Why so much to add ram to MBP?

[.JahJahwarrior.]

So, I'm sitting here thinking about what to get for college and trying different configurations of macbooks and macbook pros to see what I'd like best and how much it'd cost. To go from 2 to 3 gigs of ram on the MBP 15" is $517. To go from 1 to 2 gigs on the MB is $157.

Is that just a typo on apple's site (on the total cost thing, it really does jump up $517) or,if not, why the heck does 1 gig of ram cost $157 for a MB but like four times that for a MBP? What's different about the ram?

 

[vraxtus]

So, I'm sitting here thinking about what to get for college and trying different configurations of macbooks and macbook pros to see what I'd like best and how much it'd cost. To go from 2 to 3 gigs of ram on the MBP 15" is $517. To go from 1 to 2 gigs on the MB is $157.

Is that just a typo on apple's site (on the total cost thing, it really does jump up $517) or,if not, why the heck does 1 gig of ram cost $157 for a MB but like four times that for a MBP? What's different about the ram?

The MBP has 2 RAM slots. To get 2GB of RAM, they throw a 1GB stick in each slot. To get 3GB of RAM, they throw 1GB in one slot, and a 2GB stick in the other, which costs a phenomenal amount more than a 1GB stick.

 

[screensaver400]

The cost for a 2GB stick has already gone down dramatically from where it was 6 months ago. At that point it was a few thousand, iirc.

 

[valdore]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but RAM upgrades with Apple seem like a total racket -- a strategy to siphon as much money as possible from customers. The reason I say this is because I've observed the obsene amounts of additional cash it takes to upgrade the iMac from 1 gig ram to 3.

 

[.JahJahwarrior.]

$400 more?

I think maybe they should price things a dollar different then, because it seems awful odd to have one upgrade be $157, then the other be $517, it seems like they just reordered numbers. If one was $150 and the other $520, maybe that'd be better?

Why isn't it $400 more to buy a 2gig nano than a 1gig nano?

 

[dixiehacker]

The reason for this is that it is extremely difficult to make the 2 gig stick while 1 gig sticks cost around $100. If you search Newegg, you can see the dramatic price difference. The 2 gig stick costs way more than twice as much to manufacture.

Flash memory is easier to manufacture, they can scale it down easier because they don't have to keep up with the extreme speeds that DDR needs to be able to run.

 

[breakfastcrew]

The price difference is for a 1gb stick vs a 2gb stick.