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Doing the RAM upgrade myself

S

stanw

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 29, 2007
842
5
I want to buy the new iMac with a VESA adapter on the back.

1. How difficult is it to open and swap out the RAM?
2. Is there any real chance of damaging the screen or unit by opening and closing it?
3. If I want to buy it with the baseline amount of RAM, 8GB, would I just take that stick out and replace it with say two 16GB sticks, or what is the best way to configure it when purchasing it to save the most money by doing the RAM upgrade myself?

Thanks in advance.
 
stanw said:
I want to buy the new iMac with a VESA adapter on the back.

1. How difficult is it to open and swap out the RAM?
2. Is there any real chance of damaging the screen or unit by opening and closing it?
3. If I want to buy it with the baseline amount of RAM, 8GB, would I just take that stick out and replace it with say two 16GB sticks, or what is the best way to configure it when purchasing it to save the most money by doing the RAM upgrade myself?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

1. It's really easy. Anyone can do it really.
2. No
3. The 8GB configuration with the iMac is 2x4GB. You have 4 slots. You can just add 2x8GB so you'll have 24GB. Or you can just buy 4x8GB and you'll have 32GB and sell the 2x4GB that came with the iMac.
 
stanw said:
I want to buy the new iMac with a VESA adapter on the back.

1. How difficult is it to open and swap out the RAM?
2. Is there any real chance of damaging the screen or unit by opening and closing it?
3. If I want to buy it with the baseline amount of RAM, 8GB, would I just take that stick out and replace it with say two 16GB sticks, or what is the best way to configure it when purchasing it to save the most money by doing the RAM upgrade myself?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Assuming you are talking about the 27" iMac..... A 21" iMac is a whole other can of worms.
 
stanw said:
I want to buy the new iMac with a VESA adapter on the back.

1. How difficult is it to open and swap out the RAM?
2. Is there any real chance of damaging the screen or unit by opening and closing it?
3. If I want to buy it with the baseline amount of RAM, 8GB, would I just take that stick out and replace it with say two 16GB sticks, or what is the best way to configure it when purchasing it to save the most money by doing the RAM upgrade myself?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

It's pretty easy. Added more RAM to my new 2013 27" last week. There's a small button right above where power cable goes on the back of the iMac. It took quite a bit a pressure to pop mine out. If you get the base amount of RAM, there will be 2 DIMM slots open so you can add more RAM. I added 8GB of RAM to mine and I still have one slot left (2 are occupied by base RAM).

The best thing to do is just buy more RAM and just add them to the machine instead of replacing the current sticks, unless you absolutely need 32 GB.
 
Thanks everyone.

1. Can someone please send me a link to some recommended stores for buying the type of RAM for the 27-incher?

2. Is the cost savings for doing the RAM upgrade on your own a big difference over getting it from Apple?

Thanks again.
 
stanw said:
I want to buy the new iMac with a VESA adapter on the back.

1. How difficult is it to open and swap out the RAM?
2. Is there any real chance of damaging the screen or unit by opening and closing it?
3. If I want to buy it with the baseline amount of RAM, 8GB, would I just take that stick out and replace it with say two 16GB sticks, or what is the best way to configure it when purchasing it to save the most money by doing the RAM upgrade myself?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
1. For the 27" it's easy.
2. Not really.
3. Since the price of memory has gone up, I would recommend getting 16GB (2x8GB) from Apple and adding 16GB from a third party. If you decide to buy all third party memory hold on to your original Apple memory until the warranty/AppleCare has expired.
 
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