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Nvidia says MacBookPros support 8GB Ram ... What about MacBooks?

jav6454

jav6454

macrumors Core
Original poster
Nov 14, 2007
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1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Ok, so it has been confirmed that MacBook Pros' chipset can officially support up to 8GB of Ram. However, they mentioned nothing on MacBooks. I assume that since MacBooks and MacBook Pros share the same kind of chipset that MacBooks will support 8GB without chipset problems. However, I don't think it's wise to assume that since the MacBook Pro has a Hybrid SLI and other goodies the MacBook does not.

Am I wrong to assume or may the MacBook also support 8GB Ram??

BTW, I am not looking for 8GB yet, 4Gb is quite enough and maybe sometime in the next 3 years i'll look into 8GB Ram.
 
ram is supported in the chipset i assume...and both pro and macbook chipsets are the same..

i dunno im only assuming though
 
I haven't looked but I'm guessing there are two SODIMM slots on the macbook/pro boards?
If so, 8GB (2*4GB) will be horrifically expensive, far more than 4 lots of 2GB sticks would ever cost.
Still, nice to know if it does take 8.
 
I am not doubting 8GB modules (2x4GB) will be expensive, hence why I will wait sometime until I see Apple configuring with 4GB standard and 8GB as an upgrade. Also, by that time 8GB modules will be dirt cheap compared to todays prices.

However, I am assuming that thanks to the same 9400M chipset, MacBooks can also carry 8GB RAM. Well, I'll assume until someone clears things up a bit
 
gkarris said:
oh, here we go....

I think the Nvidia board is different - as it's their SLI capable board. Hope to be wrong though, but again, you want that capability - go by a MacBook Pro...
Click to expand...

Many of us don't want the 8GB compatibility knowledge to upgrade to 8GB right now. We just want to know so that in a near future when 8GB modules are down in price we can update or MacBooks. (near future being 2-3 years)

Right now 2 & 4 GB fit many of our needs by far.
 
The 8gb(2x4gb) kits still costs over $1000. So... Who wants to buy a $2500 MacBook with 8gb of ram? I'd say wait a year or two when the 4gb modules are cheap enough to test. Probably by that time, everyone will be fussing if the newer MBs chipset will hold 16gb :rolleyes:
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
The 8gb(2x4gb) kits still costs over $1000. So... Who wants to buy a $2500 MacBook with 8gb of ram? I'd say wait a year or two when the 4gb modules are cheap enough to test. Probably by that time, everyone will be fussing if the newer MBs chipset will hold 16gb :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

16GB Ram sounds good. I wonder how much (2x8GB) modules cost right now.....:rolleyes:
 
Going along with the original reply. It's the same chipset... thus the macbook could as well see 8GB of ram. The only problem is that the software is holding it back. I'd imagine that after snow leopard is out, we'll see updates that will get these truly 8GB capable.
 
There is no doubt, the Macbook absolutely supports 8GB of RAM. This has been confirmed from several sources:

http://www.9to5mac.com/8GB-MacBook-NVIDIA - they were the first to report this last Sunday but nobody seemed to catch on. I'm surprised it's taken this long to come to the forefront.

http://gizmodo.com/5067433/confirmed-apple-can-enable-dual-gpu-and-on+the+fly-switching-in-macbook-pro

From Gizomod Article (emphasis mine) said:
Nvidia dropped by today to demo some of the awesome things that the GeForce 9400M in the new MacBooks can do that Intel's integrated graphics just can't touch, and to discuss a few technical points. Besides confirming that you'll see it in other notebooks soon, they definitively answered some lingering questions about the chip's capabilities: It can support up to 8GB of RAM. It can do on-the-fly GPU switching. And it can work together with the MacBook Pro's discrete 9600M GT. But it doesn't do any of those things. Yet.
Click to expand...

But I'm not buying the bit about the 8GB of RAM. I'd be willing to bet that if you put 8GB in a MB or MBP that it would all be recognized and addressable. There's no reason why Leopard should not be able to recognize 8GB of RAM. It's a fairly well known fact that you can run almost 4GB of RAM in the most recent Minis (well, technically 3.3GB(?)).
 
pcguru83 said:
There is no doubt, the Macbook absolutely supports 8GB of RAM. This has been confirmed from several sources:

http://www.9to5mac.com/8GB-MacBook-NVIDIA - they were the first to report this last Sunday but nobody seemed to catch on. I'm surprised it's taken this long to come to the forefront.

http://gizmodo.com/5067433/confirmed-apple-can-enable-dual-gpu-and-on+the+fly-switching-in-macbook-pro



But I'm not buying the bit about the 8GB of RAM. I'd be willing to bet that if you put 8GB in a MB or MBP that it would all be recognized and addressable. There's no reason why Leopard should not be able to recognize 8GB of RAM. It's a fairly well known fact that you can run almost 4GB of RAM in the most recent Minis (well, technically 3.3GB(?)).
Click to expand...

What in the world could/Would you use 8GB of RAM in a Macbook? I only have 2GB and the activity monitor shows I only use about 2/3's of that, with most everything I do normally running.
 
clyde2801 said:
You'd probably have to mortgage your house...assuming you CAN mortgage your house these days...
Click to expand...

Yes, I saw the modules selling off at Crucial, they are around ~$550/each. So yeah, I think mortgaging might be an option. However, who would want 8GB right now? Are you really using that much of an memory hog program you can't deal with 4GB?? Well, why am I asking, if it is possible people will max it out just for the hell of it. I would if the modules were ~$185 (2x4GB).

pcguru83 said:
There is no doubt, the Macbook absolutely supports 8GB of RAM. This has been confirmed from several sources:

http://www.9to5mac.com/8GB-MacBook-NVIDIA - they were the first to report this last Sunday but nobody seemed to catch on. I'm surprised it's taken this long to come to the forefront.

http://gizmodo.com/5067433/confirmed-apple-can-enable-dual-gpu-and-on+the+fly-switching-in-macbook-pro



But I'm not buying the bit about the 8GB of RAM. I'd be willing to bet that if you put 8GB in a MB or MBP that it would all be recognized and addressable. There's no reason why Leopard should not be able to recognize 8GB of RAM. It's a fairly well known fact that you can run almost 4GB of RAM in the most recent Minis (well, technically 3.3GB(?)).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can see Leopard seeing and addressing all 8GB, with Snow Leopard I highly doubt Apple will limit peopleto only 4GB since they advertise Snow Leopard theoretically seeing 16TB of Ram...
 
WPB2 said:
What in the world could/Would you use 8GB of RAM in a Macbook? I only have 2GB and the activity monitor shows I only use about 2/3's of that, with most everything I do normally running.
Click to expand...

Running virtualisation (Windows, Linux) quickly eats up your RAM. For ordinary use 2Gb are fine...
 
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