What RAM do I need for a late 2006 Macbook (white)?

[dwz]

I have a Macbook with a Core 2 Duo T7200 and 1GB DDR2 RAM (see attached images) which I would like to upgrade to the maximum possible which I'm led to believe is 3GB. I need to install Lion/Mountain Lion, and the requirement for that seems to be pretty high.

This is my first ever Apple product, I have no idea what type of RAM to get, I have been told by someone that I need to look for specific CAS timings/latency, but I am a little confused as I have seen some people selling RAM on ebay for Macbooks and it seems to be normal PC laptop RAM.

What type of RAM should I get for my Macbook?

 

[Intell]

You need two sticks of 2GB 200-pin PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 ram. Make sure you get the smaller SO-DIMMs, not the longer desktop SD-RAM. For best results, use two 2GB sticks to get an extra 300MB of ram and to enable dual channel memory.

 

[DeltaMac]

You are correct, the memory used in the MacBook, as well as most any Mac, is the same as memory chips used in similar PCs.
Anyway, you would want to find PC2-5300 DDR2 SO-DIMMs.
You can use a maximum of 3GB, installed with 2 GB in one slot, and 1 GB in the other slot. There's no difference, and the RAM can be installed in either order.

Finally, Mountain Lion CAN be installed, but is not supported on your MacBook.
Stay with Lion (OS X 10.7.5), which is the highest that is supported, or Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) would also be fine.

(Intell is also correct about the RAM. You can install a pair of 2 GB sticks, and there may be a measurable speed advantage to a matched pair. However, the MacBook will only utilize 3 GB out of that total.