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All 15'' Late 08 MBP's only support 6GB RAM. Is this a SW or HW limitation?

V

vader1990

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 23, 2008
220
2
Hi,

Ok, I know all the Late 2008 MBP models--2.4Ghz, 2.53Ghz, and 2.8Ghz--only support 6Gb of DDR3 RAM. Is this a software limitation or a hardware limitation?

Does anyone know a definitive answer to this? Will Snow Leopard be able to address the full 8GB in a 2.4GHz model?

Thanks!!
 
K

KevinRightWing

macrumors 6502
Jul 15, 2007
269
31
Houston TX
Man, I need to know this too. I am on the fence on grabbing the 2.4ghz refurb mbp for $1,349. I wouldnt think I would need the additional 2gb ram necessarily, but would be nice to know.
 
Frosties

Frosties

macrumors 65816
Jun 12, 2009
1,079
209
Sweden
Only Apple knows, we can only guess. My guess, limited hardware, is as good as the next one.
 
Frosties

Frosties

macrumors 65816
Jun 12, 2009
1,079
209
Sweden

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Frosties

Frosties

macrumors 65816
Jun 12, 2009
1,079
209
Sweden
The picture is from the link above and the description is below, not the first ad to have questionable info in it. Call apple and find out what computer this is before purchase.

Display 15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution
Expansion Three USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
 
Frosties

Frosties

macrumors 65816
Jun 12, 2009
1,079
209
Sweden
I have to pass on that. I have read that there was a chip update on this 2.66 model but what that brought regarding max ram I don't know.
 
S

sexyfoolxx

macrumors member
Feb 8, 2007
53
0
Chicago
All the original unibody MacBooks would recognize 8 gigs of ram, but once you used over 6 the system became dog slow and also wouldn't release the ram when not in use. It would, however, work just fine utilizing 6 gigs or less of the 8 gigs total. There was a huge thread about this when they came out and members were guessing it was a software limitation not hardware. The same chipsets are being used, only the newer models have a rev b chipset I believe compared to the rev A in the oringinals.
 
daneoni

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,598
1,146
Nvidia B2 (Nov 08 Revision) vs B3 (March/June 09 Revisions) Chipset is being touted as a possible explanation
 
iLog.Genius

iLog.Genius

macrumors 601
Feb 24, 2009
4,903
451
Toronto, Ontario
daneoni said:
Nvidia B2 (Nov 08 Revision) vs B3 (March/June 09 Revisions) Chipset is being touted as a possible explanation
Click to expand...

It's for Apple to come out and say but they probably won't. I remember reading somewhere where NVIDIA stated that their chipset did support 8GB RAM (sometime when the unibody was first released) so this would likely be before any sort of revision chips. That doesn't necessarily mean that the first chips could support it, they could be talking generally and this is where the revision chips come in.
 
jav6454

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Vulcan said:
My guess is hardware. The new MBP's can accept up to 8GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

Wrong.

Frosties said:
Only Apple knows, we can only guess. My guess, limited hardware, is as good as the next one.
Click to expand...

Wrong also.


Just like the the new laptops where limited to 1.5Gb/s, the old late 08 unibody machines are also software limited to only 4GB of memory.

Apple only has to release a software EFI 1.8 update to allow unibody users to access 8GB.

Also, the whole B2 and B3 has nothing to do with it. Apple released the 17" unibody MacBook Pro in January, using the same chipset (B2) as the late o8 machines. So, that would make no sense saying its the chipset difference.

Hopefully, Apple will do that with Snow Leopard. Still, I don't think anyone will need 4GB or more for 2 or more years at minimum.
 
iLog.Genius

iLog.Genius

macrumors 601
Feb 24, 2009
4,903
451
Toronto, Ontario
jav6454 said:
Wrong.



Wrong also.


Just like the the new laptops where limited to 1.5Gb/s, the old late 08 unibody machines are also software limited to only 4GB of memory.

Apple only has to release a software EFI 1.8 update to allow unibody users to access 8GB.

Also, the whole B2 and B3 has nothing to do with it. Apple released the 17" unibody MacBook Pro in January, using the same chipset (B2) as the late o8 machines. So, that would make no sense saying its the chipset difference.

Hopefully, Apple will do that with Snow Leopard. Still, I don't think anyone will need 4GB or more for 2 or more years at minimum.
Click to expand...

I think that makes sense. The chipset theory does too but I don't see why Apple would use different chipsets in different models. It would be cheaper to just use the same chipset but block it in the firmware. Obviously there are revisions, but I think those change other things that we don't know but RAM isn't one of them. Only time will tell. Also with the price of 4GB DIMM's, I don't think we'll see anyone rush out to get a pair.
 
daneoni

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,598
1,146
jav6454 said:
Wrong.



Wrong also.


Just like the the new laptops where limited to 1.5Gb/s, the old late 08 unibody machines are also software limited to only 4GB of memory.

Apple only has to release a software EFI 1.8 update to allow unibody users to access 8GB.

Also, the whole B2 and B3 has nothing to do with it. Apple released the 17" unibody MacBook Pro in January, using the same chipset (B2) as the late o8 machines. So, that would make no sense saying its the chipset difference.

Hopefully, Apple will do that with Snow Leopard. Still, I don't think anyone will need 4GB or more for 2 or more years at minimum.
Click to expand...

I think the 17" shipped with B3

EDIT: I'm sure of it
 
J

joelones

macrumors newbie
Jun 12, 2009
11
0
Just a question, how would one know if one had a March 09 revision macbook pro 15"? I bought my 2.66 15" (Express card slot) MBP not to long ago in June 09, after the new releases. My serial number checks out as a late '08 model? My understanding is that despite the serial number saying otherwise, the 2.66 processor was refreshed as of March of this year.

I guess there's no way to check if one has a rev. B3 in software alone?
 
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