[crazylegs5150]

Hey all. Before I get flamed for not doing a search before posting let me say that I did and did not find anything regarding my question. I am a newbie and have a Macbook C2D 2 GHz with 1 GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and was wanting to upgrade my memory. Since this is a C2D I know that you need to buy the memory in pairs right, to put into the expansion slots? If so, what is the max I can go with? I do a lot of photography and have a lot of pics on my HD which has been gobbled up. While I have recently purchased a 500 GB external HD to archive everything, I would like more memory to run such programs like Photoshop Elements and create movies in imovie.
One more question which may sound silly, but once again, I am by NO MEANS a techie. If and when I do upgrade memory, will it wipe out everything I have on my HD or is the additional memory, just that, additional in the fact that it will just add on to whatever I have already. Like I said, dumb question. You know what they say. There are no stupid questions, just stupid people who ask them.
Thanks everyone. This forum rocks. I have learned a lot.

One more thing. Any suggestions for do's and don'ts on installing? I know it's a fairly easy thing to do and just requires sccrewdriver but thought anyone who has done this can assist. I know HOW to do it, but if anyone has had bad experiences just waned to hear what they had to say.

[ghporter]

You do not "need to" buy memory in pairs. You'll get a small improvement in performance by using the same RAM in both sockets, but it's not mandatory. And if you can only afford to upgrade one DIMM, at least you'll have a buttload more RAM to play with, so it won't be a "problem" if you do it that way.

Upgrading your memory will NOT hurt anything at all. It won't affect your hard drive, the time in the internal clock or anything else. It WILL give the computer more space to store running programs and user data, which is the big thing you're interested in.

Assuming you have a late 2007 MacBook, your manual will tell you that it will support up to 4GB of RAM. It will also tell you how to replace the RAM.

The MacBook is easy to work with and simple to upgrade. Follow the instructions carefully and you'll have a smooth and trouble-free experience.

[legacyb4]

So is it only the Santa Rosa based Macbooks that support 4GB?

[mduell]

If you bought your MacBook before November 2007 it supports 3GB RAM.
If you bought your MacBook during November 2007 it supports 4GB RAM.

I'd buy a 2GB module (about $55) to bring you up to 2.5GB (since you'll have to replace one of the 512MB modules you currently have). If you bought your MacBook this month there is some value in buying another 2GB since it would give you another 1.5GB of usable memory, but if you bought your MacBook before this month buying another 1GB module would only give you another 0.5GB (OTOH, it would only cost about $30).

Originally Posted by legacyb4 

So is it only the Santa Rosa based Macbooks that support 4GB?

There are no Santa Rosa MacBooks. The latest (November 2007) MacBooks use Crestline-GM.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by mduell 

There are no Santa Rosa MacBooks. The latest (November 2007) MacBooks use Crestline-GM.

For some reason, some people just don't listen to facts... I think you're going to be repeating the "there are no Santa Rosa MacBooks" thing for a LONG time.

For those whose eyes glaze over at the discussion of chipsets, pay attention: "Santa Rosa" is a chipset that includes an Intel wireless solution. Apple has NOT used this chipset, and uses instead the major components (in the case of today's MacBooks, the Crestline chipset) plus a wireless solution from a completely different source. If it doesn't use Intel's wireless chips, it is not a Santa Rosa anything.

[mduell]

Perhaps "Santa Rosa" (and soon, "Montevina" and "Calpella") can be added to the swear filter.