I want my 4GB of RAM to cost $700 not $1400!! How much longer?

[MovieCutter]

I'm with Yoyoma here. This RAM is grossly overpriced. Crucial showed this by originally having it for sale for much cheaper, they also charge $100 or something extra for heat spreaders worth at most a quarter of that. I wouldn't expect FBDIMMs to be the same price as DDR ram, it is far more complex and I'd expect it to cost more. This much more is a bit crazy though. ECC PC5300 DDR2 ram from Crucial costs $356.99 for a 2GB kit (2x1GB). $499 for the same in the Mac Pro variant. Apple's pricing is not even worth mentioning.

I don't particularly care if people that make professional movies and who earn enough money to easily afford the inflated prices. Mac Pros aren't just meant for those people alone. If someone can afford that amount of money then good on them but they don't have to make people who can't afford those ram prices feel guilty for it.

I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty. I'm demonstrating that the price of the RAM should be taken into consideration by those whom this machine is NOT marketed to. AGAIN, this is a machine AIMED at PROFESSIONALS, not Joe Black who wants to use iPhoto to make slideshows of his kids and play Doom 3 in the meantime, and wants 4GB of RAM to do it. The target market for these machines are video production houses, scientific research labs, graphic design studios, CG animation production houses, etc. These core customer markets can afford this RAM, they don't even think about it. I do freelance work for a corporation. I tell them I need a $400 hard drive, they don't blink, they just say "buy it". That's the financial environment Apple assumes these machines are entering into.

Don't like Apple's pricing? Buy it from somewhere else. Simple as that. Apple's RAM prices have always been at a premium. This is nothing new. And if you bought a Mac Pro and are now, all of a sudden, astonished at the price of RAM, I have news for you. The RAM prices didn't change the day you got your Mac Pro. They have been steady since they were introduced. If you didn't do the research beforehand and take into account future costs associated with your purchase, that's your own fault and you have no reason to complain. If Apple was suddenly gouging its customers on RAM prices, I'd see a reason, but this is historical, and even more impacting due to the nature of the memory itself.

 

[massiv]

I agree, the prices are high. But companies are getting the margins they can when they can. They are seeing a high demand with limited supply. Anybody go to the gas pumps over the summer? Also, these chips are new and manufacturers are having to either change or add to production to meet Apple's specs (the large sinks). Believe me I cannot "easily afford" the RAM but I did know that when purchasing the MP I was probably going to have to shell out some cash to upgrade. I think the debate should reside in the fact of questioning if such enormous heat sinks are in fact critical to a stable and long-lasting operation. It does state on Apple's site that its essential to Acoustical Performance and not for overall operation. That said, once more supply enters the market than prices will hopefully drop. But it will take a company who is willing to make the first step to start the trend.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

I would never really consider buying the memory from Apple, its always been the way they've done things. My peeve is how places like Crucial have jacked up their prices by an incredible amount since day one. I've been planning on upgrading the memory but not for another few weeks or months, when hopefully the costs will have come down a bit again. I agree that big companies wouldn't bat an eyelid at the Apple prices but there's nothing wrong with moaning that 4GB of RAM costs $1400. You can get 4GB of Crucial certified RAM for $1000 as it is. Once the prices calm down a bit 4GB should be down to $800 which is more reasonable.

 

[MovieCutter]

I agree that big companies wouldn't bat an eyelid at the Apple prices but there's nothing wrong with moaning that 4GB of RAM costs $1400.

By that mentality, I'm gonna complain that the Lexus I want costs $80,000, maybe that'll make the price come down.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

By that mentality, I'm gonna complain that the Lexus I want costs $80,000, maybe that'll make the price come down.

Not really because you can't get a Lexus from somewhere else for 75% of the price. Not that I'd ever want to buy a Lexus of course but that's just my choice!

 

[milozauckerman]

AGAIN, this is a machine AIMED at PROFESSIONALS

Nonsense. It's a machine aimed at anyone Apple can sell it to.

 

[MovieCutter]

Nonsense. It's a machine aimed at anyone Apple can sell it to.

Nonsense, it's SOLD and made availabe to anyone Apple can sell it to. The primary target audience is pros. Aiming a product at a certain group doesn't make it unavailable to everyone else, it's just primary built around feedback from that particular target group.

 

[EvilMonk]

I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty. I'm demonstrating that the price of the RAM should be taken into consideration by those whom this machine is NOT marketed to. AGAIN, this is a machine AIMED at PROFESSIONALS, not Joe Black who wants to use iPhoto to make slideshows of his kids and play Doom 3 in the meantime, and wants 4GB of RAM to do it. The target market for these machines are video production houses, scientific research labs, graphic design studios, CG animation production houses, etc. These core customer markets can afford this RAM, they don't even think about it. I do freelance work for a corporation. I tell them I need a $400 hard drive, they don't blink, they just say "buy it". That's the financial environment Apple assumes these machines are entering into.

Don't like Apple's pricing? Buy it from somewhere else. Simple as that. Apple's RAM prices have always been at a premium. This is nothing new. And if you bought a Mac Pro and are now, all of a sudden, astonished at the price of RAM, I have news for you. The RAM prices didn't change the day you got your Mac Pro. They have been steady since they were introduced. If you didn't do the research beforehand and take into account future costs associated with your purchase, that's your own fault and you have no reason to complain. If Apple was suddenly gouging its customers on RAM prices, I'd see a reason, but this is historical, and even more impacting due to the nature of the memory itself.

You forgot peoples who uses xcode.

 

[Transeau]

I posted this a while ago - I think it got ignored, and now the price is higher.

I bought (3) 2x512GB Crucial "Apple Certified" DIMM Kits (taking me to 4gb) for $559 after tax and shipping from Tiger Direct. They were listed at $179.98 each kit, insted of the normal $299.99 each. net savings of $357.

Look around, you will find a good deal.

 

[richpjr]

I posted this a while ago - I think it got ignored, and now the price is higher.

I bought (3) 2x512GB Crucial "Apple Certified" DIMM Kits (taking me to 4gb) for $559 after tax and shipping from Tiger Direct. They were listed at $179.98 each kit, insted of the normal $299.99 each. net savings of $357.

Look around, you will find a good deal.

Have you received them yet? If so, how do they work?

 

[Transeau]

Have you received them yet? If so, how do they work?

I got them last friday. Put them in and they work perfectly. I beat them up pretty well with Final Cut Pro and Parallels running at the same time.

 

[[G5]Hydra]

I posted this a while ago - I think it got ignored, and now the price is higher.

I bought (3) 2x512GB Crucial "Apple Certified" DIMM Kits (taking me to 4gb) for $559 after tax and shipping from Tiger Direct. They were listed at $179.98 each kit, insted of the normal $299.99 each. net savings of $357.

Look around, you will find a good deal.

Are those certified DIMMs the ones with the large heat-sinks like Apple's stuff? I ordered off of Crucial's site and they erroneously sent me the ones with the regular spreaders. I figured I would try them to see how they worked and after stress testing the system I was getting 1-2 ECC errors an hour on those DIMMs. The replacements with the full heat-sinks works fine w/o errors doing the same kind of testing.

-Jerry C.

 

[jeremy.king]

You forgot peoples who uses xcode.

I think the etc covered software programmers.

 

[Abulia]

Are those certified DIMMs the ones with the large heat-sinks like Apple's stuff? I ordered off of Crucial's site and they erroneously sent me the ones with the regular spreaders. I figured I would try them to see how they worked and after stress testing the system I was getting 1-2 ECC errors an hour on those DIMMs. The replacements with the full heat-sinks works fine w/o errors doing the same kind of testing.

How does one test/find said errors?

 

[[G5]Hydra]

How does one test/find said errors?

All you have to do is open the System Profiler, easy way is go to About This Mac and hit more info, and click Memory under the Hardware header. It will list all the installed DIMMs and if they are running at full speed where it should say 667MHz and OK status otherwise you have the incorrect slower memory or it slowed it down due to heat concerns. If you have the profiler open while running tests be sure to hit command+R to refresh the status or just close and re-open the profiler as it may not update the window to show errors that have occurred while it was open.

-Jerry C.

 

[Pressure]

DRAM prices are currently going up. It has nothing to do with Intel but rather the anticipation of the greatest memory hog yet to be unleashed on mankind: Windows Vista.

All surplus ram is being bought up by big OEMs.