Latest Gen Macbook (MC516LL/A) and DDR3-1333 RAM?

[hellfire88]

Hi All,

Just a quick question. I recently picked up a latest gen Macbook White Unibody (MC516LL/A, the last one Apple made) locally for a good price to get back into Macs and test out Lion.

It came with the default 2GB of DDR3 RAM (2x1GB sticks) which I tried to upgrade to 4GB / 8GB (2x2GB or 2x4GB sticks, respectively) with some spare RAM I have from Dell laptops. These are all DDR3-1333 (or PC3-10600) whereas the original RAM is DDR3-1066 / PC3-8500. I never had problems with putting DDR3-1333 in any Macbook Pros I had prior, this is the first time I'm having issues. The Macbook would just make continuous 1beep cycles and a black screen.

Is the MC516LL/A only compatible with the slower DDR3-1066 RAM?

 

[mwhities]

Hi All,

Just a quick question. I recently picked up a latest gen Macbook White Unibody (MC516LL/A, the last one Apple made) locally for a good price to get back into Macs and test out Lion.

It came with the default 2GB of DDR3 RAM (2x1GB sticks) which I tried to upgrade to 4GB / 8GB (2x2GB or 2x4GB sticks, respectively) with some spare RAM I have from Dell laptops. These are all DDR3-1333 (or PC3-10600) whereas the original RAM is DDR3-1066 / PC3-8500. I never had problems with putting DDR3-1333 in any Macbook Pros I had prior, this is the first time I'm having issues. The Macbook would just make continuous 1beep cycles and a black screen.

Is the MC516LL/A only compatible with the slower DDR3-1066 RAM?

This is the exact same one I have.

MC516LL/A

It shows it uses the 1066MHz chips.

Supports 1066 MHz PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM.

I have 2X2Gigs RAM and looking to upgrade to 2X4Gigs RAM soon.

 

[hellfire88]

This is the exact same one I have.

MC516LL/A

It shows it uses the 1066MHz chips.

I have 2X2Gigs RAM and looking to upgrade to 2X4Gigs RAM soon.

Yea, thing is, I had a Macbook Pro 13" 2010 version (similar specs as this white Unibody Macbook I have: Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, nVidia 320m video):

Macbook Pro 13" 2010: MC374LL/A

which shows it uses 1066MHz chips as well, but I never had an issue putting 1333MHz chips RAM into it. Oh well, whatever, maybe since this unit I have now is a "cheapie Macbook non-Pro" Apple lamed out on the Motherboard. I just ordered some 1066MHz DDR3 RAM online. Thanks for your input!

As an aside, I just sold my Dell Vostro 3450 that is, spec-wise, 10000% superior to this Macbook White Unibody I just got. I sold the Dell to use the same $$ to buy this Macbook. Its still kinda hard to stomach downgrading in specs from a:

Core i5-2410m
6GB RAM
500GB, 7200RPM HDD
ATI Radeon 6630m 1GB dedicated graphics
2x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB+eSATA combo port, Native VGA and HDMI ports
Backlit keyboard

to

Core 2 Duo
2GB RAM
250GB, 5400RPM HDD
nVidia GeForce 320m integrated graphics
2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x mini-Displayport (requires optional dongles!)
non-backlit keyboard

I forgot how much of a premium Apple laptops cost. I figure I already have a pretty beefy Windows Gaming laptop so might as well keep a Mac around for OSX. Besides, the all-glass button-less trackpads on the newer MBP's and MB's still cannot be beat.

 

[mwhities]

Yeah, I have no idea about it. This is my first Apple system to purchase.

I too sold my Dell 1545 for 500.00 and used that (plus 150) to get my Macbook and it came with a Magic Mouse, 4Gigs of RAM, and a Mini-DVI to HDMI.

My Dell was smoking fast with a nice resolution and I dreaded going to a smaller resolution. But, this far, I'm 100% happy with it. For what I do, it's fast enough. I don't do any big image and video editing (Used iMovie for the first time on it.) or anything that would actually utilize what it has or anything more.

I will upgrade to 8Gigs of RAM but, that's for virtuals. I'll have XP, Win7Pro and Win08R2 installed for testing and Packet Tracer.

I'm sure you will enjoy it, please post your thoughts after a few weeks of using it.