to pry one out using a screwdriver, which resulted in a little piece of metal/solder falling off the chip.

http://www.megasad.com/macnn/sadmemory.jpg

I don't know if it's clear, but the bottom one is the one with the solder missing, the top one is the one that is fine. Does anyone know if the RAM will work okay without that bit of solder? I was planning on selling these chips on eBay and it would suck if I killed one of them.

Anyway, when you take the RAM out, simply have faith in the levers; keep pushing them left until the RAM pops all the way out, not just a little bit.

As an aside, the hard drive is actually easier to change than the RAM... When 200GB 7200rpm cost ~£100, I shall upgrade.

The levers are designed to pop the RAM out - my RAM took an extreme amount of force to fit, but the levers pop it out no problem: you should'a used the lever !

I know that now! They just seemed so flimsy, I was afraid they'd snap off if I pushed them any more. Only after the solder came off did I try harder, and now the new RAM and my machine are fine. I guess I'll try and see if the old RAM still works when I get home.

Also, something I just remembered; does anyone know how to test whether or not the RAM is being used in dual-channel mode?

I ask because I assumed, with it working, Front Row would no longer be jerky if you have Picture Booth open... But it still is jerky. Does anyone else have this?

Rosetta is RAM hungry, and the CS apps will have to run under Rosetta, so yeah. If you're using Dreamweaver or Fireworks, too, they run dog slow even with 2 gigs.

sigh. i guess i have to order another stick as one of them is already on its way...

I hear your pain. I have a gig on the way from OWC, but I'll have to RMA it and get 2 gigs for in town today. Everything I've read says a gig is a sketchy amount of RAM for this machine.

Ah what the hell. I'd only waste the money on food and shelter.

i hear ya!
p.s. sorry if this sounds stupid but how is the built-in ram seated? is it 1 512mb stick or 2 256mb sticks?

2 256 sticks.

Sigh...

One reason for that is that the machine's performance suffers if the RAM isn't evenly paired. And I imagine that using two 256MB sticks is a bit cheaper for Apple as well.

Does anyone know how to test whether or not your RAM is running in dual-channel mode?

Okay, so I decided to go with 2 512 Mb sticks from OWC for my BlacBook, and the results are okay. It's certainly better than 512 Mb, but it's not as fast as my iMac. Granted, the iMac will be faster than the MB for other reasons like disk speed, but I would think that the MB would still be right up behind it.

Macintouch.com has a chart showing via CineBench tests that having non-matched pairs may not be such a big deal after all. I might just spring for a 1 Gig stick and see what happens.

The trick to installing laptop RAM is to get it at the right ANGLE in the socket to begin with. You can slowly wiggle it up and down (holding the outside edge, with the contacts in the socket) while applying light pressure-when you find the right angle it will slip in. Push it in ALL THE WAY and then pivot it down. The latches will 1) line up with the notches in the device and 2) hold the device very securely.

megasad, the "piece of metal/solder" you're talking about-is it the rectangular thing at the very top of the device? (It's not terribly obvious in the picture. If so that's probably a capacitor or (less likely) a resistor. If that part is missing, that's BAD. Sorry.

Good advice, gh, except that's not how it works for the MBs :)

The RAM slots are positioned just like the slots on the iMacs, with levers and all. You have to slide them in straight into the slots, and it takes a good push to get them in there.

More surprises for me! With standard desktop sockets there is some wiggling to do just to make sure you get the slots and tabs aligned. And even brand new sockets shouldn't be so tight that you'd be afraid of breaking something. Correction-they shouldn't be so tight that someone with experience with similar sockets should be worried.

The MacBook still uses laptop-sized RAM, doesn't it?

Sure does, but again, so does the iMac. Weird in a way, but I was able to sell some unused RAM to a friend who had a MacBookPro, so it's all good.

And no, you shouldn't have to break the RAM to get it in or out, but it does take more pressure than you would think.

This may be somewhat off topic, but I don't think it deserves its own topic.

Does installing RAM on your own void Apple's warranty?

Of course it doesn't.

OWC is great, but you probably got fleeced on the price - you probably could have saved $30-$50 by grabbing it at NewEgg. I picked up soe great Gigaram 1GB chips (x2) for about $172. =D

i personally order from newegg to save money on ram, but one of my friends is a ram snob.

the justification of ordering from owc is that they are a mac-centric vendor. they are all about apple products. they wouldn't deal with products that are incompatible or unreliable with apple products.

also, my friend also tells me that macs are much more finicky about ram. (ie - macs will reject ram that works fine with pcs)

i don't know if that last bit is true, but it does make sense to order from a mac-centric vendor.

case in point, on newegg, i find the user reviews invaluable. However, on some items, like hard drive enclosures, many mac users report having bad experiences using a particular model, while noting that it works well with their pc.

Some Macs have indeed been finicky about RAM, but it's been because of the memory controller, not the RAM. Some iBooks were "transitional," and would only work with RAM that was single-sided (or was it double-sided) rather than the other way. There weren't many of them. It's not a "Mac issue," but rather a "small number of iBooks issue." Macs use standard RAM, but you do have to get the RIGHT RAM for your computer-too fast or too slow and you'll have performance issues, and the wrong format just won't fit or work.

You can use Kingston.com or Crucial.com's memory configuration tools to find out what the right part for you is, and then cross check the part Newegg suggests (which is often either Kingston or Crucial) to make sure it's right. Always check before buying, because returns are a pain, even if they go well.

I don't think that's really true. For most non 3D tasks, paired RAM won't help that much.

http://www.barefeats.com/image06/micd-mp.gif

CD/2.0 "M" - paired RAM, Core Duo 1.66
CD/2.0 "U" - unpaired RAM, Core Duo 1.66


http://www.barefeats.com/image06/micd-kak.gif

This is an extreme case I admit, but system memory speed is very important in 3D apps, because as others said, GMA 950 uses system memory.

Yeah, I might have saved a buck or two, but as others have pointed out, OWC is a Mac-centric company, and I have had nothing but excellent experiences with them. They also sponsor www.xlr8yourmac.com, and I want to support that site. And I also could have save $200 by getting a white MB, so you can see where my thinking lies :)

Depending on the cash flow in the next few months, I may take a stab at unmatched pairs, too. I'm not going to be running any big time 3D apps, but I would love the Rosetta apps to move with a bit more steam in their step.

Oh, they're flimsy all right! I busted a lever the other day trying to diag sudden kernel panics. Apple suspects a faulty mother board, and time will tell if Applecare tends to the secondary lever issue while they've got it. And, I applied the pressure at the base, where it is marginally thicker, but that puppy wasn't coming out. Fortunately, that module passed the hardware test, but if it had to come out I'd try a small flat head levered from the sides, although a pair of needle-heads is tempting.

I'll post back when it arrives...

There are (a little) cheaper places to buy RAM from than OWC, but I have never had any problem with anything I have bought from them and the latest 2 Gigs for my MacBook slipped in nicely. The levers and screws that secure the metal strip over the RAM module are made of such a light and shoddy material that they are likely to bend and break from just being handled or used once.

But the tests show two computers equipped with the SAME amount of ram in paired/unpaired ways.

What we're talking about in practical terms is the choice between adding, say, two pairs of 512s vs adding just a single 1GB chip, the costs being about the same.

I'd think 256 + a new 1GB (= 1.256GB) would be faster than two 512s (=1GB), except perhaps on 3D apps.

does that make sense?

And IF that's true, would it matter WHICH slot i put the new 1GB in?

I got 2GB of Patriot from NewEgg yesterday and installed it. The installation was a little more troublesome than I expected, but after getting the RAM properly seated the computer recognized it.

Question:
I ran the quick and more thorough hardware tests, they both passed. Is there anything else to do or can I feel confident that the RAM is fine?

Things seem so much better now... no beach ball, no stuttering dock, etc.

It depends entirely on the applications and even tasks you're using it for. Some are more sensitive to memory capacity (editing large-ish photos) while others are more sensitive to memory bandwidth (games come to mind due to GMA950, but there are others).

It doesn't matter which slot you put the 1GB in.

nice graphs!

Still running 1.25gb and going just fine. And yes, they took a decent amount of pressure to put in the slots..