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TheGreatButcher · Mar 21, 2001, 01:53 AM

I bought a 256 MB RAM module for my PowerBook G4 and it works fine and is even 2-2-2. I got it for a little under $100. Check the Apple Store and a 256 MB RAM module for the Ti is $600! (and it's probably 3-2-2 speed code like what shipped with my laptop) Can someone explain to me why Apple is trying to rip people off when it comes to memory prices?

tooki · Mar 21, 2001, 02:41 AM

This actually belongs in the Peripherals forum, since it's not really a machine-specific question. But I wanna answer it so I declare that it shall stay here! Anyway:

Nobody knows.

Actually, it's probably that Apple knows that most institutions prefer to buy finished products, rather than those that require fiddling before they can be put in users' hands, and that those customers don't look at the price tag as much. Apple isn't the only company that overcharges that way -- Dell and Gateway both overcharge for RAM, too, albeit not as much as Apple.

tooki

Dan Szwarc · Mar 21, 2001, 08:19 AM

It's simple. Major manufacturers like Apple and Gateway but their at certain prices. They don't wish to adjust the price every day to compensate for the fluctuations in Ram prices. They pad the prices so that a very large safety margin exist.

Plus, it's easier to make a 50% profit on a $100 item than it is on a $2500 item.

Think of it as the popcorn and soda of the computer industry: Movie theaters make 50% of their profits, not from ticket sales, but from concessions.

Is it a ripoff if a consumer is not educated to shop for the best price? No, it's capitalism! God bless America!

jack daddy · Mar 21, 2001, 08:34 AM

actually.......it's not that big of a ripoff

A lot of people just plain like to pay more because they think that the product is better. That is why Crucial Ram and etc is regarded so highly. They charge 239 (and my co-workers think it is cheap, but they swear by it) for a 256 module. I also believe that misha the moderator from peripherals also buys ram from them, and misha knows all about the different ram stores, but prefers to go with the nice stuff.

i bought my memory from ramjet (256 for 139) because they were real nice and i got exactly what i paid for in terms of the product(my ram is perfect) customer service (guy answered everything knowledgeably) and delivery (received in 2 days exactly when he said it would, fedex and packed extra and overly secure)by the way they say they get their ram from Micron. that's what they told me anyway. (they label it as their own though)

i was thinking about coast memory but they just raised it to 90 at the time aand i said to myself...i dont even have time to send it back if it comes screwed up..so i sprung for the slightly more expensive stuff

danbrew · Mar 21, 2001, 08:58 AM

The trick is an educated consumer -- I paid $80 for a 256m module from MemoryToGo. Everybody screams about the poor service there, and while I haven't experienced it, I can understand their comments. My position was that I wasn't buying the service, I was buying cut-rate ram. Worst case, it doesn't work (or fails) -- I return it. If I get any grief from them, I call Amex and don't pay for any of it.

I'm up to a 1.25 gigs from MTG with NO problems.

I am confused as to why Apple insists on shipping their new machines (Ti & Cube for sure) with 3-2-2 memory.

danbrew :->

bighead · Mar 21, 2001, 11:18 AM

I consider myself knowledgeable with these matters, but I still don't know what the 2-2-2 or 3-2-2 numbers mean with regards to memory.

All I know is that my Pismo came with 128 MB of 3-2-2 and I added a 512 MB card that the Apple system Profiler says is 2-2-2

heydt · Mar 21, 2001, 02:30 PM

Let me preface by saying I don't jack about sh;t, but I heard it put this way once:

Apple has locked themselves into purchasing their RAM from a main source at a set price.
This happened more than a year ago, and will last perhaps another year or so.

RAM was not so cheap a year ago, and well, a contract is a contract.
Apple is NOT making such a killing on the RAM.

t_hah · Mar 22, 2001, 10:12 PM

My TiBook came with 2-2-2 Ram module from Apple.
They might be actually listening to customers...now I just wish they fixed this annoying battery problem with the Ti.

Kyosho88 · Mar 22, 2001, 10:34 PM

I bought my 256mb memory from Coast Memory for my TiPB 400 for $79 and the service was great. www.Ramjet.com charge $139 for the 256mb. I'm just waiting for the 512mb to come out in a few months.

Richard Pinneau · Mar 23, 2001, 01:52 AM

Maybe we should be PLEASED that apple sells overpriced ram to the deeppockets, as long as the rest of us have the option to buy a stripped-down unit: Let them keep their profit margin up at the expense of those that don't have to look at the price tag.