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selowitch · 11:50 AM

Does anybody have experience with these great-big memory chips for the iBook such as this place that exceed Apple's stated 640MB RAM limit?

Does this memory really work as efficiently at those RAM levels as it does when the amount of RAM is within Apple's specifications?

EDIT: This thread pertains to the previous generation of iBooks. Obviously, the new models support the higher levels of RAM, no problem.

gigglebyte · Jan 26, 2004, 08:06 PM

I don't believe you would be able to cram a 1Gig SO-DIMM in these and have it be recognized...it MIGHT work but since we never tested with that much RAM who knows...if you are looking at the G4 version it does run DDR RAM so it SHOULD take a 1Gig chip but I know that I personaly would not want to try it and have it fail...if i were made out of money that would be a differenet issue

tmjf_sifu · Jan 26, 2004, 11:18 PM

Originally posted by gigglebyte:
I don't believe you would be able to cram a 1Gig SO-DIMM in these and have it be recognized...it MIGHT work but since we never tested with that much RAM who knows...if you are looking at the G4 version it does run DDR RAM so it SHOULD take a 1Gig chip but I know that I personaly would not want to try it and have it fail...if i were made out of money that would be a differenet issue

actually, the 1g sodimm is the same physical size as the 512m sodimm so no cramming is required. yes, you can put a 1g stick o ram in the ibook and yes it will be recognized, giving you over 1 g of ram. no, there is not a perfromance hit and no, there is no overheating problem. think about it... the more ram you have, the easier it is for the machine to do all sorts of tasks and the less the hard drive needs to be accessed.

holden mcgroin

selowitch · Jan 26, 2004, 11:29 PM

Originally posted by tmjf_sifu:
actually, the 1g sodimm is the same physical size as the 512m sodimm so no cramming is required. yes, you can put a 1g stick o ram in the ibook and yes it will be recognized, giving you over 1 g of ram. no, there is not a perfromance hit and no, there is no overheating problem. think about it... the more ram you have, the easier it is for the machine to do all sorts of tasks and the less the hard drive needs to be accessed.

holden mcgroin

Holden, when you say your iBook has maximum RAM, do you mean you have the 1GB stick installed?

This is exciting to me, because the low maximum RAM was one of the real minuses of the iBook as comparable to the PowerBook, in my opinion.

macrick1 · Jan 27, 2004, 09:09 AM

Hi Selowitch,

I also have a 1 gig RAM on my ibook G4 which I got from Transintl. There was no cramming involved, the computer recognizes it and I've been using it for the last 2 months. I have not had any issues. It really sped up my computer compared to the stock 256 megs of RAM it came with.

gigglebyte · Jan 27, 2004, 10:31 AM

when I said cram it was not a statement that it may not fit but that can also happen if the mfg does not conform to the SO-DIMM standards and I ran into that with a 512 I currently have in my G3 700 and the chip was off by 1/16" - 1/32" and just didn't fit...oh well got that one fixed but I am glad to hear others have been able to install them and have them work no less

IoMimas · Jan 28, 2004, 07:28 PM

Originally posted by gigglebyte:
when I said cram it was not a statement that it may not fit but that can also happen if the mfg does not conform to the SO-DIMM standards and I ran into that with a 512 I currently have in my G3 700 and the chip was off by 1/16" - 1/32" and just didn't fit...oh well got that one fixed but I am glad to hear others have been able to install them and have them work no less

I have a gig RAM stick, seems to work good. Had a KP while running mail which got me worried that it's a bad stick, but as far as I know KPs and Mail.app seem to go hand in hand. Anyone know if these RAM sticks void the warranty?

tmjf_sifu · Jan 28, 2004, 10:29 PM

Originally posted by IoMimas:
I have a gig RAM stick, seems to work good. Had a KP while running mail which got me worried that it's a bad stick, but as far as I know KPs and Mail.app seem to go hand in hand. Anyone know if these RAM sticks void the warranty?

no, it does not void the warranty, it is an external component and apple allows for the upgrade of ram. they even give instructions on the website regarding how to access the ram slots and upgrade your ram. now, you might say, "but the official ram max is 640, so i am afraid that apple will void my warranty if i add an 'unapproved" level of ram".

who will know how much ram you have had in there. if you are worried, just take it out before getting tech service.

holden mcgroin

IoMimas · Jan 29, 2004, 12:50 AM

Originally posted by tmjf_sifu:
no, it does not void the warranty, it is an external component and apple allows for the upgrade of ram. they even give instructions on the website regarding how to access the ram slots and upgrade your ram. now, you might say, "but the official ram max is 640, so i am afraid that apple will void my warranty if i add an 'unapproved" level of ram".

who will know how much ram you have had in there. if you are worried, just take it out before getting tech service.

holden mcgroin

Thanks holden.

Also, the "lower left" corner of my battery is not flush with the rest of the computer. Is this normal, or is it something you suggest I have checked out? I'm afraid of the battery getting caught on something is all.

ginoledesma · Jan 29, 2004, 02:23 AM

Usually, the maximum amount of RAM Apple specifies is in reference to the largest capacity DIMM you can buy at the time of availability. The exception to this rule is if there is a specific machine limit due to hardware constraints or software constraints (though this is very unlikely nowadays).

However, the DIMM _has_ to comply with Apple's requirements, meaning it has to be JDECC-compliant at the very least. Recently, I've been seeing 1GB DIMMs being advertised by RamSeeker for the G4 iBooks, carried by OEMPCWorld and OWC (roughly $400). On a special note, the 1GB DIMM isn't listed under the memory lists of the PowerBooks/iBooks yet, but doing a search on their site shows that it was meant for the PowerBook/iBook.

OWC has been dealing with the Mac for a long time now. Give them a call and ask them about iBook G4 compatibility. You might be given the usual sales pitch, so ask for whether there have been customers who already have bought them. Better still is if you can go to a store that carries it and try them out yourself. Or, if you've saved up enough cash, ask if you can purchase the 1GB module to try out and if it doesn't work that you'd opt for the 512MB instead.

m_young · Jan 29, 2004, 01:30 PM

Originally posted by IoMimas:
Thanks holden.

Also, the "lower left" corner of my battery is not flush with the rest of the computer. Is this normal, or is it something you suggest I have checked out? I'm afraid of the battery getting caught on something is all.

It's normal... the battery doesn't quite fit flush on any iBook i've ever seen.

xmishx · Jan 29, 2004, 06:11 PM

Are we talking G3 also? I've got a 700MHz unit and would love to up the ram with a 1 gig stick.

X

ginoledesma · Jan 30, 2004, 04:16 AM

I haven't seen any 1GB PC133 DIMMs for the iBook G3s. Largest so far is 512MB selling for $105-$120.

IoMimas · Jan 31, 2004, 02:21 PM

Update -

ASP now reports 640MB instead og 1.12GB as it did before. I contacted OWC and will post here when they reply...

selowitch · 03:18 PM

Originally posted by IoMimas:
Update -

ASP now reports 640MB instead og 1.12GB as it did before. I contacted OWC and will post here when they reply...

Did you by any chance update your operating system to, say, Panther (OS X 10.3.x), recently? Or maybe the firmware? It may be that some versions of the OS or firmware insist on abiding by the Apple-specified limit of 640MB RAM despite the reality.

tmjf_sifu · Jan 31, 2004, 06:58 PM

Originally posted by IoMimas:
Thanks holden.

Also, the "lower left" corner of my battery is not flush with the rest of the computer. Is this normal, or is it something you suggest I have checked out? I'm afraid of the battery getting caught on something is all.

unfortunately, this is pretty common, i have seen the kaddywhumpus battery problem on just about every ibook and powerbook i have run into out there. the only two i have not seen this problem in are my 14" and my friend's 14", and another friend's 17" pb. in fact, the problem just seems to be less severe in all of the 14"'s i have seen, but it is still there.
i feel blessed but i also feel this is an unacceptable cosmetic flaw that should not be present in an otherwise fine series of machines.

bzImage · Apr 22, 2004, 03:59 PM

So

Can i install a 1GB SO-DIMM on my ibook 600 MHZ ???

Will the machine recognize and use the 1GB of RAM ??

Thanks..

DaBeav · Apr 22, 2004, 06:14 PM

The iBook G3s use PC-100 SO-DIMMs. If you could locate at 1GB chip, then theoretically it should work, but I haven't seen any listed.

The iBook G4s use PC2100 DDR SO-DIMMs, which currently top out at 1GB.

ghotirking · Apr 22, 2004, 11:19 PM

The new iBooks now show 1G(+/-) max on the apple spec pages, too (probably beating a dead horse here, but didn't see it in THIS thread).

rytc · Apr 27, 2004, 04:58 PM

Originally posted by ginoledesma:
Usually, the maximum amount of RAM Apple specifies is in reference to the largest capacity DIMM you can buy at the time of availability. The exception to this rule is if there is a specific machine limit due to hardware constraints or software constraints (though this is very unlikely nowadays).

Exactly, the maximum RAM that Apple specifies is simply whatever is the largest RAM available at that time, when bigger chips comes out then that RAM ceiling increases. I think the only reason the powerbooks have a higher ceiling is because they probably have a couple of RAM slots c.f. the one in iBooks.