Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

RAM upgrade for 13"

S

s4forum18

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 19, 2012
11
0
Getting a new 13" MBP to upgrade my 07, 15". My question is about 8GB RAM. There is a $30 difference from Apples price to what I can get it aftermarket. I know it doesn't void the warranty but do you guys feel that what Apple offers is superior (or lacking?/or equal). I'm new to upgrading but the process seems extremely simple.

I believe 8GB will be enough for me. Light Photoshop, the usual items, plus D3 (which I have been waiting to play due to the lack of a computer). Or is 4 plenty?

I know the price is not much but if I go the Apple way I have to wait a week for the computer..or I can just go down and grab the 4gb tonight...and like many of you I am going crrazzy =X

BTW, first time poster - !!
 
Personally, I would just get it with 8gb straight from Apple and save yourself a little hassle.

But if you're going to upgrade it yourself you may as well put 16GB into it. The total cost is about $120 from Newegg. I have upgraded the old Macbooks, not the Pros. But if they're anything alike it's a piece of cake.

I would not bother trying to use 4GB of RAM, you will bump into the upper limit eventually.
 
I know I would have to get the kit and I am leading towards just waiting and letting Apple do it. I've been reading a lot around here the last couple of days and since I don't do any video processing ,etc. it seems 16gb is overkill for what I am trying to achieve.

My plan is too grab an SSD when prices drop a bit and either replace the original or throw it into the Optical drive. Seems like an awesome idea to make a killer computer for a great price.

I guess a follow up question... The difference for the educational price from the base I5 to I7 is $210 (after you equal them out at 8GB). Is $210 worth the price to upgrade I5>I7 and 250GB on the drive? From what I read the the difference can be minimal (and do they burn hotter?)

The apple pricing wants me to pull hair out of my head. I can see how one would say, hey another $200 I'll just get the 15"...and then hey another $300 and I might as well go retina...evil!
 
I just posted the same thing, but I answered my own question. I'm going to go with the base Core i5 Macbook Pro 13. My reasoning is...

- Like you I'm going to put an SSD in myself when the price comes down a bit. An extra 256GB on an already slow/small hard drive is nothing. They should't even offer a 5200 RPM drive to be frank.

- I'm going to upgrade the RAM to 16GB myself anyway. This is pretty cheap.

- So in effect you're paying $200 extra to have the Core i7 chip. I don't have the student discount so it's an even worse proposition for me.

- Finally, it makes no sense to me to spend so much on what's essentially a very basic laptop. I may as well keep it affordable.
 
Agreed.

16GB just seems overkill for me w/o quad core (I could be wrong though).

Might just go down and grab the 4GB tonight though. Have you had good experience with aftermarket RAM?

Thanks and good luck on your purchase.
 
So to upgrade from 4gb to 8gb we need to take out 2gbx2gb modules and replace with 4gbx4gb mdules. So what people do with left over 2gbx2gb modules?

Are they worth something?
 
I have put aftermarket RAM into every computer I ever owned. If there's a problem you will know right away and can just return it. It either works or doesn't.

None of the computer vendors make their own RAM, they all buy it same as we are doing, minus the retail package. But for a lot cheaper.
 
You might as well pay the get the ram from Apple. Like you said, it's only $30 difference and it's covered under warranty along with the computer.
 
Geo411m said:
You might as well pay the get the ram from Apple. Like you said, it's only $30 difference and it's covered under warranty along with the computer.
Click to expand...

If were talking about warranties...I know aftermarket RAM's are lifetime. If I go Apple I only get one year (w.o AC).

My past comp only two things have gone wrong, Broken Screen (x2 , currently cracked in the corner) and a charger that went haywire. Both were regarded as wear and tear and came out of my own pocket.

...leading me to avoid the Apple Care on my next purchase.
 
s4forum18 said:
If were talking about warranties...I know aftermarket RAM's are lifetime. If I go Apple I only get one year (w.o AC).

My past comp only two things have gone wrong, Broken Screen (x2 , currently cracked in the corner) and a charger that went haywire. Both were regarded as wear and tear and came out of my own pocket.

...leading me to avoid the Apple Care on my next purchase.
Click to expand...

That's true but I guess I'm a fan of Applecare because it gave me a brand new laptop when my last laptop failed with only two weeks left on warranty.
 
Wirelessly posted

I went with the base 13" and had Apple put 8GB of Ram in it.

Purchased a 512 Crucial SSD for $399.

I get an employer discount so my total was just north of $1,500. In my opinion (for my needs), this will be an awesome computer until my next laptop upgrade in 2-3 years. At which point Apple's SSDs shouldn't command a premium.
 
Another bonus to upgrading yourself, is that you have a spare set of ram for trouble shooting later on should trouble arise.

Also, it's only the retina MacBooks that has the ram directly on the board correct?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back