Memory advice.

[cmuench]

I bought a macbook today and have not opened it yet. I got the 2.16 C2D with 1 gig of RAM. however I want and need 2 gigs in it. I asked the lady at the apple store and she said that if I don't open it I can "return" it tomorrow and they will install the 2 gig RAM for $158. however my question to you people is should I go for this? Or is crucial a better deal? Is there a huge difference between apple and crucial?

Also crucials site doesn't list the 2.16 C2D. I clicked the 2.0 C2D for my machine and it said 2 gigs of RAM is only $87. Makes it very tempting.

 

[Edandlindz28]

From Apple Site

Both MacBook and MacBook Pro use 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) memory.

As long as you buy memory that matches these specs, you should be good to go.

People use OWC, Data memory systems, and crucial on here.

 

[idea_hamster]

There are two differences between buying RAM from Apple and buying after-market RAM:

(1) The warranty: If you buy RAM from Apple, you can go back to any Apple store for a problem with the RAM. Got a bad stick of RAM that is causing endless kernel panics? Take it to an Apple store and they will take care of it as part of your 1-year warranty (or 3-year Apple care, if you've bought it).

If you buy after-market RAM and install it yourself, Apple won't have anything to do with it. If the RAM stick is bad, your recourse is to the company that sold it to you -- e.g., if you bought it from OWC, contact OWC; if you bought from Crucial, contact Crucial. This is less convenient, but from what I've heard, these companies are generally responsive and willing to honor their RAM lifetime warranties and replace malfunctioning RAM with little hassle.

(2) The price: Buy from Apple? $$$$. Buy after-market? $ to $$. Apple charges through the nose for RAM because you're buying the convenience of being able to deal with Apple about RAM issues. We Mac users often complain that it seems that Apple is taking advantage of those who are less computer savvy and dont know about after-market RAM -- and to an extent, this may be true. But at least in part, you're paying for service and convenience.

Hope this helps....