What's the diff between these two dimms?

[benh]

I'm in the market for a 1 gig SODIMM for a 12" 1.5Ghz Powerbook G4.

When I went to Crucial, I first just looked for 1 gig PC2700 DDR333 SODIMMs and came up with this:

http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.Asp?IMODULE=CT12864X335

Then I did their vendor search for a recommended upgrade and got this:

http://www.crucial.com/store/MParts...ook+G4+1.5GHz+(12-inch+Display)&WSPN=CT434204

They appear to be identical in specification, as far as I can tell. The first one is $20 less than the second. Am I missing some critical difference? If not, I'm getting the first one.

Thanks

 

[robbieduncan]

I would say that they are the same. The difference is that they will guarantee that one will work with your PowerBook and are charging you for this.

 

[maya]

I would say that they are the same. The difference is that they will guarantee that one will work with your PowerBook and are charging you for this.

A rather common case, of 3rd party RAM vendors trying to make an extra buck from Apple customers.

 

[TBi]

A rather common case, of 3rd party RAM vendors trying to make an extra buck from Apple customers.

This could be the case but usually the price difference is because the standard module could use any memory module that crucial has at hand, and some of these may not be compatible with the Mac but work fine on normal PC's. The extra you pay is the guarantee you get a module that will work for you.

I.E. They might start making memory using a new cheaper process, this memory works fine with PC's but has problems with Mac's. The extra you pay is for crucial to store and make the more expensive mac compatible chips.

Although more than likely they are both the same and crucial gets to pocket the extra. Its like insurance, you don't need it, you might never use it, but it's nice to know you have it.

 

[maya]

This could be the case but usually the price difference is because the standard module could use any memory module that crucial has at hand, and some of these may not be compatible with the Mac but work fine on normal PC's. The extra you pay is the guarantee you get a module that will work for you.

I.E. They might start making memory using a new cheaper process, this memory works fine with PC's but has problems with Mac's. The extra you pay is for crucial to store and make the more expensive mac compatible chips.

Although more than likely they are both the same and crucial gets to pocket the extra. Its like insurance, you don't need it, you might never use it, but it's nice to know you have it.

Apple moved to standard PC ram a while back for this very reason, however the 3rd party RAM vendors use that little shred of uncertainty of the consumer allowing them to believe that they require to pay extra just so they know the ram will work with they Macintosh.

If the pin count, CL factor, and RAM type is the same as you have followed with the type of RAM your Mac uses, one should really have no problem. There is a slight chance that the RAM might be defective or you have paired it incorrectly and that is simple consumer ignorance. As this is not a video card that you have to make sure you have the drivers to run it, its just RAM. If one followed all the correct directions they should have no issues.

I have never bought RAM from a 3rd party vendor on the claim that its guaranteed to run on my Mac, I do however look at other factors, such as pin count, CL, etc... And I have never had any problems following those simple rules.

If you believe otherwise you are being bluffed by the vendor and been taken.

BTW, Auto and Home Insurance is like Apple Care.

 

[benh]

Thanks. I went with the cheaper option.

 

[TBi]

Two laptop memory sticks in an Apple iBook G3 500MHz

Both had same rated memory speed
Boh had same rated CL
Both had same rated timings
Both had same amount of ram chips of same size
Both used the same socket

Difference,
1. one was bought from crucial guaranteed for the apple, one came from a Dell laptop

2. They used memory from different manufacturers

What happened?

The dell memory (although spec wise identical) caused memory errors and broke a good install of Panther. This memory was later confirmed to work perfectly in the Dell laptop and passed a full memtest86 stress test.

The crucial branded apple compatible ram worked perfectly.

Moral

Identical isn't always identical and some people get lucky. Doesn't mean everyone will be lucky.

 

[maya]

Two laptop memory sticks in an Apple iBook G3 500MHz

Both had same rated memory speed
Boh had same rated CL
Both had same rated timings
Both had same amount of ram chips of same size
Both used the same socket

Difference,
1. one was bought from crucial guaranteed for the apple, one came from a Dell laptop

2. They used memory from different manufacturers

What happened?

The dell memory (although spec wise identical) caused memory errors and broke a good install of Panther. This memory was later confirmed to work perfectly in the Dell laptop and passed a full memtest86 stress test.

The crucial branded apple compatible ram worked perfectly.

Moral

Identical isn't always identical and some people get lucky. Doesn't mean everyone will be lucky.

iBook G3, those had logic board issues, have you had this issue with the recent ones. I don't think so. That is because its a rare case that this issue could happen.

I have bought RAM for a PB G3, iBook G4 (without logic board issues), iMac G5, PM G5 and a, PB G4. No issues.

You might have had a bad case, however I have done this several times with no issues. At times you have to also make sure that the DIMM sits properly in the slot otherwise you will have problems as well. This only happened to me the first time, I thought it was the RAM DIMM, however it was not.

 

[TBi]

iBook G3, those had logic board issues, have you had this issue with the recent ones. I don't think so. That is because its a rare case that this issue could happen.

I have bought RAM for a PB G3, iBook G4 (without logic board issues), iMac G5, PM G5 and a, PB G4. No issues.

You might have had a bad case, however I have done this several times with no issues. At times you have to also make sure that the DIMM sits properly in the slot otherwise you will have problems as well. This only happened to me the first time, I thought it was the RAM DIMM, however it was not.

The logic board is fine and i tried reseating the RAM. I repair a lot of PC's, i do know what i'm doing

Most of the issues are from how the ram sets up the SPD timings.

(BTW have you tried some of the low latency ram in your computers? Like corsair or mushkin L2 ram. You'll find that most of them are incompatible with the Mac because of the way the SPD is set up.)

 

[maya]

(BTW have you tried some of the low latency ram in your computers? Like corsair or mushkin L2 ram. You'll find that most of them are incompatible with the Mac because of the way the SPD is set up.)

Only CL 2.5, have not had the pleasure to use the CL 2.0 and lower.