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kylef · Mar 5, 2009, 01:35 PM

I've been thinking about upgrading the RAM in my 2.4GHz unibody MacBook from 2GB to 4GB (or possibly 6GB). As a bit of a photoshop/lightroom user and one who always has applications open, would the upgrade be worth it? Certainly, it was on my PC! If so, will this void any Apple warranty or? (I can always just put back the old modules in if I need to send it off {which it is at the minute!})

The options are:
2 x 2GB Crucial
1 x 4GB Crucial + 1 x 2GB (Apple?)

The price difference is negligible, and as far as I am aware the new MacBooks can take up to 6GB memory.

Thoughts? Thanks

Simon · Mar 5, 2009, 01:43 PM

Yes, performance will increase with more RAM. 2GB is not enough for real PS use.

No, installing it yourself will not void your warranty (unless you break something of course).

IOW, go for it.

kylef · Mar 5, 2009, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by Simon

Yes, performance will increase with more RAM. 2GB is not enough for real PS use.

No, installing it yourself will not void your warranty (unless you break something of course).

IOW, go for it.

Was hoping for an answer like this - thanks

Also, I read that 6GB only works on 15" MBPs - wasn't too sure about this - can anyone shed some light as to whether 6GB will work on the 13" MB? (seems that it should..)

Simon · Mar 5, 2009, 02:06 PM

6GB should work in the UB MacBook just fine. But I haven't verified it myself.

How good's the return policy at the place you're buying?

CharlesS · Mar 5, 2009, 05:16 PM

I think that you're supposed to get better performance if you match two of the same kind of DIMM - i.e. 2 x 2 GB - although I'm not sure whether it would be enough of a performance boost to make up for having 2 fewer GB of RAM.

Simon · Mar 6, 2009, 03:21 AM

It's not. Any 2% performance hit with unpaired DIMMs pales in comparison to the hit you take from swapping. Not enough memory is always the greatest performance hit. Matching on consumer Macs is like permissions repair: grossly overrated. The less people know about their Macs, the greater they think the benefit is. The truth is: if you're swapping more RAM is always better.

B Gallagher · Mar 6, 2009, 04:25 PM

For what it's worth, my old PB was originally running 512MB of RAM. I ordered a 1GB stick off Crucial. The two sticks weren't paired, obviously, but damn I noticed a huge speed hit!