ram for macbook pro?

[joeyg2477]

i am fixing to pick my macbook pro at an apple store where I live. I asked them how much it would be to upgrade to 1 gb and they charge 100$ for upgrade. My question is if I buy ram and upgrade myself will it void my applecare? Or should I just not get applecare all together?

 

[CanadaRAM]

i am fixing to pick my macbook pro at an apple store where I live. I asked them how much it would be to upgrade to 1 gb and they charge 100$ for upgrade. My question is if I buy ram and upgrade myself will it void my applecare? Or should I just not get applecare all together?

Hi Joey
Welcome to MR.. There is a useful Search function where you can look up your question to see whether it has been posted before.

Adding your own RAM does not void Applecare. RAM typically has its own lifetime warranty. Whether to buy Applecare or not depends on your tolerance for risk. On laptops, any repairs (out of warranty) are likely to be expensive. So buying Applecare (2 extra years warranty) covers you against that risk. It's important to know however that APplecare does not cover you against your own damage, theft, or software 'incidents'. Also if you drop the machine and dent it, APple could very well disallow future Applecare warranty claims on hardware on the grounds that the damage may have been cause by the fall.

I recommend finding a reputable RAM supplier who tests and guarantees compatibility with your specific model Mac, offers a lifetime warranty and a no-cost return if it doesn't work. Third party RAM should be considerably less than APple's. When pricing RAM with your machine, be very careful whether the 1 Gb "upgrade" means you have a total or 1 Gb (in orther words, a 512 Mb upgrade from stock) or whether it is a 1 Gb module in addition to the existing 512 Mb module for a 1.5 Gb total. You probably want the 1.5 Gb total.

Thanks
Trevor
CanadaRAM.com

 

[AlexH]

It won't void your warranty, and installing RAM is easy as pie. Your manual will give you all the general info you need, but I would say one thing... There are three screws you must remove to get to the RAM slots (pic in the manual). They are VERY small and VERY hard to remove if you don't have the right tool which is a Phillips size 00. I suggest getting a size 00 (not very expensive) to save some headaches.

I did manage to remove the screws with a size 0, but it wasn't that much fun. The right tool makes any job easy.