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PB17" Ram issues-Crucial vs. Apple -HELP!!

J

J-Ro

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 9, 2003
3
0
Cali
I bought my 17" 1.33 PB with a 1 gig chip in it - so 1 slot is free. Just upgraded to OS 10.3.4

I recently purchased and installed a 512 chip from crucial.com (I had been told by experts that their ram was top notch) ($100). It doesn't matter if it is in slot 2 (with the original 1 gig chip in slot 1), or alone in slot 1 - my mac now freezes very quickly.
(Needless to say - my PB runs fine when the original apple 1 gig chip is in it alone)

I'm going to swap the new 512 out with a replacement from Crucial (they were very responsive) but what a guy from the Santa Monica Apple store told me today was cause for concern.....

He told me that he owned an identical 17" Powerbook.... and he had gone thru exactly the same aggravation. He said he went thru many exchanges with third party vendor ram... and finally had to use 'apple' ram. He explained that apples are very, very picky about ram - and ultimately apple ram is the way to go. (no he doesn't get commission)

here is the drag - a 512 chip from apple is $300 - a 1 gig chip is $700

Is this crazy? What on earth is up with this? :mad:
 
J

jane doe

macrumors 6502
Feb 18, 2004
315
2
Ram can be a very difficult thing. He is correct in saying that you are less likely to have problems out of the Apple ram, but you can get bad ram from anywhere.

If you have had the ram tested and found to be bad, then try replacing it from the retailer. If it continues to be bad, then try ram from another source or Apple
 
ChrisFromCanada

ChrisFromCanada

macrumors 65816
May 3, 2004
1,097
0
Hamilton, Ontario (CANADA)
Apple does not make RAM. They usually buy it from Samsung or Crucial (rarely) Try to find out if the RAM you would be buying at the Apple store is Samsung. Even if you can't find out what RAM apple is using in this case just buy a Samsung chip at a place with a good return policy.
 
D

DGFan

macrumors 6502a
Mar 28, 2003
531
0
I have bought RAM from Trans Intl for my laptops (PB and iBook) and Crucial for the desktop and it's always worked out. I had to swap out the Cruical RAM twice due to problems but the new sticks worked like a charm. Lots of other people seem to have success with Crucial. The reason I went with Trans Intl is that it's cheaper (but I have no idea what "brand" it is)
 
L

Lancetx

macrumors 68000
Aug 11, 2003
1,991
619
garybond said:
Here is a link to Samsung RAM...what Apple uses.....The Apple store rep in Buffalo I spoke to on the phone said Apple uses Samsung

http://www.memoryx.net/m8995ga1.html
Click to expand...

I agree that Samsung is good RAM, but it's not the only RAM that Apple ever uses. My 17" PB came stock with a 512MB Hynix chip not Samsung. I added a 512MB Samsung and they're both working just fine together. I also previously had an eMac that came stock from Apple with Crucial RAM. I figure Apple just buys whatever RAM that works and that they can get the cheapest that given day.
 
titaniumducky

titaniumducky

macrumors 6502a
Nov 22, 2003
593
0
J-Ro said:
I bought my 17" 1.33 PB with a 1 gig chip in it - so 1 slot is free. Just upgraded to OS 10.3.4

I recently purchased and installed a 512 chip from crucial.com (I had been told by experts that their ram was top notch) ($100). It doesn't matter if it is in slot 2 (with the original 1 gig chip in slot 1), or alone in slot 1 - my mac now freezes very quickly.
(Needless to say - my PB runs fine when the original apple 1 gig chip is in it alone)

I'm going to swap the new 512 out with a replacement from Crucial (they were very responsive) but what a guy from the Santa Monica Apple store told me today was cause for concern.....

He told me that he owned an identical 17" Powerbook.... and he had gone thru exactly the same aggravation. He said he went thru many exchanges with third party vendor ram... and finally had to use 'apple' ram. He explained that apples are very, very picky about ram - and ultimately apple ram is the way to go. (no he doesn't get commission)

here is the drag - a 512 chip from apple is $300 - a 1 gig chip is $700

Is this crazy? What on earth is up with this? :mad:
Click to expand...

It's probably not true; let Crucial replace it for you once. If that doesn't work out, check the brand of your current stick and pickup that. If even that doesn't work, pick it up through Apple :(.
 
P

PieMac

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2002
769
29
Lancetx said:
I agree that Samsung is good RAM, but it's not the only RAM that Apple ever uses. My 17" PB came stock with a 512MB Hynix chip not Samsung. I added a 512MB Samsung and they're both working just fine together. I also previously had an eMac that came stock from Apple with Crucial RAM. I figure Apple just buys whatever RAM that works and that they can get the cheapest that given day.
Click to expand...

Same here...my new 17" PowerBook came with 512MB Hynix and I just added a 512MB Samsung and all is working just great. I was really surprised that the stock chip wasn't Samsung, though. Every Apple I've bought has had Samsung.

I have also bought from Crucial for upgrades and have never had any problems with them at all.
 
W

wide

macrumors 6502a
May 17, 2004
746
0
NYC
I never understood why Crucial has a good price on their 512 PowerBook 15/17 stick but a horrible price on their gigabyte stick. it's usually about 360-320, but they charge 470
 
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