Is Apple RAM special or the same as PC RAM?

Hi, I am soooo close to buying the 12" pbook (I know that the ibook with be fine for my needs, but I hate the whole white case [V] ).

I want to fill the empty slot with 256 (for a total of 512MB). What I want to know is should I do this online while I am ordering (it will be about $136 for 1x256 MB with the student discount). Or should I order a 256 MB from somewhere else and do it myself.

My questions:
1) Will changing the memory myself void the warranty?
2) Where would you recommend buying memory online (if that is the option you would choose) if you lived in North, North American (e.g. Canada) [ ]
3) What is this rumor about a pbook upgrade, is there anything to it? Any idea what it might be? And do you expect the price to jump (and/or for the old pbooks to drop in price?)

Thanks so much for your help.

 

Wait a week or so because there are many signs that Apple will update their current PowerBook lineup.

1) No, you can safely open the memory latch and add memory stick without voiding your warranty.
2) Apple charges more for standard memory that you get anywhere else online. There is a place called http://www.crucial.com/index.asp They have great side by side price comparison so you get the best deal possible.
3) As I mentioned above, many Mac rumors/news sites are saying that a lot of the Apple retailers are selling out of all PowerBook models. Whenever manufacturer is emptying their stock, it's a sign that they're either updating the product or going out of business. [ ] I really think next week we'll see new updates.

 

yes i agree, the silver pbook is much more suitable than the ibook...but yea wait and see what happens. I also agree about the ram stuff that Karim said, go from crucial. I hope the PBooks get G5's if they are updated...and I can't wait until the release of Tiger.

 

I think Apple will update PowerBook line very soon to keep everyone happy for remainder of the winter and probably most of the spring. Then come June, drop the Tiger and PowerBook G5 bombs on us. Steve did say 2nd quarter of 05 [ ]

 

I don't know if i would believe that there will be a powerbook g5 in q2 of this year. Either way, if it does come out it's better for all mac users! But apparently the rumor is that there will be powerbook updates coming out latest on Feb 2.

 

Wow thanks for letting me know about crucial!

I can get the 512 MB ram for 155.00 Canadian (including taxes and shipping) while at Apple it would have been 230 + taxes! Holy Jeez [:I].

Or if I want to still get the 256 MB it will only cost $77 (vrs $130 tx from Apple!).

So if there is a new Powerbook coming out (fingers crossed) next week, is there going to be a mad rush for the old powerbook from cheap people like me? And/or do you see a modest price drop in the old ones?

And besides the potential G5 upgrade no one has any other ideas what the update could include? Even best guesses?


Thanks for all your help!

 

i don't know about other upgrades, but if it has a G5, hopefully it will include one of them 2.5 ghz processors the desktop g5 has, but more likely probably the 1.6-2.0 ones. Other than that, later in the first half of this year OS X 10.4 (Tiger) should come, and that looks really good.