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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > 2GB ram in 12" G4 PowerBook?

2GB ram in 12" G4 PowerBook?
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teknopimp
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Jun 23, 2008, 03:50 PM
 
is this possible? my initial research points to the contrary

thanks in advance.

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amazing
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Jun 23, 2008, 04:29 PM
 
My 12" 1.33 has only one free slot, and you can only find 1 GB chips.

I suppose if someone ever made a 2 GB chip, which is not the least bit likely...

Download Mactracker, which is your friend when faced with idle questions like this.

Edit: if you're looking at expansion, I can tell you that putting a 250 GB HD in does wonders for your satisfaction index. It raises the temp slightly, so a good laptop cooler is indicated, but having all that space is absolutely wonderful. zipzoomfly has an excellent price on the WD 2500BEVE, and if you're at all handly with small screws and intricate instructions, it's not all that hard.
     
teknopimp  (op)
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Jun 24, 2008, 12:08 PM
 
so i take it no one makes this ram, nor any newer ram is backwards compatible?

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Luca Rescigno
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Jun 24, 2008, 12:37 PM
 
Nope. You're limited to 1.25 GB, which isn't quite adequate for Leopard. I had a 12" 1.5 GHz and when I installed Leopard, I saw a definite decrease in performance, and my RAM was always maxed. I'd recommend sticking with Tiger.

"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
     
fisherKing
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Jun 24, 2008, 06:24 PM
 
Originally Posted by Luca Rescigno View Post
Nope. You're limited to 1.25 GB, which isn't quite adequate for Leopard. I had a 12" 1.5 GHz and when I installed Leopard, I saw a definite decrease in performance, and my RAM was always maxed. I'd recommend sticking with Tiger.
i'm running 10.5.3 on a 1.5g 12" with 1.25g ram, and am loving it; better (for me anyway) than 10.4 on this powerbook..

256meg is fixed on the 12", so adding a 1g chip is as good as it gets...
"At first, there was Nothing. Then Nothing inverted itself and became Something.
And that is what you all are: inverted Nothings...with potential" (Sun Ra)
     
teknopimp  (op)
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Jun 25, 2008, 05:48 PM
 
bummer. i'll just have to get a new mac book somewhere down the line. thanks guys.

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Luca Rescigno
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Jun 25, 2008, 05:54 PM
 
Originally Posted by wenwenguo View Post
if someone ever made a 2 GB chip,, I saw a definite decrease in performance, a
wat

"That's Mama Luigi to you, Mario!" *wheeze*
     
ph0ust
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Jun 25, 2008, 08:36 PM
 
i'm running leopard on a 12"pb 1.5ghz with 768mb of ram. not a problem, although this is just a laptop i keep in the living room for light use.
     
Kyros
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Jun 27, 2008, 07:08 PM
 
Assuming you have REALLY steady hands, would it be theoretically possible to swap out the soldered memory, or is there some software/hardware restriction that only lets it see 256 mb from that "slot?"
g4/1.5 GHz 12 inch powerbook / 1.25 RAM / 80 gig / Superdrive / 10.5.6
g3/400 MHz Pismo / 640 RAM / 40 gig / Combo Drive / 10.3.9
     
ibook_steve
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Jun 28, 2008, 12:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by Kyros View Post
Assuming you have REALLY steady hands, would it be theoretically possible to swap out the soldered memory, or is there some software/hardware restriction that only lets it see 256 mb from that "slot?"
No. Not possible. The machine is not designed to address that much RAM. Don't even think about doing this unless you want a dead Powerbook.

Steve
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Kyros
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Jun 28, 2008, 04:17 PM
 
I wasn't planning on anything that crazy , just curious. Thanks.
g4/1.5 GHz 12 inch powerbook / 1.25 RAM / 80 gig / Superdrive / 10.5.6
g3/400 MHz Pismo / 640 RAM / 40 gig / Combo Drive / 10.3.9
     
drcswalker
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Jul 15, 2008, 09:41 AM
 
Hi,

As it goes, Kingston make a 2Gb 200 pin PC2700 SO DIMM RAM chip, so it should physically fit in your 12" slot - ooer missus - pretty cheap too. However, I still don't know if your system would recognise it. Might be a case of suck it and see - ooer again. Best regards,

drcsw
     
amazing
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Jul 16, 2008, 12:13 PM
 
do you have a link to that 2 GB 200 pin PC2700 chip, because I certainly couldn't find it on kingston's website. 1 GB is the most I could find.
     
teknopimp  (op)
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Aug 6, 2008, 09:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by amazing View Post
do you have a link to that 2 GB 200 pin PC2700 chip, because I certainly couldn't find it on kingston's website.
no, that chip does not exist.

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Waragainstsleep
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Aug 8, 2008, 03:41 PM
 
Kyros,

If you could unsolder the onboard RAM and replace it with larger pin compatible chips it WOULD work fine up to the 2GB limit. The memory controller will not address more than 2GB.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
   
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