That 'article' is years old and frankly doesnt have a clue
its quoting ECC memory as though the whole Mac product range requires that when it's only relevant to Mac Pros with Xeon processors
The author of that article cant even work out why an older memory module in a size that was top of the line when it was out (and will by then be old inventory sat on shelves and still priced to reflect the RAM prices of the time when it was new), could
possibly cost more than a contemporary 2011 module flying off the shelves and selling in the millions of units to then current system builders...
Ignore all that and get to the gist of his article, PC memory is ordered based on its speed and capacity, whilst Mac memory is traditionally ordered based on Mac model number.
No sh** sherlock ..maybe thats cos PCs are available in so many configurations that the only safe way of ordering PC RAM is by being specific, whilst mac model ranges are small enough to offer a freindly by model ordering scheme (with the buyer paying a premium to the supplier for providing that service).
That convenience does not rule out in any way shape or form the ability to order Mac memory by specification. Provided you know the spec which most folks these days do.
Apple make mac minis and sell them for 499? then thats the going rate for that item and it isnt available from any other manufacturer. As thats the going rate folks pay that.
If the guy in the store next door to my local Apple store is selling the same mac-mini for 599 am I going to entertain his twaddle about "not cheaping out" and buy it from him instead? Not bloody likely,
he doesnt make them,
he's charging over the odds and I can get them next door without
his ridiculous markup.
So why would I ever walk into the apple store and buy RAM from them that
they dont make, that
they're charging over the odds for and that I can buy without
their equally ridicuous markup?
Bottom line - do Apple set their machines up with narrower RAM tolerances than your average third party motherboard manufacturer, who has to anticipate a far wider range of modules being thrown onto his board, some of which could be from pretty ropey manufacs?
Quite probably
Does that mean you're stuck with RAM sourced from Apple themselves when it comes ot a Mac? Absolutely not you just need to know the specs of the RAM that that they fit ino their machines, source your RAM from a decent manufacturer and make sure it matches the speeds, voltages and timings of the RAM apple use themselves. End of story.
When you buy 'Mac' RAM all your paying a premium for (over a decent manufacturers equivalent DIMMS ordered by spec) is that debateable convenience of someone having gone and worked that out for you.
