2011 iMac (upgrading from 4gb to 8gb)

[jmanley1]

(I'll preface this by saying I'm a little OCD with things so, take it for what it's worth)

Decided to upgrade my 2011 2.7 GHZ 21.5 inch iMac from 4 gb of RAM to 8 gb of RAM today. I really wanted to stick with memory that Apple sells (yes I know it's a hefty price differential between that and aftermarket) so my wife stopped at one of the Apple stores locally and got me 2x2 gb of RAM for a $100 bucks.

I noticed tonight, as I was installing my new RAM that the actual chips didn't look exactly like what was already in the slots, does this matter? I had always heard that Apple uses Samsung RAM (or mostly does). I didn't pull out what was in there to verify the maker.

The RAM I got from the Apple store was 'made in South Korea' and I don't recall seeing a maker listed. Just an Apple 'Memory' sticker on it, etc.

Does it matter that I might have 4 gb's of one kind of RAM and 4 gb's of another?

 

[RobinHood5]

(I'll preface this by saying I'm a little OCD with things so, take it for what it's worth)

Decided to upgrade my 2011 2.7 GHZ 21.5 inch iMac from 4 gb of RAM to 8 gb of RAM today. I really wanted to stick with memory that Apple sells (yes I know it's a hefty price differential between that and aftermarket) so my wife stopped at one of the Apple stores locally and got me 2x2 gb of RAM for a $100 bucks.

I noticed tonight, as I was installing my new RAM that the actual chips didn't look exactly like what was already in the slots, does this matter? I had always heard that Apple uses Samsung RAM (or mostly does). I didn't pull out what was in there to verify the maker.

The RAM I got from the Apple store was 'made in South Korea' and I don't recall seeing a maker listed. Just an Apple 'Memory' sticker on it, etc.

Does it matter that I might have 4 gb's of one kind of RAM and 4 gb's of another?

One thing you should know! There is nothing special or better about apple ram. I don't even believe that it was designed/made/manufactured by apple. Even if it is, it's just generic ram. You could have gotten it for about $60 cheaper WITH lifetime warranty from other world computing.

About your ram.... Like I said, the ram apple sells is just generic RAM. Nothing special. I'll bet that they employ several company's to make their ram and you just got Ones made from a differant generic no name company. It's the same speed so it will work with the generic apple ram you already have just fine.

My advice, take the apple ram back to the store ASAP. For $100 you can get 16gb (4x4gb) from OWC (macsales.com) with a lifetime warranty. Apple is cheating you with their ram, don't let them.

 

[crantagonist]

I agree with RobinHood5. Apple uses standard 3rd-party RAM (Samsung, hynix, etc.) and just slaps their sticker on it as they don't manufacture their own RAM. So you essentially ended up paying the Apple-price for something that is to be had much cheaper without it - because it ISN'T an Apple product.

To answer your original question: No, it doesn't matter that they look slightly different. Some RAM modules are blue, some are green, some grey-ish. It doesn't influence their performance and it can't harm your Mac, either.

 

[TacticalDesire]

As the other posters said. Take the RAM back. Don't ever buy such components from them again. You are paying a huge premium for a product they didn't even make.