Except this thread is for a Late 2008 model MBP which uses DDR3-1066 PC3-8500 204-pin SO-DIMM's...
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NEW Late 2008 Macbook Pro Memory Upgrade Problem
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Except this thread is for a Late 2008 model MBP which uses DDR3-1066 PC3-8500 204-pin SO-DIMM's...
Been running strong for about two days now, on mac and vista. I don't think there's a better deal than this right now.
It's still a risk to buy the RAM on Ebay when there's no guarantee it is going to work especially on these RAM sensitive machines.
Update: My machine continually crashed with the new memory I got from Crucial. I returned it and bought 2x@Gb from the Apple store. They kindly sold it to me for about the same price as Crucial ($140 ish) because my laptop was only a few weeks old (i.e. they gave me the same price as if I had bought it along with the laptop), instead of the regular $300 price.
Laptop now running fine, no freezes after a week of use.
I don't think this is an issue with the memory from (the always reliable) Crucial. Instead, I think the new MacBook Pros are strangely sensitive to the memory they use.
Apparently a number of people have found that running at 3GB is fine while 4GB causes constant freezing for many people:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1767718&tstart=0
I can now corroborate this. I just tested each of my new Crucial 2GB sticks individually (i.e., I kept one of the original 1GB sticks in and tried each of the new 2GB sticks with it). Used the MacBook for an hour with each stick in, and there were no problems. Apparently the RAM itself is fine. It's only when using both 2GB sticks at the same time that the MBP doesn't like.
*sigh* WTF.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1767718&tstart=0
I can now corroborate this. I just tested each of my new Crucial 2GB sticks individually (i.e., I kept one of the original 1GB sticks in and tried each of the new 2GB sticks with it). Used the MacBook for an hour with each stick in, and there were no problems. Apparently the RAM itself is fine. It's only when using both 2GB sticks at the same time that the MBP doesn't like.
*sigh* WTF.
Back in October I found the same thing with 3GB. Some believed that the original Apple RAM has the proper memory management while the other chips don't have it. So as long as one of the chips are the original chips it will be fine. I never had the patience to test with a single 2GB chip though. That would confirm the issue.
Funny that back and forth in this thread people are talking about/recommending DDR2 kits for the new Unibody MBP's; guess they don't know that they use DDR3 now and that if you bought a DDR2 kit, it wouldn't *fit* first of all, and if you made it fit, then you broke something, and whoops, now you're out for a new laptop/logic-board.
Do some research please, many people *do* just click links and buy in threads that don't even respond to these because they're just searching for deals etc..
I'd hate for something like that to happen to someone that didn't know better.
Some guy linked a DDR2 kit because it was cheaper and had better timings, yeah, of course, because DDR2 is cheaper, and has better timings, but DDR3 is that much faster, so the timings don't really matter all that much.
Another 2.16+DDR2 MBP owner said 'well I only spent 30$ at Fry's and it's all good!' and then a DDR3 MBP owner said 'I don't think you bought that because the going rate is 75' yeah sure, for DDR3, but not DDR2, they were just all confused.
Oh well.
Unibody Intel Mac's = DDR3
Every Other Intel-Mac = DDR2
Do some research please, many people *do* just click links and buy in threads that don't even respond to these because they're just searching for deals etc..
I'd hate for something like that to happen to someone that didn't know better.
Some guy linked a DDR2 kit because it was cheaper and had better timings, yeah, of course, because DDR2 is cheaper, and has better timings, but DDR3 is that much faster, so the timings don't really matter all that much.
Another 2.16+DDR2 MBP owner said 'well I only spent 30$ at Fry's and it's all good!' and then a DDR3 MBP owner said 'I don't think you bought that because the going rate is 75' yeah sure, for DDR3, but not DDR2, they were just all confused.
Oh well.
Unibody Intel Mac's = DDR3
Every Other Intel-Mac = DDR2
do we have a list of any brands of RAM that have been used in a successful upgrade (from 2x1GB to 2x2GB)?
It is hit or miss but most people are fine with the few brands that Apple supplies. I believe Hynix is one of them along with Samsung. I don't know the others.
Brand of RAM
I can confirm Hynix is fine, have had mine for 2+ weeks now and not a single crash.
I can confirm Hynix is fine, have had mine for 2+ weeks now and not a single crash.
Where did you purchase your Hynix RAM? My apparently poor Google skills are only turning up DDR2 SODIMMs.
Oempcworld.com sells hynix 2 gig ram upgrade kits for the late 2008 MBP and MB.
hynix RAM
It was obtained from the reseller where I purchased the MBP in the UK. They had several others with the same issue, I was the guinea pig!
It was obtained from the reseller where I purchased the MBP in the UK. They had several others with the same issue, I was the guinea pig!
I've seen this reported also but I don't believe a word of it. I've had a 2.53GHz with 4GB apple ram and a 2.8GHz with 4GB apple ram for over a month with no problems at all. There may be an issue with third party ram but there is no problem with using 4GB in the new MBP.
That is evidence to the problem. The Apple RAM is fine as we've been saying. There is a thread full of people with the MBP and third-party RAM issues with 4GB.
I can easily believe that there is an issue with third party ram. However, some threads over on the Apple forum and some websites imply that 4GB just doesn't work right in the new models. That's the part I don't believe. Since I'm using Apple ram, I can't comment on third party ram issues.
I also have Apple RAM at 4GB that is fine. They are only saying that it works with the original RAM or a mix of 2GB third party and 1GB of the original RAM but not 2X2GB of the third party RAM.