macbook pro ram upgrade

i had a macbook pro that i bought last year in april, its not the unibody.

i would like to upgrade the ram to 4 gigs
do i have to use apple ram? like ram from sites like tigerdirect.ca but written apple


would this work?
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10840BD9168&vpn=D2N800C-2G/BR&manufacture=BUFFALO

also, how many ram slots are there and how fast can they go?

thanks for your time

 

you do not need Apple branded RAM... any ram with the right specs will work fine... your machine has 2 slots, and should be able to max out at 4gb (2gb in each slot)

 

You will need ddr2 RAM.

 

ddr2 pc 5300. Third party rams can be bought for ~45 or perhaps less. Try ebay.

 

Try to stick with Nanya, Hyundai or Elpida ram if you can find it(on the BGA modules and not the manufacturer). I've had issues with Transcend, Corsair and Kingston branded RAM which were using Micron & Samsung BGA modules. I think the latency timings were causing issues that would make the system crash.

 

Any notebook DDR2 ram rated at 667 MHz (PC2 5300) will work. Careful with 800 MHz (PC2 6400) ram as your MBP may not down clock the memory to the correct speed. A few months ago I purchased 2 sticks of ddr2 800mhz memory and my MBP would not boot. I resolved this problem by trading one of the sticks for a stick of ddr2 memory (ram will default to the speed of the slowest stick). You should be able to find 2x2GB of memory for under $30.

For notebook memory, the brand (and the type of memory chips on the ram stick) don't really matter a whole lot. This is more of a concern for custom built desktops geared toward overclocking. There isn't really a "performance" class of memory for notebooks so just get what you can find cheapest from a reputable seller. If you want a brand recommendation, I've had good luck with Corsair, G.Skill, Mushkin, and OCZ.

 

kingston should be the most compatible ram there is on earth for mac afaik

while most ddr2 5300 will work on mac, there are rare occasions when it doesn't.