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my macbook is recognizing 4GB of RAM!!?!?

jackiecanev2

jackiecanev2

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 6, 2007
1,033
4
ok. so i'm a total mac noob, and i just made the switch a week ago with a refurb 2.0 c2d blackbook. i've read all over the place about upgrading ram, and about how the macbook will actually recognize 3.3gb if you install 2x2gb sticks. anyway, long story short, my macbook came and i ordered 2x2gb sticks to keep it in dual-channel mode, and when i booted up and checked my system profile, i'm staring at this:

Picture%201.png


am i totally reading this wrong, or is it really telling me that it's addressing all 4gb? as far as i know, it will recognize both 2gb sticks, but only put up 3.3gb on the profiler...

AND i thought that the current chipset/platform couldn't address 4gb as a hardware limitation?????
 
I think it will "recognize" all the RAM you put in it, but it will not be able to use more than 3.3 GB of it. I could be wrong though
 
We need input from the people that said it only addressed 3.2gb to find out what theres said.

Enjoy your mac though jackiecanev2 :D
 
IIRC, it registers 4gb of RAM in the system profiler. However, if you go to the activity monitor, it will only see 3gb of RAM.

Try going to the activity monitor and take a screenshot.

Anyone, correct me if i am wrong. Thanks.
 
wow... congratulations on your free upgrade in RAM. If I were you, I would pull out the RAM and make sure it is branded by Apple, or atleast it is a RAM set that is used by Apple. One of the most common ones are Hynix and Samsung.

You probably have 4GB because the previous owner forgot to take his out. Darn shame because he probably spent quite a bit too...
 
jackiecanev2 said:
anyway, long story short, my macbook came and i ordered 2x2gb sticks to keep it in dual-channel mode, and when i booted up and checked my system profile, i'm staring at this:
Click to expand...

i don't think the OP got the 4gb of ram as a free upgrade. think the OP actually bought it.
 
ok. activity monitor reports 4gb as well, though i'm using 1.5 of it already, with 2.5 free and 6.52 in virtual? :confused:

Picture%202.png


and yeah, i bought the 4gb myself. it was only $78 a stick, so i just did it. :D
 
jackiecanev2 said:
ok. activity monitor reports 4gb as well, though i'm using 1.5 of it already, with 2.5 free and 6.52 in virtual? :confused:

*pic*

and yeah, i bought the 4gb myself. it was only $78 a stick, so i just did it. :D
Click to expand...

Now open up all your apps and see if you can get that figure up, check if >3.3Gb is really addressed.
 
jackiecanev2 said:
ok. activity monitor reports 4gb as well, though i'm using 1.5 of it already, with 2.5 free and 6.52 in virtual? :confused:

<snip image>

and yeah, i bought the 4gb myself. it was only $78 a stick, so i just did it. :D
Click to expand...

interesting. i'm trying to look for that apple article/document that i read saying that the system profiler would recognize 4gb but that the activity monitor would only see 3gb therefore only addressing 3gb.

but, cool!
 
please give us info

ram manufacturer
type of RAM (speed timings)
price
where you bought it
when you bought it
 
I believe that is a limitation of the pre-Santa Rosa chipset models. Machine will recognize 4GB, but OS X will only be able to use about 3.3GB.
 
I'm just curious. If the Activity Monitor sees 4gb of RAM, won't it mean that OS X will be able to address all 4gb of RAM?

If there's someone out there who can explain/clarify this, please feel free to go ahead. Or if someone can correct me if i am wrong. Thanks.
 
OCZ ram, timings: 5-5-5-15. it was just under $160 for both, shipped, from fry's a few weeks ago. the first macbook i had for about a week had a handful of bright red pixels, so they sent me a new one... the ram came before the replacement, though.
 
sorry to take this off topic, but where did you get that nice wallpaper? :D
 
lol. it's not really leopard, obviously. wallpaper is from interfacelift.com
 
Found some info on the ram:

If you do install a 2 GB SO-DIMM in both the bottom and top memory slots of the notebook, the About This Mac window and Apple System Profiler will both show that you have 4 GB of SDRAM installed. However, Activity Monitor and other similar applications will reveal that only 3 GB of SDRAM has been addressed for use by the computer.
Click to expand...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304662

Weird that it isn't supposed to show up as 4GB in the Activity Monitor yet it does for the OP.
 
tmoney468 said:
Found some info on the ram:



http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304662

Weird that it isn't supposed to show up as 4GB in the Activity Monitor yet it does for the OP.
Click to expand...

That was the document that i was looking for. Thanks for finding it!

Yeah, i was wondering the same. Maybe there was some update enabling the addressing of 4gb instead of 3gb?

Edit: I guess i made a mistake about the article. I thought that it was for the MacBook but it turns out that it is for the MBP. My bad.
 
I thought it was the Core 2 Duo (Pre SR) that was only able to address 3.3GB? Then with the SR Core 2 Duo it can address up to 4GB?

I'm eager to know the answers to this topic!
 
Kilamite said:
I thought it was the Core 2 Duo (Pre SR) that was only able to address 3.3GB? Then with the SR Core 2 Duo it can address up to 4GB?

I'm eager to know the answers to this topic!
Click to expand...

The Macbook does not yet have SR :)
 
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