New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

[samiznaetekto]

I have a soldering iron. Is it possible to unsolder the RAM and install a RAM socket?! I'm sooooo up to just diving into my computers with a soldering iron!!!

 

[barkmonster]

Not true. The 15" had a slot pre-unibody.

Less capabilities out of the box. In effect, one has to buy other adapters to make it work just like the previous generations did, adding removable parts
and chances one of them breaks. You forgot to add the need for a VGA adapter as almost all projectors still use that standard. Plus unwieldly.

Yes TB was supposed to replace them all, but it didn't. Even now TB peripherals are not very common, or staggeringly expensive, or just don't daisy-chain well. To me more power means more data to process (either media creation or virtual machine development), and 256GB internal just won't cut it, as one would tend to put all its digital life on a powerhouse machine. I consider 500GB to be a bare minimum.

DVD isn't included, which is ok as far as weight goes, but isn't included in the box, just like the other adapters, also meaning you won't be able to do video-related stuff if it resides on a DVD. In effect, you pay more to get equivalent functionality.

Of course to make use of all this power you need a decent and working OS, which Yosemite sadly isn't.

You're still not appreciating what a bulky niche product expresscards are and what an advantage it is to have your own choice of external optical drive when bluray burners are cheaper than the Apple USB DVD. Nobody uses a burner 24/7. Objecting to no VGA these days is meaningless. Adapters for every modern connection standard are £5 at most. Might as well demand a floppy drive!

 

[Jayomat]

[...]

Memory is a funny thing. Apple has had a long standing stringent requirements for their memory suppliers and they have to pass rigorous testing criteria otherwise, that memory is NOT installed in their computers or sold with the "Apple" name on the box. And for that type of memory, they pay a premium for it. Other companies, typically major computer and other tech mfg like a Cisco or something of that nature typically does the same thing. They want to be assured that the memory they are using in their products are high quality and have passed stringent memory tests to ensure compatibility and reliability. The stuff that doesn't pass with flying colors, but will pass more basic memory tests get sold off to the 3rd party memory suppliers for much less and then it's up to them to perform rigorous tests or not. Some memory companies do have $1 Million test equipment, do perform similar tests as Apple, and other major companies and do sell very reliable memory that's typically compatible, however with some companies it's a crap shoot. Sometimes the memory starts to flake out after a year, sometimes it simply doesn't work right out of the box and sometimes it lasts the life of the rest of the equipment.

[...]

funny how people still got ("apple stock") SSDs from different vendors that perform very differently. Why are the memory tests "of such a high standard", while slightly subpar memory performance is less significant than the performance of a SSD.

You seem to think that apple is protecting it's customers. That's fine. You brought up the idea that apple is reducing it's support costs caused by malfunctioning memory.

I'm just assuming here, but in general memory is a very simply part of the computer and I'd say that more people damage their computer by installing the RAM wrong than RAM breaking down because of technical issues (although crappy RAM is crappy RAM, and if you are clueless you should seek out to someone with more knowledge). That being said, you're still better off buying "the expensive" third-party RAM paying 200€ for 8GM RAM from apple (which will give you 16GB highest quality third-party RAM and you have 50€ spare)

 

[camille054]

Classic Apple......
coque galaxy s5 mini
coque samsung galaxy s5 mini

 

[flyinmac]

I have a soldering iron. Is it possible to unsolder the RAM and install a RAM socket?! I'm sooooo up to just diving into my computers with a soldering iron!!!

Not directly... remember that IC chips are typically square or rectangular, and their connection grid will be similar... DIMM sockets are typically longer and thin...

So, I see no reason why you couldn't do such a thing if you wanted, but you will need to make a daughterboard to act as an adapter between the original IC chip location and the DIMM's that you intend to attach.

Producing circuit boards and such is not impossible, and not really that difficult.. I've made them, and if you're on a budget, and know what you're doing, it can be done with stuff you already have in your home, plus the addition of purchasing some boards to etch and some etching solution.

The real trick, aside from designing your daughterboard, will be also making sure that everything fits inside when you're done.

Sounds like a fun project. Enjoy it

----------

funny how people still got ("apple stock") SSDs from different vendors that perform very differently. Why are the memory tests "of such a high standard", while slightly subpar memory performance is less significant than the performance of a SSD.

You seem to think that apple is protecting it's customers. That's fine. You brought up the idea that apple is reducing it's support costs caused by malfunctioning memory.

I'm just assuming here, but in general memory is a very simply part of the computer and I'd say that more people damage their computer by installing the RAM wrong than RAM breaking down because of technical issues (although crappy RAM is crappy RAM, and if you are clueless you should seek out to someone with more knowledge). That being said, you're still better off buying "the expensive" third-party RAM paying 200€ for 8GM RAM from apple (which will give you 16GB highest quality third-party RAM and you have 50€ spare)

I think the point that people miss with the speculation of support costs relating to memory, is that Apple gets paid to troubleshoot anything you do to your own computer if you need their help.

I see no reason to prevent people from adding their own memory to reduce support costs. The reality, is that if this move reduces anything, it is reducing the incident charges that Apple gets paid if you decide you need their help after you've installed something inside the computer yourself.

That is a factor that the customer weighs and decides on their own when they choose whether to install something themselves or pay to have Apple do it for them.

 

[toke lahti]

Come on guys, please explain something to me.

If you NEED 16GB in a few years, how come I still see people use 10+ year old dells with around 512 MB of ram or 1GB of ram running Windows XP? Some don't even have the latest service pack!

So tell me, why.....WHY will EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE USER NEED NEED 16GB in a few years?

Lets take once again a stupid car metaphora:
If you had to decide now, how much gas you need to your car in 2020 would you be happy? What if you don't own a car in 2020? Or it's electric?

With soldered ram, if you want to be prepared, you need to max it out and might notice that you don't need all that. And you are paying a big apple tax for that. If you sell that mac, next user might have different needs. Soldering makes new computers more expensive (maxing out) and lessens the resale value (compared to original; you pay 4x for the same ram that you could buy general store after 3 years).

 

[subsonix]

Lets take once again a stupid car metaphora:
If you had to decide now, how much gas you need to your car in 2020 would you be happy? What if you don't own a car in 2020? Or it's electric?

Why do that if it's stupid? I mean it's common knowledge that the gas tank is user replaceable in all cars, and that you can easily convert a gas car to an electric car right.

 

[prowlmedia]

Um..... yeah. We are talking about the industry standard vs. what? Facillis? Calling ISIS a load balanced NAS is like calling the nMP a PCIe-less Xeon level MacMini. I brought it up to illustrate that the client end of the chain is a resource hog. For good reason. Off the top they either want a Fibre connection or a separate NIC card to connect to the system.

Yes, the HP Elitebooks, Z Workstations and Dell Precision towers are in fact in a league of their own. Lightyears above what Apple and many others could make. Saying otherwise just shows lack of knowledge.

18 Broadcast stations in 8 states and 2 countries and all of then are using one or the other or a combination of the two . . . . all tied with Avid. That's first hand.

This is of course coming from a TV Broadcast News background.

Complete Rubbish. Another pointless analogy. ISIS is a NAS. That's it's function. The client machines are The Editing suites etc.

I am ashamed you are in this industry and think that HP or Dell workstations are anything but cheap component towers. They use cheap controllers, motherboards PSUs and peripherals. You can of course spec them up to the eyeballs with Graphics cards and Ram. But they are not good value at all.

As for the Elitebooks - you are insane. They are just rubbish. Not even as good as Macbook Airs - The Zbooks are comparable to a Retina. But still have inferior screens Slower Ram and Hard Drive speeds. But do have better Graphics cards - but then they are hitting 2x the weight and thickness.

Now if you mentioned Boxx or Armari I could have been on board. Anyway this entire conversation is so far off topic it's nuts.

 

[prowlmedia]

Lets take once again a stupid car metaphora:
If you had to decide now, how much gas you need to your car in 2020 would you be happy? What if you don't own a car in 2020? Or it's electric?

With soldered ram, if you want to be prepared, you need to max it out and might notice that you don't need all that. And you are paying a big apple tax for that. If you sell that mac, next user might have different needs. Soldering makes new computers more expensive (maxing out) and lessens the resale value (compared to original; you pay 4x for the same ram that you could buy general store after 3 years).

Er... Well if you buy an electric car , say the Tesla, now you have to Specific the Battery range now. You get a 60 or 85 kWh battery. that's technically not changeable.

And I can guarantee one thing in 4 years you will still get more for you mac mini soldered or not than ANY comparable Windows box.

Yes the Ram is too expensive. I guess thats the sweet spot they are hitting. They will sell tones of the $499 version which is absolutely fine for 75% of tasks.

I did a quite Facebook poll and asked mac mini owners 32 of my friends have or have had them. 5 had Changed their RAM
Of the 4:
5 changed because of a fault
2 to actually upgrade it

What was more telling is that over 15 had no idea what I was talking about. Most people are not geeks like us on here. They don't give a Rats Arse about things like upgrading. They'll buy a device they think they need at the time and use it until they get the next one.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Complete Rubbish. Another pointless analogy. ISIS is a NAS. That's it's function. The client machines are The Editing suites etc.

I am ashamed you are in this industry and think that HP or Dell workstations are anything but cheap component towers. They use cheap controllers, motherboards PSUs and peripherals. You can of course spec them up to the eyeballs with Graphics cards and Ram. But they are not good value at all.

As for the Elitebooks - you are insane. They are just rubbish. Not even as good as Macbook Airs - The Zbooks are comparable to a Retina. But still have inferior screens Slower Ram and Hard Drive speeds. But do have better Graphics cards - but then they are hitting 2x the weight and thickness.

Now if you mentioned Boxx or Armari I could have been on board. Anyway this entire conversation is so far off topic it's nuts.

I'm done this is why I didn't want to bother. If you can't grasp simple differences between a NAS system and Avid ISIS what's the point?

You're taking this thread off topic either way.

Research some more and grow in the production industry then come back with some real knowledge. I've worked freelance and full time for NBC, ABC, and FOX and no one that cares about their work would us BOXX's or Armari's tinker toys. Maybe in some of the boutique shops you work in but never in 24/7 news. You know a lot about consumer junk but not the high end my child.

 

[IAlberta]

I am currently plugged into….

The 2004 20" iMac G4 (2GB RAM) with OSX Leopard.
The 2004 Power Mac G5 (2 GB Ram) with OSX Leopard.
The 2007 Mac mini (2 GB RAM) with OSX Lion.
The 2008 17" MacBook Pro (4 GB RAM) with OSX Mavericks.
The 2009 Mac mini (4 GB RAM) with OSX Mountain Lion.
The 2009 24" iMac (8 GB RAM) with OSX Mavericks.
The 2010 Mac mini (8 GB RAM) with OSX Yosemite.
The 2012 iPad 3 (1 GB* RAM) with iOS7.
The 2012 iPhone 5 (1 GB* RAM) with iOS8.
and
The 2014 iPhone 6+ ( 1GB* RAM) with iOS8.

Do I give any thought whatsoever that the new 2014 Mac mini has only (4-16GB) soldered RAM?

Ummmmm not so much..

Carry on boys, y'all got a most entertaining thread going on here.

 

[Ethosik]

Lets take once again a stupid car metaphora:
If you had to decide now, how much gas you need to your car in 2020 would you be happy? What if you don't own a car in 2020? Or it's electric?

With soldered ram, if you want to be prepared, you need to max it out and might notice that you don't need all that. And you are paying a big apple tax for that. If you sell that mac, next user might have different needs. Soldering makes new computers more expensive (maxing out) and lessens the resale value (compared to original; you pay 4x for the same ram that you could buy general store after 3 years).

Again, these are not server machines or pro machines. Your needs does not meet the needs of everybody else. As I have met people still using Windows XP computers with 512MB of ram and are still HAPPY with it.

I got my Mac Pro in 2010 with 8GB of ram, I have no need to get more ram. Next year that computer will be 5 years old and I have never once felt like 8GB was very limited.

I have an iMac that has 2GB of ram -- no need to get more ram.

 

[theSeb]

Come on guys, please explain something to me.

If you NEED 16GB in a few years, how come I still see people use 10+ year old dells with around 512 MB of ram or 1GB of ram running Windows XP? Some don't even have the latest service pack!

So tell me, why.....WHY will EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE USER NEED NEED 16GB in a few years?

I STILL get by with 8GB of ram with heavy After Effects and Photoshop usage.

These are not server machines, or pro machines. Just like a Dell from 10+ years ago can ONLY achieve 1-2GB of ram

Not every user may need, or want, to upgrade, but taking the ability away to do this and providing no obvious advantage for the design is the issue, as has been discussed already in this thread. If it was smaller and thinner, then it *might* be forgivable. Simply getting the solder gun out and then sealing up the exact same enclosure is not excusable.

 

[Ethosik]

Not every user may need, or want, to upgrade, but taking the ability away to do this and providing no obvious advantage for the design is the issue, as has been discussed already in this thread. If it was smaller and thinner, then it *might* be forgivable. Simply getting the solder gun out and then sealing up the exact same enclosure is not excusable.

You honestly think that this is a design "issue"? You honestly think that Apple employees did not think of this, and only would notice it after some people online mention it?

This is just like the bendgate. Blown WAYYYYYY out of proportion. Apple has the stats. Maybe only 1% of their Mac Mini's were the quad core, why keep them around? Or maybe they will introduce the quad core on the next Intel release?

But this ram upgrade-ability thing is just way over the top like Bendgate is/was. Simple grandma/grandpa/families will NOT upgrade their ram. I still see college students with 6 year old Windows laptops that come with the stock configurations.

And do you guys seriously think that OS X in two years will use 8GB of ram minimum? REALLY?

Both Windows and OS X lately have kept around the same requirements. Desktops are a mature product, there really is nothing we can do that would require 8GB of ram. OS X Yosemite can run on hardware from 2007. So yes, Apple is still supporting VERY OLD hardware. They will do the same with OS X two versions from now. The Mac Mini you buy today, regardless of the RAM you get on it, will be able to run the latest OS X for YEARS.

 

[prowlmedia]

I'm done this is why I didn't want to bother. If you can't grasp simple differences between a NAS system and Avid ISIS what's the point?

Research some more and grow in the production industry then come back with some real knowledge. I've worked freelance and full time for NBC, ABC, and FOX and no one that cares about their work would us BOXX's or Armari's tinker toys. Maybe in some of the boutique shops you work in but never in 24/7 news. You know a lot about consumer junk but not the high end my child.

Could you be more insulting or wrong?

I've worked in the industry for 22 years in 6 countries - I've created VFX and compositing on 22 movies - Directed more than 10 Adverts and run VFX on countless more. - I've run teams of 50+. Oh and if you are dropping names I've worked for NBC and Fox/Sky - Just did the new NFL titles - oh and Framestore, ILM, Weta (4 months doing pre-viz LOTR), Dneg, Blur, and the BBC.

Tinker toys... A $25K Boxx Workstation with 24 cores and Quad GPUs... Righto. Or a An Armari Dedicated Graphics box for £18,000. You really are deluded aren't you. None of these are consumer.

I use Flame, Smoke, Maya, Max, Cinema 4D, Nuke, Fusion. Had my own company for 7 years before I sold it to ITV in the UK. I've spent over £500K in the last 10 years on Hardware for either my own company or my clients. Had over 200 Blade machines installed as a render farm and media server. Personally installed a 20 machine Renderfarm to hook into smoke and flame, Avid and FCP.

I know exactly the difference between An ISIS and a NAS/SAN. Semantics and that's it. It's a hybrid system. It's only a very fast media server. THAT IS ALL... my child.

 

[chillywilly]

Only the 17" ever had a expresscard/34 port with very few uses that Thunderbolt doesn't take care of. It also added to the dimensions of the older model.

The 2008 and 2009 unibody MacBook Pro 15" models had an Expresscard/34 slot as well.

 

[fa8362]

Maybe only 1% of their Mac Mini's were the quad core, why keep them around?

1% is laughable. Apple knew what the sales were of the 2011 quad server. Obviously they were good enough to introduce sell a 2012 server quad and non-server quad.

A better estimate is 33%, not 1%.

 

[Digital Skunk]

:whining:

Okay bro. Whatever makes you happy.

All of this from the guy that thinks Apple is going to make a dedicated server one day.

I'm sure that 500,000 means something over in the UK. I've spent that on upgrades to one of the ISIS systems in MPT recently . . . . . that's public television by the way. Client side budgets from boutique shops in the 2.4 million and network affiliate budgets for end-to-end tapeless workflows started at $10 million. None of them are trusting their data to BOXX or Armari.



To bring this back on topic, the whole idea that the Mini has no removable RAM does stink for those that want to upgrade it only because you have to buy the max config from the start. For the most part, that means a high cost of ownership for many users that want to grow into the machine.

By the time you start configuring it for the long haul, the price gets crazy. $1000 for a dual core system is insane. Apple should've at least made the thing smaller.

 

[prowlmedia]

Okay bro. Whatever makes you happy.

All of this from the guy that thinks Apple is going to make a dedicated server one day.

I'm sure that 500,000 means something over in the UK. I've spent that on upgrades to one of the ISIS systems in MPT recently . . . . . that's public television by the way. Client side budgets from boutique shops in the 2.4 million and network affiliate budgets for end-to-end tapeless workflows started at $10 million. None of them are trusting their data to BOXX or Armari.

To bring this back on topic, the whole idea that the Mini has no removable RAM does stink for those that want to upgrade it only because you have to buy the max config from the start. For the most part, that means a high cost of ownership for many users that want to grow into the machine.

By the time you start configuring it for the long haul, the price gets crazy. $1000 for a dual core system is insane. Apple should've at least made the thing smaller.

500k is what I have personally spec'd and spent. Framestore spent £18 million recently. ILM just opened shop with £30m. The Hardware needed for Post Far exceeds Live Broadcasting. Whatever.

And now you are comparing comparing a Boxx workstation a Media Nas Server. There are no words. Bye, TV guy.

----------

1% is laughable. Apple knew what the sales were of the 2011 quad server. Obviously they were good enough to introduce sell a 2012 server quad and non-server quad.

A better estimate is 33%, not 1%.

Somewhere in between - Supply and demand's simple rules would be approx:

60% Low end
30% Mid
10% High

Same goes for pretty much anything in any industry sofa's / cars / Fridges - whatever.

But it's only a approximation.

 

[Cubytus]

You're still not appreciating what a bulky niche product expresscards are and what an advantage it is to have your own choice of external optical drive when bluray burners are cheaper than the Apple USB DVD. Nobody uses a burner 24/7. Objecting to no VGA these days is meaningless. Adapters for every modern connection standard are £5 at most. Might as well demand a floppy drive!

Granted ExpressCard wasn't much used. But there was probably a reason for it being included on pre-unibody MBP. In fact, this model is my reference for what a pro machine should be: powerful and compatible.

No need to use a given peripheral 24/7 for it to be worth including. Gigabit Ethernet is not used 24/7, yet currently no suitable equivalent wireless alternative exist. I could accept lack of wired connectivity on a non-pro machine, but professional setups more often than not are based on wired transfers.

DVI was a digital standard, but at least it allowed for VGA-compatible output. I am not sure at all one could daisy-chain Gigaethernet, Firewire, VGA out for projector, external HDDs, external display from the same TB plug. I don't see any reason why peripherals should all be changed just because some professional happens to have an incompatible system.

With the previous MBP one just knew he could walk in anywhere with it and do its job no matter what peripherals would be used, as it was widely known that diskettes went the way of the dodo long ago. Now, one must ask himself or the place he's working what kind of connections there will be, which adapters to buy, go fetch them if he doesn't have them, wasting valuable time.

Same for storage: a big internal HDD doesn't mean it will be used close to its max capacity, but that the machine could absorb whatever load is thrown at it when no external HDD is available. Burner means one could quickly and cheaply share its work with others, as USB keys tend to be more and more unreliable and still cost too much to give away, unlike coasters.

No matte screen option anymore, so what's the use for so much pixels if you just can't see them properly because of the reflection?

Having less included functionality would at least have meant less money to pay, but it isn't.

 

[barkmonster]

Granted ExpressCard wasn't much used. But there was probably a reason for it being included on pre-unibody MBP. In fact, this model is my reference for what a pro machine should be: powerful and compatible.

No need to use a given peripheral 24/7 for it to be worth including. Gigabit Ethernet is not used 24/7, yet currently no suitable equivalent wireless alternative exist. I could accept lack of wired connectivity on a non-pro machine, but professional setups more often than not are based on wired transfers.

DVI was a digital standard, but at least it allowed for VGA-compatible output. I am not sure at all one could daisy-chain Gigaethernet, Firewire, VGA out for projector, external HDDs, external display from the same TB plug. I don't see any reason why peripherals should all be changed just because some professional happens to have an incompatible system.

With the previous MBP one just knew he could walk in anywhere with it and do its job no matter what peripherals would be used, as it was widely known that diskettes went the way of the dodo long ago. Now, one must ask himself or the place he's working what kind of connections there will be, which adapters to buy, go fetch them if he doesn't have them, wasting valuable time.

Same for storage: a big internal HDD doesn't mean it will be used close to its max capacity, but that the machine could absorb whatever load is thrown at it when no external HDD is available. Burner means one could quickly and cheaply share its work with others, as USB keys tend to be more and more unreliable and still cost too much to give away, unlike coasters.

No matte screen option anymore, so what's the use for so much pixels if you just can't see them properly because of the reflection?

Having less included functionality would at least have meant less money to pay, but it isn't.

But a miniDisplayport/Thunderbolt to VGA adapter is still about £5 and seeing as you'd need a cable to connect anything to it, you could leave the adapter attached to the cable.

Standard RAM has increased from 4 to 16Gb in only a few years.

CPU power is now either close to or better than a quad Xeon Mac Pro.

Storage is now PCIe SSD which offers a massive boost over any HDD or SSD.

I agree about the lack of a matte option but that's more personal preference.

The HDD/DVD issue is a separate one. Why should everyone have to have the bulk of a seldom-used device? I see no reason why the same mechanism in an external enclosure could function any different than fitted in a laptop so your coasters claim is baseless. (And USB 3.0 blu ray burners cost less than Apple's USB 2.0 DVD and are far more useful). It's not worth reverting back to HDD-based systems for the sake of the few people who'd rather have a 5400rpm system drive with a high capacity.

 

[Digital Skunk]

The Hardware needed for Post Far exceeds Live Broadcasting.

This says all I need to know. You know nothing about either high end post or live broadcast. Unless the systems in the UK are all low power.

I never had to install one, but the backup tower for a digital full power is upwards of 20 million just for the tower and antennae needed. Never mind inspection and aviation painting.

Again, you poor knowledge of hardware alone is enough to let me know you're just a boutique tinkerer.

p.s. Just incase you have any more basic questions about why any system like ISIS is NOT a NAS Again, this is basic, let me know when you've got that then we can move forward with the lesson.

 

[toke lahti]

I have an iMac that has 2GB of ram -- no need to get more ram.

Other people need more ram. We all have different needs. Is that a problem?
How is it bad that you have an option to upgrade the ram? Option doesn't mean you have to do that.

Had my own company for 7 years before I sold it to ITV in the UK.

Nice to have you big boys here throwing big numbers!
And that you keep doing amazing content to us to consume.
So are you freelancing now as band-of-one?

Do I give any thought whatsoever that the new 2014 Mac mini has only (4-16GB) soldered RAM?

What about other things in this list:
-1. Soldered ram
-2. No 2nd hdd
-3. No quad
-4. No dGPU
-5. no bigger than 1TB hdd
-6. no FW
Do you really think new Mini is perfect and all it could and should be?
That there's no headless powerful mac below ridiculous MP prices?

By the time you start configuring it for the long haul, the price gets crazy. $1000 for a dual core system is insane. Apple should've at least made the thing smaller.

I'm not sure what smaller size would benefit, but the point here is that Apple just killed headless mac for power users below the MP price range.
Any ideas why? Just narrow Mini for one entry level model next year? To get more MPs sold? Shorten the variety in mac models and make them more disposable? Since 16% of Apple's revenue is coming from macs, they are streamlining?

 

[Renzatic]

I'm just assuming here, but in general memory is a very simply part of the computer and I'd say that more people damage their computer by installing the RAM wrong than RAM breaking down because of technical issues (although crappy RAM is crappy RAM, and if you are clueless you should seek out to someone with more knowledge). That being said, you're still better off buying "the expensive" third-party RAM paying 200€ for 8GM RAM from apple (which will give you 16GB highest quality third-party RAM and you have 50€ spare)

Really, I don't know where this guy is getting the idea that Apple only picks the finest ram off the vine for their computer, and stress tests the hell out of it before calling it Apple-Worthy, and sending it on its way. They're getting it from the same place as Dell and HP does.

Like you said, ram is ram, and the only difference between top quality high end ram and cheapo no name ram are the chances it'll crap out on you. There's practically zero difference in compatibility or performance among any similarly rated types of ram (DDR3, PC1600 etc. etc.). The quality of the chip you're getting all based on yield quality of a specific batch, much the same way processors are. All Apple does is say "give us the middle-high end rated stuff", then slaps it into their machines.

 

[chillywilly]

I'm just assuming here, but in general memory is a very simply part of the computer and I'd say that more people damage their computer by installing the RAM wrong than RAM breaking down because of technical issues (although crappy RAM is crappy RAM, and if you are clueless you should seek out to someone with more knowledge). That being said, you're still better off buying "the expensive" third-party RAM paying 200€ for 8GM RAM from apple (which will give you 16GB highest quality third-party RAM and you have 50€ spare)

I've had 3 brand new Macs have bad memory that I needed to have replaced to over the last 10 years. Comparing that to the number of times I've replaced/upgraded using 3rd party RAM, I've had zero issues with RAM.

There's nothing different about the RAM Apple uses vs. what you can purchase in the 3rd party after market world, brand names a plenty.