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mfacey

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 1, 2004
1,230
9
Netherlands
Hi there,

I'm hoping to get myself a new powerbook g4 pretty soon. I've been reading on these forum's that you should steer clear of the apple RAM upgrades because the prices are double what you normally pay for RAM.
Here's my question though: how difficult is it to install extra RAM in the current PBG4 series. My current titanium is a piece of cake. Take off the keyboard and shove them in. How is this done with the new powerbook aluminium?

I appreciate the help!

Thanks!
 

JOD8FY

macrumors 6502a
Mar 22, 2004
633
0
United States
It's very easy. There's a little plate that you remove (with a very small screwdriver) and then just stick in the RAM and replace the plate. You're done!
I did it very easily and suggest using Crucial to buy RAM from (http://www.crucial.com).

JOD8FY
 

mfacey

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 1, 2004
1,230
9
Netherlands
Ah good, looks nice and easy indeed.

Being on the subject of RAM anyway; what is the correct RAM for the current range of powerbooks. Is it PC2700 DDR SDRAM? I believe it runs at something like 333Mhz right?

Also, does it make any difference as to what brand of RAM I use in the powerbook? Will a no-namer brand work as well and as reliably as for example RAM from Crucial or Kingston?


Thanks!
 

James_C

macrumors 68030
Sep 13, 2002
2,815
1,819
Bristol, UK
mfacey said:
Ah good, looks nice and easy indeed.

Being on the subject of RAM anyway; what is the correct RAM for the current range of powerbooks. Is it PC2700 DDR SDRAM? I believe it runs at something like 333Mhz right?

Also, does it make any difference as to what brand of RAM I use in the powerbook? Will a no-namer brand work as well and as reliably as for example RAM from Crucial or Kingston?


Thanks!

The Powerbooks are really choosey about the type of RAM they will work with. I would only ever buy from Crucial ( I don't have any experience of Kingston). The first Powerbook that I had was a 1.25 Al Powerbook, and I purchased 2 different types of memory from a local supplier that met the specification given by Apple, but the Powerbook failed to boot with both types. I sent the memory back and purchased from Crucial, who have a special wizard on their web site to make sure that you choose the correct memory for your Mac, it worked without any problem.
 

mfacey

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 1, 2004
1,230
9
Netherlands
James Craner said:
The Powerbooks are really choosey about the type of RAM they will work with. I would only ever buy from Crucial ( I don't have any experience of Kingston). The first Powerbook that I had was a 1.25 Al Powerbook, and I purchased 2 different types of memory from a local supplier that met the specification given by Apple, but the Powerbook failed to boot with both types. I sent the memory back and purchased from Crucial, who have a special wizard on their web site to make sure that you choose the correct memory for your Mac, it worked without any problem.


Hmmmmm...

I just visited the Crucial site. They seem pretty expensive. 480 bucks for 1 gig is a lot of cash.

Anybody have decent experiences with Ram from other manufacturers? (In particular cheaper ones?)
 

Coolvirus007

macrumors regular
Apr 27, 2004
210
0
Tokyo
I have a pb al. When I was searching for ram, I found out that 1 gig TOTAL is the best value (Performance vs. Cost). But if you really want 1 gig for one slot, it is very costly and you may find memory that may be 20~30 cheaper but I would stick to reputatable companies to avoid hassles later.
 

Bangkok is Hot

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2004
34
5
Bangkok
PB picky about RAM

Flew to Malaysia yesterday for some business - had talked to an Apple store via e-mail, and went straight in to see them.

I'd planned to upgrade my 1 gig of RAM to 2 in my 17 inch PB (1.33).

Spent nearly two hours with them, but no matter what, my PB would not accept their RAM modules. Upon reboot it would freeze, or else pages and pages of numbers would fill the screen.

What was really weird is that when they tried installing it in their 15 inch model on display in the store, it worked fine!

Upon checking with technicians at other stores, they said another customer had just called with a similar experience.

Different brand of RAM from what I have inside, but the same specs. Weird!

Seems going with a reputable brand is still safer?
 

Mechcozmo

macrumors 603
Jul 17, 2004
5,215
2
I bought from Crucial. I installed it in less than 10 minutes. It is very easy. Hardest part was finding a screwdriver small enough!
 

kylos

macrumors 6502a
Nov 8, 2002
948
4
MI
check dealram. They list ram that will work with pbooks. I got a gig for $200 and it works fine.
 

Applespider

macrumors G4
There was a post a few months ago (late August/early Sept) talking about RAM from Frys/Outpost. 1GB for around $160. I bought one of those sticks and the PB and it play beautifully together.

As for installing, piece of cake! It took longer to find the 00 screwdriver than it did to add the memory. I was staying at a friend's house in CA who on the way out of Fry's (to get screwdriver) was admiring that I was willing to open up the back of the computer, tried to clear a huge area of his dining table and put on lots of lights. He was astonished when I simply flipped the PB over, removed the screws from the small panel, installed and replaced.

Between that experience and watching me play around in iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband, they're seriously thinking about replacing with Macs next time round!
 

Bangkok is Hot

macrumors member
Jun 10, 2004
34
5
Bangkok
Effect of 2GB?

Well, that is reassuring... My bad luck with the RAM they had, apparently (never heard of the brand, KTI or something, from Taiwan), but not mine alone, according to the technicians they called in Malaysia, as other customers with 17 inch PB's found the RAM incompatible...

I've seen some other postings, but any opinion as to perceptions of improved performance changing from 1GB to 2GB of RAM?

Main daily application is running presentations in Powerpoint with video links of ads, so the entire file is often over 10MB, not including the linked ads, each of which can run 2-100MB.... Not such a concern, but expected impact on games, such as Halo or upcoming Doom 3?

Deeper application is to capture and render ads, which I'm assuming would see more of a speed increase...

Thanks everyone!
 

slooksterPSV

macrumors 68040
Apr 17, 2004
3,543
305
Nowheresville
You have no idea how easy that looks. I wonder how hard it is for my Powerbook G3 wallstreet I think, although, you have to take it wholely apart.
 

California

macrumors 68040
Aug 21, 2004
3,885
90
No I wasn't being sarcastic I really have had VERY VERY good luck with Kingston -- they have a LIFETIME warranty on their memory sticks.

Put Kingston in my mom's iMac 500 G3 too with great results.

Also be careful with the little memory holders on your powerbook that keep the memory in place. I was on the phone with Apple trying to talk me through it when the memory holders on my tbook snapped off. Had to get a whole new logic board to replace!!!
 

blodwyn

macrumors 65816
Jul 28, 2004
1,147
1
Portland, Oregon
I bought a Samsung stick from Memory Solutions a couple of weeks ago for $319. I use my PB for business so I wanted reliability more than rock bottom price. It arrived the next day, installed easily, and has worked perfectly.
 

abrooks

macrumors 6502a
Sep 18, 2004
640
191
London, UK
Just bought a couple of gigs of RAM for my Powerbook and it should arrive in a couple of days, anyone know where to get one of these Phillips 00 screwdrivers, I've had no luck so far.
 

Applespider

macrumors G4

13erla

macrumors newbie
Mar 7, 2003
23
0
Midwest, USA
Hey does anyone know if it matters which slot (upper or lower) should have the higher chip or if you have just 1 chip which is the better slot.

obviously on desktops you put it in the first dimm slot but profiler doesn't specify which is dimm1.

i have a single 1gb chip in a 15 1.5ghz.. and it doesn't seem like i got a performance boost from the dual 256 chips.

so i'm thinking i may need it in the lower slot.


thoughts?
 
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