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New to Macs..considering additional RAM for PB?

A

al3000

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 16, 2005
275
1
England
Hi all,

I another thread I mentioned I was planning to have apple add me 1Gig of RAM for my new powerbook that I am planning to buy, and I heard that it is better to purchase the RAM from a third party?

Could someone give me recommendations/advice? I am slightly worried about taking my powerbook apart, would it void my warranty? I am not really an advanced PC user anyway, so would this be difficult?

I am in the UK, so I would need a company that delivers to the UK, and ideally I would be looking for a 1GB to go with my 512 already in.

Thanks for your help :)
 
al3000 said:
Hi all,

I another thread I mentioned I was planning to have apple add me 1Gig of RAM for my new powerbook that I am planning to buy, and I heard that it is better to purchase the RAM from a third party?

Could someone give me recommendations/advice? I am slightly worried about taking my powerbook apart, would it void my warranty? I am not really an advanced PC user anyway, so would this be difficult?

I am in the UK, so I would need a company that delivers to the UK, and ideally I would be looking for a 1GB to go with my 512 already in.

Thanks for your help :)
Click to expand...


Apple charges a high price for ram because its under apple warranty..

buy the ram from a company that carries lifetime warranty on the memory and is the right type of memory for you PB ..

Memory upgrades are user friendly upgrades ..

On the memory upgrade is only 1 door to open then slide the new memory in and replace door.. Of course of doing this, you have to turn off the computer..

Just to make sure that you put new memory in slot 1 to it be recognied by the OS..

iphil
 
buy i some where else online and get two sticks of the same memory (ie two 512k or 2 1gb) because the bus runs faster with two of the same ram than it does with one or two different sticks.
 
obeygiant said:
buy i some where else online and get two sticks of the same memory (ie two 512k or 2 1gb) because the bus runs faster with two of the same ram than it does with one or two different sticks.
Click to expand...

I don't think thats necessarily true in the PB's or iBooks. In the iMac and Powermac you get a dual DDR bus with matched memory but the PB and iBook only have a single ddr bus that always runs at the same speed.
 
What type of RAM am I looking for DDR2? I know that the new powerbooks haven't been out that long, does the memory that most sites provide work with the old and new powerbooks?
 
al3000 said:
What type of RAM am I looking for DDR2? I know that the new powerbooks haven't been out that long, does the memory that most sites provide work with the old and new powerbooks?
Click to expand...


Try this to find what type of memory you got:

Click-on the "apple" in the upper left then about this Mac, click-on More-info button, then go down to 'memory' click-on that then it should tell you the specs on the memory ..

iphil
 
I too am planning on buying RAM. I have a new ibook G4 and I'd like to buy an additional Gig. Six months ago when I was reading everything I could about macs in preparation for buying one, I noticed that Crucial was a clear favorite for mac users. A while back I remember someone posting a thread about where to get the best prices on Crucial RAM upgrades, but I can't seem to find it now. Any advice? Should I buy from Crucial (who makes it easy to be sure I'm getting the right thing) or search around for their product being sold by others? Any suggestions?
 
spellflower said:
I too am planning on buying RAM. I have a new ibook G4 and I'd like to buy an additional Gig. Six months ago when I was reading everything I could about macs in preparation for buying one, I noticed that Crucial was a clear favorite for mac users. A while back I remember someone posting a thread about where to get the best prices on Crucial RAM upgrades, but I can't seem to find it now. Any advice? Should I buy from Crucial (who makes it easy to be sure I'm getting the right thing) or search around for their product being sold by others? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
FWIW, I bought a gig for my 12" PB from OWC and am happy with it. I think that there are a number of reputable dealers.
 
jsw said:
FWIW, I bought a gig for my 12" PB from OWC and am happy with it. I think that there are a number of reputable dealers.
Click to expand...

I agree with jsw on "owc" memory thats where i got my 256Mb ram stick..

Just remember to put new memory in slot 1 to have Mac recognise the memory..

My mac had 128Mbs of ram stock and i knew that i wanted to run tiger for "simple" stuff.. e.g. iTunes,TextEdit,Safari.. no iMovie etc..


iphil
 
Tech roundup:

PowerMac G5's use Dual Channel memory; you must install RAM in matched pairs, it's obligatory. Prior to Oct 19 2005 PowerMac G5s used PC3200 DDR DIMMs,

New PowerMac G5 models > Oct 19 2005 use DDR-2 533 MHz DIMMs.

iMac G5s <Oct 2005 use PC3200 DDR DIMMs and do not use Dual channel. A matched pair however will get 128-bit access rather than 64 bit access. There is a theoretical improvement in speed but not necessarily a real one. A mis-matched 1.5 Gb (1 Gb + 512 Mb) trumps a 1 Gb matched pair of 512's for performance anyway.

The new iMac G5 1.9 and 2.1 have a single, DDR-2 533 MHz memory socket.

No Powerbook or iBook has ever taken advantage of matched pairs. Prior to Oct 19 2005, Aluminum Powerbook G4 and all iBook G4 take DDR SODIMMs, some early models take PC2100 but it's common now to use PC2700 in all models. All iBooks and 12" Powerbooks have some RAM on the motherboard plus a single socket, all 15" and 17" have two sockets.

The Powerbook G4 15" and 17" > Oct 19 2005 take DDR-2 SODIMMs

The Mini has a single DDR socket, and can take PC2700 or PC3200 DIMMs

eMacs have used 2 types of RAM -- 700 - 1 GHz machines with USB 1.1 used PC133 DIMMs, 1 GHz - 1.42 GHz machines with USB 2.0 used PC2700 DDR DIMMs. Note the overlap in the 1 GHz speed.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com
 
iphil said:
The ram is User installable item.. the ram just wont be covered by apple warranty.. it'll be covered by ram company like crucial.


iphil


Edit: Just make sure you get a lifetime warranty on the memory..
Click to expand...


Thanks. Am thinking of purchasing from Crucial..do they provide a lifetime warranty? I can't see anything on their site.
 
Crucial makes it easy for those of us who don't know what we're doing to make sure we're buying the right RAM, but how do I make sure I'm getting the right stuff from other stores? I'm inclined to go with Crucial brand RAM based on the good feed back (and what's this about a lifetime warranty?), but I'd like to shop around at New Egg etc. to get the best price.
 
Soon to be Switcher wants more RAM

I'm considering purchasing my first-ever Mac and am interested in one of the 2.1 GHz 20" iMacs. My main concern, however, is the fact that this latest generation comes with only one memory expansion slot (whereas I believe the previous version had two). If I order from the Applestore UK (online) with an upgrade to 1.5 Gb RAM, will they a) put a bigger unit in the fixed slot, leaving the expansion slot free OR b) simply put an extra 1Gb module in the extra slot, leaving me no room for further expansion? If the latter, I might as well just order a 1Gb unit from Crucial, put it in myself, and save nearly sixty quid!:confused:
 
Ok I have decided to go with the RAM from crucial for the PB i will be getting. I am going to go with another 512, will this be enough? I am thinking that I probably wont need 1.5GB, and if I do I can always replace a 512 with a 1gb in the future (is that right?). Thanks
 
Two questions

I had posted a similar question re: RAM for a powerbook, and one of the posters replied that it's better to keep some Apple RAM in the machine rather than replace all of it with third-party RAM because Apple won't cover RAM-related repairs when you're not using their RAM.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/156862/

So, do y'all think that it's better to use mismatched RAM (1 GB from Apple, 1 GB from Crucial) or just replace apple stock RAM with all third-party product?

My next question, re: mismatching over lots. If you buy the new iMac and crank it up to 1.5 Gb, then you've got mismatched chips that obeygiant cautions against. In that case, would it be better to just buy 2Gb from a third-party, and not have any Apple RAM?

Thanks!
 
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