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adding RAM (Black Macbook 2006) -UPDATED-

M

mojohojo

macrumors regular
Original poster
I've got a spare 2gb Ram taken from a macbook pro and was thinking about adding it to my black macbook.

My macbook is a rev B (Late 2006). From a site:

*Apple officially supports 2 GB of RAM, but third-parties have been "unofficially" able to upgrade it to 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM (it can hold 4 GB but cannot fully utilize the memory beyond 3 GB).

Im thinking about adding that 2gb ram to make it 3gb. but i want to know what are the problems that i may face. Would i be void of apple warranty if anything happens? (expires end of this year anyway) or any other hardware problems?

**UPDATED 20/5**

So i just bought Corsair 2x 2gb (4gb) RAM for my macbook and installed it.
To my surprise, when i checked the System Profile it shows it as 4gb RAM memory, rather than what websites have said that it would be only 3.3GB.

I also notice that startup took a little longer than before, but assume its the first time with new ram.
Then i ran a memory test xbench. and the results i got were much lower than my previous results with 2gb just before i upgraded. the results now 78.98 compared to previous 111.26.

For details - http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=368540- then type 'BP Macbook' in search to compare with my original

1.Just why is it so much lower when i have more ram? any reasoning for this? is the ram at fault?
2. Just looking at memory test, there is an increase. but it seems to be barely much at all?
3. Why does it show 4gb? my macbook bought around dec 2006.

PS. I actually bought a new HDD 7200rpm 320gb as well, but have not installed it yet.
 
Adding RAM does not void the warranty. This is the late 2006 MacBook. The late 2006 MacBook that I have listed above only supports 2GB of RAM.

David
 
Just to let you know, I own a White 2.4GHz MacBook and I installed 4GB of RAM just 2 weeks ago and I'm loving the difference. Eg. Boot time, program opening up faster, less lag, etc... Hope you can make the jump to 4GB, well worth the money.🙂
 
Pures said:
Just to let you know, I own a White 2.4GHz MacBook and I installed 4GB of RAM just 2 weeks ago and I'm loving the difference. Eg. Boot time, program opening up faster, less lag, etc... Hope you can make the jump to 4GB, well worth the money.🙂
Click to expand...

...newer MB's can support up to 4 GB of ram, you have a newer model...
 
RAM limitations of MacBooks to date:

MacBook 1,1 - 2GB (2GB officially)
MacBook 2,1 (late 2006) - 3GB (2GB officially)
MacBook 2,1 (mid 2007) - 3GB (2GB officially)
MacBook 3,1 (late 2007) - 6GB (4GB officially)
MacBook 4,1 (early 2008) - 6GB (4GB officially)
MacBook 4,1 (late 2008) - 6GB (4GB officially)
MacBook 5,1 (aluminium) - 6GB stable 8GB unstable (4GB official)

For MacBook 2,1 it is unwise to carry mismatched amounts of RAM in each slot (eg DIMM0 contains 1GB and DIMM1 contains 2GB to total 3GB). This is because of the graphics system using shared RAM and mismatched RAM quantities impairs the performance of the graphics.
 
mojohojo said:
I've got a spare 2gb Ram taken from a macbook pro and was thinking about adding it to my black macbook.

My macbook is a rev B (Late 2006). From a site:

*Apple officially supports 2 GB of RAM, but third-parties have been "unofficially" able to upgrade it to 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM (it can hold 4 GB but cannot fully utilize the memory beyond 3 GB).

Im thinking about adding that 2gb ram to make it 3gb. but i want to know what are the problems that i may face. Would i be void of apple warranty if anything happens? (expires end of this year anyway) or any other hardware problems?
Click to expand...

I assume you only have 1gb now. Take out the 2 X 512mb ram sticks and install the 2 X 1gb sticks. You will enjoy the speed increase. It makes a big difference. Check out a couple youtube how-to videos, then take out the battery. I think there is a diagram under the battery too. There are levers to pop out the old ram. Look first to see how flush the old ram fits then you know how far to seat the new. You have to push kinda hard. Overall it is a very easy upgrade. Put the notebook on a soft towel to prevent scratches.
 
iknowyourider said:
I assume you only have 1gb now. Take out the 2 X 512mb ram sticks and install the 2 X 1gb sticks. You will enjoy the speed increase. It makes a big difference. Check out a couple youtube how-to videos, then take out the battery. I think there is a diagram under the battery too. There are levers to pop out the old ram. Look first to see how flush the old ram fits then you know how far to seat the new. You have to push kinda hard. Overall it is a very easy upgrade. Put the notebook on a soft towel to prevent scratches.
Click to expand...

no, i actually have 2gb when i bought it. its just that i have a spare 2gb right now.
Skeletal-dæmon - thanks, i didnt know about that. will do some research abt that
 
Ya, you can upgrade to 4gb, but the macbook will only notice 3.3 of it. I'd still say its worth the upgrade. I'm very close to doing the same to mine, this 2gb just isnt fast enough for me
 
Apple officially says 4 GB. But it's been heard that it can support up to 6 GB. The only factor is that 4 GB RAM is a lot more expensive. I can max out to 4 GB with only $38 from NewEgg. But to upgrade to 6 GB? One 4 GB is over $200 itself! So I don't think it's worth it.
 
**UPDATED 20/5**

So i just bought Corsair 2x 2gb (4gb) RAM for my macbook and installed it.
To my surprise, when i checked the System Profile it shows it as 4gb RAM memory, rather than what websites have said that it would be only 3.3GB.

I also notice that startup took a little longer than before, but assume its the first time with new ram.
Then i ran a memory test xbench. and the results i got were much lower than my previous results with 2gb just before i upgraded. the results now 78.98 compared to previous 111.26.

For details - http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc2=368540- then type 'BP Macbook' in search to compare with my original

1.Just why is it so much lower when i have more ram? any reasoning for this? is the ram at fault?
2. Just looking at memory test, there is an increase. but it seems to be barely much at all?
3. Why does it show 4gb? my macbook bought around dec 2006.

PS. I actually bought a new HDD 7200rpm 320gb as well, but have not installed it yet.
 
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