I've been waiting for the new macbooks to come out to get my first mac. man they are beautiful. Unfortunatly I have to wait 1 more month. the question is about ram types. The old macbooks had DDR2 ram. The new ones have DDR3. Can you guys explain the difference in easy terms?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
ram difference question
- Thread starter just o
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
From what I read, in a vague article that the name escapes my mind is...
DDR3 is 30% better (faster) then DDR2 ...
velocityg4
macrumors 604
Basically it is twice the price and has very little real world benefit. A faster processor have done much more.
Just like DDR2 when it first came out the 533mhz DDR2 had little benefit over 400mhz DDR memory it was not until DDR2 667 was released that the performance edge was noticeable.
The main problem being the painfully high CAS Latency of 7 nanoseconds. So even though the memory is much faster it also suffers from longer delays just like DDR2 does compared to DDR when first introduced. Most DDR has a CL of 3, DDR2 is CL5, and now DDR3 is CL7 (for notebooks at anyrate some desktop chips go as high as CL9). To overcome this increased latency the memory need to pump data through at very high speeds. Thus why DDR2 had no appreciable benefit until it hit 667mhz.
Apple should have waited for the prices to drop and DDR3 to hit 1200mhz and instead made the Macbooks cheaper or put in faster processors.
Just like DDR2 when it first came out the 533mhz DDR2 had little benefit over 400mhz DDR memory it was not until DDR2 667 was released that the performance edge was noticeable.
The main problem being the painfully high CAS Latency of 7 nanoseconds. So even though the memory is much faster it also suffers from longer delays just like DDR2 does compared to DDR when first introduced. Most DDR has a CL of 3, DDR2 is CL5, and now DDR3 is CL7 (for notebooks at anyrate some desktop chips go as high as CL9). To overcome this increased latency the memory need to pump data through at very high speeds. Thus why DDR2 had no appreciable benefit until it hit 667mhz.
Apple should have waited for the prices to drop and DDR3 to hit 1200mhz and instead made the Macbooks cheaper or put in faster processors.
DDR2 in the old MBP's will not work in current DDR3 MBP's. I remember when 72pin Simms where introduced companies made adapters for 30 Pin Simms its a pity they no longer do that.martinmartin said: