16 GB RAM Upgrades for New MacBook Pros Now Available

[MacRumors]

Other World Computing today announced the debut of new aftermarket RAM upgrades for the new MacBook Pro models released late last month. Options ranging up to 16 GB are available, well beyond Apple's maximum build-to-order offering of 8 GB. OWC offers the following options and prices:

- 4 GB (Replace one existing 2 GB module with a 4 GB module for a total of 6 GB): $59.99
- 8 GB (Replace existing 2 GB modules with 4 GB modules): $112.99
- 12 GB (Replace existing 2 GB modules with one 8 GB module and one 4 GB module): $879.99
- 16 GB (Replace existing 2 GB modules with 8 GB modules): $1599.99

Trade-in rebates of $13 per 2 GB module from Apple can also be applied.

OWC maintains a "MaxRAM" testing lab of Apple machines and has verified that the new MacBook Pros can accept up to 16 GB of RAM.

Article Link: 16 GB RAM Upgrades for New MacBook Pros Now Available

[calderone]

I figured 16GB would work, the spec sheet Intel put out suggested as such. It was just a little ambiguous.

[AnonMac50]

Sweet, I know someone who will be very happy.

[boshii]

I would rather just buy another macbook pro.

[DivineEvil]

What about Mid 2009 or Mid 2010 MBPs?! What is the maximum ram for them?

[AnonMac50]

Just noticed the prices. Instead of a MacBook Pro + 16 GB RAM, how about a MacBook Pro + another MacBook Pro?

[daneoni]

Originally Posted by divineevil

what about mid 2009 or mid 2010 mbps?! What is the maximum ram for them?

8gb

[mrfoof82]

Interesting.

The pricing doesn't surprise me. A year ago, two 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMMS were $400. Less than a year before that it would cost you $800.

However what does surprise me is only OWC has 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs. Crucial? Nope. Any manufacturer carried by NewEgg? Nope.

Would I like 16GB in my MacBook Pro? YES. I'd actually use it. Would I like more options, including from I don't know... an actual memory manufacturer (i.e. Micron or Kingston)? Yes. Would I like the price to at least come down to $600 or $700? Yes, that too.

[paulrbeers]

Originally Posted by mrfoof82

Would I like 16GB in my MacBook Pro? YES. I'd actually use it. Would I like more options, including from I don't know... an actual memory manufacturer (i.e. Micron or Kingston)? Yes. Would I like the price to at least come down to $600 or $700? Yes, that too.

You do realize, that it isn't like the guys over at OWC is soldering up these memory sticks in their basement right? Traditionally they are major manufacturers "stuff", but they just don't guarentee who actually makes it. Can you buy 8GB sticks from cruicial or Kingston yet? Not through their website, but that doesn't mean they aren't making them. Intel obviously had to be able to get their hands on it when they were designing the current chipsets in the MBP's otherwise how would they know it works?

[Stridder44]

Originally Posted by mrfoof82

Interesting.

The pricing doesn't surprise me. A year ago, two 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMMS were $400. Less than a year before that it would cost you $800.

However what does surprise me is only OWC has 8GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs. Crucial? Nope. Any manufacturer carried by NewEgg? Nope.

Would I like 16GB in my MacBook Pro? YES. I'd actually use it. Would I like more options, including from I don't know... an actual memory manufacturer (i.e. Micron or Kingston)? Yes. Would I like the price to at least come down to $600 or $700? Yes, that too.

Exactly. Which leads me to believe that other manufacturers might introduce their own lines of 4 or 8 GB modules to the market, which would in turn drop the prices.

[halledise]

oops, replied to wrong post

[jamesryanbell]

So the upgrade costs more than a 13" MBP. How neat.

[glimp7]

Just like Apple not to tell us what the true innards are...

Some of us would like this much RAM, and the customization page doesn't offer this option.

[idea_hamster]

I think this is great news -- just not for right now.

True, $1600 for the next 8GB of RAM is, let's say, "difficult to justify" for most.

However, I just bought my MBP, and in 2015, when 16GB RAM is common and runs $90, this upgrade path will give my MBP a spritz of that new-car-smell stuff for the following year or two.

Nice to know it's a bit more future-proof than I thought. Would it have killed them to connect the ODD to a SATA III port?!?

[paulrbeers]

Originally Posted by idea_hamster

Nice to know it's a bit more future-proof than I thought. Would it have killed them to connect the ODD to a SATA III port?!?

Agreed. I would have purchased a 17" MBP if it meant it had 4 slots instead of just 2. When I start loading up virtual machines, my available memory starts diminishing fast. 8GB is as little as I would want in my Notebook, so when this memory starts to drop I will definitely be buying!

[guzhogi]

A somewhat good place to look for memory (both RAM & memory cards for digital cameras) is dealram.com. It doesn't actually sell this stuff, but aggregates different prices for memory so you can know where the least expensive ones are. As of yet, they don't seem to have the memory for the current MBPs yet, but have lots of RAM for other systems.

[Ivan0310]

I wonder who their manufacturer is--can't find 8GB modules in the 204-pin variety anywhere else right now. Not surprising that the price is so steep.

[Dimwhit]

Originally Posted by idea_hamster

However, I just bought my MBP, and in 2015, when 16GB RAM is common and runs $90, this upgrade path will give my MBP a spritz of that new-car-smell stuff for the following year or two.

Nice to know it's a bit more future-proof than I thought. Would it have killed them to connect the ODD to a SATA III port?!?

Absolutely! I usually keep my MBPs about 5-6 years. I've got 8GB RAM right now. In 3-4 years, I'll up it to 16GB RAM and maybe swap my hard drive for an SSD drive. By then, those prices should be considerably lower, as well. Between the two upgrades, that should give my machine a nice little boost in speed to last me another couple years.

[CmdrLaForge]

Wow - 16 GB are expensive. In particular compared to 8GB. I will wait some time and hope the prices for 16GB come way down. In 2 years maybe? I could get an SSD in addition and speed up my new MBP quite a bit.

[lostngone]

I always need more ram however at that price I think I will wait for the price to come down.

[mdgm]

Well OWC's just taken away one reason I had for not buying a new MacBook Pro. I didn't want to be stuck with no option to upgrade to 16GB in a few years. I still think I might wait another year or two before buying a MBP though.

[jamesryanbell]

I was thinking more like $300-400 tops.

[jjhoekstra]

I do not understand why anybody would want to have 16 Gb RAM. I have 16 Gb and it is utterly useless. Never ever have I seen my rMBP use more than 6-7 Gb. And that is using FCX and compressor and Parallels and Safari and Excel and Word at the same time. Buy 8 Gb and use the money you save for something nice.
And 16 Gb does slow wake-up from deep sleep by 4 seconds or so in comparison with 8 Gb.

[Snarl]

Originally Posted by jjhoekstra

I do not understand why anybody would want to have 16 Gb RAM. I have 16 Gb and it is utterly useless. Never ever have I seen my rMBP use more than 6-7 Gb. And that is using FCX and compressor and Parallels and Safari and Excel and Word at the same time. Buy 8 Gb and use the money you save for something nice.
And 16 Gb does slow wake-up from deep sleep by 4 seconds or so in comparison with 8 Gb.

You'd be surprised, just updated my Son's 2011 MacBook Pro to 16GB. He's an illustrator and an animator, not sure of the programs he uses but was easily exceeding 8GB, however mines never come close to 8GB depends what your doing.

[braddman]

Originally Posted by jjhoekstra

I do not understand why anybody would want to have 16 Gb RAM. I have 16 Gb and it is utterly useless. Never ever have I seen my rMBP use more than 6-7 Gb. And that is using FCX and compressor and Parallels and Safari and Excel and Word at the same time. Buy 8 Gb and use the money you save for something nice.
And 16 Gb does slow wake-up from deep sleep by 4 seconds or so in comparison with 8 Gb.

Are you joking? When you use Photoshop and Illustrator with 16gb of RAM Photoshop alone will use over 10gb of the RAM by default. My wife uses both at the same time, alone with about 7 other programs. You know how much ram is free after that for cache, etc? 2gb.

You can't tell me $58.00 for 16gb of RAM is a wasted amount of money. If you are hurting for $58 you wouldn't have an Apple product in the first place.

Just because you don't use 16gb of RAM, you have no idea what people who run Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools, and Adobe products need. No offense but you shouldn't speak for everyone who has a computer.

LOL...Edit, I just noticed you have a retina macbook, and you're complaining about spending $58 on RAM?