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4GB RAM in first-gen MacBook Pro?

T

thefunkymunky

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 24, 2005
1,270
2
London
Hey,

Crucial UK currently have 4GB for only £65. I know the page I've linked to is for a newer MBP than mine but I want to know if the first-gen MacBook Pro can take 2GB modules? I know at the time Apple says it can only take 1GB modules but I am wondering if this is a hardware limitation or simply 2GB modules weren't available when the first-gen started shipping. Can the Core Duo chipset support 2GB modules?

Thanks.
 
First gen macbook pro can be upgraded to 3 gig max. The newer MBP with Santa Rosa chipset can be upgraded up to 4 gig of RAM. So you should be able to run a 2+1 config but I'm not that sure of the beneficts you'll get as you'll lose dual-channeling. Running Dual-channel gives a little boost in memory efficiency. But I can't tell wether 2+1 is better then 1+1 because I don't have enough experience messing with RAM.
 
DaveSM said:
First gen macbook pro can be upgraded to 3 gig max. The newer MBP with Santa Rosa chipset can be upgraded up to 4 gig of RAM. So you should be able to run a 2+1 config but I'm not that sure of the beneficts you'll get as you'll lose dual-channeling. Running Dual-channel gives a little boost in memory efficiency. But I can't tell wether 2+1 is better then 1+1 because I don't have enough experience messing with RAM.
Click to expand...

That's actually the 2nd gen MBP with a Core 2 Duo CPU. My understanding is that you can actually install 2x2GB SODIMMs in these machines, but only 3.2GB of memory will be recognized. The documentation available for the Core Duo MBPs all say 1GB maximum per slot.
 
Jiddick ExRex said:
No dual-channeling running 3.3 GB outperforms dual-channeling 2 GB.
I say go for it. At least 1 + 2 GB modules.
Click to expand...

The first two sentences of my post were referring to my late 2006 C2D MBP. The last sentence of my post referred to the OP's Core Duo machine. As far as I can tell, he's maxed out at 2GB total memory.
 
Jiddick ExRex said:
No dual-channeling running 3.3 GB outperforms dual-channeling 2 GB.
I say go for it. At least 1 + 2 GB modules.
Click to expand...

Cliff3 said:
The first two sentences of my post were referring to my late 2006 C2D MBP. The last sentence of my post referred to the OP's Core Duo machine. As far as I can tell, he's maxed out at 2GB total memory.
Click to expand...

Yeah guys at the moment I am maxed out with 2GB RAM. I very much doubt I will see any performance increase going from dual-channel 2GB to single-channel 3GB in a 1GB/2GB config, even if that did work in my machine.

Thanks anyway.
 
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