2GB RAM for Macbook.

Do you guys think I need it? I have the older gen Macbook - I bought it last year December, and I'm planning to get 2 1GB sticks, (for Dual Channel). It supports up to 3GB which means my two current 512 sticks are going to be dumped.

The reason I'm thinking of buying them now is because they're only $35 each on NCIX.

I do word processing, Photoshop CS2, and the average amount of internet browsing & listening music.


and if I do end up getting them, should I try selling the 512 sticks? Would anyone buy them ? (Considering they're a year old, and pretty small...)

 

photoshop, yea. even without that, it would probably be worth it. and no i think most people dont sell them incase they need to send the laptop back into apple, they put all the stock components back in.

 

I think the upgrade is worth it. I went from 1GB-> 2GB on my MB and loading is noticeably faster.
I still keep my old 512mb sticks around just incase... but I guess you could sell them. Most people have 1GB RAM anyway, but I guess you could sell each stick for cheap.

 

Upgrading RAM is considered "user-do-able" by Apple, doesn't void your warranty, and has a how-to in the little user guide that comes with your MB/MBP


EDIT:
I'm upgrading my MBP from 2gb - 4gb tonight.

 

Yeah, with Photoshop work its a good idea to upgrade to 2 GB RAM. You'll see quite a bit of improvement for the rather relatively cheap price of RAM. I think its best to keep the RAM, so you can put them back in should your MacBook need to be exchanged later on.

By the way, I can help you install the RAM, trueintentions (I know her, for anyone wondering) .

 

sam has a social life outside of NBR! no way! haha just kiddin sam.

 

I could install it too! She's pretty much my neighbour... haha. (Although I've never seen her in person )

 

xD LOL you guys.

And btw, no Sam doesn't have a social life, you realize that even though he knows me, we talk about computers & apple during our lunch times...?

And also, as for aurora, yes you could.


and thanks for everyone's help! i'll order them soon.

 

$35 for 2x1GB is not that good of a deal, is it? You can get a single 2GB stick for under $25 these days, stick that in with one of your 512MB sticks, and you should be good...

Or is RAM way more expensive in Canada?

 

I would do that, except that my macbook only supports up to 2GB. There's no real point in my buying of a 2GB stick.

 

That's a really good deal for Canada. RAM doesn't get that cheap here in Canada.

 

and unfortunately, it's not "$35 for 2X1GB" as you mentioned, it's $35 for 1X1gb.

 

No.....the old MacBooks, being on the GM945 chipset should support at least 3GB....doesn't it? I was almost sure that GM945 supported more than 2GB memory.

Ouch.....Life really does suck for you guys in Canada. That comes out to what, 40USD almost? For about $10 more, I can get 4GB.....

 

The Core Duo MacBook supported up to 2 GB, the Core 2 Duo 3 GB, the new Santa Rosa platform MacBooks 4 GB of RAM.

EDIT: Never mind, I always thought trueintentions had a Core Duo machine (I thought her sig was wrong ). Turns out she does have a Core 2 Duo.

 

The only problem now is that it's faster to have 2X1GB, dual channel than 1X2gb + a 1X512mb, not dual channel. (I believe... does anyone have proper numbers to support/unsupport this?)

But it's twice as expensive.
(and sorry about the confusion in my first post, Sam said to me that I could only support up to 2GBs, and I TRUSTED him! )

 

No, it isn't. In notebooks, dual channel memory adds about 1% to total performance, whereas having 25% more memory will add more performance if you run a lot of memory intensive apps (which is the only reason to upgrade to 2GB on OS X anyways, unless you run Parallels or Fusion).

As for being twice as expensive, well, I can't help you there....Its just under $25 for a 2GB stick here....No brainer for me I'm going to get 2x2GB, put one into my iMac and one into my W7S.

Tell me more about this 2GB RAM limit on CD Macs...I sincerely hope my iMac isn't limited to 2GB....that would piss me off. Shouldn't it be the same for both Yonah and Merom though? I mean, its the same chipset, and the same motherboard...Just a different CPU....

 

Just a thought, maybe someone here that has upgraded to 4 gb, might be willing to sell you their old 2 x 1's cheap.?

 

I'm not sure. Wait for Sam to come back to answer your question.

well I have three choices now:
1. Buy 1 X 2GB - no dual channel - $35. - total is 2.5gb RAM
2. Buy 2 X 2GB - dual channel - $70 - total is 4gb RAM
3. Buy 2 X 1GB - dual channel - $70 (WHY is it the same price!? ) - total is 2gb RAM

The only question I have now is that if I do the 2nd option, that is, buy 2 X 2GB's, since my macbook only supports up to 3gb, the last GB isn't being used, and so does the Dual Channel still work...?

 

I'd go for option 1, seriously. I'd say its not worth the extra $35 for just an extra 512MB. And like I said, dual channel doesn't make any real difference, so I don't think it matters. I'm actually not sure as to whether it will recognize it as dual channel or not though, thats a pretty interesting question (that I don't happen to know the answer to...).

 

The thing that Matt said was that if I do end up with option 2, than if someday I get a new laptop (far off in the future), I won't have to buy another stick, and I could just switch them...

 

Yea, but you do realize that DDR3 RAM is replacing DDR2 Q3 2008, right? On Intel notebooks, at least, and may God (whichever one you believe in) smote you should you buy an AMD system.

Montevina brings DDR3 with it when it arrives in Q3, and at that point, DDR2 becomes completely useless for a new laptop.

 

cough cough.
Too bad "trueintentions" isn't techie enough to know what that means...
I got the gist of it though.

New stuff coming, don't get it.

 

does that mean when the new platform comes out the old ddr-2 ram will become worthless and price willl drop? I guess I will wait then

 

Actually it's weird but old RAM tend to have much higher prices than current RAM. I don't get it either. It's weird.

My 400th post! ...I guess no one cares lol.