Macbook Ram Max.. 2GB or 4GB?

[pyles]

I have 2 Gigs in my macbook. I do photoshop as well as lightroom (both at the same time). Sometimes I get bogged down. Can't seem to find a definate answer on whether the limit is 2 or 4.

If I do get four, how great of an increase in boot times, and my usual editing, etc could I see. I have heard with some computers the increase isn't that great and sometimes not worth the $.

Thank you, you guys are always great help.

 

[siurpeeman]

it depends on which macbook you have. here's a guide to help you determine what your max ram capacity is.

 

[pyles]

it depends on which macbook you have. here's a guide to help you determine what your max ram capacity is.

Thanks I have the merom with 3.3GB so if I just bumped a 2gb in for one of the 1GB I should be fine. Correct?

Bought in June 07.

 

[AreanFSL]

Thanks I have the merom with 3.3GB so if I just bumped a 2gb in for one of the 1GB I should be fine. Correct?

Bought in June 07.

Yes you should be fine. It it to my knowledge that it will accept 4GB of ram (2GB in one slot, 2GB, in the other) however, it will only take advantage of 3.3 GB of ram.

 

[Cave Man]

It will likely report only 3.1 gb available. However, you'll get better gpu performance using matched pairs of SO-DIMMs.

 

[Joe Boomer]

Car RamRod

Even if you put 4 gb's in, it will only use 3gb's. Regardless, you should definitely bump it up to 3gigs! You'll notice a pretty big difference when photo editing especially. Someone mentioned having matching pairs for your RAM. This IS NOT necessary! The newer macs do not need to match. I have 1 x 1gb & 1 x 2gb chips in my my Mac Book Pro. I went as far as to call Apple Care to verify and they confirmed that you do not need to have matching RAM.


When in doubt, add more RAM! You can never have enough.

 

[Fuchal]

Even if you put 4 gb's in, it will only use 3gb's. Regardless, you should definitely bump it up to 3gigs! You'll notice a pretty big difference when photo editing especially. Someone mentioned having matching pairs for your RAM. This IS NOT necessary! The newer macs do not need to match. I have 1 x 1gb & 1 x 2gb chips in my my Mac Book Pro. I went as far as to call Apple Care to verify and they confirmed that you do not need to have matching RAM.


When in doubt, add more RAM! You can never have enough.

Matched ram will improve performance by a few %, however more ram always beats less ram. The only case matched ram will show better performance is in the situation of installing 1GB and 1GB sticks verses a 2GB stick and no 2nd stick, the two 1gbs will be faster.

 

[cazlar]

No, you do not need to match RAM. But in some specific circumstances, matched RAM will have a benefit. I forgot where I saw it (barefeats maybe?), but they found an overall 5% gain from matching. However, on stuff that heavily uses the MB's integrated graphics (I think it was Quake3?) there was a bigger boost on the order of 25% or so. But for most things, having the extra 1Gb RAM will probably outweigh the benefit from matching IMO.

 

[26139]

Hmmm...

What's with the question regarding boot times? How often do most Mac users actually turn their computers off?