4GB Apple memory for MBP or 8?

Z

Z400Racer37

macrumors 6502a
Hey guys,

I just had a question about upgrading the memory of a MacBook Pro that I'm looking at buying. On Apple's website, they charge $200 to upgrade from 4 GB of memory to eight. I did a quick Google search however, and found a new 8 GB memory kit selling for $47. What gives? Is there something wrong, or deficient with this cheap memory, or does Apple just make a lot of money if you upgrade from the factory? I've attached a screenshot of the memory description on Apple's website, and a link to the Amazon website that I'm referring to.Also, is there significant, noticeable difference between the two? I plan on getting the 2.0 GHz i7 quad core processor, in the 15 inch screen configuration.

Thanks in advance guys

http://www.amazon.com/MacBook-PC3-10600-1333MHz-MC721LL-PARTS-QUICK/dp/B004SOYADC
 

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Yes, Apple just overcharges for RAM. There's no problem getting cheap RAM from a third party, as long as it has the same specs.
 
many many people here have gone the aftermarket route to swap RAM, myself included. I bought and installed crucial RAM this summer when prices were higher, but still much lower than the $200 Apple wanted.

The only thing you aren't receiving by paying Apple to install the RAM for you, is just that. $200 gets someone else to pop the notebook open and put the RAM in for you, which is not a hard task at all. Your warranty/applecare status is still the same, with the exception of if you are having an issue, it would be smart to keep your original RAM and put that in prior to taking it to apple, no big deal.
 
took 10 minutes to upgrade to 8GB on my 13MPB. Could have done it quicker but I was being very careful as it's brand new. I bought the Crucial ram off of Amazon for 47 bucks.
 
I purchased 8GB of Corsair RAM from Amazon. It's $48 and has a $10 rebate right now, so $38 after rebate. Installed it with no problems and my MBP is running great. Apple's RAM is well-known for being overpriced.
 
Apple overcharging is an understatement it 200 during your purchase to upgrade to 8Gb but it's 420 if you buy it from apple if your buying only the 8Gb, are they serious 420$ for something you can get for 50$
 
As long as you buy your RAM from a respectable source your fine. Apple charges more because they have to install it, make a custom mac, etc. I think it also has to do with the fact that apple care then also covers the RAM and any possible recall as well. Not to mention that any possible damages and worse case scenarios during the RAM replacement are also covered by apple. So yes apple is more pricy than doing it yourself, but I have seen best buy nockups and they are (possibly) just as bad.
 
sweetbrat said:
I purchased 8GB of Corsair RAM from Amazon. It's $48 and has a $10 rebate right now, so $38 after rebate. Installed it with no problems and my MBP is running great. Apple's RAM is well-known for being overpriced.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I just purchased this today myself, and didn't even notice the rebate link when I ordered it earlier
 
nyc999 said:
how much of a difference did you guys notice in speed with the 8gb ram vs 4gb?
Click to expand...

4GB RAM running at speed of 1333MHz is of the exact same speed as 8GB RAM @ 1333MHz, it is only logical. RAM capacity isn't the same as RAM speed. Most of the time when users upgrade RAM they upgrade its capacity, not speed. If you upgrade your RAM to a higher clocked compatible RAM, only then will you notice a slight increase in speed.
​

To the OP.
It is no secret that Apple blatantly overcharges for memory upgrades. Their 8GB RAM upgrade price of $400, which is nearly 10x of actual market price, is just outrageous. And no, their Samsung RAM sticks aren't of "higher quality" at all, it is of the same exact quality as other renowned manufacturers such as Crucial, Kingston, G.Skill, Corsair, etc.. which can be bought for $45 or even less nowadays, from sites like Amazon and Newegg.
 
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nyc999 said:
how much of a difference did you guys notice in speed with the 8gb ram vs 4gb?
Click to expand...

Only thing I noticed is the kernel uses more RAM. The more you have the more it likes to use I guess. I've noticed zero change going from 4GB to 8GB. In fact, after a while I notice my free RAM hovers where it did with less RAM. It just keeps more inactive.

My experience anyway.
 
The posts asking about the system speed are just hilarious..
How come, did you really expected the system to be faster?
More ram boosts multitasking of resource heavy apps or help the system to perform better under scenarios of heavy workloads..

For a user who use his MBP to browse the web and crop pictures in photoshop it's just pointless to upgrade as of today..
 
As the previous poster said, you'll only notice a difference in speed if your system actually NEEDS the extra RAM. If you're running a bunch of applications or doing using applications that require a lot of RAM then yes, you'll notice a difference. If you're browsing the web, listening to iTunes, etc. then it's not going to make anything faster. People should check to see if they're even using all their current RAM before deciding to upgrade. I know RAM is cheap, but why spend $40 or $50 if you don't need to?
 
Another thing that tends to eat a lot of ram is Parallels.
So if you are running Parallels, you might want to upgrade..

For work reasons I need to run a couple of apps under Windows and occasionally perform tests on a QA instance of my server which runs a distribution of Linux.. In this scenario I have only few hundreds megabytes of my 4gbs left unused..
 
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ombrenelcielo said:
Another thing that tend to eat a lot of ram is Parallels.
So if you are running Parallels, you might want to upgrade..

For work reasons I need to run a couple of apps under Windows and occasionally perform tests on a QA instance of my server which runs a distribution of Linux.. In this scenario I have only few hundreds megabytes of my 4gbs left unused..
Click to expand...

This is the main reason why I went to 8Gb of RAM - for Parallels and Fusion.
 
gorskiegangsta said:


To the OP.
It is no secret that Apple blatantly overcharges for memory upgrades. Their 8GB RAM upgrade price of $400, which is nearly 10x of actual market price, is just outrageous. And no, their Samsung RAM sticks aren't of "higher quality" at all, it is of the same exact quality as other renowned manufacturers such as Crucial, Kingston, G.Skill, Corsair, etc.. which can be bought for $45 or even less nowadays, from sites like Amazon and Newegg.​
Click to expand...


Exactly. If it makes you feel better, you can even buy samsung ram for your mbp for ~$40​
 
You'll have to put the third party in yourself, but its not hard. Ya just need to pull the old RAM out and click the new RAM in :D
 
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