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6GB in MacBook (Pro); Yes it works. - 8GB... well...

ayeying said:
The Late 2008 2.4GHz MacBook Pro (P8600) won't accept 8GB ram.
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Exactly, and my post says the same thing, as does Apple's site. It's the only unibody Apple claims won't support 8 GB.

ayeying said:
Here's the models that WILL NOT work (Starting Late 2008, when Unibodies were introduced):

MB466*/A - 2.0GHz Unibody MacBook 13" (P7350 Processor)
MB467*/A - 2.4GHz Unibody MacBook 13" (P8600 Processor)
MB470*/A - 2.4GHz Unibody MacBook Pro 15" (P8600 Processor)
MB471*/A - 2.53GHz Unibody MacBook Pro 15" (T9400 Processor)
MC026*/A - 2.66GHz Unibody MacBook Pro 15" (T9550 Processor)
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So you are saying that late '08 2.8 GHz models WILL support 8 GB?


ayeying said:
Furthermore, I don't care about the listing. I tested it when I owned the 13" MacBook Aluminum, which is Late 2008 and the 17" Unibody MacBook Pro. The 8GB worked perfectly on the 17", the 13" failed when the Virtual Machine tried to allocate more than 4GB ram.
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Nobody here is concerned with the crappy aluminum Macbook.
 
puma1552 said:
Exactly, and my post says the same thing, as does Apple's site. It's the only unibody Apple claims won't support 8 GB.
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Apple's claims are somewhat off sometimes.

puma1552 said:
So you are saying that late '08 2.8 GHz models WILL support 8 GB?
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Late 2008 didn't have a 2.8GHz model unless it was custom. If it was CTO, it still falls under the 2.53GHz or 2.66GHz category listed in my previous post.

puma1552 said:
Nobody here is concerned with the crappy aluminum Macbook.
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The 13" Unibody MacBook Pro is the Unibody MacBook, same exact hardware with different naming and firmware.
 
ayeying said:
Late 2008 didn't have a 2.8GHz model unless it was custom.
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Whether or not it was CTO makes absolutely zero difference in anything we are talking about.

The CTO 3.06 15" is prominently listed on Apple's site under the memory accessories section.

All I'm saying, is that there is one and only one listing for 2.8 GHz Unibody Macbook Pros.

Apple's site says if it's unibody and it's 2.8, it supports 8 GB. It makes no distinction between late '08 or mid '09 models, and nowhere does it define "current family":

http://store.apple.com/us/memorymodel/ME_15_28_MBP

Here's the listing for the older family, presumably the late '08/early '09 models:

http://store.apple.com/us/memoryfamily/ME_MBP_AL_G1

It doesn't strike you as slightly odd that they specifically list the 2.4 model as the sole model that doesn't support 8 GB?

I guess my question for you still stands--where is the listing for the late '08 2.8GHz model?




It's also of note--this site has been showing this for weeks. Apple surely would've corrected it long before now if it were a mistake.
 
ayeying said:
Late 2008 didn't have a 2.8GHz model unless it was custom. If it was CTO, it still falls under the 2.53GHz or 2.66GHz category listed in my previous post.

The 13" Unibody MacBook Pro is the Unibody MacBook, same exact hardware with different naming and firmware.
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There was a 2.8, it was CTO, and it is identical to the 2.53 otherwise.

The 13" MBP is a uMB, except for the firewire and SD slot...

puma1552 said:
All I'm saying, is that there is one and only one listing for 2.8 GHz Unibody Macbook Pros.
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I'm pretty sure the first gen unibodies (Late 2008) fall under this:

http://store.apple.com/us/memoryfamily/ME_MBP_PREV

Yes, I know the picture is of the previous gen to the unibodies, but I'm pretty sure if you look at the configs you will see some that were only available in unibody. You will notice the 2.53 and 2.8 listed there. You might also notice if you click on them they have no listings of RAM available.

You might also want to check out Other World Computing. They have a list of all the Macbooks, and what amount of RAM actually works in them. They even have a chart of Photoshop performance at different RAM amounts, with empty spaces in the table for unsupported RAM amounts.
 
puma1552 said:
All I'm saying, is that there is one and only one listing for 2.8 GHz Unibody Macbook Pros.
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You answered your question for me. There's no mention so you don't know. Call up Apple and ask, asking me won't help here especially since I gave you the info that I know, but its different from what apple's site states.
 
Shawn Parr said:
I'm pretty sure the first gen unibodies (Late 2008) fall under this:

http://store.apple.com/us/memoryfamily/ME_MBP_PREV

Yes, I know the picture is of the previous gen to the unibodies, but I'm pretty sure if you look at the configs you will see some that were only available in unibody. You will notice the 2.53 and 2.8 listed there. You might also notice if you click on them they have no listings of RAM available.
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Hmm, now that's weird.

I wish we could get a definite answer to whether or not software or firmware is the ultimate limitation.
 
puma1552 said:
Hmm, now that's weird.

I wish we could get a definite answer to whether or not software or firmware is the ultimate limitation.
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Unfortunately the reality is that it will probably always be that limitation no matter what causes it. I have a small hope that it is a firmware/PAE bug that running SL in 64bit kernel mode will fix. But I doubt it is really the case.

I find it disappointing in either case, especially as nVidia originally claimed that the chipset itself supported 8GB. I think they eventually retracted that, but likely it was due to pressure. It is definitely an Apple implementation issue.
 
Which is why I'm kind of irritated, since I was an early buyer and now trying to decide if I should sell now and upgrade just to make sure I can futureproof with 8 GB and get a far superior battery. I've never used the expresscard slot, and have zero use for the SD slot either so that's moot.
 
Off the phone with Apple

I'm just off the phone with Apple Support and the phone rep had to confirm with someone above that my late '08 uniMBP WOULD handle 8g of memory. They confirmed it with my serial number.

http://store.apple.com/us/memoryfamily/ME_MBP

I had my 2.8ghz MBP built and delivered within a week of them being available last fall.

I happened to be looking for pricing and most of the aftermarket sites still say only 6gigs but, Apple and now the Apple Store both say 8gigs. I'm assuming Snow Leopard had a firmware update within?

Now, $1200 at the Apple Store for 8gigs or aftermarket for around $700. I'm running Parallels and OSX all day with 1-4 programs running at a time. My Activity Monitor consistently says I only have 500-900megs of memory available. I'm looking forward to 8gigs!!!

Now, what do I need to look for and/or be aware of buying aftermarket memory?
 
Trimmer2 said:
I'm just off the phone with Apple Support and the phone rep had to confirm with someone above that my late '08 uniMBP WOULD handle 8g of memory. They confirmed it with my serial number.

http://store.apple.com/us/memoryfamily/ME_MBP

I had my 2.8ghz MBP built and delivered within a week of them being available last fall.

I happened to be looking for pricing and most of the aftermarket sites still say only 6gigs but, Apple and now the Apple Store both say 8gigs. I'm assuming Snow Leopard had a firmware update within?

Now, $1200 at the Apple Store for 8gigs or aftermarket for around $700. I'm running Parallels and OSX all day with 1-4 programs running at a time. My Activity Monitor consistently says I only have 500-900megs of memory available. I'm looking forward to 8gigs!!!

Now, what do I need to look for and/or be aware of buying aftermarket memory?
Click to expand...

Are you getting any page outs? If not, then you're fine and having more ram won't do much except keep more stuff wired.
 
Trimmer2 said:
I'm just off the phone with Apple Support and the phone rep had to confirm with someone above that my late '08 uniMBP WOULD handle 8g of memory. They confirmed it with my serial number.

http://store.apple.com/us/memoryfamily/ME_MBP

I had my 2.8ghz MBP built and delivered within a week of them being available last fall.

I happened to be looking for pricing and most of the aftermarket sites still say only 6gigs but, Apple and now the Apple Store both say 8gigs. I'm assuming Snow Leopard had a firmware update within?

Now, $1200 at the Apple Store for 8gigs or aftermarket for around $700. I'm running Parallels and OSX all day with 1-4 programs running at a time. My Activity Monitor consistently says I only have 500-900megs of memory available. I'm looking forward to 8gigs!!!

Now, what do I need to look for and/or be aware of buying aftermarket memory?
Click to expand...

weve got the exact same loaded CTO machine--if this is actually true--and it actually works--this is massive happy dance territory
 
Trimmer2 said:
...

Now, what do I need to look for and/or be aware of buying aftermarket memory?
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I never skimp on RAM. It's just not worth ending up with substandard RAM and having stability problems as a result. I bought my 2x4 GB memory from OWC, and it's the exact same brand as the OEM 2x2GB that came with it. Paid about $330 each.
 
so i'm asking to OWC last week about 8gb in snow leopard.

they are replying with very bad answer.
Hello,

The late 2008 units are limited to 6 GB of ram still.

Matt Lee
Tech Support
Other World Computing, Inc.
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come on apple, late 2008 MBP, not that old. :(
 
Would this be a reason for why some can and some cant have more than 4GB?

Users who want to run the new 64-bit kernel on late modeled Macs (pretty much anything released after early 2008) can do so by booting with the 6 and 4 keys held down. If you're wondering whether your Mac has a 64-bit EFI firmware, you can type the command "ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi" into the Terminal. The response will identify the machine as either having 32-bit or 64-bit EFI.
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' How do I know when my MacBook Pro was purchased?
- Read this: http://guides.macrumors.com/MacBook_Pro
If you fall into Rev D or Rev E specs (or Unibody MacBook Pro 15"), you can support up to 6GB w/o problems. 8GB is only allowed on the Unibody MacBook Pro 17" currently.'

If what you say is true, then why do apple offer it on their site for the 13 inch unibody pro with 8GB upgrade option?

http://img188.imageshack.us/i/macbook8gb.tif/
 
eddysparks said:
Would this be a reason for why some can and some cant have more than 4GB?
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No. The Unibody MacBook had a 64-bit EFI and 8GB failed.

eddysparks said:
nope, the pre June MBP 2.53ghz unibody model is listed as being available for 8GB, where it once did not.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/764751/
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Quoting Apple's sites won't help especially since no one has tested it. Test it and report back the results.

MrPeanut said:
' How do I know when my MacBook Pro was purchased?
- Read this: http://guides.macrumors.com/MacBook_Pro
If you fall into Rev D or Rev E specs (or Unibody MacBook Pro 15"), you can support up to 6GB w/o problems. 8GB is only allowed on the Unibody MacBook Pro 17" currently.'

If what you say is true, then why do apple offer it on their site for the 13 inch unibody pro with 8GB upgrade option?

http://img188.imageshack.us/i/macbook8gb.tif/
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I hope you're kidding. Have you checked the date from when I edited the post?
 
8gb works here in late'08 2.53ghz macbook pro

Just put 8gb of ram in my late '08 2.53ghz macbook pro and it is working great . I am running snow leopard and I am booting in 64bit kernel mode, have not tried 32bit kernel mode. No crashing after 10min or so as other reported, and system is seeing all 8gb of ram.
 

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jfs1664 said:
Just put 8gb of ram in my late '08 2.53ghz macbook pro and it is working great . I am running snow leopard and I am booting in 64bit kernel mode, have not tried 32bit kernel mode. No crashing after 10min or so as other reported, and system is seeing all 8gb of ram.
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congrats man, i hope 2.4 MBP late 08 can do the same :D

EDIT: i'm just checked, OWC Has new price for their ram :D
$580 for 8gb DDR3 :D
 
jfs1664 said:
Just put 8gb of ram in my late '08 2.53ghz macbook pro and it is working great . I am running snow leopard and I am booting in 64bit kernel mode, have not tried 32bit kernel mode. No crashing after 10min or so as other reported, and system is seeing all 8gb of ram.
Click to expand...

How much more zippy is it?
 
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