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Macbook Pro Ram Suggestions

S

scotty588

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I have a mbp and I am starting to notice the effects of having only 512mb of ram. I know most people suggest sites like crucial and kingston but I have checked those prices for a 1gb stick and prices are pretty expensive. I checked newegg and they have some pc2-5300 notebook ram for $99. Here is the list I was looking at here
The cheapest name brands on that list I see are Buffaloand G.Skill and are both $99. Anyone have this ram or have any thoughts on it? Or maybe someone knows a better deal somewhere else for a 1gb stick. Thank you.
 
A lot of people have had success with the cheap RAM, but some have had problems. Personally, I only buy from companies that provide lifetime guarantees and also guarantee Mac compatibility. My personal favorites are OWC and DMS...both have 1 GB sticks for about $125. A bit above the bottom of the barrel prices, but the peace of mind is worth it for me.
 
NewEgg doesn't guarantee compatibility, and they are infamous for charging restocking charges + shipping on returns (2x as often as the industry average)
Also, why did you buy the best laptop in the world, and are now looking for the cheapest possible RAM?

If you want to take on the risk of compatibility & quality testing generic RAM yourself to save $10, fine. But if you want some assurance of compatibility, go with a reputable seller who tests and guarantees compatibility with your Mac, offers a lifetime warranty, and a no-cost return if it doesn't work.

For US vendors MR readers most often recommend Crucial, OWC (MacSales) and Data Memory Systems.

Trevor
CanadaRAM.com
 
I have the G.Skill and it was worked like a charm...on the second time cause I didn't push the stick in hard enough. Blazing fast now. I wonder how fast 2x512 would have been... (I changed the RAM before I turned on the MB).
 
Thanks for the sites. $122 on OWC isn't to bad. $127.99 w/shipping.

I guess it comes down to warranty since the G.Skill has a 1 year and the OWC has lifetime.
 
Compatibility guarantee is overrated.

Macs are basically PeeCees now, and if that stick of memory doesn't work on your Intel mac, chances are it is going to fail memtest one way or the other on a PC laptop too.

I've purchased 2 sticks of Mac certified memory from DMS a Mac, which after a strange power failure died completely. Returned it to the service centre, and a few weeks later the techs concluded that SOMEHOW the 2 sticks of memory are not able to work together (incidentally that tech was pretty nice, since he actually bothered to did some tests on my non-Apple memory), but when if I'd just remove a single stick, it will work fine.

Did as they told and indeed that's the case, yet either stick on its own is not faulty. So why did they stop working together? Only God knows.
 
Thanks for all your help. I ordered from OWC. I saw on newegg the G.Skill sold out and was actually going to order it from their but maybe it was some type of sign since it sold out. Hopefully it will ship out today and I selected just basic UPS ground so I should have it in 1-5 days. I think they warehouse is in IL and I am in San Diego, CA so it might take that 5 days.
 
phungy said:
I have the G.Skill and it was worked like a charm...on the second time cause I didn't push the stick in hard enough. Blazing fast now. I wonder how fast 2x512 would have been... (I changed the RAM before I turned on the MB).
Click to expand...

I second G. Skill. I bought a 1GB stick off NewEgg for my MBP. Works great! and was cheap. 😎
 
Ah too late now. Plus they are out of stock and I don't want to wait. 🙂

edit: Wow now they are in stock. Oh well.
 
I heard CanadianRAM was really cheap and easy to get, but many users found the product to be dirty.🙄
 
I bought 1gb gskill from newegg in june for my mbp cd. works like charm, passed all hardware tests, and to top it all off, it costed only US$78 (with shipping) at that time. since the mbp came with 512mb only, i wish i had bought another one then as it costs a lot more to buy 1gb these days, i need the full 2gb ram now that i am using parallels a lot.
 
Aniej said:
I heard CanadianRAM was really cheap and easy to get, but many users found the product to be dirty.🙄*
Click to expand...

I confess to having a dirty mind, but I'm not easy. Really.

( * random post of the day award 😕 )

scotty - in underperforming Canadian dollars.
 
CanadaRAM said:
I confess to having a dirty mind, but I'm not easy. Really.

( * random post of the day award 😕 )

scotty - in underperforming Canadian dollars.
Click to expand...
no it can't go into random because it is totally tied into this thread, which is about ram and how expensive it is. anyway i was just kidding, sorry of being easy offended you in anyway my friend.
 
CanadaRAM said:
NewEgg doesn't guarantee compatibility, and they are infamous for charging restocking charges + shipping on returns
Click to expand...

I've never had to pay a restocking fee, and I order there all the time. Of course, I rarely order the real cheap stuff. Read the reviews, you get something bad, send it back. They'll send you a replacement.

OWC is pretty good too though.
 
It depends with newegg. If you call and get mad on the phone with them they won't charge you a restocking fee. Although most of the time they do the couple times I have returned stuff.
 
scotty588 said:
It depends with newegg. If you call and get mad on the phone with them they won't charge you a restocking fee. Although most of the time they do the couple times I have returned stuff.
Click to expand...

I've only had to return things that don't work. A hard drive, a video card (PC), a CPU (actually, a couple of them), a motherboard (was actually the reason the CPUs kept going out), a USB hub, and some other little things (like I said, I shop there a lot). Never charged a restocking fee. They even reimbursed my shipping for an open box item that was DOA that they couldn't replace because they were out of stock. I just use the RMA system online, and get a replacement in the mail. Worst I've heard had to do pay a couple of bucks to ship it back, but that happens almost anywhere.

Running RAM bought from there in my iMac, my home built PC, and my Mom's mini without issue.
 
I ordered the 2 GB kit from DMS, Datamem.com which ran $248.00.

No muss, no fuss worked like a charm and lifetime guarantee.

You might also want to mention that you're a MacRumors member
when you order by phone.
 
Too late this time already shipped. Would they have given me a discount you think? If i decide to buy another 1gb later which I might I will. Not sure if the leap from 1.5gb to 2.0 would be worth it.
 
scotty588 said:
Too late this time already shipped. Would they have given me a discount you think? If i decide to buy another 1gb later which I might I will. Not sure if the leap from 1.5gb to 2.0 would be worth it.
Click to expand...

Your system memory architecture can handle uneven RAM, but your system will perform better on harder tasks with matching DIMMS in both slots.
 
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