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macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 4, 2007
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Not that I need it. Just curious as I can't seem to find the answer anywhere.
 
I'm not sure if it will support more, necessarily.

However, I've heard that current computers can actually handle more than 4GB, but no one makes a laptop stick larger than 2GB.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, this is just my guess.
 
I wouldnt be surprised if montevina will support 6gb of ram since it has a higher clocked ram + higher frontside bus, that would be awesome.
 
I'm not sure if it will support more, necessarily.

However, I've heard that current computers can actually handle more than 4GB, but no one makes a laptop stick larger than 2GB.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, this is just my guess.

Not any Macs that I know of. If they could support more, they would advertise it. It has something to do with the motherboard. But I can recall computers supporting more RAM that you could realistically afford (2GB when nobody used much more than 512MB) and probably without the chip availability. If you make one that supports 6 or 8GB, then users can upgrade once those chips are available.

But seriously, nobody that doesn't use a Mac Pro would need more than 4GB. My processor bottlenecks before my 2GB of RAM do (damn you, HandBrake!).
 
i thought santa rosa was able to handle 8 gigs of ram...i could be wrong, but its just that fact that as mentioned above, that no one makes ram larger than 2gb sticks
 
If DDR3 versions are released, then up to 32GB of ram can be installed because DDR3 modules have a maximum capacity of 16GB/stick.

But I see this happening when Nehalem comes.
 
I'm not sure if it will support more, necessarily.

However, I've heard that current computers can actually handle more than 4GB, but no one makes a laptop stick larger than 2GB.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, this is just my guess.

That is correct. Santa Rosa technically supports up to 8GB of ram. However, since no one makes 4GB sticks of ram, Santa Rosa on the MBP only *officially* supports 4GB of ram in a 2x2GB configuration. It is likely that in the future when 4GB sticks are available they will work in the MBP, but there is no way to know for sure what will work until they are actually released.
 
Strange they haven't managed 4 GB sticks yet.... I figured this was the answer. I figure eventually I'd need the extra ram.
 
That is correct. Santa Rosa technically supports up to 8GB of ram. However, since no one makes 4GB sticks of ram, Santa Rosa on the MBP only *officially* supports 4GB of ram in a 2x2GB configuration. It is likely that in the future when 4GB sticks are available they will work in the MBP, but there is no way to know for sure what will work until they are actually released.

Actually they do sell 4GB sticks but officially from Apple, the MBP does not support 4GB sticks.
 
Actually they do sell 4GB sticks but officially from Apple, the MBP does not support 4GB sticks.

You are right. They do sell 4GB sticks. But not for DDR2 SODIMM, which is the only memory type supported by the MBP and just about every other laptop currently on the market. Every place you see 4GB it is a 4GB KIT (2x2GB = 4GB KIT).
 
Strange they haven't managed 4 GB sticks yet.... I figured this was the answer. I figure eventually I'd need the extra ram.

This might be because of what someone mentioned about DDR3 memory. The max might hit 2GB with DDR2 and then DDR3 will expand the capacity. Tech companies love to do that sort of stuff. The DDR3 will then be cheaper than DDR2 because everybody will be using it in about 2 years. If you think I'm nuts, go check out the prices of slower memory modules. (PC2300 or whatever in that range).
 
It was about 100 bucks for 1 gig of ram for my powerbook.

I found a 2GB module for my MBP for $40. For my dad's iMac G5? I think it was almost $100 for 2GB. Nice if you have a new machine, sucks when it gets older.
 
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