whats up with the price of upgrading RAM on apple's machines?! I've got a mbp with 2gb ram and am thinking about going for 4gb. on the apple site, when ordering a new mbp, it costs an extra £450, but i can buy 4gb ram from crucial.com for just over £100!??! whats the deal with this? is the RAM from crucial rubbish or is apple ripping people off?
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apple and their crazy RAM prices?!
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^ I concur, I seriously recommend ordering your RAM from otherworldcomputing.com, I ordered an OWC branded 4GB upgrade kit and with shipping to the UK via FedEx it came to £65.26, and the price of the kit has since gone down to under $100! Check it out at: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/53IM2DDR4GBK/.
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crucial ram is fantastic quality and is often the same as used by the manufacturer (micron)
I've been using crucial for over 5 years and have never had a single failed stick. All manufacturers charge rip off prices for ram and unfortunately apple are the same.
crucial ram is fantastic quality and is often the same as used by the manufacturer (micron)
I've been using crucial for over 5 years and have never had a single failed stick. All manufacturers charge rip off prices for ram and unfortunately apple are the same.
Apple is indeed a ripoff, but the RAM is installed for you and covered under Applecare. Doesn't justify their prices or anything, but worth taking into account.
You might have a better time dealing with a company with a UK presence should you run into any difficulty - I'd go crucial
Sorry for the delayed reply, I thought I should at least try to look as though I was doing some work today!
You should check out this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/400477/, I think it gives a nice little snapshot of people's views on OWC. There are tens if not hundreds of posts littered all over these forums that cover everything from buying RAM to installing it, ultimately it's up to you to decide on what you think is best for you and your machine, I can relate to "you get what you pay for", but in the case of RAM I've changed my mind somewhat, although that's not to say I'd stick just anything in my machine.
One thing I would recommend is keeping the old sticks of RAM handy just incase you need to re-install them should the new RAM go bad, also remember that OWC RAM comes with an Advanced Lifetime Replacement Warranty
I disagree, from what I've experienced and observed OWC's customer service blows the majority of similar UK companies out of the water!
P.S. I don't work for OWC, honest!
Don't know about how they treat people in the UK, but here in New York i've bought from Crucial several times without any problems at all. Quick and easy. They have my recommendation.
Cheers
Cheers
Neither. Crucial is fine RAM and, like any work you do yourself, you save about $90/hr. in technician fees. You are also assuming full responsibility for anything you break. Unless you have a mini, the savings vs. the risk are worth it.
I don't completely agree with this, but my thoughts aren't too far off. I think Apple knows it can charge a premium just because it is Apple. They also know it costs something to install the RAM. They also know that the *majority* of consumers are scared to install any internal hardware. Their prices are indeed high and they would be wise to lower them some I would think. I guess they just know that they can take some people for more money and for those that are willing to do their own install there is almost no ram price that would satisfy them.
Not sure if that makes sense...off for AM coffee...
You're making perfect sense. Except for a few models these days, most Macs come with 2GB RAM, which is frankly all the average person needs. Anyone who upgrades to 3 or 4 GB either
a) seriously does need it, and in turn probably knows how to buy/install it themselves or
b) is a sucker that Apple will happily take their money from.
I think the presentation Jobs did a few months ago about the iMac puts this in perspective, as he specifically pointed out the RAM door on the back. That seems to translate as "ok folks, we've shown you what to do. If you need any more help we'll gladly charge you for it.
Yesterday I installed a 2gb ram kit from Crucial UK into my MBP. It replaced a 1gb stick that the MBP was supplied with by Apple. The manufacturers sticker on the Cruicial sticks was identical to the Apple sticker except the place of manufacture was shown as Malaysia instead of the US, but the sticks themselves are different. They were recognised by the MBP and are currently performing with out problems.
I ran a test using Google Earth and the performance over the 1gb stick is noticeable.
I have used Crucial in the past for PC Ram without problems.
Time from order to delivery via 1st Class Post was 4 days which included a weekend. For £35 all in I think that is excellent value for money and service.
I ran a test using Google Earth and the performance over the 1gb stick is noticeable.
I have used Crucial in the past for PC Ram without problems.
Time from order to delivery via 1st Class Post was 4 days which included a weekend. For £35 all in I think that is excellent value for money and service.
Apple are ripping people off.
not only that, apple will also attach a nice little note saying that your own ram isn't good enough for their *whatever* test when you get your MB/MBP back from repair. they'd also recommend you to replace it with a genuine apple part asap.
personally i don't give a *, i know my "ingenuine" ram > stock and it passed memtest without any trouble.
Some people just want the comfort and sense of security with Apple. It isn't a rip off, it is just the way some people are. Not everyone looks forward to opening up their computer and looking at its innards.
I agree that not everyone looks forward to opening up their computer and looking at its innards; I used to be a bit like that myself, but that in itself doesn't change the fact that Apple ARE ripping people off when it comes to RAM.
I don't think it's true that "almost no ram price would satisfy them." I would be willing to pay a slight premium for Apple-installed RAM, but not the current ridiculous prices. But apparently some people are willing to pay, probably uninformed customers.
Of course it's a ripoff - and it's not just in the ram. Charging extra for the same hardware is pretty much their policy with everything they sell. It's how they make their profits; they're a hardware company, first and foremost. They've found people are willing to pay extra for attractive machines that run their locked software, and they're willing to make the most of it. If they thought they could make more money selling Macbooks at 2k and MBPs at 3k, they'd do it in a heartbeat. But they've run the numbers and seen that wouldn't work--so they don't. But it works enough for their ram, so they overcharge by 4 or 5 factors there, and only overcharge by a factor of 2 in their notebooks.
So, what Mac hardware do you run then heatmiser?
Whilst I agree that Apple prices are far far too high for a DIY product it is possibly close to what a top PC repairer would charge to fit new RAM modules.
I liken Apple service (rightly or wrongly) to motor industry service prices, you can pay Mercedes prices, Ford prices or your local back street garage prices. Those in the know or with the time or inclination to gain the knowledge will probably tell you the back street, or Crucial price, is the one to go for. But there will always be those who feel more secure receiving service or parts from Apple (or Mercedes) because that is what they feel more secure with and/or able to afford.
I, probably you, and many others here will feel that, though they are not experts, are able to carry out some DIY upgrades or modifications and so can take advantage of free or cheaper products. Many things in life are easy if you know how but there is room also for those not so wily in technological matters to pay higher prices, thus all are happy and keep the wheels of industry turning and many employed.
I've got a Macbook :^)
I agree--I'm not blaming them for doing what they do; I'm just going into why. As long as people are willing to pay for the service, they'll be there to provide it. Even if it's installing 4gb of ram for $700...
Keep in mind the price of a 4GB kit is $1000, down from $1200 a few months ago. The upgrade is $700 if they get to keep your 2GB ram.