Macbook Pro RAM upgrade to 3 GB question

[Kyouya]

Hello everyone;

On apple website, there are 2 types of RAM. One is 1 GB x1 stick, other is 2GB (2 sticks.)

How am I going to upgrade to 3 GBs then? Computer only has 2 slots. I did a forum search, and found out that "Crucial" RAMs are good for macbook pro but they also don't seem to have a single stick 2GB ram.

Thanks for replies in advance.

 

[DocSmitty]

Your MBP would have 2x1gb sticks. You will need to remove one and place 1x2gb in that spot.

The RAM you want is DDR2 667mhz PC2-5300. Link to Crucial:

http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT25664AC667

These are very commonly available, you can get them from newegg, owc, crucial, etc.

 

[Kyouya]

Excellent, thanks for the reply. For some reason Crucial website showed up only 1 GB sticks.

Alot cheaper than Apple website also.

 

[benlee]

go to macsales.com. OWC memory is great and probably cheaper than Crucial.

 

[Kyouya]

Another question while I am at it..

3 GB total "unmatched" memory will still be better than 2x 1 GB "mathced" memory right?

 

[DocSmitty]

That depends on if you are using most of your RAM as it is. Generally, the answer is yes, but if you have 2gb of RAM and you never use more than 1gb, moving to 3gb won't improve performance. Depending on the model of your MBP you may be able to put 4gb (2x2gb) into it for the most RAM and matched performance. That works on any MBP purchased since June 2007 I believe.

 

[benlee]

Another question while I am at it..

3 GB total "unmatched" memory will still be better than 2x 1 GB "mathced" memory right?

Definitely. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/Macbook_Memory_Benchmarks

Also. If your machine is a newer machine with the Santa Rosa Chipset in it then supports 4GB.

If not it will only recognize 3.3GB. In any event if you can spare the extra $25 you might want to consider getting 4GB even though it won't fully be recognized. Since memory is so cheap right now. $25 for an extra .3GB that is match might not be a bad deal...

 

[Kyouya]

Unfortunately my MBP supports only up to 3 gigs (2.16 Core Duo 2). Reason why I want an upgrade is because after I upgraded to Leopard I've been experiencing serious performance problems, especially during very simple multi tasking. Even safari is very sluggish (at least compared to tiger) when I run it along with photoshop, or other similar programs.

 

[benlee]

what do you have in it now? 1GB?

 

[Kyouya]

Yeah, 1 gig. Never upgraded this machine before.

 

[DocSmitty]

In that case you'd have a 2gb module and a 512mb module if you just buy 1x2gb. I'd agree with benlee and say go for a 4gb kit (2x2gb)

I got 4gb of OCZ high performance RAM from newegg.com for under $90

 

[benlee]

The computer doesn't necessarily have 2 X 512 because I have a MBP and I had a 1GB stick in it and bought another 1GB stick to upgrade. Check in your "about this mac" by clicking on more info and going to memory to see what you have in your system now.

I recommend this ram to you:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/MacBook/Pro/Core2/

 

[DocSmitty]

The computer doesn't necessarily have 2 X 512 because I have a MBP and I had a 1GB stick in it and bought another 1GB stick to upgrade. Check in your "about this mac" by clicking on more info and going to memory to see what you have in your system now.

Whoops, right you are. The 2.16 models did have 1x1gb in them

 

[Kyouya]

Allright then, I am going with 2 GB single stick for 3 GB total memory assuming that the performance increase will be more than 2 GB dual channel.

Thanks for replies.

 

[Kyouya]

I went with a stick of 2 gigs. Now I have 3 gigs of RAM and I am extremely happy. Great performance increase for such a cheap upgrade. 1 gigs wasn't really enough as I had almost 0 Free Memory everytime.