8Gb macbooks (DDR2 models)

cowasaki

cowasaki

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Right we have all been led to believe that the chipset on a DDR2 macbook/macbook pro would allow a maximum of 4Gb of Ram - YES

Now Corsair are selling a single 4Gb DDR2 SODIMM (not a kit of 2x2gb) specifically for Apple machines "VSA4GSDS667D2" (costing £175 each). This device would be absolutely pointless if the maximum ram with the chipset was 4Gb because it costs more than 4 times that of a 2Gb SODIMM. If you could fit one 4Gb in one slot and nothing in the other then it would cost more than twice the price of fitting 2x2Gb and be slower!!! SO the only logical conclusion is that the limit IS NOT 4Gb but 8Gb in which case the maximum RAM in a DDR2 macbook pro is now 8Gb!!! The above ram is DDR2 NOT DDR3 so it is not for the latest model.

I have sent an email to Corsair and await their response......

Woohoo 8Gb in my Macbook pro - hopefully.
 
Not had a response from Crucial yet. Anybody upgrading theirs? :)
 
I am following this with interest, as this would imply that even new MBP (15" and 17") may be pushed to more than what Apple is claiming.
 
i thought it had already been said on macrumours etc that the new macbook pro could take at least 6gb of memory but had a few stability issues.
 
Confirmed LATER spec ((((DDR2)))) macbooks, iMacs and macbook pros can go beyond 4Gb...... Upto 6Gb using a 4+2 using leopard

They will go to 8gb IF apple fix a fault in leopard (well its not actually a fault so to speak because they do not support above 4gb - but if you go above 6gb ie to 8gb then the computer shows as 8gb but uses virtual ram above 4gb making it pointless)

Snow leopard may well just work with 8Gb.

Big question is it worth the extra expense to go from 4gb (£50) to 6gb (£200) ?
 
Wail said:
I am following this with interest, as this would imply that even new MBP (15" and 17") may be pushed to more than what Apple is claiming.
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Apple OFTEN under state the maximum ram on their computers. 4Gb DDR2 SODIMMs are new and were not available when they were still selling the DDR2 macbooks. It does appear that the santa rosa chipset will go to 8gb so snow leopard might well go to 8gb - Using leopard though this is only supported on DDR3. Yes there is quite likely to be an option to buy 8Gb DDR3 SODIMMs eventually which would give you 16Gb but again it is not supported. :)
 
cowasaki said:
.....

Big question is it worth the extra expense to go from 4gb (£50) to 6gb (£200) ?
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Now, that should be very easy for a geek like you to answer :p; buy a coulpe and give that a test drive, but please do report back how much speed benefit you get.
 
neil_g said:
tbh i cant see the need for any more than 4gb at this present moment in time. unless youre batch processing huge images.
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I can see a worthwhile different between 4Gb and 6Gb on the mac pro. I will wait to see the price of these 4gb sticks come down a bit before I buy :)
 
neil_g said:
personally i think youd be hard pressed to use all 6gb, even if you do will the stability issues be worth it until its fixed?
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It is stable with 6gb it only has issues beyond 6gb apparently.
 
neil_g said:
fair do's i just read above about up to 6gb but with stability issues.

its all personal preference at the end of the day, its your money. i just think its a waste at the moment.
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I am bringing up the subject because I found the 4Gb SODIMMs whilst pricing up ram for something else. I have other more pressing uses for cash at the moment anyway but thought some people may be interested. Snow Leopard may well make better use of the extra ram and more processors so it is with that in mind that people may feel the need. I often have dreamweaver, photoshop, bridge, lightroom safari, mail, excel, notepad and VMware running at the same time so more RAM can only be useful :)
 
neil_g said:
.....

its all personal preference at the end of the day, its your money. i just think its a waste at the moment.
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Funny you say that, as I couldn't agree more with the 1st. paragraph, while dissagree with the 2nd!

Back in the early 1980s I spent close to £2,000 on a 5MB (that's right, megabytes) hard drive for my Apple III (yes, that's right, I am that old). My father freaked out and almost had me kicked out of the hosue for wasting that kind of money. I am sure there is a huge amount of logic in there being a balance between what is fair to pay vs. what's silly money; but explain that to a geek / techno-head and I am sure what you say will fall on deaf ears.
 
Wail said:
Funny you say that, as I couldn't agree more with the 1st. paragraph, while dissagree with the 2nd!

Back in the early 1980s I spent close to £2,000 on a 5MB (that's right, megabytes) hard drive for my Apple III (yes, that's right, I am that old). My father freaked out and almost had me kicked out of the hosue for wasting that kind of money. I am sure there is a huge amount of logic in there being a balance between what is fair to pay vs. what's silly money; but explain that to a geek / techno-head and I am sure what you say will fall on deaf ears.
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I spent £450 on a 20mb drive for my Atari ST :)
 
neil_g said:
thats just my personal opinion though, im sure others will give their contrasting views :)
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I meant no disrespect, so I hope you didn't get offended.


Back on topic, I would love to see what extreme hacks people will get up to with the new 17" MBP. I am particularly fond of the SSD drives .. just not too sure if the price is right for me at the moment.
 
Wail,

I will be fitting an SSD in my Macbook pro after summer. The price is plummeting and the size is increasing. The speed is better if you pick the right one and they use about the same power or less. Your spangley new 17" macbook pro should be easier to upgrade than my 6 month old one though!
 
Depends what you're doing with it obviously. Set yourself up doing the most things at once that you'll ever do on your Mac and check out the amount of wired and active RAM you're using. If it goes much over 3 gigs then you might benefit from sticking a 4 gig stick in there. You will only benefit during those times when you are using more than 4 gigs of RAM however as the whole memory system will be slower than if you have 2 x 2gig sticks in there for reasons already mentioned.
 
That's a very logical and methodical method to ascertain if you need the extra RAM or not. The thing is, geeks will stick the extra RAM in, and then figure out how to "hotwire" and "tweak" their machine to make use of this extra resource.
 
Wagamama, that's a lot of storage capacity for such a tiny chip.
 
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