matching memory - two 2 gig sticks vs. one 1 and one 2

[superspud]

ok.... kicking a dead horse here i know...

but i was about to buy a single 2 gig stick of memory so i can have 3 gigs of ram in my macbook (i have two 1 gig sticks currently) and my friend stopped me. he said that it wuld be a better idea to match the sticks and get two 2 gig sticks as opposed to having one 1 gig and one 2 gig.... something about dual channel and some such stuff


he knows a lot more about computers than i do, but im pretty sure i've read here that its ok to get different sizes

can someone confirm or bust this myth for me?

 

[InSaNeCyAnUr]

You've got a good friend....always match your RAM. So you better get 2 stick of 2Gb. Because you only have 2 slots. If you had 4 like in a Mac Pro, then you could have match 2 x 2GB and your 2 x 1Gb.

But it all come to the same, you ALWAYS have to have the same 2 sticks in pair. Or else it will work, but not as efficient as it's suppose to be.

 

[~Shard~]

For future reference please check out our RAM Guide, it can prove to be quite helpful.

 

[macduke]

the way i understand it is, you can do it, technically. i heard there were some issues with the older 3gb max macbooks needing a special 2+1 kit, but some people say it works if the 2gb chip is in the bottom slot. i do know that using matched sticks in dual channel gives better performance. i've been doing some research since i was planning on getting a mbp if it updated at macworld (i'm so sad it didn't). now i have to wait. but with 4gb of ddr-667 for mac on newegg.com (best online shop ever!) only being around $100--its so cheap--why not do it and sell the other memory on ebay? i built a pc a few years ago and spent $200 on 2 512mb sticks. my grandpa spent about $800 in the 80s upgrading his computer to 640kb of memory. yes kilobytes! good fun.

to everyone: you might have heard this before, but i'll reiterate. buy the minimum memory you can from apple and either upgrade it yourself or get someone you know who is computer literate to do it for you! it will save you hundreds of dollars! most computer manufacturers jack up the price on memory to screw over the customers. for instance the mbp comes with 2gb of memory. to upgrade to 4gb, you have to add $700! spend $100 at newegg, sell your old sticks on ebay and save yourself about $630+tax. even dell "only" charges $400 more on their inspirons for 4gb of memory. i love apple, but the memory thing is a huge ripoff.