Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

dumb question about mid-2010 ram upgrade

S

synesthesiax

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 18, 2014
10
0
I just bought a white macbook 7,1 and haven't used macs with any regularity in several years so I'm trying to learn all the ins and outs. I did some research before buying this one and my intention was always to upgrade the ram and swap out the HD for an SSD. It's been a week and the machine hasn't blown up yet, so it's time to order some parts. My question is regarding the ram upgrade, and I have googled and searched the forum as well but if the answer was there I missed it.

I know that this model can support up to 16gb when running mavericks (which I am), but do the sticks need to be the same in order for it to work on this particular model? I have 4gb now (2x2) and memory clean shows that just browsing chrome in this OS eats up most of it so I definitely want to go ahead and upgrade. I've seen that other people with older white macbooks have had issues getting their upgrades to work if the sticks aren't even, but I haven't seen anything saying that a 7,1 wouldn't work if, say, I installed a 8gb stick and left one of the 2gb sticks in the other slot for a total of 10.

Anybody that's tried this, please offer your guidance! If I have to upgrade to 16 that's ok, I do still play WoW on and off and will be doing photo editing so more wouldn't hurt. I don't really know how much I need since I'm so used to playing on terrible computers. Does the video card I have limit the boost I would get from 16? Maybe I should ask the game forum. And yes, back when I was in a raiding guild I was that person who would get stuck running in place =/
 
8 GB + 2 GB should be OK (assuming that both sticks have the same specs, other than capacity)
If, for some reason, it does NOT work, you don't have to use 2 sticks. You can run on just the one 8 GB stick (removing the 2 GB completely)
 
it works

synesthesiax said:
I just bought a white macbook 7,1 and haven't used macs with any regularity in several years so I'm trying to learn all the ins and outs. I did some research before buying this one and my intention was always to upgrade the ram and swap out the HD for an SSD. It's been a week and the machine hasn't blown up yet, so it's time to order some parts. My question is regarding the ram upgrade, and I have googled and searched the forum as well but if the answer was there I missed it.

I know that this model can support up to 16gb when running mavericks (which I am), but do the sticks need to be the same in order for it to work on this particular model? I have 4gb now (2x2) and memory clean shows that just browsing chrome in this OS eats up most of it so I definitely want to go ahead and upgrade. I've seen that other people with older white macbooks have had issues getting their upgrades to work if the sticks aren't even, but I haven't seen anything saying that a 7,1 wouldn't work if, say, I installed a 8gb stick and left one of the 2gb sticks in the other slot for a total of 10.

Anybody that's tried this, please offer your guidance! If I have to upgrade to 16 that's ok, I do still play WoW on and off and will be doing photo editing so more wouldn't hurt. I don't really know how much I need since I'm so used to playing on terrible computers. Does the video card I have limit the boost I would get from 16? Maybe I should ask the game forum. And yes, back when I was in a raiding guild I was that person who would get stuck running in place =/
Click to expand...

I bought a second MBW-2010 which arrived yesterday and took one of my 8 G (of the original 16) sticks to the new one and now both are 8+2 G and running really well under Mavericks. One thing of advice make sure the RAM is 1067 MHz. I tried 1333 and did not work for me.

Good luck
X
 
Macs don't have RAM timing adjustments so faster RAM won't work. Make sure the speed is matched and everything else should work.
 
synesthesiax said:
I just bought a white macbook 7,1 and haven't used macs with any regularity in several years so I'm trying to learn all the ins and outs. I did some research before buying this one and my intention was always to upgrade the ram and swap out the HD for an SSD. It's been a week and the machine hasn't blown up yet, so it's time to order some parts. My question is regarding the ram upgrade, and I have googled and searched the forum as well but if the answer was there I missed it.

I know that this model can support up to 16gb when running mavericks (which I am), but do the sticks need to be the same in order for it to work on this particular model? I have 4gb now (2x2) and memory clean shows that just browsing chrome in this OS eats up most of it so I definitely want to go ahead and upgrade. I've seen that other people with older white macbooks have had issues getting their upgrades to work if the sticks aren't even, but I haven't seen anything saying that a 7,1 wouldn't work if, say, I installed a 8gb stick and left one of the 2gb sticks in the other slot for a total of 10.

Anybody that's tried this, please offer your guidance! If I have to upgrade to 16 that's ok, I do still play WoW on and off and will be doing photo editing so more wouldn't hurt. I don't really know how much I need since I'm so used to playing on terrible computers. Does the video card I have limit the boost I would get from 16? Maybe I should ask the game forum. And yes, back when I was in a raiding guild I was that person who would get stuck running in place =/
Click to expand...

Some Macbook 2010/MacMini mid-2010/Macbook Pro 13" 2010 RAM facts:

- You can fill those Macs with up to 16GB of RAM (2x8GB modules) even on Snow Leopard in a 32-bit kernel --it will recognize and use the entire memory, if needed;

- Modules can be of different sizes (1GB + 8GB, for example) -- of course you'll lose dual channel;

- At least one module must be specified at 1066MHz, but you can combine a 2GB DDR3 1066MHz module with 8GB DDR3 1333MHz module, for example;

- You can buy a couple of 1333MHz modules and make them work. Basically you reconfigure the modules in a Windows app (Thaiphoon Burner, $10) to make them be recognized as 1066MHz. The only requisite is non SPD write-protected modules (e.g. most Corsair and Kingston ones). I did it with one of my Corsair Value 1333MHz modules and it works flawlessly in dual channel. You need only editing one of the modules, since these Macs will operate at the lowest speed they find.

In short, those Macs accept nearly any kind of DDR3 RAM considering you can reconfigure most of the currently available modules.
 
DeltaMac said:
8 GB + 2 GB should be OK (assuming that both sticks have the same specs, other than capacity)
If, for some reason, it does NOT work, you don't have to use 2 sticks. You can run on just the one 8 GB stick (removing the 2 GB completely)
Click to expand...

I didn't even think of that! So glad I asked my dumb question.

I may still end up with 16, I'm planning to see how it goes with one stick upgraded, if I'm still using up lots of memory I'll buy another.

----------
brdeveloper said:
- You can buy a couple of 1333MHz modules and make them work. Basically you reconfigure the modules in a Windows app (Thaiphoon Burner, $10) to make them be recognized as 1066MHz. The only requisite is non SPD write-protected modules (e.g. most Corsair and Kingston ones). I did it with one of my Corsair Value 1333MHz modules and it works flawlessly in dual channel. You need only editing one of the modules, since these Macs will operate at the lowest speed they find.

In short, those Macs accept nearly any kind of DDR3 RAM considering you can reconfigure most of the currently available modules.
Click to expand...

Very good to know in case I see an awesome deal on 1333 sticks.

Thanks guys for your help!
 
MacBook Mid-2010 Hard Drive Upgrade Question

What is the maximum that it can upgrade to? I currently have 8GB or Ram installed and 500GB hard drive. I would like to install either 750GB or 1TB. Thanks
 
Just to update, I bought an 8gb stick from OWC which has been working perfectly. My computer is faster and now with a total of 10gb I have anywhere from 2.5-4 gb free according to Memory Clean. I looked at some other brands and most of sticks I found were of the 1333 variety, so I went with the more expensive OWC. Now to get the SSD and this machine should be zooming.
 
I updated a Macbook 7,1 for the niece with 8GB and a 500GB SSD. That made a huge difference. I am now doing a second one for her so her 4 kids will have two MacBooks to share. I am also doing one for my brother as he is not retired and leave behind Windows.

The white Macbook 7,1 are a good choice for a facelift. IT is easy to upgrade the memory, swap out the HD to a larger/faster HD or a SSD, and replace the battery with a new 63.5wh unit. Remember that the unit does SATA 2, not SATA 3, so you will not get max possible speed.

For doing light duty tasks like cursing the net and doing email, such a machine should last for several more years.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back