Upgraded RAM to 8GB on Macbook Unibody..RECOMMENDED!!

[daramos]

It had been a while I wanted to upgrade my stock 2Gb of ram on my macbook unibody late 2008. First I hand't done it because I had the understanding it would void by applecare warranty which it DOESN'T. Then I was just waiting for the price to dip. I went ahead and ordered the 8Gb kit of ram from amazon about 2 weeks ago. the Kingston (2x4GB) kit is just $49 now. link below:
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Modu...9UKW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316191053&sr=8-1

INSTALLATION
The installation process was a piece of cake it took me less than 15 minutes to remove the old ram and install the new ones. There is no place where you can go wrong. This is a link on how to install it from apple's website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1651?viewlocale=en_US

PERFORMANCE
After two weeks of testing and running my computer under different loads it is better than ever. Now it is running very smoothly even with many processes running at the same time. I always have 5-6 apps always running (SAFARI, MAIL, iCAL, iTunes, Preview, Chrome when I get suffocated with safari lol) open and hasn't given me any trouble at all.
As of my geekbench score I thought that it takes into account the ram you have installed and I was expecting it to improve from my current 3404 score.
But anyways my macbook which is now 35 months old is now working better than ever. I feel I just extended my macbook's life for a while longer and have no need to change it in the short run. I recommend anyway who currently has a macbook unibody late 2008 to go ahead and upgrade their ram. Its just 50 bucks now and its worth every penny.
Next upgrade for the future is changing my 250gb HDD to a 128 or 256 SSD. Currently prices are around $250 for 120gb SSD so waiting for prices to go down next year. Check this video out and you'll see how ssd's improve macbook speed.

HDD vs SSD in a Unibody Macbook Late 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VovJNzov1sA

 

[mikethebigo]

Going from 2 to 8 I bet you see a huge difference. Enjoy

I'm on the fence about going from 4 to 8. I think I'm going to invest in an SSD first - but the 8 GB RAM upgrade is definitely still on the to-do list. I had a lot of OSX programs running and tried to run the Win 8 developer preview in Parallels, it totally maxed out my memory usage.

 

[DWBurke811]

A 120GB SDD is more in the $200 range, I paid $190 shipped for my Vertex 3.


As far as 8GB of RAM, it's 100% worth the $35 I paid for it. I love being able to run Chrome Canary, Mail, iCal, Word, PowerPoint, iTunes, and all my background processes and apps, and still give a VM 4GB.

 

[Wattser93]

I'd go for 8gb of RAM before an SSD any day. An SSD may let you boot your applications faster, but 8gb of RAM lets you keep a bunch more applications running at one time, and it's significantly cheaper.

8gb of RAM is a cheap, easy speed boost. Then you can add the SSD later on.

 

[disarticulate]

Indeed! I put 8GB of RAM and a Momentus XT 500GB in my old unibody and it was lightning fast. It felt like a perpetual winter, because I never saw any beach balls.

I just sold it and bought a 2011 MBP15. While the processor is leaps and bounds faster, I really can't tell because of the 5400rpm HDD. Still trying to decide which SSD I'll commit to.

 

[alust2013]

I'm debating it just because it's so cheap right now. I've got 4GB now though, and that really is enough for 99% of my use, so I'll probably just leave it that way.

 

[204353]

I upgraded from 4 to 8 GB shortly after installing Lion. It really has helped tremendously, especially since I do a lot of multi-tasking. I agree with the 8 GB recommendation very strongly!

 

[Oska]

Upgraded to 8Gb

Hello guys,
I have a MB aluminium unibody late 2008, 13,3 inch screen, 250 GB HDD. I just upgraded from 4 GB to 8 GB ram and this computer it is flying ! Plus it gave me 2,5 to 3 hours of battery on my old 657 cycles battery. The fan is not running that often now and it is good to me since I normally keep many programs open at the same time.
I reccomend going for this instead of upgrading to a new MBP. You will have a notebook for 2 more years, minimum,

I follow the instrucctions online to make sure my MB was compatible to handle 8 GB. I am running Lion.

Here is a pic to probe the upgrade.
Good luck.

 

[yusukeaoki]

4GB to 8GB cant wait!!
After a year or 2 Im going to make it 16GB if the 8GB chips becomes cheap

 

[Naimfan]

I agree with the recommendation to move to 8 GB. I rarely do anything that would require 8 GB RAM, but 8 GB seems to make things quicker/snappier regardless.

And with it being so inexpensive, it seems like there is no reason not to do it.