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

Mastamarek said:
so ... can a 2.53Ghz MBP take 8Gb of ram or not!?? I ve read all those pages and I still dont have an answer :D
Click to expand...

Then you're reading because no one has yet to comment at least on this thread about the usage of 8GB on the newer 2.66/2.93; 15" MacBook Pros.
 

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That screen cap is from the Apple Store for the 2.66 UMBP for 8GB. Not the MB or the 2.44/2.53 MBP .



ayeying said:
no its not.

Because I can put in 8GB in my 13" Unibody MacBook and make it run. Doesn't mean it'll be stable after the 4GB mark which has plagued the older models and even some of the newer Unibody.
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imacgyverpro said:
OMG, this machine so freaking sweet with 6GB,
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So I have been having an issue with running 6GB of crucial ram in my 2.6 MBP. I get random freezing of the screen. When this happens the lappy is still running but the screen freezes and no input can happen. I have to do a hard reset.

Do you think that the order of the RAM could matter? I have the 4gb on top. I swapped out to the 4gb and the issue seems to go away.
 
I moved my 4gb chip to the bottom and it seems better. Tomorrow i have a 4gb chip coming for 8gb. Hopefully that will work out but for some reason having the 4gb on the bottom does better. Go figure
 
Is APPLE in the business of selling bogus upgrades / products? Lets be real here folks. It's good enough for me to bump my order from a 2.4 to a 2.6. Should be here weds.



ayeying said:
However a screen cap is not 100% proof. Until someone has really tried it and reported on results, it is just rumor that it could/would work.
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handheldgames said:
Is APPLE in the business of selling bogus upgrades / products? Lets be real here folks. It's good enough for me to bump my order from a 2.4 to a 2.6. Should be here weds.
Click to expand...

Do you really want to spend at least $1200 just for a the remote possibility that that model might support 2GB more than the 2.4GHz model?

I honestly don't know what Apple is up to with the hidden upgrade. But Crucial doesn't even mention the 2.66 and 2.93 models on its website (I assume it's because they are already equipped with 4GB) and OWC says they can only work reliably with up to 6GB. Now why would the two companies not want to cater to those crazy enough to pay $700-$1200 for 2 sticks of 4GB?

And as far as the Apple online store is concerned, you should at least point out that you can't access the memory upgrade directly, nor does Apple claim on its website that any of the MBP 15-inch versions currently support more than 4GB:


"Processor and memory


15-inch MacBook Pro

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed; or 2.66GHz or 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache
1066MHz frontside bus
2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) or 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB"
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html


I think that there will eventually be a firmware update for all Unibody MB/MBP models. After all, they are all equipped with the same NVidia chipset. It just doesn't make sense that Apple would screw over all the buyers who paid extra for the 2.53Ghz and 2.8Ghz models at the time. Is there a precedence for that?
I think with Snow Leopard and the price of 4MB modules coming down, Apple will patch the systems that have the older firmware.
 
Purchased the MBP from the ADC store, using my yearly discount so the price difference wasn't that much. Either way I'll be happy with 2.6 and the 128SSD. Would never spend $1200 today. IF and when I can buy the upgrade in 6mo or so at a reasonable price - I'll be happy. And if not? My gamble didn't pay off.




santos79 said:
Do you really want to spend at least $1200 just for a the remote possibility that that model might support 2GB more than the 2.4GHz model?

I honestly don't know what Apple is up to with the hidden upgrade. But Crucial doesn't even mention the 2.66 and 2.93 models on its website (I assume it's because they are already equipped with 4GB) and OWC says they can only work reliably with up to 6GB. Now why would the two companies not want to cater to those crazy enough to pay $700-$1200 for 2 sticks of 4GB?

And as far as the Apple online store is concerned, you should at least point out that you can't access the memory upgrade directly, nor does Apple claim on its website that any of the MBP 15-inch versions currently support more than 4GB:


"Processor and memory


15-inch MacBook Pro

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed; or 2.66GHz or 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache
1066MHz frontside bus
2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) or 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB"
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html


I think that there will eventually be a firmware update for all Unibody MB/MBP models. After all, they are all equipped with the same NVidia chipset. It just doesn't make sense that Apple would screw over all the buyers who paid extra for the 2.53Ghz and 2.8Ghz models at the time. Is there a precedence for that?
I think with Snow Leopard and the price of 4MB modules coming down, Apple will patch the systems that have the older firmware.
Click to expand...
 
ayeying said:
no its not.

Because I can put in 8GB in my 13" Unibody MacBook and make it run. Doesn't mean it'll be stable after the 4GB mark which has plagued the older models and even some of the newer Unibody.
Click to expand...

My question to you is this: is the reason my laptop (see sig) can't handle 8gb RAM because of the lack of a "proper" 64-bit support or due to some inherent flaw in the chipset?
 
fleshman03 said:
My question to you is this: is the reason my laptop (see sig) can't handle 8gb RAM because of the lack of a "proper" 64-bit support or due to some inherent flaw in the chipset?
Click to expand...

No one really knows. There are a lot of ideas, but the Santa Rosa chipset can address 8 gb and it apparently does on Windows-based laptops. My crazy idea is that the vRAM is confusing the system such that when you put in 8 gb it would total 8.512 gb (in your case) of "memory". I would test this if I could get my hands on a Santa Rosa MacBook (which does not have dedicated vRAM).
 
fleshman03 said:
My question to you is this: is the reason my laptop (see sig) can't handle 8gb RAM because of the lack of a "proper" 64-bit support or due to some inherent flaw in the chipset?
Click to expand...

Its a problem with the EFI most likely. It doesn't seem like a flaw in the chipset because the same family of chipset is used on windows based notebooks and it works. 64-bit support shouldn't matter either because the CPUs used in our system are also the same as the windows counterparts.

Cave Man said:
No one really knows. There are a lot of ideas, but the Santa Rosa chipset can address 8 gb and it apparently does on Windows-based laptops. My crazy idea is that the vRAM is confusing the system such that when you put in 8 gb it would total 8.512 gb (in your case) of "memory". I would test this if I could get my hands on a Santa Rosa MacBook (which does not have dedicated vRAM).
Click to expand...

Actually that idea died when I tried 8GB with a newer Unibody MacBook. It should only have 7.73GB of usable ram yet it still crashed. Therefore, it seems like the vRAM is not an issue here.
 
Guy Mancuso said:
I moved my 4gb chip to the bottom and it seems better. Tomorrow i have a 4gb chip coming for 8gb. Hopefully that will work out but for some reason having the 4gb on the bottom does better. Go figure
Click to expand...

Thanks I did this yesterday and so far no freezing. It does seem to happen when I push the CPU so will try that and see if we are good now.

Thanks for the reply.
 
Well it does not seem that 6gb Crucial works in my MBP 2.6. I mean it works but I get random freezing so have gone back to 4gb.
 
ayeying said:
Its a problem with the EFI most likely. It doesn't seem like a flaw in the chipset because the same family of chipset is used on windows based notebooks and it works. 64-bit support shouldn't matter either because the CPUs used in our system are also the same as the windows counterparts.
Click to expand...

EFI ... equivalent (or about there) of the BIOS for Mac?

Isn't it feasible that such an obstacle could be address in a firmware update?

I'm not really too interested in actually doing this, but it's a nice little learning exercise.
 
I'm deciding which MBP to get and memory expandability matters. As far as Apple is concerned, their official statement is all are limited to 4GB. If that statement is true, I'll get the 2.4 and be done with it, even though 4GB is weak for a pro model.

However, what is the consensus of the community? Is the 2.4 limited to 4 or 6? If it is limited to 4, which models will 6 work in? 8 seems to be limited to the 2.9 and maybe the 2.6. Do we know anything for sure or is this entire thread dated information?
 
fleshman03 said:
EFI ... equivalent (or about there) of the BIOS for Mac?

Isn't it feasible that such an obstacle could be address in a firmware update?

I'm not really too interested in actually doing this, but it's a nice little learning exercise.
Click to expand...

EFI is the next generation to BIOS. BIOS is old and more or less should be considered obsolete.

If it is just a firmware issue, then a EFI update will remove the limit. Thats hoping Apple didn't cripple the actual hardware.
 
Battery Life

I haven't seen this mentioned yet...

For those of you with 6GB, how is battery life?

I would imagine since it swaps less it should be a marginal increase?
I think I saw someone mention the 4GB stick runs hotter, so it could be a marginal decrease?

EDIT: BTW: my first post!
 
I'm pretty much a noob at this...
I want to upgrade my 2008 2.4 MAcbook Pro from the original 2GB to 4GB
What brand should I go with?
And what exact type.?
 
vopilif said:
I haven't seen this mentioned yet...

For those of you with 6GB, how is battery life?

I would imagine since it swaps less it should be a marginal increase?
I think I saw someone mention the 4GB stick runs hotter, so it could be a marginal decrease?

EDIT: BTW: my first post!
Click to expand...

Shouldn't affect battery life to the point of where you can see a difference since two chips equal up to the ~ same amount of power draw. You'll probably see a drop of 1 minute at most.
 
I've haven't seen any difference in terms on battery life and I went from 2 to 6 gb.
 
so I know This has prolly been asked..

but can my mbp use only 4,6, or 8gb?
17" mbp 2.4GHz 150HD I think its the rosetta stone one
i got it in april 07
 
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