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Macbook Pro

C

chameleon81

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 16, 2006
434
0
I m a mac newbie. I read the threads about my question but still I want to ask :)
I have a Core duo mac book pro and it is stated that the max ram is 2 GB. I called apple customer service. and the guy told me that i can put 3 GB ram if I want.
Is it true? I mean I can put yes but will it work?

Looking for help thank you
 
not 100% sure, but I believe the issue where you would have 3gb ram and it would not function properly was with the core duos because it couldn't handle the lopsided ram. it is possible it was limited to the powerbook and not yours, but i do know there used to be an issue where you needed even paired ram. someone else please fill in the gaps...
 
Macbook Pro Memory

The NEW Macbook Pro's can take up to (and use) 4GB of RAM, the older Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro's - 3GB, the olderer (yes that's a word!) :) Core Duo Macbook Pro's take 2GB...

Cheers..
 
Aniej said:
not 100% sure, but I believe the issue where you would have 3gb ram and it would not function properly was with the core duos because it couldn't handle the lopsided ram. it is possible it was limited to the powerbook and not yours, but i do know there used to be an issue where you needed even paired ram. someone else please fill in the gaps...
Click to expand...

All Macs bar the Mac Towers can have 'lopsided' RAM. for example, my MacBook is running with 1.5GB (1GB + 512MB) and my parent's MBP is running with 1.25 (1GB + 256MB).
 
hmm interesting. ok maybe i was misinformed, or is it possible that it's not the ability to take the lopsided distribution, but rather the ability for it to be utilized? in that if you have a 1GB stick and a 2GB stick, it was only able to use one and one? I could swear there is some catch with this and the person who told me was apple senior product specialist.
 
Aniej said:
hmm interesting. ok maybe i was misinformed, or is it possible that it's not the ability to take the lopsided distribution, but rather the ability for it to be utilized? in that if you have a 1GB stick and a 2GB stick, it was only able to use one and one? I could swear there is some catch with this and the person who told me was apple senior product specialist.
Click to expand...

It was something about it running in dual-channel mode. I think the speed improvement is only something like 5%, and the only time you would use dual channel mode is when you have 1GB (2x512), or 2GB (2x1GB). Even with the dual-channel mode, 1.25GB (1GB + 256MB) is going to be faster than 1GB (512 + 512), and there is no other way to make 2GB other than 1GB + 1GB.

There have been a lot of myths spread about it, so your misinformation is understandable :)
 
I forgot where I read the article, but the gist of it was that the benefits of having 3GB vs 2GB of ram outweighed the performance hit of having lopsided memory. In short, you'll have a better experience with 3GB of lopsided memory than 2GB matching pairs.

And for what it's worth, in the MBP line:
Core Duo tops at 2GB.
Core 2 Duo (Merom) tops at 3GB.
C2D (Santa Rosa) tops at 4GB.

The only thing keeping me matched at 2GB is it was exorbitantly more expensive for a 2GB stick than the 2x1GB kit.
 
that doesn't sound right

they both have the same chipset, there's no reason why the coreduo can't take 3 gb
 
chex said:
that doesn't sound right

they both have the same chipset, there's no reason why the coreduo can't take 3 gb
Click to expand...

Here's the January 11th Archive.org cache of the MBP (it was released one day prior)
http://web.archive.org/web/20060114084646/www.apple.com/macbookpro/whatsinside.html

Under the Processor and Memory section it reads (emphasis mine)...
512MB (single SODIMM) of PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 memory on 1.67GHz configuration; and 1GB (single SODIMM) on 1.83GHz configuration; two SODIMM slots support up to 2GB
Click to expand...

I think it wasn't until the C2D that the maximum was 3GB.
 
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