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waynechriss

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 7, 2009
166
0
I wanted to upgrade my Ram on my macbook by buying it from OWC or Crucial but i am hearing stories from a lot of mac users who are saying the white macbook only recognizes 3GB of ram even though you fit it with 4GB of ram (2x 2GB ram sticks). Is that true or does that happen to certain models? I got the summer 09 white macbook.
 
Since at least the November 2007 version of the white MacBooks those machines can handle up to 4GB of RAM, some even 6GB unofficially.

What you refer to were the first Core 2 Duo models, which could only handle 3GB of RAM unofficially.

So you can instal 4 GB of RAM on your 2009 MB.
 
Ooooh cool thanks. That clears up a lot of confusion. Will my warranty be voided if i install the ram myself?
 
This may be a stupid question but how can I tell whether my Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook is early or late 2007?

I bought it second-hand and was never told...

It's got a 2.16Ghz processor and a 120GB hard drive. The bus speed is 667MHZ and in the model identifier it says 'Macbook 2,1'

There's currently 2GB RAM installed but ideally I would like to upgrade it to 3 or 4GB as I use it for audio stuff.
 
This may be a stupid question but how can I tell whether my Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook is early or late 2007?

I bought it second-hand and was never told...

It's got a 2.16Ghz processor and a 120GB hard drive. The bus speed is 667MHZ and in the model identifier it says 'Macbook 2,1'

There's currently 2GB RAM installed but ideally I would like to upgrade it to 3 or 4GB as I use it for audio stuff.

You have the early 2007 model; it can support 3GB RAM unofficially, 2GB officially.
 
There's currently 2GB RAM installed but ideally I would like to upgrade it to 3 or 4GB as I use it for audio stuff.

You mention audio stuff, what exactly do you mean? I ask, because most audio related stuff doesn't require tons of RAM. One exception would be working with samples (especially larger samples, for instance sampled orchestras). But if you're DJ-ing, mixing, recording guitar or that kind of stuff, I think you'll be fine with 2GB.
 
You mention audio stuff, what exactly do you mean? I ask, because most audio related stuff doesn't require tons of RAM. One exception would be working with samples (especially larger samples, for instance sampled orchestras). But if you're DJ-ing, mixing, recording guitar or that kind of stuff, I think you'll be fine with 2GB.

Soft-synths and recording guitars mainly, not many tracks or effects. I'm not too into loops and keep it pretty simple - until recently I used a 1.3GHz Dell for music.

I haven't had any issues with speed yet but I'm new to Macs and I'm buying a secondhand copy of Logic Express 8 - thought it might struggle a little with that.
 
Soft-synths and recording guitars mainly, not many tracks or effects. I'm not too into loops and keep it pretty simple - until recently I used a 1.3GHz Dell for music.

I haven't had any issues with speed yet but I'm new to Macs and I'm buying a secondhand copy of Logic Express 8 - thought it might struggle a little with that.

I'm pretty sure 2GB will do the job fine. Just give it a shot, you could always add RAM later.
 
It can do 3.3 gigs of ram. You may as well get 4 gigs of ram and keep full dual channel capacity on all of it; ddr2 ram is cheap.

I was quoting MacTracker, at the time of posting I was too tired to consult my own memory of the MacBook line. 3GB is the figure that it gets rounded down to. I think it might have had something to do with it actually being a limit to a bizarre number of actual bytes that leaves you with the 3.3GB limit but again, I'm too tired and the coffee pot is empty. :eek:

To the OP yeah for your usage I reckon 2GB should be fine for running Logic. Limit the number of tracks though; Logic is a "Pro App" and was designed primarily for Pro machines. It'll run quite well on your MacBook but if you decide that you need eleventy-three audio tracks running simultaneously it'll punish you with the beachball of doom.
 
I have a macbook 2,1 that I bought in Dec 2006. I upgraded it with 2 x 2GB memory, assuming I would only get the 3.2GB usable. However, system profiler reports that there are in fact 4GB present. Is there something up with my system?
 
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