Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
6GB in MacBook (Pro); Yes it works. - 8GB... well...
- Thread starter ayeying
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Scratch earlier post. Apps started crashing again and overall performance took a noticeable hit. Reinstalled the old RAM and everything is back to normal. The OWC 4GB chip is going back.
with 6gb I have had no issues running on the mac. It recognizes it and runs smoothly. Startup times are nice. If you are concerned about your stick of ram, you can run memtest 86, they have a version that is compatible for mac. you can also run your AHT from your original install discs and let that run a test on the mem.
Thank you for the advise. OWC is sending a new chip out to me this week. I am going to see how that works out.
Where is everyone getting the 4gb ddr3 chips??? I dont see any on newegg... I just bought a unibody 15 and def want to drop 6gb of ram in it.
Thanks much!
Thanks much!
I just got my 6gb upgrade installed, and it is working fine. I haven't tested anything that uses all 6gb yet, but I ran some xbench benchmarks before and after. There is a slight performance hit due to loosing dual channel, but I don't think it will be noticeable. The 2gb chip is a G.Skill CL5 in slot 0.
I am wondering if people with a 17inch unibody can tell me what's in their kext folder and if anything is different than the 15 inchers
It is most likely not a OS issue but a firmware issue. However, I'll post up whatever I find after I receive my 17" either tomorrow or Monday.
if you have a 15 inch and a 17 inch can you do this
install os from 17 inch on 15 inch (put restore disk in 17 put 15 in target disk mode (t on boot up should see firewire logo bouncing around screen) and select 15 inch hard drive on 17 inch and install) then try 8 GB ram. You could also test this if you have a 15 inch and a friend has a 17 inch and you both have 6 gb ram or the person with the 17 inch has 8 gb ram.
edit:
just boot 15 off 17 with 17 inch in target disk mode and try it
install os from 17 inch on 15 inch (put restore disk in 17 put 15 in target disk mode (t on boot up should see firewire logo bouncing around screen) and select 15 inch hard drive on 17 inch and install) then try 8 GB ram. You could also test this if you have a 15 inch and a friend has a 17 inch and you both have 6 gb ram or the person with the 17 inch has 8 gb ram.
edit:
just boot 15 off 17 with 17 inch in target disk mode and try it
I'm not sure, what your asking? I'm almost tempted to say yes, if only because I love my Macbook pro.
I know it would take somebody who is rich or 2 friends to do it. Also 4 GB ram chips are $360 each. If ifixit could try this with those 2 4GB chips they bought for trying it org. that would help
Could somebody also try 8GB on unibody MacBook with the MacBook booted off 17 inch MacBook Pro unibody?
Or we could wait for a Mac OS X update and try 8GB in 15 inch and 13 inch
Or we could wait for a Mac OS X update and try 8GB in 15 inch and 13 inch
8GB doesn't work in the Unibody MacBook. Someone has tested it before. Currently, only the 17" Unibody MacBook Pro supports 8GB.
You're not reading his post. He is saying boot a 15" inch mbp off of a 17" inch MBPs drive (IE: hook it up with usb / firewire and boot off external, or target disk) and then try putting the 8gb of ram from the 17" in the 15"
The increase in performance when moving from 4GB to 6GB
Hi guys, thanks for all of the useful information. I've spent the last hour or so reading the "entire" thread. This has obviously been going on for quite a while. Although it has been established that a Macbook Pro 2.6 4,1, as with other models, has the ability to exceed the 4GB of ram use that Apple says these systems are capable of, I haven't found any statistics which compare the increase in performance when moving from the 4GB to 6GB margin. Conventional wisdom would suggest adding more ram to be gainful. Though adding too much ram, as with the (2) 4 GB modules, has already been proven to have an adverse effect. Has anyone compiled numbers which show the increased benefits under the circumstances mentioned? I understand that many of you have been able to "access" the additional ram but does the hardware, software or the fact that your using a mismatched pair of 4 and 2GB modules negate any significant increase in performance over (2) 2GB modules? Any hard numbers would be of interest.
Hi guys, thanks for all of the useful information. I've spent the last hour or so reading the "entire" thread. This has obviously been going on for quite a while. Although it has been established that a Macbook Pro 2.6 4,1, as with other models, has the ability to exceed the 4GB of ram use that Apple says these systems are capable of, I haven't found any statistics which compare the increase in performance when moving from the 4GB to 6GB margin. Conventional wisdom would suggest adding more ram to be gainful. Though adding too much ram, as with the (2) 4 GB modules, has already been proven to have an adverse effect. Has anyone compiled numbers which show the increased benefits under the circumstances mentioned? I understand that many of you have been able to "access" the additional ram but does the hardware, software or the fact that your using a mismatched pair of 4 and 2GB modules negate any significant increase in performance over (2) 2GB modules? Any hard numbers would be of interest.
The increase in performance when moving from 4GB to 6GB
It appears as though m85476585 posted some Benchmarks while I was putting together my request. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to access them. So I'm not quite sure if he's comparing 4GB TO 6 and what his results were.
It appears as though m85476585 posted some Benchmarks while I was putting together my request. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to access them. So I'm not quite sure if he's comparing 4GB TO 6 and what his results were.
I'm not sure, what your asking? I'm almost tempted to say yes, if only because I love my Macbook pro.
I'm saying the Hybrid HDDs are over-hyped right now just like ReadyBoost.
You're better off saving up and buy a SSD instead. Of course how you spend your money is really none of my business; it's really just my opinion that Hybrid HDDs are not viable.
I compared 4gb to 6gb, but I just ran XBench, which tests the raw speed of the memory. Since you lose dual-channel with 6gb (unmatched modules), there is actually a slight performance decrease, about 4%. That's for things running purely in memory, though. For anything that is swapping to the disk (due to limited memory), the added memory will make it many times faster. For example, VMWare Fusion becomes basically unusable and freezes the computer if it has to swap to the disk, but with 6gb, swapping is less likely. Also, with 6gb, I can allocate more memory to the guest OS, which lets it run better, or I can run multiple guests at once (if I wanted to do this). Other big memory-using applications might also benefit.
I've noticed in the past few days, something has been using up tons of memory, at least according to the pie chart in activity monitor. Right now, it's showing 3.5gb active and 600mb wired, but if I add up the real memory for every process I have running, it is less than 2gb. Also, I haven't run anything that uses an excessive amount of memory (like VMWare Fusion or MATLAB with a 2gb dataset) since the last time I rebooted, so I don't know what would be leaking. It did this before the last reboot too, and I tried closing every open app, and the active memory didn't go away. Any ideas? Sorry to hijack this thread, but it might be related to the 6gb.
Picture 1 is last week, and Picture 5 s right now.