Crucial or OWC? Qualified or Certified? RAM price protection?

[akadmon]

I'm about to pull my RAM trigger (2x1GB), but can't quite decide if I should go with Crucial or OWC. Is the extra $30-40 that Crucial charges worth it? I hear Crucial modules are essentially identical to the one's Apple puts in; I've come across more reports of issues with OWC RAM, though they seem to be good about replacing it.

What is the difference between the Apple Certified (Netlist) and Apple Qualified (OWC) that OWC sells? The less expensive Qualified sticks look more like the ones from Apple.

Finally, with memory prices dropping, has anyone tested these guys' 30-day MBG to get the difference in price? Personally, if they refused to give me the difference back, I'd just return the RAM and buy another set at a lower price (assuming it's not something trivial, like $5 or $10). I'm hoping, though, the these guys will play nice and I won't have to do this.

 

[CanadaRAM]

I'm about to pull my RAM trigger (2x1GB), but can't quite decide if I should go with Crucial or OWC Is the extra $30-40 that crucial charges worth it? I hear Crucial modules are essentially identical to the one's Apple puts in; I've come across more reports of issues with OWC RAM, though they seem to be good about replacing it.

What is the difference between the Apple Certified (Netlist) and Apple Qualified (OWC) that OWC sells? The less expensive Qualified sticks look more like the ones from Apple.

Finally, with memory prices dropping, has anyone tested these guys' 30-day MBG to get the difference in price? Personally, if they refused to give me the difference back, I'd just return the RAM and buy another set at a lower price (assuming it's not something trivial, like $5 or $10). I'm hoping, though, the these guys will play nice and I won't have to do this.

A 30 day money back guarantee is NOT there for price protection.
You are entitled to price protection only if the vendor states in their policies that you will get a refund if the price goes down.

They way you're stating your intention to use it is borderline fraud, my friend.

Here is one company's 30 day MBG policy

"Credit will be provided to a new order with items of your choosing based upon the lesser of either the invoiced or current selling price of the item(s) returned. "

Here's what the other company says
"Note: To protect our company against abuse of this policy, Crucial reserves the right to charge a restocking fee (up to 20%) at our discretion"

 

[mustang_dvs]

I wouldn't recommend Crucial, at least not until the curb their dynamic pricing practices -- Crucial's pricing is affected by what browser, platform and browsing path you employed to find the product you're looking at.

If you find the same memory in a "kit" as singles, there is usually a price difference. If you compare the memory between white and black MacBooks, there's a difference in price.

Yes, Crucial makes very good RAM and they are (sometimes) what Apple includes as OEM memory, but deceptive sales practices turn me off. There's plenty of discussion of this issue: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Data Memory Systems offers the same warranty (30-day return, lifetime replacement) on high-quality memory for less than Crucial without any of the "flexible" pricing schemes.

OWC has lower prices, a good reputation and an OEM memory trade-in program, so long as you return the old RAM within 60 days of purchase.

 

[akadmon]

I wouldn't recommend Crucial, at least not until the curb their dynamic pricing practices -- Crucial's pricing is affected by what browser, platform and browsing path you employed to find the product you're looking at.

If you find the same memory in a "kit" as singles, there is usually a price difference. If you compare the memory between white and black MacBooks, there's a difference in price.

Yes, Crucial makes very good RAM and they are (sometimes) what Apple includes as OEM memory, but deceptive sales practices turn me off. There's plenty of discussion of this issue: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Data Memory Systems offers the same warranty (30-day return, lifetime replacement) on high-quality memory for less than Crucial without any of the "flexible" pricing schemes.

OWC has lower prices, a good reputation and an OEM memory trade-in program, so long as you return the old RAM within 60 days of purchase.

Thanks. I've decided I'm going with Crucial once their price drops below $240. There are just too many instances I've come across of folks having issues with OWC memory modules. Sure OWC will make it right eventually, but I don't want to be a tester for them. I'd rather pay a little more and not have to keep trying out module after module, like this fellow. As for Crucial's "flexible" pricing, I've been checking the price for the 2x1 GB modules very the past week and it's been consistently $269.99, no matter how I look it up. Finally, I'm not trading my Apple RAM since I want to go to 4 GB total and the credit OWC offers is not enough to cover the cost of 4 1GB sticks.

 

[netnothing]

Just to add to this, I ended up with Crucial RAM (2 GB).

I returned 2 sets back to OWC because I could easily get ECC Errors on them. I haven't yet had any problems with the Crucial.

Not sure whether it was my setup/room/temp/whatever, but the OWC memory would always produce ECC errors at the higher temps. The Crucial under the same situations, haven't produced any errors.

The Crucial heatsinks look almost identical to the Apple RAM. The OWC RAM had their own design.

I still can't say enough about OWC's customer service. They were always very friendly and helpful. My refund was processed right away.

-Kevin

 

[SMM]

No issues with OWC. No history with Crucial. I will not deal with a company who engages in dynamic pricing.

Just ordered another 4GB for my MP - OWC.

 

[akadmon]

Just to add to this, I ended up with Crucial RAM (2 GB).

I returned 2 sets back to OWC because I could easily get ECC Errors on them. I haven't yet had any problems with the Crucial.

Not sure whether it was my setup/room/temp/whatever, but the OWC memory would always produce ECC errors at the higher temps. The Crucial under the same situations, haven't produced any errors.

The Crucial heatsinks look almost identical to the Apple RAM. The OWC RAM had their own design.

I still can't say enough about OWC's customer service. They were always very friendly and helpful. My refund was processed right away.

-Kevin

After going back and forth for about a week, I finally bought a matched pair 1GB Techworks sticks from OWC for $220. It's my $50 Sunday night gamble Any sign of trouble and I'm buying Crucial.

 

[crazzyeddie]

I've always ordered from OWC and I've never had a problem.

I too find it very disturbing that Crucial engages in deceptive business practices.

 

[LightMast]

newbie here, but can anyone link me to OWC's site?

 

[joachim]

newbie here, but can anyone link me to OWC's site?

Google will tell you it's at http://www.macsales.com.

 

[princealfie]

Buy OWC, they are more reliable and definitely way more honest.

Crucial has a good RAM finder but that's all I use them for

 

[phillymjs]

OWC all the way

I recommend OWC RAM to my clients and use it myself, and I have never had a problem with it on my personal machines or any Macs in my care. The only time I ever had to return a module to them was when I goofed once and ordered an incorrect module.

~Philly

 

[akadmon]

After going back and forth for about a week, I finally bought a matched pair 1GB Techworks sticks from OWC for $220. It's my $50 Sunday night gamble Any sign of trouble and I'm buying Crucial.

Well, my two 1Gb sticks of Techworks RAM are in and everything is fine and dandy.

The heat sinks look identical to the ones on the Apple modules (must be made by the same company, probably some mom & pop outfit in Taiwan). Hardware monitor says the Techowrks are running 10-20 F hotter (150-160 F) than the Apple modules, but that's hardly surprising since the Apple modules are 512MB, and besides the Techworks are getting hit first (I put them in A1 & A2).